Best way to move an external SCSI drive from one system to another

[Randy Daniel]

I have an HP 9000/856 running HPUX 10.20 that has an external SCSI drive connected and I want to move that drive to an HP 9000/861 running HPUX 10.20 and maintain the data. What is the best way to do this?

[Michael Steele_2]

Hi Randy:

Could you run
# model

For exmaple:
# model
9000/800/L3000-6x

9000 = class
800 = server ( 700 = work station )
L3000 = the important stuff

Regarding your question, the safest way is to power both server and external drive down first. Then start up the external drive and give enough time to announce itself to the server. Then bring up the server, which will automatically detect the external drive.
Now run 'ioscan -funC disk' to view the new device file, which should have a 'CLAIMED' status and two device files, /dev/rdsk/c#t#d# and /dev/dsk/c#t#d#.

Write back if its not 'CLAIMED' and post the ioscan report.

[Randy Daniel]

The server that has the drive currently connected is a 9000/856/E55 the other one is a 9000/861/D270.

Once I get a time scheduled to power down the two servers and move the drive, I will let you know if it has "CLAIMED" listed.

Thanks for your reply.

[Stan Sieler]

Just to be safe...are you sure the external
disk drive (BTW, it's always best to mention what
*kind* of SCSI "drive" ... could be a tape drive or CD-ROM or some other kind, but I'm assuming it's a disk drive) is not used by
file systems that also reside on other
disks (including internal disks)?

If so, then you should be able to move it
safely ... when you put it on the second
machine, don't let SAM or anyone offer to
initialize it for you.

[Randy Daniel]

Stan,
It is a disk drive and the file system on the external drive is not used by any other file system (internal or external). So just shutting down both systems and moving it over should work just fine? Thanks.

[Stan Sieler]

...should work fine?

You'll have to either manually mount it
(associating an empty directory with the
disk device), or add it to /etc/fstab
(and mount -a or some such) to get it mounted.

My recollection is that you can run "sam"
to find the drive, create the device files
(if needed), and it may well notice the
drive has a file system on it and offer
to mount it for you (and add it to fstab).

I guess I'm trying to say that this isn't
quite as automatic a process as it is
on some operating systems, like MPE/iX,
but it shouldn't be hard.

sieler@allegro.com

[Stan Sieler]

Re: using sam.

This should work since both systems
are running 10.20. If the disk had
a file system that was pre-vxFS, you
might not be able to mount it on an 11.x
system.

[Randy Daniel]

OK guys,
The ioscan report shows the drive and it is claimed. I tried to add it to fstab and mount it manually but I got the following error: /dev/dsk/c1t5d0: unreconized file system.

What should I try next?

[Randy Daniel]

Thanks guys I figured it out and it worked great!

[Stan Sieler]

What did you do to make it work?
thanks!