SCSI Harddrive D3583C 4.2Gig

[Michael Raabe]

I just bought 23 hard drives. Two of them are 4.2 gig. The HP web site provides no information on the HP D3583C. The Seagate ST34572WC has a PDF file and software. Both drives have the same gloss white labeling and the circuit boards look the same. Can I use the information and software provided for the Seagate on the Hp? I have an adaptor card that changes the 68 pin hotswap plug to a mini 68 pin and/or internal 50 pin with a standard power plug on the side. I am also using a Adaptec AHA2940UW PCI board to hook it up the a ABIT mother board with a Pentium 800Mhz CPU.
Does anybody know why both of these drives give a message of "unexpected SCSI command failure" when I go into the Adaptec v1.32sb BIOS for setup? The Adaptec PCI card was a pull from a Compaq computer.

[Paul R. Dittrich · Accepted solution]

Yes, the Seagate info is accurate for the HP.

I think that Adaptec card is single-channel, meaning internal drives OR external drives but not both.

HTH,
Paul

[Michael Lampi]

The Adaptec can use both the internal and external connectors simultaneously. They will be on the same SCSI bus.

The Seagate is the same as the HP.

The problem with the Adaptec controller and these drives is probably due to the converter board, which switches from the 80 pin SCA connector (you referred to it as a 68 pin hot plug connector), to either 50 pin or 68 pin connectors. This converter probably also ties the SCSI TERMPWR line to the +5V power on the adapter.

I have found that this can screw up the Adaptec controller unless you power the drives and the system on at the same time.

An alternative is to cut the trace between the TERMPWR line and the +5V power.