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- Newsgroups: comp.sys.ncr
- Path: sparky!uunet!gatech!hubcap!ncrcae!churchill.ColumbiaSC.NCR.COM!jones
- From: jones@churchill.ColumbiaSC.NCR.COM (Brian.Jones)
- Subject: Re: SCSI disk upgrade for 3450
- Message-ID: <1993Jan26.070858.14296@ncrcae.ColumbiaSC.NCR.COM>
- Nntp-Posting-Host: churchill.columbiasc.ncr.com
- Organization: NCR Corp., Columbia SC
- References: <C1Eyyw.ApA@casper.cs.uct.ac.za> <1993Jan25.161616.8596@ncrcae.ColumbiaSC.NCR.COM> <108@shady.UUCP>
- Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 12:08:58 GMT
- Lines: 70
-
- In article <108@shady.UUCP> kevin@shady.UUCP (Kevin Smith) writes:
- >In article <1993Jan25.161616.8596@ncrcae.ColumbiaSC.NCR.COM> wescott@yesac.ColumbiaSC.NCR.COM (Mike.Wescott) writes:
- >:>In article <C1Eyyw.ApA@casper.cs.uct.ac.za>, ken@casper.cs.uct.ac.za (Ken MacGregor) writes:
- >:>
- >:>|> We wish to upgrade the disk storage on our NCR 3450. According to the
- >:>|> local distributor the ONLY disk >1Gb which is approved is the Seagate
- >:>|> model ST41601N and this requires a proprietary NCR firmware upgrade so
- >:>|> cannot be sold direct to us.
- >:>
- >:>The SCSI subsystem is written, as best we know how, to accommodate
- >:>generic SCSI peripherals. Sometimes, however, we find bugs or other
- >:>problems in these peripherals that the vendor will fix by making an NCR
- >:>only change to their firmware. I know of no contractual requirement
- >:>(***disclaimer*** but it's not my job to know), that prevents a vendor
- >:>from releasing that firmware to other customers. I can think of
- >:>several support issues whereby a vendor would not want you to have a
- >:>firmware set that was "non-standard".
- >:>
- >:>|> All the other computers in the dept - Sun's, SG's Vaxen etc. permit
- >:>|> upgrade by user purchased SCSI disks for which we enjoy the eductaional
- >:>|> discount. There is no educational discount from NCR is SA.
- >:>
- >:>|> Does anyone have any knowledge of other disks which can be used to
- >:>|> upgrade the 3450.
- >:>
- >:>There is a good chance that a given drive will function correctly in
- >:>the 3450. There is also a good chance that you'll have a hard time
- >:>getting support if something goes wrong. And some of these devices do
- >:>have bugs that make them unusable on the 3450, whereas other "specials"
- >:>merely change some of the defaults (i.e. spare sector allocation
- >:>strategy).
- >:>
- >:>--
- >:> -Mike Wescott
- >:> mike.wescott@ColumbiaSC.NCR.COM
- >:
- >
- >Nice to hear from you guys in Columbia!
- >
- >I know for a fact that HP 660MB and 1.2GB drives work fine. I do believe
- >that the Seagate drives are the only ones that NCR support will cover and
- >putting unsupported drives in the cabinet may void NCR support.
- >
- >I also am pretty sure there is no special firmware issue with the Seagates.
- >I can check this and will post what I discover.
- >--
- > | Email - !shady!kevin uunet!shady!kevin kevin%shady@uunet.uu.net
- >Kevin Smith | Voice - (+1) (908) 874-7980
- > | Mail - ShadeTree Software, Inc., 192 Capricorn Dr. #10,
- > | Somerville, NJ 08876, USA
-
- The reason that this special Seagate firmware is required is to fix a
- timing problem with the drive. It did not come back and respond quickly
- enough after a Bus Device Reset Command. The 3450 firmware issues this
- command on a system reset to get the device back to asynchronous mode
- so that system firmware can talk to the drive.
-
- On the matter of putting in generic drives (standard disclaimers apply) this
- should be OK as long as the drive is SCSI II compliant. The things
- you should do to the drives are to make sure the terminators are removed
- and that the disks are strapped to spin-up on command. Be warned,
- however, that this may void your warranty (I'm was just the lowly developer
- on the 3450 firmware).
-
-
- --
- _____________________________________________________________________________
- Brian M. Jones NCR - Networked Computing Resource of AT&T
- Brian.Jones@ColumbiaSC.NCR.COM Midrange Computer Products Division-Columbia
- _____________________________________________________________________________
-