Gene,
Thanks again for your help :)
I only brought the SCSI drives for reliability, not speed, after been
bitten badly by the IDE problems that plagued the IBM GXP series drives,
and all manufacturers were dropping their warranties to 1 year - while
my SCSI ones has 5 years. I can't see any difference between U160
drives and ATA133 drives to be honest, apart from moving large files,
and I don't do that often.
My controller won't work in a Mac - PC only, and it doesn't have an Mac
equivalent so I think it's not possible to flash the firmware, and as
you say, it's definitely not worth buying a new controller as they're
really expensive! Strange as I brought my controller for the PC for £40
2 or 3 years ago 2nd hand, and a very similar controller for the Mac is
around £150 new, and PCI cards for the Mac, as I'm finding out now, rare
as hens teeth.
I've decided that I will "upgrade" my Linux PC based server to be a file
server and put the SCSI controller in there and get the Mac to access
the file server via NFS (if I have a goat or two handy that is...) and
to hell to the environment and my wallet.. ;)
BTW, I had a spare 40 gig Western Digital drive, put that in the Mac,
and was bitten by the IDE controller bug :/ Fished out an 13 gig
Quantum Fireball - considering the original drive is an Quantum Fireball
- put it in, it works fine. Oh well!
Cheers - Piers
Gene Osburn wrote:
Doh! You're right - I've got 2 Cheetahs not Barracudas. Don't know why
I thought they were Barracudas!
Anyway, that page doesn't have either of my model numbers on - I've an
ST336706LW (U160) and an ST336607LW (U320) only a few months apart the
2. Although on the list, there's an "ST336704LW" so it's possible my
drives are 4th gen? If so, I'm a bit surprised as they do run extremely
hot.
At least 3rd gen anyway, which is good. Can't quote chapter and verse
on Seagate drive models and specs, but it sure sounds like you have a
couple of awesome drives there. Since your U160 drive model differs by
just one digit from what's on Mac Gurus, I think it's safe to assume
that you can take any info and apply it to your drive. Most folks are
alarmed by how warm to the touch the Cheetahs are; I know I was at
first. You'll be OK as long as you use reasonable cooling precautions.
OTOH, I will need to buy a Mac specific SCSI controller? My controller
is an Adaptec 29160LP - I assume I can't use that in the Mac? Not
possible to flash the firmware either?
Not too sure on this one. What's the info from Adaptec's site? I never
buy Adaptec any more, I go with either ATTO or Initio. Of course, I'm a
true Low End Mac'er whose hardware choices are constrained by an
extremely modest fixed income. The most recent SCSI controllers I have
are both 80 MB/sec LVD models, which wouldn't allow your drives to
really strut their stuff.
If you don't already have a Mac compatible SCSI controller handy, I
personally wouldn't recommend spending an arm and a leg on one for a B&W
upgrade. You already have a couple of wicked drives, though; so maybe
picking up an affordable Ultra2 LVD controller would provide enough of a
performance boost to satisfy the "Need for Speed"....
As Bruce has pointed out in another posting, the decision to install
very high end SCSI hardware into a B&W might not make a lot of sense.
My second gen Cheetah LVD drives in a B&W would be considered hardware
overkill by some; but I'm quite happy with their performance, so screw
'em if they take themselves and their knowledge/opinions that seriously....
Pax,
Gene, a.k.a. G-Man
Friends don't let friends do Windows
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