[comp.sys.mac] Mac SCSI hard disk installation software

armstrng@dalcs.UUCP (Stan Armstrong) (10/28/88)

Computer Shopper (Sept. & Oct.) had a recipe for putting together a hard
drive from components. I tried it and it works. The result was a 64 meg drive
for $600 complete with 1 year warrantee and good tech support. I used a
Seagate 277N SCSI drive from Hard Drives International, an AppleHive box
from Tulin, a cable from Altex, and Ephraim Vishniac's SF&I for the software.
Seagate supplied me with the information I needed to configure the
software....well, almost.

There is a problem remaining. I am unable to get the Finder to mount the
drive. The disk is formatted, and the driver works (I am able to mount the
drive using the SCSI Bus cdev), but Finder can't find it. (I know you can't
boot with the earlier versions of the MacPlus ROM's, but even if I disable the
Unit Attention, the drive won't mount from a floppy startup.)

If anyone knows the solution, I would sure like to hear from you. If anyone
want more details, I will forward them to you.

I would also be interested in hearing about other installer, formatter, driver
software which might tailor my SCSI drive for the Mac.

Thanks.

Stan Armstrong 
Bitnet: ARMSTRONG@STMARYS 
uucp: att!clyde!watmath!water!dalcs!armstrng 
Phone: (902) 423-2177 
Postal: 1607 Edward St.
        Halifax, Nova Scotia
        Canada  B3H 3H9

pcolby@robbie.prime.com (Peter Colby) (10/31/88)

In article <3059@dalcs.UUCP> armstrng@dalcs.UUCP (Stan Armstrong) writes:
>.... I used a
>Seagate 277N SCSI drive from Hard Drives International, an AppleHive box
>from Tulin, a cable from Altex, and Ephraim Vishniac's SF&I for the software.
>Seagate supplied me with the information I needed to configure the
>software....well, almost.
>
>There is a problem remaining. I am unable to get the Finder to mount the
>drive. The disk is formatted, and the driver works (I am able to mount the
>drive using the SCSI Bus cdev), but Finder can't find it. (I know you can't
>boot with the earlier versions of the MacPlus ROM's, but even if I disable the
>Unit Attention, the drive won't mount from a floppy startup.)
>
When I first installed my hard disk I had the same problem. I build an HD using
an Adaptec 4000A controller, a CDC WRENII (70MB), a generic (PC) power supply
box, and other random (but necessary) hardware. I used SF&I (1.0) to actually
install and format the drive. (I used the SDRV version that supported blind
reads). Immediately after formatting, the drive mounted from the finder. However
when I restarted the mac, I hung in bootup. I booted from the floppy again and
checked the drive with no problems. The next time I turned on the mac my hard
disk booted fine!!

No, I don't know what the problem was, and at this stage I don't remember doing
an additional install. After running for a couple of weeks, I mucked about with
the SF&I resources to change the interleave on my drive from 1:1 to 1:3. I also
entered the manufacturers defect list and reformatted and installed. This time
I had no problem at all.

One suggestion in your case would be to try one of the alternate drivers
included with SF&I. Thinking about it now, I may have gone from the non-blind
driver to one of the blind drivers to get my disk to boot. So your problem
could be a driver problem (the driver is responsible for notifying the
Finder that it has a drive to mount.) -OR-, if your drive isn't ready when
the mac goes through it's boot sequence the driver itself may not be
installed from the HD and of course the drive won't mount then.

>I would also be interested in hearing about other installer, formatter, driver
>software which might tailor my SCSI drive for the Mac.
>
I have heard glowing reports about something called Silver Server from LaCie and
I intend to get it as soon as MacConnection gets some more in. However, I know
that Silver Server works with an Adaptec controller. If you are interested I
would call LaCie (or MacConnection) to find out if it will also support the
Seagate drive you have. The proce quote I had from MacConnection was $95.

Good Luck

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dregis@pldote1.intel.com (~Dave Regis) (11/02/88)

I recently purchased a Seagate s277n drive also and am very interested in 
whatever information I can get on it.  It should be arriving via UPS some
day this week, and when I get it I'll be more than anxious in formatting it
and getting it online.  From what I understand, the drive uses the same
mechanism as the s277r which is an RLL encoded drive using the st506(?)
interface (or whatever IBM PCs use).  The logic board is different, of
course, to allow the SCSI to interface and also to perform the RLL stuff
on _it_ rather than a separate controller board.  By the way, what sort
of performance should I expect from this drive?  I anyone has information
on this drive, I would greatly appreciate some e-mail.  The problem is the
mail path to this system is a bit twisted.

Dave Regis
PCOCD2::"dregis@pldote1"
  ^         ^     ^
  |         |     my server
            me
  a vax

tom@iconsys.UUCP (Tom Kimpton) (11/10/88)

In article <328@cvbnet2.UUCP> pcolby@robbie.prime.com (Peter Colby) writes:
>In article <3059@dalcs.UUCP> armstrng@dalcs.UUCP (Stan Armstrong) writes:
>
>>I would also be interested in hearing about other installer, formatter, driver
>>software which might tailor my SCSI drive for the Mac.
>>
>I have heard glowing reports about something called Silver Server from LaCie and
>I intend to get it as soon as MacConnection gets some more in. However, I know
>that Silver Server works with an Adaptec controller. If you are interested I
>would call LaCie (or MacConnection) to find out if it will also support the
>Seagate drive you have. The proce quote I had from MacConnection was $95.

Have you heard whether the Silver Server will support
two drives on the Adaptec controller?

I have read that Ephraim's driver will not support
two drives, and suspect that the driver that I
got from Tulin will not.

It would be nice to hang another drive off the controller.
-- 
Tom Kimpton                    UUCP: {uunet,caeco,nrc-ut}!iconsys!tom
Software Development Engineer  ARPANET: icon%byuadam.bitnet@cunyvm.cuny.edu
Icon International, Inc.       BITNET: icon%byuadam.bitnet (multi-user acct)
Orem, Utah 84058               PHONE: (801) 225-6888