Recently, I ordered two 80 GB drive modules for a G5 Xserve from Apple's business department over the phone. Naturally, I specified at the time of the order that the drive modules were for a G5 Xserve.

Apple sent me two Seagate 80 GB drive modules which I RAID 1'd (mirrored RAID set) in Disk Utility. I did an erase / install of OS 10.4, ran all necesssary software updates and all appeared to be working fine. However, a few days later, when routinely testing RAM with memtest, the OS locked up repeatedly. Also, the OS would lockup during large file transfers either in the CLI with "cp" or in the Finder. Then it occurred to me: the drive modules that Apple sent me might be SATA 2 which would only be compatible in an Intel Xserve.

I phoned AppleCare tech support, conveyed my suspiciions to one of their people and he checked my order #. Indeed, Apple had sent me drive modules for an Intel Xserve by mistake. Please note also, if anybody here ever orders drive modules for a G5 Xserve directly from the Apple Store online, that this is written in the bottom paragraph:

"Apple Drive Module Serial ATA Compatibility
These Serial ATA Apple Drive Modules are qualified for use only with the new Intel-based Xserve. For Xserve RAID or older Xserve (G4 based) products, use the Apple Drive Module with Ultra ATA (parallel) support only. For Xserve G5 systems, use the previous generation Serial ATA drive modules."

Fortunately, I was able to clone the OS on the RAID to a SATA 1 drive module as I've just put over 20 hours of work into rebuilding one of my servers. I'm currently waiting for Apple to phone me back regarding shipping of the correct drive modules which appears to be a bit of an ordeal as the guy with whom I was talking first kept me on hold for about five minutes and then asked if he could phone me back.

Dave