The problem was indeed the sector size of the NetApp drives. It is 520 bytes and needs to be switched to 512 bytes via a tool like sg_format from sg3_utils. Here's a few nice links on how to do this: [URL] [URL] [URL] The PERC 6/i cannot be used by itself to perform this reformatting. You need something that supports HBA/IT/JBOD mode, I don't know the right term, basically direct SCSI passthrough to the OS. I was able to "hack" my way into HBA mode with a friend's HP Proliant server with HP Smart Array P410i, some firmware updates, and this tool: [URL] The more common (and probably safer) approach seems to be buying a proper HBA/IT-capable card like the Dell H310. But now that they have been reformatted to 512 byte sectors, they are working just fine in the PERC 6/i in RAID-5! Everything looks good now, and thank you Erman for confirming my issue.
I have a Poweredge R610 with a PERC 6/i controller. It was previously populated with two 146GB SAS drives in RAID-0, each as a separate VD, this worked fine. I obtained three NetApp X417A-R6 900GB (Seagate ST900MM0036) SAS drives. I powered down the server, removed the existing 146GB drives and inserted a single NetApp (in a Poweredge caddy) for testing. I booted into the PERC 6/i BIOS Configuration Utility. The VD Mgmt tab was blank (no VDs). The PD Mgmt tab showed (as expected) only the NetApp drive, with no SMART errors. I create a new VD in RAID-0 containing just the NetApp drive, then hit OK. The screen freezes and the drive clicks periodically for a while, then the screen stops and shows a "recommend to initialize the VD..." dialog. Now the VD Mgmt tab shows the VD, but with red text, in a "Failed" state. The PD Mgmt tab shows the NetApp drive, but again in a Failed state. I cannot initialize the VD (option is greyed out). The LCD panel and iDRAC log show: "Storage Drive 0: Drive Slot sensor for Storage, drive fault was asserted". The top light on the slot blinks amber. I'm really not sure what to do; any help would be greatly appreciated. I kind of doubt it's a hardware issue, since I've done this same test with two of the NetApp drives, both fail in the same way. I would do a SMART test or similar on them, but I don't have any SAS-capable machines other than this server, and I don't know how to get the server's OS to read the drive other than adding it as a VD in the PERC 6/i.
R610 PERC 6/i, creating new RAID-0 VD with NetApp X417A-R6 drive, drive fault 
asserted