[jarnold]

This is a good thing for a couple of reasons. First it allows equipment manufacturers to build chassis with the same drive trays that are already in production. Second, it that from a drive assembly standpoint, the same build and testing equipment can be used. This should speed development and manufacturing quality.

Is the concern more from an ergonomic perspective, that someone in a data center may plug in a drive into the wrong system?

[mbreese]

If the testing equipment is expecting a SAS port, then wouldn't the dual ethernet ports pose a problem? Or, is it that they are using SAS power pins to do the ethernet transfer leaving the other pins untouched? (I don't know my SAS pin-outs very well).

The main concern would be that, yes, someone could plug the drive into the wrong system.

[deelowe]

I'd imagine that would be a pretty big concern. This is a regression for serviceability. Connectors should be keyed specific to the function for a variety of reasons. I'm sure seagate has their reasons, but this seems like a bad idea to me.