Antique SCSI transfer modes

[i]

I have an old Sun SPARCstation 5. I believe the "best" SCSI transfer mode it can handle with its integrated controller is SCSI Fast Wide. It's an SCA-based interface.

I've taken a look at StorageReview's reference.

Currently the system has a 2.1 GB hard disk. I'd like to upgrade (as much as one can "upgrade" a system this old) to a larger drive.

I figured I'd take a look through the Surplus section on HyperMicro, as they always seem well-recommended on SR and elsewhere (right?).

They currently have a Seagate 9.1 GB SCSI Wide (not Fast Wide) drive available for $29.00. The price is right, and so is the size. My question is, will a SCSI Wide drive work in the SPARC 5? I'm looking back at the reference page at SR - it should work fine despite being slower than a Fast Wide drive, right? Or will the bus speed and SCSI ID options make it a no-go?

Just to make things more interesting, is there much advantage in shelling out an extra $20 for an Ultra2 drive? Would it "step down" successfully to the comparatively slower Fast Wide spec? I don't have much experience with SCSI from this era. How much would I notice the difference in throughput between 10MB/s and 20MB/s? I aim to use this system as a secondary test machine. With a larger hard disk, it'd probably (and finally) get some reasonably good use.

 

[timwhit]

I would look for some SCSI drives on eBay before you jump on that $29.00 drive. You can find some real good bargains on there if you look hard enough.

 

[Mercutio]

Wide SCSI will work. My Sparc 20 flew with a FW 9GB Cheetah installed.

 

[Tea]

I see no reason why it shouldn't work, I. 9GB of decent SCSI drive still performs very well, even on an old controller. It will almost certainly give you better seek times than a brand new IDE drive will. And the transfer rate makes surprisingly little difference to most jobs,

 

[Fushigi]

Refurbed 18GB 10K 80 pin Seagate SCSI for $15.99: http://www.softwareandstuff.com/hd_st118202lc.html There's a link on that page to an 80-pin to 50-pin adapter for another $9.95. I've no idea about s/h.

 

[i]

Hey thanks everybody!

I think I'm going to go with the Ultra 2 drive (technically I guess it's a Wide Ultra 2).

That way, if the SPARC 5 dies at some point in the near future, I'll still have a reasonably speedy drive I can use elsewhere. That's a small advantage over the used or refurbished options too, I think.

 

[i]

Hmm ... on the other hand (that'll teach me to look at this stuff late at night) it looks like the Hypermicro surplus stuff only has a 1 year warranty. I didn't think they equated "surplus" with "refurbished", but I guess they do. Hmmm.

 

[i]

Last week I finally ordered a SCSI drive for my Sparc 5. I ordered an 80 pin, 9.1GB ST19171WC from HyperMicro's surplus section. I placed the order on Saturday along with a couple of trivial other items, and paid for 2 day FedEx shipping.

It turns out they sent the wrong drive: I received an ST19171W (i.e. a 68 pin interface) instead. I give them a call to ask what happened. First question they ask, "Did you need the 80 pin version?"

I'm thinking to myself ... why the heck would I have placed an order for one, let alone be on the phone with you right now if I didn't?

He goes to check if they have any in stock. I get bounced around between a few people while on hold. They re-connect me to him a short while later and he says they don't have any in stock. I point out that their website shows 3 in stock - and it's also still displaying, "80 pin interface - 80 to 68 pin SCA adapter included" in red, bold-faced type. He says they must have sold out (had a rush on old 80pin SCSI drives I guess).

He offers to try doing an exchange for an 18GB drive instead. I politely decline ... no one has offered even a half-hearted apology at this point. I'm a very old fashioned guy; an apology will go a very long way with me.

Then he gets me an RMA number and tries to wind up the call. I say, "So I get to pay shipping twice?" So he goes to print a UPS shipping label. I thank him. He thanks me for calling. I add in a completely neutral tone, "no reason for an apology, have a good day." And he hangs up on me.

