4 Mar
2003
4 Mar
'03
12:49 p.m.
The RD54 (Maxtor XT-2190) hard drive is an old ST-506
relic, and is
unreliable at best. I have a VAXstation 2000 with an RD54, and most of
the time the drive won't even spin up. When it does, it makes sounds the
same as you are describing here. I went in search for a replacement, but
found most resellers are getting $300+ for the RD54, as it is rare. I
would reccommend looking for RD53s, RD52s, etc., or better yet, find
yourself a Q-bus SCSI controller. SCSI drives are cheap, and quite more
reliable than anything you'll find in ST-506.
Avoid the RD53 at all costs... it is the most problematic of the
RD series drives. The RD54 in my experience is the most
reliable, and I have a number of them in machines still
working.
Yes, going to SCSI would be nice, but you can't put one in
your VAXstation 2000... and the qbus controller for SCSI
disks is expensive... check out the auctions on ebay. The
two most recent I've seen were $130 and $240 for UC08s. Some
of the other SCSI controllers from third-party vendors are
even more...
You could also go the DSSI route, if you want nothing
to do with *nix, or
get a KDA50 and go SDI, if you have the patience to deal with its many
quirks.
Or you could try ESDI... I have a couple of machines with the
Andromeda ESDC controller and hitachi DK515-78 drives. They
work just fine with MSCP device drivers...
Megan Gentry
Former RT-11 Developer
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
| Megan Gentry, EMT/B, PP-ASEL | email: mbg at world.std.com |
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| "this space | (s/ at /@/) |
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| | "pdp-11 programmer - some assembler |
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