root@bu-cs.UUCP (Barry Shein) (07/14/85)
Ok, this one is not as trivial as it sounds mainly cuz the 'customer' (an academic dept here) is trying to keep the cost down: Current Config: VAX11/730 2 RL02s DMF32 3MB memory Running 4.2bsd (yes, it can be done, sorta even works.) Desires: More disk space, speed not critical backup device for the more disk space low cost A primary thing you should immediately notice is that there is one quad slot left in this configuration (usually used for the TS11), that's it. Current proposals: 1. Buy the EMULEX medley (40 or 70MB I believe) with a builtin cartridge backup. I am pretty sure this has a quad board controller. Cost is about $12,000. This seems like a lot of $$ but is fairly simple: any experiences? 2. Buy 2 more RL02 drives. This is cheap but I hate it: continue to use RL02s as backup devices? Only 20MB additional, it is cheap tho and certainly fits. 3. Buy a third party or used backplane expansion and then go buy something obvious. This is expensive, maybe better in the long run but the long run may not be an issue (see next.) 4. Chuck the whole system for whatever you can get for it and go buy 3 or 4 PC7300s or 2 and a 3B2 or some such. This is plausible, probably more expensive than it sounds to really do, and may not be 'politically' acceptable (ugh, but there's a big difference between 'adding a disk' and replacing the whole system even if the cost is the same, it also probably means going to SYSV which may or may not make a difference to them.) 5. Suggestions? I am just amused at this point in time that the PC7300 on my desk, which cost less than $4000, has 20MB of hard disk in it while I am about to recommend spending $12,000 for 40MB of disk (and no computer!) I guess one thing I am looking for, does anyone know of an inexpensive quad unibus controller for 'standard' (eg. SCSI) winch disks, and a good inexpensive winch they could recommend, especially if they could work in a cartridge backup? Like for $5,000 complete (or a little more or less.) Meanwhile, I will keep searching the ads, but people's experiences are always more valuable. Thanks in advance. -Barry Shein, Boston University (root or bzs@bu-cs [CSNET], ..harvard!bu-cs!root or bzs [UUCP])