Michael L Gueterman wrote:
>   You can get Seagate drives off the shelf and use them in
> the 3000.  The biggest caveat I know of is that the firmware
> used in these drives "may not" be on the same par as that
> used in the drives sold by HP for the 3000 (even though the
> actual mechanism is the same)....
> ...
> ... That is unless someone
> can tell me why that is a bad idea :)
>

You answered your own question.  Different Firmware may be needed due to
quirks in the OS drivers or HP's Device Adaptor cards.  Typically the
problems that I've heard of cause device/channel lock-ups which usually
manifest as system hangs YMMV (this has really happened in the last 6
months with 3rd party devices that I know of and no, I cannot tell you
which ones).  HP cannot afford to certify arbitrary Firmware revisions
so if/when you have a problem you'll likely be told "Get a supported
drive out there AND then we'll work with you."  It may be possible to
get a 'custom' support contract but that will likely be more than simply
buying the HP devices to start!!!

Regards,

Jim Hawkins
My opinions/mistakes not my employeer's