HP/IBM LTO - Can IBM and HP LTO Drives Use the Same Drive Tray on SL3000

Asset ID:	1-71-1964526.1
Update Date:	2017-05-22
Keywords:

Solution Type Technical Instruction Sure

Solution 1964526.1 : HP/IBM LTO - Can IBM and HP LTO Drives Use the Same Drive Tray on SL3000

Applies to:

HP LTO6 Tape Drive - Version All Versions and later
IBM LTO5 Tape Drive - Version All Versions and later
HP LTO5 Tape Drive - Version All Versions and later
IBM LTO6 Tape Drive - Version All Versions and later
Sun StorageTek SL8500 Modular Library System - Version All Versions and later
Information in this document applies to any platform.

Goal

Can IBM LTO5 drives and HP LTO5 drives use the same SL3000 drive tray?

Solution

The answer is NO.

The TTI cables are different and the IBM has the Bel card in it which takes a different Ethernet cable than that of the HP drives that don't have an external encryption card.

Even if you could physically, you could not per the service contract because if you had a HP LTO5 drive and swapped it for a IBM LTO5 then the tray Serial Number would still be HP LTO5. If you have a drive failure you can replace FRU with the same drive type but, under no circumstances should you ever replace a drive in a tray with a different drive type. This makes the equipment an invalid configuration and causes a lot of problems for everyone.

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