osm@ox.com (Owen Scott Medd) (02/22/90)
We have a growing population of DECstation 3100s and a stable population of Sun 3/50s. Unfortunately (for our systems staff), the machines we've traditionally had backup devices on are being replaced by these faster, newer machines which don't have a bus to stick interface cards into. We are aware of the Exabyte solution, but what I'd really like is some erasable optical disks that could be chained onto the scsi bus. Using them (the erasable optical disks) as dumb dump devices would be fine in the short term, but I'd really like to use them as slow (but removable) filesystems. Is anyone aware of products which would serve our purposes? Recommendations for WORM devices also welcomed, but I think we're really looking for an erasable optical disk with an embedded SCSI controller. [ Maybe I'm completely wrong, too, but I'm sure someone will post that out within the next 10 seconds. ] Owen -- USMail: Ocwen Trading, Inc., 101 N. Main, Suite 410, Ann Arbor, MI 48104 Phone: +1 313 930-1888 FAX: +1 313 930-6636 UUCP: <backbone>!umich!oxtrap!osm Internet: osm@ox.com
leadley@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (Scott Leadley) (02/22/90)
In article <1990Feb21.180149.23857@ox.com> osm@ox.com (Owen Scott Medd) writes: >We have a growing population of DECstation 3100s and a stable population of >Sun 3/50s. Unfortunately (for our systems staff), the machines we've >traditionally had backup devices on are being replaced by these faster, newer >machines which don't have a bus to stick interface cards into. > >We are aware of the Exabyte solution, but what I'd really like is some >erasable optical disks that could be chained onto the scsi bus. Using >them (the erasable optical disks) as dumb dump devices would be fine in >the short term, but I'd really like to use them as slow (but removable) >filesystems. As a totally off the wall suggestion, are you willing to stick your neck out and try SCSI floptical disks on a disk array controller (e.g. Maximum Strategy)? It might be interesting to try. Of course you're in deep doodoo if you lose one of the set of floptical disks or mix them up, but nobody said that being a pioneer was easy. -- Scott Leadley - leadley@cc.rochester.edu
tihor@acf4.NYU.EDU (Stephen Tihor) (02/22/90)
Check the trades for the "inspire"(sp?) add. They are the higher priced spread in opticals but they claimed to have all flavors of disks on native SCSI.
eam@soleil.UUCP (Ed A. Mills) (02/23/90)
Although intended for VAXStation SCSI, I purchased a supposed working Optical R/W which has never worked. I'm packing it up and returning it to the vendor, and have since opted for an SDI-interface Optical R/W for our 6410. I haven't heard any claims since for working VAX- Station SCSI Optical R/W; in fact Sony met with a manufacturer last week in Boston about the problem (and other stuff too), and all I can see going on is a lot of finger-pointing. Ed Mills Harris Semi Melbourne, FL
news@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (Network News) (02/28/90)
In article <5386@ur-cc.UUCP> leadley@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (Scott Leadley) writes: >In article <1990Feb21.180149.23857@ox.com> osm@ox.com (Owen Scott Medd) writes: >> ... what I'd really like is some >>erasable optical disks that could be chained onto the scsi bus. > As a totally off the wall suggestion, are you willing to stick your >neck out and try SCSI floptical disks on a disk array controller (e.g. >Maximum Strategy)? It might be interesting to try. ... Owen writes (in in e-mail): >There are people here who are really interested in getting a hold of >some floptical drives, though. You wouldn't happen to have a source >for the buggers? I was hoping someone else with more hands-on experience (i.e. any) with flopical disk systems would respond, but since that isn't the case, I made a quick survey of two trade magazines that I have immediately to hand (Sun Observer [2/90] and PC Week [late '89]). Warnings: - I have not proof read this article. - One ad had just six words about floptical disk drives, a couple were full-page spreads. The quality and quantity of information in the ads varies considerably. - I have made no attempt to find out if the systems being sold are comparable or even work. Someone else will have to do that. - The lowest price quoted in any ad was $2995. The highest was $4960. I'm not going to do your thinking for you; you have to find out which is which and why. - Caveat emptor. Alphatronix voice: 800-229-8686 - no address available - 919-544-0001 fax: 919-544-4079 "Inspire" 650MB floptical disk systems for Digital (?VMS or Ultrix?), Sun, PC, PS/2, Mac and Novell environments. Also jukebox systems. Introl Corp. voice: 612-631-7600 2675 Patton Rd fax: 612-631-7802 St. Paul, MN 55113 "Sterling 652E" floptical disk systems for Sun 3 and Sun 4. "Plug and Play" (implies to me that it uses the Sun SCSI driver). Additional software. Clayton Computer Systems voice: 916-925-5727 (M-F 7AM-5PM PST) 271-I Opportunity St. fax: 916-925-7340 Sacramento, CA 95838 Ricoh rewritable disk: 300MB/side from $2995 Sony rewritable disk: 300MB/side call interscience Computer Corp. voice: 800-627-2007 (CA) 5171 Clareton Dr. 818-707-2000 " Agoura Hills, CA 91301 800-342-4060 (MD) 301-595-0180 " OPTICAL DRIVE SCSI SUBSYSTEMS - 600MB erasable Pinnacle Micro voice: 800-553-7070 ??? Alton Parkway 714-727-3300 (in CA) Irvine, CA 92718 fax: 714-727-1913 "REO-nnn" 650MB floptical disk systems for Digital (?VMS or Ultrix?), Sun, PC, HP, PS/2 and Mac environments. "Single or dual-disk" to "25 disk, 16GB" systems. R Squared Englewood, CO voice: 800-777-3478 303-799-9292 Irvine, CA 800-234-3478 303-837-0960 Phoenix, AZ 800-759-3478 602-966-1255 Salt Lake City, UT 800-777-3478 801-261-2473 Distributor for Pinnacle Micro. Artecon voice: 800-USA-ARTE 2440 Impala Ave 619-931-5500 Dept 5500 fax: 619-931-5527 PO Box 9000 Carlsbad, CA 92008 594MB (formatted) floptical disk systems. Scott Leadley - leadley@cc.rochester.edu