StoreEver Tape Storage
1748285 Members
3940 Online
108761 Solutions
New Discussion юеВ

Re: Ultrium on an EISA Fast SE SCSI-2 adapter

 
cam9269
Regular Advisor

Ultrium on an EISA Fast SE SCSI-2 adapter

Hi Guys,

I need advise, i am currently building a old server (a D230), and I wanted to connect and Ultrium tape drive to it, trouble is, the only SCSI card i could find for is is an EISA f/SE SCSI2 type. Most of the ultrium drives use an LVD type interface.

Any ideas how i go around this?

TIA!
8 REPLIES 8
cam9269
Regular Advisor

Re: Ultrium on an EISA Fast SE SCSI-2 adapter

Additional info, this was the specific scsi card that I was able to source: A2874-69006 (Fast Wide Differential SCSI-2 GSC/HSC interface board) - is this even correct?
Torsten.
Acclaimed Contributor

Re: Ultrium on an EISA Fast SE SCSI-2 adapter

Forget it.

Fast wide differential is high voltage - LVD is low voltage. This is not campatible and can damage the drive.

SE-SCSI is compatible, but far too slow.
This will not work.
There are NO LVD HBAs for this old server.

Hope this helps!
Regards
Torsten.

__________________________________________________
There are only 10 types of people in the world -
those who understand binary, and those who don't.

__________________________________________________
No support by private messages. Please ask the forum!

If you feel this was helpful please click the KUDOS! thumb below!   
cam9269
Regular Advisor

Re: Ultrium on an EISA Fast SE SCSI-2 adapter

So it is not advisable for me to use an LTO drive on the D230?

But would a DDS4/DAT72 drive be ok then?
Torsten.
Acclaimed Contributor

Re: Ultrium on an EISA Fast SE SCSI-2 adapter

i'm afraid your are out of luck.
There is not only the speed problem.
What OS do you run? 11.00?

Newer OS won't support the EISA HBAs and older releases does not have a driver that supports DDS4 drives ...

Hope this helps!
Regards
Torsten.

__________________________________________________
There are only 10 types of people in the world -
those who understand binary, and those who don't.

__________________________________________________
No support by private messages. Please ask the forum!

If you feel this was helpful please click the KUDOS! thumb below!   
cam9269
Regular Advisor

Re: Ultrium on an EISA Fast SE SCSI-2 adapter

Also, would it be possible to change the interface cables of the LTO drive to an SE-SCSI? Pardon me for these questions, i'm really confused with all these connector types.
cam9269
Regular Advisor

Re: Ultrium on an EISA Fast SE SCSI-2 adapter

Yup am on 11.00, so i'm gonna be stuck on a DDS3 then, which is what I have with another D230 here.
Torsten.
Acclaimed Contributor

Re: Ultrium on an EISA Fast SE SCSI-2 adapter

Yes, IMHO you'll need to stay with your DDS3.

Regarding the speed - from the LTO3 specs:
"...adjust the speed of the drive, from 27MB/s to 80MB/s,..."
But single-ended SCSI was 5MB/s.
The driver problem will stay anyway ...

Hope this helps!
Regards
Torsten.

__________________________________________________
There are only 10 types of people in the world -
those who understand binary, and those who don't.

__________________________________________________
No support by private messages. Please ask the forum!

If you feel this was helpful please click the KUDOS! thumb below!   
Curtis Ballard
Honored Contributor

Re: Ultrium on an EISA Fast SE SCSI-2 adapter

If you can find an EISA SE card instead of the HVD card then you can use it but you won't get the full performance of the drive. That server probably can't push the drive that fast anyway. The drive is capable of taking the data just as fast as the server sends it even if it only comes in at 5MB/s. The speed ratings that people mention are the speeds at which the drive is able to keep the motors turning full time. Speeds below that aren't a problem but the drive just has to stop and wait for data then write a burst followed by another stop and wait. There is no performance penalty in that mode unlike the DDS drives.

The cables aren't really an issue. If you are using an SE card then just about any good quality cable that will connect should be good enough. New cables for the latest LVD systems will work fine with older SE and HVD systems. The older cables won't work well with the new HBAs though.