grig8348@fredonia.UUCP (LoyEllen Griggs RHTM) (04/08/89)
I have an XT compatible with two ST-225s in it, and an extra fan to
keep them cool. They run off a Western Digital controller with Disk Manager
to fool the system (it wants no more than one 20M and one 10M on the system).
I am running out of disk space and have two options.
1. I have a half heighth ST251 sitting here that I could put in, removing
one of the 20Megs. But something in my mind connects half 251s with trouble.
2. I can get the same result (60M) with a W.D. RLL controller, also sitting
idle, that just came in. I've never used this controller, or any other kind
that increases storage capacity, so I'm slightly nervous about it. I have a
40 disk backup but if my system is down right now it could hurt real bad.
What I'm looking for is experiences with either of these methods to compare
them. I need that system to stay up and running at least a month solid.
The guy I got both the 251 and the RLL from says they're great, can anyone
back him up?
Many thanks in advance.
--
_ /Someday my address will include a planet.
__ | | __ \ / LoyEllen
(__)-| |-(__) .. . .. .. . .. .. )<NN fredonia!grig8348@cs.buffalo.edu
|_| / \ {watmath|decvax}sunybcs!fredonia!grig8348leonard@bucket.UUCP (Leonard Erickson) (04/09/89)
Regarding use of an ST-251 drive with an RLL controller: *Don't*! With an RLL controller you need a drive with tighter specs than you need with an MFM controller. You *may* get away with using a non-RLL certiified drive, but you can't *count* on it. The ST-251 is only certified for MFM use. The ST-277R is a ST-251 that is certified for RLL use. It works well. -- Leonard Erickson ...!tektronix!reed!percival!bucket!leonard CIS: [70465,203] "I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let's start with typewriters." -- Solomon Short
davidsen@steinmetz.ge.com (Wm. E. Davidsen Jr) (04/10/89)
I have been running an ST251 RLL for about 6 months. It really wants to
warm up before being reliable, but since the system is up 24 hrours
that's not a problem. About 70% of all ST251's seem to work RLL. Try it,
what have you got to lose (assuming you keep backups).
--
bill davidsen (wedu@crd.GE.COM)
{uunet | philabs}!steinmetz!crdos1!davidsen
"Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -meleech@zeta.cs.unc.edu (Jonathan Leech) (04/11/89)
In article <13557@steinmetz.ge.com> davidsen@crdos1.UUCP (bill davidsen) writes: >that's not a problem. About 70% of all ST251's seem to work RLL. Try it, >what have you got to lose (assuming you keep backups). The cost of either an RLL controller or the ST251. -- Jon Leech (leech@cs.unc.edu) __@/ Brice: "How many people don't know anything about it?" Andy: "About what?"
karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM ([Karl Denninger]) (04/11/89)
>----- >Response 2 of 2 (2719) by davidsen at steinmetz on Tue 11 Apr 89 1:10 >[Wm. E. Davidsen Jr] > >I have been running an ST251 RLL for about 6 months. It really wants to >warm up before being reliable, but since the system is up 24 hrours >that's not a problem. About 70% of all ST251's seem to work RLL. Try it, I have to second that, but we've never had a thermal problem with it. About 80% of the 251's that we try certify on the analog test stand w/o problems. We did have a failure last week, but that was hardly the RLL encoding's fault -- the heads crashed! You can't count those; they would occur with any encoding method. ---- Karl Denninger (karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM, <well-connected>!ddsw1!karl) Public Access Data Line: [+1 312 566-8911], Voice: [+1 312 566-8910] Macro Computer Solutions, Inc. "Quality Solutions at a Fair Price"
davidsen@steinmetz.ge.com (Wm. E. Davidsen Jr) (04/12/89)
In article <7692@thorin.cs.unc.edu> leech@zeta.UUCP (Jonathan Leech) writes: | In article <13557@steinmetz.ge.com> davidsen@crdos1.UUCP (bill davidsen) writes: | >that's not a problem. About 70% of all ST251's seem to work RLL. Try it, | >what have you got to lose (assuming you keep backups). | | The cost of either an RLL controller or the ST251. Remember, the original posting said that the parts were on hand... unless you are one of those people who think that running RLL on an MFM drive will "melt the controller," "blow the oxide off the disk," or "corrupt the MFM bits," how could it cost anything but a bunch of time. -- bill davidsen (wedu@crd.GE.COM) {uunet | philabs}!steinmetz!crdos1!davidsen "Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -me