Server Upgrade Help

[b3b0p]

Hello,

New to this forum and this will be my first post. Be gentle.

I need to upgrade the storage on our home file/media server. It is s Dual Pentium II 333 with an Intel DK440LX Motherboard which has on board SCSI AIC-7895 Controller and Raid Card (Adaptec AR0-1130C). Of course with my one drive the Raid is useless, but I plan on using it after this upgrade.

We have run out of space. Right now we have an old Seagate Cheetah 4.5GB Drive installed (Model ST34501WC). And would like to increase the storage. The server is plenty fast for what we want and I would just like to add some more old Cheetah Drives on the Cheap from eBay.

I looked on eBay and they are dirt cheap. But have no clue what will work. Here are some I am looking at. Can someone give me some guidence on whether these will work for me:

18.2 GB Cheetah Drives
Western Digital 9.1GB Drives

I know those drives are not Ultra Wide like my controller but from my understanding SCSI is mostly backwards compatible.

With all the different SCSI connections and the like. It makes purchasing something like this so confusing.

Thanks,
Chris

 

[mechBgon]

Note that the first drive there has an 80-pin SCA interface, so you'd need some adapters for those (plus look at the physical size, that's not a LP 1" drive there :Q). On a cost-per-Mb basis you'd probably be better off with a ~60-80Gb IDE drive (look in Hot Deals), but of course SCSI is built to run 24/7 for years on end...

Your controller can run in Ultra2 mode if all your drives are at least Ultra2 and have a terminated LVD cable. With an UW device on the bus, the bus will have to revert to UW mode for all devices, which is probably not going to make a lot of practical difference for what you seem to be doing.

For a new poster, you have a great handle on how to make links, nice job and welcome to the Forums!

 

[b3b0p]

Yeah, I know it is not 1" drive. But they are so cheap for a Cheetah (or even something like the Cheetah). I would just like to stick with SCSI since that is what everything in there already is. It may sound stupid but I have my reasons.

Right now my 4.5GB Cheetah (see link above) uses one of those adapters but have no clue whether its LVD or SCA or whatever. It has a 68 Pin with the Power Connection to 80 Pin adapter (pretty sure its 80 Pin - Again see link of ST34501WC above to correct me).

So, as long as I have one of those adapters those 18 GB Cheetah SCA 80 Pin 1.6" Profile Drives will work, right?

Thanks for the quick response.

Chris

 

[mechBgon]

Cheetahs are wonderful, just ask anyone (LOL)

Yeah, sounds like you've got an adapter that would work with that 18Gb model just fine. "SCA" stands for Single Connector Attachment, referring to the 80-pin plug that handles both power and data. LVD stands for Low Voltage Differential. If you replace your old drive with this one, and get a LVD cable & terminator, then you could be enjoying 80Mb/sec Ultra2 goodness


edit: by the way, here are some reasonably-priced SCSI cables w/ terminators: http://www.coolerguys.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=001&Category_Code=CA-SCSI

 

[b3b0p]

Ohh boy! I like the sound of that. But unfortunately my controller is only 40 MB/s. But for my uses, until it dies I don't really care. It is still plenty fast. Can't wait to hook up 2+ of those babies on Raid 0 (I know not true raid, oh well). This is not mission critical file server. Just Loads of MP3s and your basic downloads and roaming profiles from around the house.

One more thing I forgot to ask will this 36GB Cheetah work? What kind of adapter would I need for this one, if it works that is? It says LVD but does that change the Adapter I would need (68 Pin /w Power Connector -> 80 Pin)?

Thanks,
Chris

 

[mechBgon]

Looks like it, you can jumper it for SE operation (edit: and no, your 68-pin cable should plug straight into that one). Now, let me be a wet blanket and remind you that RAID0 is kind of pointless for two reasons:

1) your whole SCSI bus tops out at 40Mb/sec theoretical, probably about 80-90% of that in reality, so the drives really cannot get going much faster than a single drive could

2) Even if you had Ultra2 speeds (80Mb/second), it won't get the data to your other systems any faster than 12.5Mb/sec, because that's how fast a 100Mbit network connection goes (100Mbit/sec = 12.5Mbyte/sec). Unless you have gigabit Ethernet at home, you might as well just run the drives separate from eachother.

If you just want to do it for the fun of it, well, then have fun

 

[mechBgon]

Oh, and one other thing... you can get an Ultra160 controller from Newegg.com for $42 if you want, search for "LSI Logic." It isn't a RAID controller, but hey.

 

[mechBgon]

D'oh, the part number that is given at the auction is for the 68-pin drive, but in the auction description it does say 80-pin, so I retract what I said... you're going to need 80 --> 68 converters for the ones in the auction, if their description is correct. You might check centrix-intl.com for those, they seem to do a lot of that type of thing.

 

[b3b0p]

It is generally for just plain fun. But I can always switch to a different raid level later.

It says the drive is 80 Pin. But you say I don't need an adapter when I have a 68 Pin?

Thanks,
Chris

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
D'oh, the part number that is given at the auction is for the 68-pin drive, but in the auction description it does say 80-pin, so I retract what I said... you're going to need 80 --> 68 converters for the ones in the auction, if their description is correct. You might check centrix-intl.com for those, they seem to do a lot of that type of thing.