[comp.sys.next] external disk enclosure

erickson@frith.egr.msu.edu (Carl Erickson) (11/16/90)

Does anyone know what is involved with making up a box for an
external SCSI drive?  I'd like to get some use from this left-over
40M Quantum swap disk.

The User's Reference manual shows the pin-outs of the internal SCSI
bus and the external SCSI connector.  All of the signals are the
same, with the exception of TERM POWER on the external port.  Do
I just have to make a connector to map the signals from the external
50 pin SCSI connector to the internal SCSI bus?


|-----------|                     |---------------|
|           |                     |               |
|           |D |              |   |       |-----| |
| NeXT      |  |--------------|50 |???????| 40M | |
|           |2 |--SCSI cable--|pin|???????| disk| |
|           |5 |              |   |       |_____| |
|           |                     |               |
|___________|                     |_______________|


The question I'm asking is what goes in place of the question marks
in the above figure.  The Quantum 40M disk used to live on the
internal SCSI bus (as a swap disk), and now I want to use it externally.
The power supply and enclosure are easy, but I'm not sure about
connecting the 50 pin SCSI of the enclosure to the disk.  Also, what
should I do about TERM POWER coming out of the NeXT?

I realize that the SCSI cable will change when I upgrade my cube.

I would happily drop my soldering iron if I could find a decent
<power supply/enclosure/SCSI bus> box for $100 or so.  Any body have
any sources to reccomend?

Thanks for any help and/or suggestions.

Carl Erickson
Michigan State University
--
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