On Thu, May 9, 2024 at 5:12 PM Dale <rdalek1...@gmail.com> wrote: > > I'm looking at buying another drive. I'm trying to avoid buying one > with the PWDIS pin. I'm looking at the specs to see if it says anything > about the feature, there or not there. I'm not seeing anything. This > is what I'm looking at. > > https://www.seagate.com/files/www-content/datasheets/pdfs/exos-x16-DS2011-1-1904US-en_US.pdf > > Can someone tell me how to know when a drive has PWDIS and when it > doesn't? Is there some term for it that shows in the specs and I'm > missing it? Or is there no way to really know?
I think it would be labeled as such. That is for a genuine retail version of the drive with retail labeling. So if you get the drive and it has the pretty Exos logo and green colors and the model number that matches the datasheet and all that stuff, then it probably won't have issues. However, if you're buying something off ebay, and the drive just has a plain white label, and a model number that doesn't actually match the datasheet, but some random webpage or reddit post assures you that it is the same thing, well, it probably is the same thing, but it might very well have that power issue. Those shucked drives generally come from USB enclosures, and the drive on the inside might be a rebranded Exos with alternative firmware/etc, but the label isn't going to actually say that, and the package will say "EasyStore USB Drive" or whatever it is sold as. If you use it the way it is sold, then you again won't have issues since its internal USB HBA will do the right thing. It is just that when you rip open the box that all bets are off. The actual drives sold for enterprise use generally aren't sold in retail packaging as I understand it. To get one of those officially you need to buy them through a server vendor or some other enterprise-oriented partner, who probably has a nice sales person who will treat you to a free lunch while you talk about the PWDIS requirements of the $10M pallet of drives you're about to buy. -- Rich
