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Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!solace!news.stealth.net!www.nntp.primenet.com!nntp.primenet.com!hunter.premier.net!news1.erols.com!uunet!news-in2.uu.net!omega.metrics.com!tomh From: tomh@metrics.com (Tom Haapanen) Subject: Re: Recommended SCSI hard drive for BSD system Organization: Software Metrics Inc. Message-ID: <DyLD7t.2II@metrics.com> References: <324703FC.41C6@austin.ibm.com> <3249A04D.41C67EA6@cisco.com> <vw20fn92ks.fsf@mina.sr.hp.com> Date: Tue, 1 Oct 1996 10:02:17 GMT Lines: 40 Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc:5026 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:28345 Darryl Okahata <darrylo@sr.hp.com> writes: > * Quantum: I've got an Atlas, Fireball, and Lightning, and I like them > all, although the Lightning isn't exactly a stellar performer. The > Atlas is noisy, but fast; it's not a drive that you want to get if you > want a quiet drive. I'd avoid the Quantum Empire and, maybe, the > Grand Prix. I don't know about the Fireball TM (it might be good), > but I've seen a few complaints about the IDE version. Don't know > about the Traiilblazer. I'd recommend the Atlas and Fireball to > others. However, the Atlas (and some other fast Quantum drives) can > respond too quickly for some older/slower SCSI adapters to handle > (which causes the controller to hang); in this case you have to slow > down the drive to make it work with the controller (real solution: buy > a newer/decent controller). We have about 40-50 Quantum SCSI drives in our workstations and servers here, with a mixture of Empires, Fireballs, Lightnings, Trailblazers, Atlases and Grands Prix. We've had four failures to date: two early Empire 730S died for reasons unknown, and two Atlas 2GB drives died from over- heating (until we realized that desktop cases need a second fan to cool them properly). Our local PC dealer has sold thousands of Quantum SCSIs over the past few years, and his returns are on the order of 1-2%. I'd also be happy with Conner, but, alas, they are no longer. I have had too many bad experiences with Seagate to be comfortable with their drives, but I don't really have statistical evidence to back that up. That pretty much leaves IBM and HP, but they tend to have only limited availability, a fairly small selection of drive types, and relatively higher prices. I did just order a whack of slightly older IBM 730 MB drives for RAID use at an excellent price, though ... Homebrew RAID is getting to be a pain, since sub-2 GB SCSI drives are pretty hard to find now, and you don't always need to have an 8 GB RAID subsystem. -- [ /tom haapanen -- tomh@metrics.com -- software metrics inc -- waterloo, ont ] [ "everything that can be invented has been invented." ] [ -- charles h. duell, u.s. patent commissioner, 1899 ]