Alright, now I'm kicking myself for not doing this in the first place... After just one day, I'm giving up on these two 4.3 gig Ultra-Wide SCA Seagate drives and starting over again. Perhaps this time, with better luck. If you or anyone you know wants two SCA drives (with new 80-to-68 pin adapters) real cheap, please let me know. I'll sell the whole kit and caboodle for $50 shipped, at about a $20 loss to me. One of the drives definitely works, I'm just not willing to invest the blood, sweat, and tears to get it going. The other most likely works, if you can figure out what the beeping sound is. Both came from a trusted overstock dealer I know and were untouched by human hands until I opened them (they sat in a warehouse for several years). I suspect someone with more time, patience, and a regular Ultra-Wide card (as opposed to LVD in SE mode) could get these babies going.
Now, on to my new plans: OWC has IBM 10k RPM 18.2GB true 68-pin Ultra160 drives for $119. Not only will this drive utilize the full capacities of my U2W card (the Seagates were only Ultra-1), but it will also give me twice the disk space of my intended RAID, and at faster 10k RPM speeds. On top of that, if I ever get an Ultra160 controller in the future, it has even more potential for speed. And it has a 2 year warranty, and I might be able to get another one down the road. The SoftRAID 2.2.2 driver I got will still format this drive (although no striping will be possible), still out-perform most other Hard Disk formatting tools (from what I hear), and even mirror a 500MB partition on to my 500MB stock drive on a completely different bus! I was trying to save my scarce $$ for an XLR8 carrier, Voodoo, and 40x UltraPlex, but since this computer will primarily be functioning as a file server at camp this summer, a reliable, speedy hard disk is much more important. The others can wait till the off-season when I have more time for fun and games. Here's the drive: http://eshop.macsales.com/Catalog_Item.cfm?ID=4135&Item=IBM09L3905 I'm really just thinking out lout here and looking for some support (or words of caution?) from those of you with experience in this area. Sorry if this thread is boring you! My only fear is that the problem lies with my controller card (I doubt this, because the card itself shows up fine with CharisMac and SCSIProbe), the cruddy cable that came with the card, or the termie. At least with a spankin' new true 68-pin, if the latter were the problem it would become more obvious. I have never used anything but Seagate drives without a hitch until now; what's IBM's track record? I'd appreciate any seasoned input. I'm also quickly running out of time before camp starts... Thanks! -- --Chris PM 7500/604e 200Mhz 4 gig SCSI 256 megs OS 8.6 (This machine rocks!) -- PCI-PowerMacs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Sonnet & PowerLogix Upgrades - start at $169 | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> PCI-PowerMacs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/pci-powermacs.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive:<http://www.mail-archive.com/pci-powermacs%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
