This is Comments-on-third-party-SCSI-HDs. in view mode; [Up]
Date: Sun 25-Oct-1990 14:09:35 From: smithw@hamblin.math.byu.edu (Wild Willy) Subject: Re: Comments on third party SCSI HD's. In 1990Oct25.134450.4444@sctc.com herndon@sctc.com (William R. Herndon) I didn't get any response the first time I posted this so I'll try again under another heading. I am about to order my NeXTStation, and I have been considering the alternatives for external disk strorage. I first thought that, since the NeXT machine has that nice SCSI-2 port, putting on a generic already enclosed SCSI drive ( probably from a third party Mac vendor ) would be a good idea. However, all of the vendors that I have contacted have said, flat out, that their drives are NOT compatible because I wouldn't have the correct device drivers. This is simply false. If you can get together a proper disktab, you can plug in most any standard SCSI drive (Maxtor, WREN, Hitatchi,....) You will however need the equivalent of "Buildisk" if you want to use this hypothetical drive as your boot/NeXTstep disk. Formatting and partioning programs exist on the NeXT, yes? The internal disk runs off the SCSI-2 bus, correct? What am I missing? This is half right. In the present incarnation, no real (low level) formatting program exists in the bundled software. But, you can always do that on your local 3/60 or maybe Mac or you can buy TheFormatter from rca@cs.brown.edu (Ronald Antony) for a nominal price I believe. Generally though, you don't need to do a low level format to use the drive. It will come from the factory with 512byte or 1024byte sectors as a rule and the NeXT will work fine with either. (1024byte is best). Many disk resellers can offer this as an option I believe. Oh well, option two was to purchase a bare SCSI drive, a cabinet, and do the work of connecting the drive, setting jumpers, etc, myself, hoping to do the job right. However, since I've never done work like this, I'm afraid I'll screw it up somehow. A good way to learn about Winchester SCSI drives maybe, but not necessary. APS sells external versions of most popular NeXT drives at reasonable prices. Of course they won't tell you that they work on a NeXT perhaps. They do. Option three, ( perhaps the most attractive ), is to go with a vendor like Pacific Microelectronics, who is explicitly supporting NeXT. They seem to have an attractive deal going on right now. They'll give you their full height, dual enclosure cabinet with a Maxtor 340 Mbyte ( the LXT-340 I think ) and the necessary cables for approx. $1800, and they'll guarantee the compatibility of the drive and the connection. Now this seems like a good deal, not as cheap as either of the other alternatives, but for guaranteed compatibility ( and attractive styling to boot )... Is it a good deal? Comments? Depends on you. I'm more into saving money than styling issues. The CubeRoute also sells drives "guaranteed to work" on the NeXT 1-800-cube-rte. BTW: Pacific Mic. also has a package on thier half height enclosure: Enclosure, 2.8 floppy ( reads/writes Mac, PC, NeXT disks ), software for the floppy, cables, and a Quantum 200 Mbyte drive, for $1695. Thanks in advance. Any and all help is appreciated. You asked for it. But remember, not many folks have *actually* done any of this to a *real* NeXTstation. Personally, I'm just generalizing from my experience with the cube. More reliable information will be available shortly I believe. - Max --------------------------------------------------------------------------- William R. Herndon Secure Computing Technology Corp. herndon@sctc.com (612) 482-7431 -Bill-
Date: Sun 25-Oct-1990 13:44:50 From: herndon@sctc.com (William R. Herndon) Subject: Comments on third party SCSI HD's. I didn't get any response the first time I posted this so I'll try again under another heading. I am about to order my NeXTStation, and I have been considering the alternatives for external disk strorage. I first thought that, since the NeXT machine has that nice SCSI-2 port, putting on a generic already enclosed SCSI drive ( probably from a third party Mac vendor ) would be a good idea. However, all of the vendors that I have contacted have said, flat out, that their drives are NOT compatible because I wouldn't have the correct device drivers. Now, perhaps I'm missing something, but the NeXT is essentially a UNIX/MACH system with a large set of drivers already on board. I assume that one of those drivers is for SCSI disks, and that provided one has a correct /etc/disktab entry, everything should be cool. Formatting and partioning programs exist on the NeXT, yes? The internal disk runs off the SCSI-2 bus, correct? What am I missing? Oh well, option two was to purchase a bare SCSI drive, a cabinet, and do the work of connecting the drive, setting jumpers, etc, myself, hoping to do the job right. However, since I've never done work like this, I'm afraid I'll screw it up somehow. Option three, ( perhaps the most attractive ), is to go with a vendor like Pacific Microelectronics, who is explicitly supporting NeXT. They seem to have an attractive deal going on right now. They'll give you their full height, dual enclosure cabinet with a Maxtor 340 Mbyte ( the LXT-340 I think ) and the necessary cables for approx. $1800, and they'll guarantee the compatibility of the drive and the connection. Now this seems like a good deal, not as cheap as either of the other alternatives, but for guaranteed compatibility ( and attractive styling to boot )... Is it a good deal? Comments? BTW: Pacific Mic. also has a package on thier half height enclosure: Enclosure, 2.8 floppy ( reads/writes Mac, PC, NeXT disks ), software for the floppy, cables, and a Quantum 200 Mbyte drive, for $1695. Thanks in advance. Any and all help is appreciated. - Max ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- William R. Herndon Secure Computing Technology Corp. The opinions expressed are mine, ALL MINE! HEH, HEH, herndon@sctc.com HEH, HEH!!! (612) 482-7431
These are the contents of the former NiCE NeXT User Group NeXTSTEP/OpenStep software archive, currently hosted by Marcel Waldvogel and Netfuture.ch.