Lenovo 00MM685 300GB SAS 15K G3HS HDD: Carrier Identification Guide
G3HS is the carrier generation that arrived with the Lenovo transition, and it is the one most likely to be confused with what came before it. A drive in a G2HS tray will not seat in a G3HS bay, and the reverse is equally true.
The Lenovo 00MM685 is a 300GB SAS 12Gb/s 15K 2.5-inch drive supplied in a G3HS carrier.
The full IBM and Lenovo carrier sequence
Setting these out in order makes the sourcing problem much easier to navigate.
Simple-swap connects directly rather than through a hot-swap backplane, requires the server powered down, and has no lever mechanism on the tray.
Early hot-swap trays on older System x models connect through a backplane and allow live replacement, with a lever on each carrier.
G2HS is the second-generation hot-swap tray used across a wide span of IBM System x servers.
G3HS superseded it in the later IBM and early Lenovo era and continues into ThinkSystem.
None of these interchange. The differences are in latch geometry, connector alignment and the position of the status indicator contacts that report drive health to the front panel. A drive in the wrong generation either will not slide home or seats without registering correctly on the backplane.
Because there are four possibilities and only one is right, guessing has poor odds. The part number on a fitted drive settles it in seconds.
00MM685 specifications
| Part Number | 00MM685 |
| Manufacturer | Lenovo |
| Capacity | 300GB |
| Interface | SAS 12Gb/s |
| Rotational Speed | 15,000 RPM |
| Form Factor | 2.5 inch SFF |
| Carrier Type | G3HS Hot-Swap |
| Drive Class | Enterprise Performance |
| Condition | Refurbished, function-tested |
| Warranty | 30-day TechSellerUSA warranty |
Identifying a drive when the documentation is gone
Server documentation goes missing. Asset registers fall out of date. The person who configured the machine has left. This is normal, and it is recoverable in about two minutes.
Pull a working drive from the chassis. On a hot-swap system you can do this while the server runs, provided the array is healthy — the controller will rebuild when you reseat it. On a simple-swap system, wait for a maintenance window.
Read the label. The OEM part number is printed on it, usually alongside the manufacturer’s own model number and a capacity marking. That OEM part number is the one to order against, because it encodes drive, carrier and firmware together.
Photograph both sides. Front and back, including the carrier. If anything is ambiguous, that photograph answers it faster than a description.
Record it now. Write the part numbers into whatever documentation you do keep. Ten minutes spent on this today saves an hour at the exact moment you can least afford one.
If you are still unsure after that, send us the photograph and the server machine type — identifying parts from labels is routine for us.
SKU: 00MM685  | Refurbished & function-tested  | G3HS carrier  | 30-day warranty
View Details & Request a Quote →Two Lenovo part number formats
Lenovo drives appear under numbers beginning 00 and numbers beginning 4XB, and both are current. This is a consequence of the IBM acquisition rather than a meaningful product distinction — the numbering schemes came from different parts of the combined catalogue and both persisted.
Practically it means a search for a Lenovo drive should not be filtered by number format, because the part you need might be in either range. It also means a drive listed under an IBM number may be entirely correct for a Lenovo-era server and vice versa.
Our compatibility guide lists IBM and Lenovo parts together with carrier types, precisely so this overlap does not cause a mismatch.
15K in a modern ThinkSystem
A fair question when replacing one of these: is 15K still the right tier, or should the volume move to flash?
For a working array, replace like for like. Mixed drive types within a RAID group degrade to the slowest member, so dropping one SSD into a group of 15K drives achieves nothing except spending money.
For a planned rebuild, the honest answer is that flash wins on latency by a wide margin and any new latency-critical tier should be looking at it. Where 15K still earns its place is on sustained write-heavy workloads, because enterprise SSDs are rated by drive writes per day and write-intensive models carry a real premium, while a mechanical drive has no equivalent wear ceiling.
The decision is a project rather than a purchase, and it should be made deliberately rather than one failed drive at a time.
Ordering
We supply the 00MM685 refurbished and function-tested with a 30-day warranty, single spares or in sets. If you are unsure whether your chassis takes G2HS or G3HS, send us the part number from a fitted drive or a photograph of the label. Browse the full Lenovo range or our complete enterprise hard drives catalogue.
Common questions
What is G3HS and how does it differ from G2HS?
G3HS is the hot-swap carrier generation that superseded G2HS in the later IBM and early Lenovo era. They differ in latch geometry, connector alignment and status indicator contact position, and are not interchangeable in either direction.
How do I identify a drive if I have no documentation?
Pull a working drive from the chassis and read the OEM part number off its label. On a hot-swap system you can do this while the server runs if the array is healthy. Photograph both sides including the carrier, and record the numbers so you do not have to repeat it.
Why do Lenovo parts use two different number formats?
Numbers beginning 00 and 4XB are both current, a consequence of the IBM acquisition where two numbering schemes persisted in the combined catalogue. Do not filter a search by number format, because the part you need may be in either range.
Should I replace a failed 15K drive with an SSD?
Not into a working array. Mixed drive types within a RAID group degrade to the slowest member, so a partial swap spends money and changes nothing. Treat a flash migration as a planned project rather than doing it one failed drive at a time.
Send us a photograph of the drive label and we will identify the exact part before quoting.
