Summary: 9GB Internal Disk in Ultra 1/170?

From: Mark A. Bialik (mbialik@infinityhealthcare.com)
Date: Fri Sep 24 1999 - 00:22:13 CDT


Well, the list comes through (as always). It seems I can add a 9GB
internal drive to my Ultra 1. There are concerns of over-heating, so
best not to use a 10,000RPM drive. Also, keep it a low profile drive.

Thanks to everyone.

Mark

Original Question:

> I have a spec sheet for my Ultra 1/170 which says the maximum internal
> disk capacity is 4.2 GB.
>
> I'm doing an upgrade this weekend, and would like to use an internal SCA
> 2GB disk as my boot disk and file system, and also insert a 9.1GB SCA in
> the other slot and mount /usr on it.
>
> O.S. will be Solaris 2.6
>
> Is this possible/wise? Any gotchas? Or is the spec sheet correct, in
> which case I need to find a 4 GB disk ASAP? I'll summarize, of course.
> Thanks much.

Replies:

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The FEHandbook lists a few 9GB disks as supported.
But the 10,000 rpm disks are not (too hot?)

Casper

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I have a 9GB in my Ultra 1/170.

IIRC there may be a restriction on how large the root partition
can be if you wish to boot from it, but your config will work fine.

I can recommend the Seagate ST39173WC:

# ./scsiinfo -p
esp0: sd0,0 tgt 0 lun 0:
        Synchronous(10.0MB/sec) Clean CanReconnect
        Non-removable Disk: SEAGATE ST32430W SUN2.1G 0666
esp0: sd1,0 tgt 1 lun 0:
        Synchronous(10.0MB/sec) Clean CanReconnect
        Non-removable Disk: SEAGATE ST39173WC 5698
esp0: sd2,0 tgt 2 lun 0:
        Synchronous(10.0MB/sec) Clean CanReconnect
        Non-removable Disk: SEAGATE ST31051N 0530
esp0: sd6,0 tgt 6 lun 0:
        Synchronous(5.715MB/sec) Clean CanReconnect
        <<< SCSI probe failed: device is busy >>>
esp0: st5,0 tgt 5 lun 0:
        Synchronous(4.445MB/sec) Clean CanReconnect
        Removable Tape: EXABYTE EXB-8500SMBANXH1 06X0
# uname -a
SunOS beren 5.5.1 Generic_103640-20 sun4u sparc SUNW,Ultra-1

HTH,
Mark

--
Mark C Olson               
ADC Telecommunications     |telephone: +1 612 936 8008
PO Box 1101, MS 125        |      FAX: +1 612 936 8333
Minneapolis MN 55440-1101  | mailto:mark_olson@adc.com

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You can use any 1" high SCA disk in an Ultra1 (but not 1.6" high disks).

The only new 1" high disks you can buy today are 9.1GB and 18.2GB disks (at least from Seagate with 7200 RPM) as both 2GB and 4GB SCSI disks are out of production.

If this is a workstation without print spooling I will recommend you to combine "/", "/usr", "/var" and "/opt" on a single "/" partition. If you are adding little software in addition to Solaris 2.6 I recommend that you use the 2gb disk as system disk with the following : - / : min. 1000mb & recommend 1300mb & max. 1500mb - swap : min. 500mb & recommend 700mb & max. 1000mb

Example from Ultra1 (256mb) with Solaris 2.6 on 2gb system disk : Filesystem kbytes used avail capacity Mounted on /dev/dsk/c0t0d0s0 1104639 649676 399732 62% / /proc 0 0 0 0% /proc fd 0 0 0 0% /dev/fd swap 1115904 16 1115888 1% /tmp

You can then use the 9gb disk for "non system" data. With the low prices on 9gb & 18gb disks today I recommend that you get an 18GB (or 9GB) disk for data and use the 9gb disk as system disk if the 2gb disk is too small and you don't have access to a cheep used 4gb disk (for system disk).

Martin

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Mark, I just put an IBM 9gb disk internally in the same box w/o a problem.

My original system disk is also a 2gb. The 9gb is being used for data space.

##################################################################### # Dan L. Ostrom | IT Contract Services # # Systems Administator III | (734) 647-5664 (voice) # # University of Michigan | (313) 705-8940 (pager) # # Ann Arbor Michigan | (734) 763-4050 (fax) # # 48019 | # #####################################################################

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The main concern here is proper cooling. There have been threads in the past on comp.unix.solaris regarding similar questions (i.e. higher capacity drives than the spec sheets). There is no restriction on the drive other than form factor that I know of, only a concern that the larger capacity (and typically higher RPM drive) may cause an over heating problem.

-- John

-- John T. Douglass Phone: 208 533 7992 Argonne National Laboratory-West Email: john.douglass@anl.gov "A train stops at a trainstation, a bus stops at a bustation, what happens at a workstation?"

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Mark,

I have installed a 9.1GB SCA Seagate Barracuda SCSI in an Ultra1/170 with success, so I would say you can ignore the spec sheet.... I think that may have been from before low-profile 9GB SCA hard drives were available...

-- Specializing in computer and network consulting...

Timothy Lorenc USmail: Lorenc Advantage, Inc. Consultant/President 6732 E. State Blvd. PMB 304 Email: lorenct@load.com Fort Wayne, IN 46815-7762

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that would be the largest Sun puts in there. Probably heat limitations on the disks or something.

Other than heat, I don't know of any. I have a 9GB and 18GB external that run just fine. I keep them external because they occasionally travel...

l & h, kev

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Mark,

I vaguely remember a tech telling me that the scsi bus in the Ultra 1 won't support the new 9Gb and higher disks.

Johnny

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The spec is no longer correct; any 1" high SCA disk drive should work fine. I have a 1/170E here with dual 18.2G Quantum Atlas 10K drives, it works very well. When the machines were introduced, the largest capacity you could find in a 1" high form factor was the 4.2, hence the spec. There is actually room for 1.6" high drives, but with these, there's little air space for cooling - and don't forget that the faster a drive spins, the more heat it will produce. The 18G drives today produce about as much heat (and use about the same amount of power - the two are interrelated, of course) as the 4G drives in '96.

-------------------------------------------------------------------- John Sullivan jgs@netgenics.com Sr. Systems Engineer NetGenics, Inc. 216-377-2859 voice 1717 East 9th St., Suite 1600 216-274-0592 fax Cleveland, OH 44114-2803 ... and remember, it's never too late to have a happy childhood ...

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the ultra-1 got itself EOLed before 9GB and now 18GB disks were in volume.

the internal 9GB drive ( sun part number X5229A ) is supported in an Ultra-2, and claims to be a valid part for the Ultra1/Ent1 family.

ray.

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====================================================================== Mark A. Bialik (414) 290-6749 Network/Security Manager http://www.linux.org Infinity HealthCare, Inc. mbialik@infinityhealthcare.com Mequon, WI USA Use Linux. ======================================================================




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