Are all SAS drives hot-swappable?

Solution 1:

Yes, they're hot-swappable...

The drives are usually compatible and the hot-swap ability is built into the SAS specification. The SFF-8482 connector on the drives is a standard and there's nothing physically unique to Dell drives versus the OEM.

I'd still prefer to use the manufacturer drive part number before going OEM, though. If you dig a bit harder (eBay, refurbished, liquidators), you'll be able to find the Dell-specific drive you need at or below the cost of the OEM.

Solution 2:

In theory, the standard says that SAS handles hot swap gracefully. In practice... well, you're taking a bit of a chance. Dell will kick up a royal stink if there's even the slightest chance you might have used a non-Dell drive in the machine (we're having terrible troubles with them at the moment -- they suggested that because the machine had previously had a non-Dell drive in the machine, all warranties were void!). If you're out of warranty anyway, it's not really much of an issue (Dell will tell you to get bent either way), but you are taking the interoperability risk by using a non-Dell drive.