Sorry but HyperMicro just fell off my list of places to shop. I've only ordered from them three times over the past 2 years, but 2 times out of three there's been a basic problem (i.e. wrong item sent, or pathetic packaging that resulted in a DOA HDD). If the guy today had sounded even the least bit apologetic, I would have taken the trade or just said don't worry about it (it's only a $29 drive). Now I don't know what to do with this drive - I'm not sure it's worth returning even with a shipping label as I'd still be out $12 for the original FedEx shipping. The only thing I'm sure of is that I won't be ordering from them again. I guess if you're not buying $2400 worth of Ultra320 drives you don't count. I feel that way about a lot of places these days, actually.

 

[blakerwry]

i just ordered some CD's from them.. no problem.. got free shipping from mentioning SR...

I have however, have heard of customer service related problems from hyper micro. But I realize that can happen anywhere.

 

[sechs]

Hypermicro's customer service is very poor. It seems that website errors are the only reason that you need to contact them, however.

When I order the Maxtor DM+9s, the website listed them as having a three year warranty, but the drives I got had only a two-year warranty. I talked to the same guy three times, and had to re-explain everything from scratch each time.

 

[Mercutio]

Hilariously, I just sent a drive back to newegg only to receive the same, still bad and certainly not repaired drive back. After dealing with a shipping mishap that's taken over a month to correct, I don't know if I'm willing to deal with them.

 

[blakerwry]

To tell you the truth Merc I'm very surprised you even noticed the problem with the drive before plugging it in.

I'm not blind, but I would not be checking every contact and pin to make sure it's 100%. I'd probably be so excited to get a new drive i'd skip right over it... only to notice afterwards when the drive didnt work.

A collegue of mine however, didnlt even notice a burnt chip (and surounding PCB) on the bottom of a WD BB drive that would no longer spin up anymore. That I think is a bit hard to overlook if you have a non-working drive.


That really sucks that newegg didn't replace the drive. This whole ordeal has to be the worst customer service I've ever ran into. I think fate is against us... both UPS and fedex messing up on the same package.... that's a bad omen.

 

[CityK]

Hypermicro's customer service is very poor.

If my one and only experience with them on the phone is any indication, then I would have to agree. When I called regarding a shipping question, the guy I spoke to sounded like he had just woken up and was all pissed off because my call had disturbed his nap.

 

[mubs]

So where does one get good service? Some years ago, when the Quantum fireball was the "performance" drive, I bought a few from Buy.com, and they came properly packaged and I've never had a problem with them. Probably because Buy is just a web front that pipes all orders into Ingram Micro which actually pulls the part and ships it. One would think a large distributor like Ingram should certainly know how to handle sensitive computer parts. All other drives I've bought have been retail.

 

[CougTek]

I would suggest you to re-write this post in a new thread at SR. Since both SR and Hypermicro have a strong relationship, it might have more impact there.

IMO, they should have offered you a rebate on a higher-capacity drive with the connector you want, be it only for the delay they caused by shipping the wrong drive.

 

[Buck]

So where does one get good service?

<cough>HLM Company</cough>

 

[Mercutio]

To tell you the truth Merc I'm very surprised you even noticed the problem with the drive before plugging it in.

I'm not blind, but I would not be checking every contact and pin to make sure it's 100%. I'd probably be so excited to get a new drive i'd skip right over it... only to notice afterwards when the drive didnt work.

Getting new drives is a slightly more regular event at my house. I do check pin alignment before I install hardware. It's usually more of an issue with CPUs - one of the reasons I no longer buy CPUs locally is that I ran into too many that someone else had gotten before me - probably checking overclockability - and I'd get more out of alignment pins than I thought possible, but I check drives, too. I've run into badly bent pins on floppy drives. This is the first time I had a hard disk with a missing pin. I don't know how that happened. I'm not sure the pin was ever there.

 

[blakerwry]

From what I remember, it looked like the pin got pushed in and wasn't soldered to the PCB cleanly. I think it's something you could fix yourself if you had an EE degree or just some good electronics soldering experience.

Of course, I think that would void your warranty.