Going Deep Inside Xserve Apple Drive Modules

adamengst writes "If you've had an Xserve drive fail, you may have considered saving some money by putting a replacement drive inside its Apple Drive Module. That may be a false economy, though. TidBITS explains why, while pinning Apple down on exactly what goes into Apple Drive Modules and why they cost so much more than bare retail drives."

Niche article but site brought down already?

[SirLoadALot]

I was going to complain that this is not a very interesting story for 98% of Slashdot, who has never seen an XServe and is happier for it, but since the link is already slashdotted, I guess I should complain about that instead.

Since they are slashdotted already . . .

[UnknowingFool]

They are gonna need more drives then. I think this was part of Apple's plan all along.

1. Charge a lot of money for drives
2. Let someone post an article on slashdot to complain
3. Server hosed
4. ?????
5. Profit!!

Re:Hm...

[Andr T.]

Sarcasm fail :(

Re:Niche article but site brought down already?

[IsThisNickTaken]

Perhaps there is some logic in all this - TidBITs probably uses Xserves. Serves them right.

Actually, the problem is that is not serving them at all at the moment...

The special ingredient is...

[speedtux]

The special ingredient in XServe disk drives is... love. :-/

Re:Here we go again

[aliquis]

and the disk you put in grandma's desktop.

Yeah, the later is of vinyl.

Re:Article text

[ColdWetDog]

Apple also told me that the rubber grommets that hold the drive to the ADM carrier are chosen specifically to match each drive's vibrational characteristics. Different drives use different types of rubber in an attempt to reduce vibration as much as possible.

Think maybe these guys [pearcable.com] can whip up some special cables for the Xserves? It might have helped TidBITS stay up.

Re:Article text

[rcw-home]

No kidding. For the prices Apple is charging, you could just about get a decent SSD (maybe not an X25-M, but an OCZ Vertex at least) + a 2.5"-to-3.5" adapter tray that would still let you hotswap it. You'd never even notice the differences between a stock drive and a drive with Apple's supposed tweaks, but once you go SSD you will never go back.

They forgot to tell you...

[frank_adrian314159]

... how they use oxygen-free conductors in their wires to make the bits sound better.