michaelb@wshb.csms.com ( WSHB Operations Eng) (12/08/90)
I need some advice from the net on hardware for SCO XENIX. I have a system on an ATronics International 386SX motherboard running SCO Xenix 2.3.2. It has been using a WD1006SR2 RLL HD/FD controller card and a Seagate 4144R drive. Well, the Seagate has died and I need a new drive. I have heard all of the terrible things people have had to say about RLL drives but haven't had any problems with this installation other than the bad Seagate. I haven't managed to find a good price on another large RLL drive though. (I can get another Seagate, but I am afraid I have a bad taste in my mouth.) I have gotten a couple of quotes for ESDI drives that I am considering. I have another system with a DPT ESDI controller and a CDC drive, but I don't have that kind of money in the budget for this machine. The new drives I am considering are a new Rodine 5180E - 149 meg at $600 or a refurbished Micropolis 1355 - 159 meg at $695 with a $150 credit for the Seagate. I know Micropolis is an excellent drive, but the refurbished part bothers me. I don't know anything about Rodine drives. Also, I have never used any ESDI controllers other than the DPT I spoke of. Are there any reasonably priced good ESDI controllers? By reasonably priced I mean between $150 - $200. I can't put $300 - $400 in this controller on top of a $600 drive. (Maybe I should say I need to stay under $800 and want at least 120 meg :-)) (I know, I know. Buy another 4144R and keep the same controller.) Does anyone have experience with refurbished drives, especially Micropolis? How about Rodine ESDI drives? Are they any good? What about a controller? Is the WD1007 any good? I know SCO has a patch for it so there must be some problem. Anybody got another suggestion. Does anybody suggest sticking with RLL, or with Seagate? Anyone know a good place to get good RLL drives? How about IDE. I have two systems with Conners in them, but a new 200 meg drive is expensive and I haven't found a rebuild for which I can get credit for the Seagate. (I have found a 100 meg Rodine IDE but I've heard bad things about them and SCO.) Thanks for any advice. Michael -- Michael Batchelor--Systems/Operations Engineer #compliments and complaints WSHB - An International Broadcast Station of # letterbox@csms.com The Christian Science Monitor Syndicate, Inc. #technical questions and reports michaelb@wshb.csms.com +1 803 625 4880 # letterbox-tech@csms.com
davidsen@sixhub.UUCP (Wm E. Davidsen Jr) (12/10/90)
I have run Segate drives for four years, the last wo years RLL. Any
drive manufacturer has some drives which last forever, and some which
die relatively young. I think there's a year warrantee, and those which
live that long usually are solid.
I also am now running a bunch of refurb Maxtor drives. There are not
rebuilt used, but failed QC once and corrected. I have been paying $899
for the 320MB drives. They only have a 90 day warrantee, so you have to
have faith in statistics (if it runs that long it should run years), but
they are great for the money.
I really like the CompuAdd ESDI controller, not because of the cache,
although that's nice, but because they work well. We have a bunch at work.
--
bill davidsen - davidsen@sixhub.uucp (uunet!crdgw1!sixhub!davidsen)
sysop *IX BBS and Public Access UNIX
moderator of comp.binaries.ibm.pc and 80386 mailing list
"Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -me