There are two different channels of drives, grey market and distribution. Grey market drives are not fakes, they are the real deal. However, they were generally manufactured for some big OEM's designated project. Being fiber-channel, they were probably built to be incorporated into a large RAID array (which was either cancelled, returned, or never built.). You will probably find that if you need support, seagate will direct to Dell, Compaq,HP, or some other OEM. However, at $89, you really can't go wrong if you're wanting to do some experimenting with Fiber Channel. Think of it as a very inexpensive educational venture, and you will never be unhappy about it.
P.S.
The previous response above was absolutely correct. The controllers are expensive, the cables are expensive, and you must have proper carriers if you are hot-swapping them. On the other hand, with the fiber-channel's capability of upscaling to over 120 devices per channel.....you can grow this thing quite a ways before you need another RAID controller. U160 RAID controllers are limited to 15 drives per channel. I guess it all boils down to how bad you want some first-hand fiber channel knowledge, right?
[Edited by IPC PRO on 04-12-2001 at 12:18 AM]
Linear Mode
