Adding disk

[Michael Xavier]

I have just purchased an HP9000 D210 with 2*2GB Hot Swap Disks. I need to add at least a further 6GB of disk space. Can anyone advice on the easiest/cheapest way to achieve this. All current devices on the machine are working OK. Here is a full ioscan listing of the machine.
Thanking you in advance,
Michael.

Class I H/W Path Driver S/W State H/W Type Description
=====================================================================
bc 0 root CLAIMED BUS_NEXUS
ext_bus 0 0 c720 CLAIMED INTERFACE GSC add-on Fast/Wide SCSI Interface
target 0 0.7 tgt CLAIMED DEVICE
ctl 0 0.7.0 sctl CLAIMED DEVICE Initiator
ext_bus 1 4 c720 CLAIMED INTERFACE GSC add-on Fast/Wide SCSI Interface
target 1 4.5 tgt CLAIMED DEVICE
disk 0 4.5.0 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE SEAGATE ST32171W
target 2 4.7 tgt CLAIMED DEVICE
ctl 1 4.7.0 sctl CLAIMED DEVICE Initiator
target 3 4.8 tgt CLAIMED DEVICE
disk 1 4.8.0 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE SEAGATE ST32171W
bc 1 12 bc CLAIMED BUS_NEXUS Bus Converter
tty 0 12/0 mux2 CLAIMED INTERFACE MUX
ba 0 16 bus_adapter CLAIMED BUS_NEXUS Core I/O Adapter
ext_bus 3 16/0 CentIf CLAIMED INTERFACE Built-in Parallel Interface
ext_bus 2 16/5 c720 CLAIMED INTERFACE Built-in SCSI
target 4 16/5.0 tgt CLAIMED DEVICE
tape 0 16/5.0.0 stape CLAIMED DEVICE HP C1537A
target 5 16/5.2 tgt CLAIMED DEVICE
disk 2 16/5.2.0 sdisk CLAIMED DEVICE TOSHIBA CD-ROM XM-5401TA
target 6 16/5.7 tgt CLAIMED DEVICE
ctl 2 16/5.7.0 sctl CLAIMED DEVICE Initiator
lan 0 16/6 lan2 CLAIMED INTERFACE Built-in LAN
ps2 0 16/7 ps2 CLAIMED INTERFACE Built-in Keyboard/Mouse
ba 1 20 bus_adapter CLAIMED BUS_NEXUS Core I/O Adapter
tty 1 20/2 asio0 CLAIMED INTERFACE Built-in RS-232C
ba 2 20/5 eisa CLAIMED BUS_NEXUS EISA Bus Adapter
lan 1 20/5/4 btlan0 UNCLAIMED UNKNOWN EISA card INP0500
processor 0 62 processor CLAIMED PROCESSOR Processor
memory 0 63 memory CLAIMED MEMORY Memory

[Brian M Rawlings · Accepted solution]

Since the D2xx servers can only run 2 internal drives, your options are:
1> Replace one or both drives with bigger ones (hard to get from HP anymore, except as spare parts, but widely available from used equipment brokers)
2> Use an external drive or drive chassis to add disks to the FWD SCSI bus. There is also an SE SCSI bus, but since FWD is available, forget the SE SCSI (leave it for the DAT & CD).

Again, external drives and drive chassis for this old box are hard to get from HP, unless you buy them full of drives (and you only need one 9GB drive or a pair of 4GB drives). Brokers will sell them, if you have a good relationship with one.

I would go with a Jamaica/HASS chassis (A3311A for desktop, or A3312A for rackmount). Add redundant power if this is production (it's a small cost). You can put up to 8 1" drives, or 4 1.6" drives, into this HA drive chassis.

The 8 slots are split, 4 left, 4 right, but you can join them with a short cable to make it one 8-slot chassis. Unless you are mirroring drives in the chassis, just use all 8 slots on one SCSI bus. For mirroring, you would want another FWD SCSI adapter (A4107A) for the host, and then run the left 4 slots on one bus and the right 4 slots on the other bus.

Ask about the drives, whether they are 1.6" or 1". Since you don't need many drives, you don't really care, but for the same capacity (9GB drive, for instance), you should pay less for a 1.6" drive than for the same size drive in a 1" form factor. The 1" drives are generally newer, for each size, so they may prove more reliable (if that's a term you can apply to used drives).

You'll need cables. Ask for "HDTS68" SCSI cables (high-density, thumb screw, 68-pin connectors). Length is up to you, they should have plenty of selection.

I'd suggest somebody if I had a particular favorite, but those recommendations come back to haunt one, so... check the web, you'll find lots to choose from.

Good Luck! --bmr

[Eugeny Brychkov]

Michael,
hot swappable D-class disks are:
4GB = A3643A/A3647A;
9GB = A4910A;
18GB = A5528A
Eugeny

[V. W.]

I have seen these drives for a resonable price from my number one vendor. Here is their website.
www.on-queue.com

Best Of Luck,
-V

[Brian M Rawlings]

Oh yes, one dirty little secret that HP would only admit to if asked: the internal drives in the D-class servers are interchangeable with the HASS/Jamaica external chassis I mentioned earlier.

HP had different product numbers for the same drive, depending on which frame it was intended for. This was mostly for their internal purposes, like keeping track of which drives were supported where, and pricing (they were always priced the same, but they had the option to price them differently...)

Thus, the drives Eugeny mentions will work either in your D2xx box, or in the external chassis. Nice!

Note that this was only true if all drives were FWD (an optional upgrade from standard SE internal drives on D2xx... but your ioscan shows that you have the FWD upgrade).

Regards, --bmr