IBM 73GB 10,000 RPM SAS 3Gb/s Enterprise Hard Drive

Model: MAY2073RC | IBM PNs: 26K5657, 26K5262 | 73GB Capacity | 10K RPM | 8MB Cache

The IBM 26K5657 is a legacy Small Form Factor (SFF) enterprise drive based on the reliable Fujitsu MAY series. This drive was a pioneer in the transition from the older, bulky 3.5-inch SCSI drives to the modern 2.5-inch SAS standard. While its capacity is small by today's standards, it was designed specifically for high-density server environments like the IBM System x and BladeCenter, where physical space and power efficiency were prioritized alongside 10,000 RPM performance.

📊 Technical Specifications

• Capacity: 💾 73.4 GB

• Interface: ⚡ SAS 3Gb/s (Dual Port)

• Spindle Speed: 🏎️ 10,000 RPM

• Cache: 🧠 8 MB

• Form Factor: 📏 2.5-inch SFF (15mm)

• Average Latency: ⏱️ 3.0 ms

• Seek Time: ⏱️ 4.0 ms (Read) / 4.5 ms (Write)

• MTBF: 🕒 1.2 Million Hours

✅ Product Overview

• Compact Performance: By moving to a 2.5-inch form factor while maintaining a 10K RPM speed, this drive allowed IBM to fit significantly more drives into a single 1U or 2U server rack than was previously possible with 3.5-inch drives.

• Dual-Port SAS Architecture: Features the standard enterprise dual-port interface. This allows for redundant paths to the data, ensuring that if one controller fails, the server can still access the drive through a secondary path.

• IBM System x Optimized: Carrying part numbers 26K5657 and 26K5262, this drive contains IBM-specific firmware optimized for use with ServeRAID controllers, providing consistent error reporting and health monitoring.

📦 Compatibility & Use Case

• Target Systems: Specifically designed for early IBM System x servers (such as the x3550 M1, x3650 M1) and IBM BladeCenter HS20/HS21 modules.

• Hot-Swap Tray: Typically comes mounted in the classic IBM 2.5" SFF hot-swap caddy (often with the orange "squeeze" tabs). Verify that the caddy style matches your specific legacy server generation.

• Ideal Workloads: Maintenance of legacy IBM server infrastructure, small-scale OS boot volumes for dedicated appliances, and replacement of failed drives in older RAID 5 or RAID 10 arrays.