disclosed is a method of detecting a product data error in a storage system . first and second vital product data eeproms are read . indicators of whether wither or both reads failed are received . based on these indicators , the contents of the vpd eeproms may be compared . based on a result of the comparing indicating a match , an arbitrary one of the vpd eeproms is used . based on an indicator indicating an error with the first vpd eeprom , the second vpd eeprom is used .