VME532, GNX Unix and want for a Maxtor XT-4175E

From: Jerome Fine <jhfine_at_idirect.com>
Date: Sat May 19 19:07:15 2001

>Ken Seefried wrote:

> I need to find a working Maxtor XT-4175E disk drive.
>
> I've had the wonderful fortune to have picked up a Heurikon VME532 (NS32532
> based) development system. This is probably the fastest single-processor
> 32532 system produced (Encore MultiMax was of course faster, with more
> processors).
>
> The bonus is that this system is running GNX 3.1 with the National
> Semiconductor cc compiler, along with a bunch of other development tools
> (and source code for odd ns32k bits). Unfortunately, I don't have the
> distribution media, so a disk crash would be fatal, wiping out an almost
> unique machine. GNX is running on a Maxtor XT-4175E 175MB ESDI drive, and
> if I could find another one, I should be able to 'dd' a bootable backup.
>
> Does anyone on the list have one of these drives that they'd be willing to
> part with, or knows where I can buy one, in order for me to have a working
> backup of this system?

Jerome Fine replies:

In all of my experience of working with ESDI drives and the controllers,
I have never had a problem with using a larger capacity drive so long
as the number of sectors per track (or blocks per track) was not
greatly different from a drive which the controller could handle.

So a Maxtor XT-4xxxE drive of any size greater than 175 MBytes
should also be OK even if you end up wasting the part over
175 MBytes. In all my experience with ESDI drives, the controller
accepted the geometry from the actual drive, although the LLF
(Low Level Format) did need to be done by the controller since
there is no uniform standard like there is for SCSI drives.

If you are able to use an ESDI that is larger, I will ask a friend
who may have one. Let me know. You may also be able to
find a local source and at least try it out - I recommend removing
the primary drive while you do the LLF of the secondary drive.
If that works, I presume that you can transfer or make a backup
of the primary.

Be VERY (extremely) careful with setting drive numbers (DS1,2,etc.)
On two occasions when I was not careful enough, I trashed
the format on BOTH drives when they were set to the same DS1.

Sincerely yours,

Jerome Fine
Received on Sat May 19 2001 - 19:07:15 BST