HP Gen8 (and newer trays): Can you use hot plug in non?

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andrewbedia

Active Member
Jan 11, 2013
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UPDATE: The smart trays do work in the non hot plug slots (tested this). No extra force required.

I'd be willing to bet that the dumb trays fit the smart slots as well, but I'm not spending $20-25 on a dumb tray to find out. The smart trays are cheaper ($10-15).


So they have these new intelligent hard drive trays, which frankly is a bunch of marketing bs.

I may have found some non hot plug cages for my ML350e Gen8, but it accepts the dumb version of the tray that looks something like this:


The intelligent trays look like this:

My question is: can you use the intelligent trays in place of the dumb ones? I know this sounds stupid, but the intelligent trays are far more plentiful and are about 1/2 the cost of the dumb non hot plug trays.
 
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markarr

Active Member
Oct 31, 2013
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I would check the backplane where the tray would touch to see if there are any contacts there, if not then put some tape on the tray and slide them in. From playing with the HP trays they made two sizes 2.5 and 3.5, the only thing that has changed through the generations is the front part not the back.

You can use a old version of the hot swap tray in a g8 on the 2.5", they stick out and no lights but they work.
 

andrewbedia

Active Member
Jan 11, 2013
698
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Well, the final answer is in. The smart trays do indeed fit in the "not hot swap" slots and function perfectly fine. No forcing. No fuss.