root@sgzh.uucp (Bruno Pape) (09/06/90)
In response to my recent posting about the differences between the 1.2GB SMD and IPI drives I received the following two replies from people at SGI Mountian View. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- as far as i can tell, all you need to do is change the controller and the cables. I believe the drive will stay the same It's a Sabre V ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SMD and IPI drives look the same, but are actually quite different. The only areas which might be similar are the power supplies, but I don't know for sure. In general, we are treating them as completely different drives, much as we treat a 780 and 380 from the same manufacturer differently. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Would someone like to submit a third opinion? I could use it as a tie breaker, if it is not radically different. Do we know what we will need to do to upgrade a machine with SMD disks to IPI disks? How about spare parts numbers for IPI disks and controlers? Thanks again, Bruno
markb@mark.Solbourne.COM (Mark Bradley) (09/07/90)
In article <1990Sep6.081301.1179@sgzh.uucp> root%sgzh.uucp@uunet.uu.net (Bruno Pape) writes: >In response to my recent posting about the differences between the 1.2GB >SMD and IPI drives I received the following two replies from people at >SGI Mountian View. > >Do we know what we will need to do to upgrade a machine with SMD disks to >IPI disks? > >How about spare parts numbers for IPI disks and controlers? > >Thanks again, >Bruno The IPI and SMD disk drives are very different. The SMD drive is a one head/data path unit, while the IPI is a 2HP (2-head parallel). The interfaces are very different, as well, one being the age-old SMDE and the other being IPI level 2. They are not interchangable at any field level. The entire drive must be replaced. Cabling and controllers are, of course, entirely different as well. Don't try this at home, kids..... :{) They are very different products. markb -- Mark Bradley (DoD#1100) Faster, faster, until the thrill I/O Subsystems of speed overcomes the fear of death. Solbourne Computer, Inc. --Hunter S. Thompson
jwag@moose.asd.sgi.com (Chris Wagner) (09/07/90)
In article <1990Sep6.081301.1179@sgzh.uucp>, root@sgzh.uucp (Bruno Pape) writes: > In response to my recent posting about the differences between the 1.2GB > SMD and IPI drives I received the following two replies from people at > SGI Mountian View. > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > as far as i can tell, all you need to do is change the controller > and the cables. I believe the drive will stay the same > > It's a Sabre V > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > SMD and IPI drives look the same, but are actually quite different. The only > areas which might be similar are the power supplies, but I don't know for > sure. In general, we are treating them as completely different drives, much > as we treat a 780 and 380 from the same manufacturer differently. > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Would someone like to submit a third opinion? I could use it as a tie breaker, > if it is not radically different. > > Do we know what we will need to do to upgrade a machine with SMD disks to > IPI disks? > > How about spare parts numbers for IPI disks and controlers? > Ack!! Is a SCSI and an ESDI drive the same cause they are both 5 1/4" form factor?? No, SMD and IPI are in no way similar except that they are both 8" form factor (and may share some common manufactured components). Most importantly the disk data protocol is completely different (serial instead of parallel) so cables etc are not the same. Second the IPIs are parallel head while the SMD are not, etc.etc.etc. The only way to 'upgrade' is to remove your SMD controller, drives, cables and installa new controller, drive, cables Chris