barry@primerd.prime.com (12/09/89)
Prime has a few surplus Maxstor 3280 SCSI disks (about 240MB) that were
ordered with a non-standard block size and non-standard microcode. I
want to restore one of these disks to the default state where the block
size is 512 and the standard microcode is used, at which point I'll plop
it in a case and use it as an external drive on my Mac. There are a set
of SCSI commands that can be used to read and write the disk parameters.
I've been told there is a command sequence that will restore the
original microcode behavior. The problem I've got is how to formulate
and send these rather specialized SCSI commands.
I checked the SUMEX archives, but none of the SCSI-related programs
there seemed applicable. Before I try to write a one-shot program to do
this, I wanted to solict feedback from the net as to what tools are
available to assist in this effort. Are there any inexpensive programs
in other archives that would be useful? In particular, the SCSI Tool
from Arborworks listed for $175 on page C-44 of Fall 1989 APDA catalog
looks like it would let me do what I want. Has anyone used SCSI Tool
(not to be confused with Paul Mercer's CDEV with a similar name)?
Please reply by mail - I'll post a summary.
Thanks in advance for your help.
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Barry Wolman | barry@s66.prime.com
Principal Technical Consultant | 500 Old Connecticut Path
Prime Computer | Framingham, MA 01701
| 508/626-1700, ext. 4187
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Nothing in this posting reflects an official position of Prime Computer.dolf@fwi.uva.nl (Dolf Starreveld) (12/10/89)
barry@primerd.prime.com writes: > Prime has a few surplus Maxstor 3280 SCSI disks (about 240MB) that were [ stuff deleted ] > in other archives that would be useful? In particular, the SCSI Tool > from Arborworks listed for $175 on page C-44 of Fall 1989 APDA catalog > looks like it would let me do what I want. Has anyone used SCSI Tool > (not to be confused with Paul Mercer's CDEV with a similar name)? Yes, a friend and I bought the program. We are developing SCSI spoftware and the program seemed very usefull. If turned out to be *very* usefull, although you still need a thorough knowlegde of the SCSI standard and the SCSI Common COmmand set to make full use of it. Having the program alone is not enough for you. You need some docs to find out what to send to this drive exactly. I think it highly unlikely though, that sending the disk anything may change its micro code. This code (although you could dicuss whether or not this should be called micro code) is normally located in ROM on the controller. ON the other hand, changing some drive parameters and reformaating will probably to the trick. SCSI Tool is good enough for that, but after formatting etc. you still need drivers etc. --dolf Dolf Starreveld Phone: +31 20 592 5056/+31 20 592 5022, TELEX: 10262 HEF NL EMAIL: dolf@fwi.uva.nl (dolf%fwi.uva.nl@hp4nl.nluug.nl) SNAIL: Dept. of Math. and Computing Science, University of Amsterdam, Kruislaan 409, NL-1098 SJ Amsterdam, The Netherlands