[rescue] rescue Digest, Vol 50, Issue 10

[Michael Parson]

On Mon, Jan 08, 2007 at 03:06:27PM -0500, J. Alexander Jacocks wrote:
> Michael Parson <mparson at bl.org>wrote:
>>>> From: Michael-John Turner <mj at turner.org.za>Date: 2007/01/08 Mon AM
>>>> 01:45:21 CST To: The Rescue List <rescue at sunhelp.org>Subject: Re:
>>>> [rescue] some stuff I'm trying to find
>>>
>>>> On Sun, Jan 07, 2007 at 11:48:13PM -0500, John Floren wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Second, I'm looking for a SCSI drive to go in a DEC Multia. It
>>>>> sounds like a 50-pin drive should do it; if anybody in the area has
>>>>> a few to part with, please contact me.
>>>>
>>>> If you want an internal drive, it'll have to be 2.5"
>>>> SCSI. Alternatively, you should be able to hookup any drive in an
>>>> external case that you can connect with a narrow SCSI connector.
>>>
>>> The multia supported 50 pin, 1" "regular" SCSI drives if the proper
>>> chassis is involved - there was a PCI chasis and a SCSI chassis. One
>>> could accomodate a short PCI card, the other would accept a 3 1/2"
>>> SCSI drive. I guess if you could live with the poor IDE performance,
>>> you could use a 3 1/2" IDE drive with the appropriate 44 pin to 40 pin
>>> adapter cable in a SCSI chassis...
>>
>> Ah yes, that rings a bell.  My Multia had the PCI chassis and I used
>> all external drives.
>>
> <snip>
>
> Several notes on Multia:
>
> 1) be _careful_ of internal heat.  It's very easy to cook a Multia with a
> modern 3.5" SCSI HDD.

Yes, they run HOT, and IIRC, didn't have much of a fan, if any.  If
you've got the vertical mounting kit, use it, it vents out the side
(top, if you use the vert mount).

> 2) you can also use any of the SCSI-ATA 2.5" bridge modules with ATA 2.5"
> 9.5mm disks.  This is much cheaper, and gives access to better drive
> density, than 2.5" SCSI disks.

I use my 2.5" SCSI ATA bridge in my sparcbook. =)

> 3) you can't boot from IDE on the multia

Did not know that.

> 4) not all PCI cards work, due to aligned access problems on Alpha

Only card I used was a Number 9 Motion 771 card, since the onboard TGA
is only 8 bit.

> Therefore, I suggest, if you use 3.5" disks, with the non-PCI chassis, that
> you use 5400rpm disks.  My best recommendation is to use 4200rpm laptop 2.5"
> 9.5mm ATA disks, for less voltage and less heat dissipation.

Or use external SCSI disk.

> Good luck!

Indeed, and have fun. =)

-- 
Michael Parson
mparson at bl.org