Largest SCSI disk on SS1+?
2007-12-25 8:18:00
I've seen this question arise a few times since I've been following
this newsgroup, but I haven't found it in the FAQ list. What is the
largest SCSI disk I can install on a SS1+? We're currently running
SunOS 4.1, but can upgrade to 4.1.2 and possibly to 4.1.3. And I
plan to do so as soon as I get the new disk :-).
The incremental cost of going from 1.2Gb to 1.6Gb to 2.2Gb is small,
and we'd like to purchase the 2.2Gb if it will be properly recognized.
The brands under consideration are Seagate and Fujitsu. Any advice
from the guru gallery?
Thanks to the following for their replies; the texts follow.
Steve Hanson <hanson@pogo.fnal.gov>
Glenn.Weinberg@Eng.Sun.COM (Glenn Weinberg)
John DiMarco <jdd@cdf.toronto.edu>
Vince Tessier <vtessier@vela.acs.oakland.edu>
kevin@uniq.com.au (Kevin Sheehan)
jeff
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No problem, but you're going to have to run 4.1.2 or later to support a
disk that large.
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4.1.3 has no restrictions on disk size. I'm pretty sure the restrictions
were also lifted in 4.1.2, but I'm not positive.
Depending on the disk you choose, you may need to find a format.dat
entry. However, the chances of you being the first person on the net to
use any particular drive are very small, so you should be able to get a
format.dat entry from the net.
Finally, there is one minor restriction that has nothing to do with the
OS. The older PROM in the SS1+ won't allow you to boot from higher
addresses of the disk. Just make sure your root partition is in the
first 1GB of the disk and you'll be fine.
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On SunOS 4.1, 1.2 GB with the proper format.dat.
With 4.1.1+patch, 4.1.2, 4.1.3, and Solaris 2.x, 16GB, I believe.
I've had success with both the Seagate Elite 2 and the Fujitsu 2654SA.
They both have nifty 5 year manufacturer's warranties. Given price and
support parity, my slight preference would be the Elite.
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I think the power supply is the weak link. You'll have to make sure
your disk doesn't fry the supply. Otherwise use whatever size your
budget will support. Be sure you have a late version of SUNOS or the
large disk patch. I think it was 4.1.2 that included >1.3 gig support.
Or use Disk Suite.
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If you're running SunOS prior to 4.1.1b, you need Sun patch 100343-05.
What follows is the top of the README file:
Patch-ID# 100343-05
Keywords: 1GB greater, disk, gigabyte
Synopsis: SunOS 4.1.1: sd.o patch to access scsi drive capacity beyond
1GB.
Date: 17/Apr/92
SunOS release: 4.1.1
Topic: 1.3GB Disk Drive Enhancement
BugId's fixed with this patch: 1058682,1045586,1045071 1049417,1046580,
1048141,1046305
Architectures for which this patch is available: sun4, sun4c, sun4e
Patches which may conflict with this patch: 100243
Note: This patch conflicts with Online Disk Suite and Backup: Copilot.
Obsoleted by: 4.1.2
Problem Description:
format functions are limited to 1GB (2^21 bit address). Reassign of a
block beyond 1GB wraps around to the lower 21 bit address.As a result,
using a 1.3 GB drive ,for example, the top .3GB will be inaccessible
without this patch.
Using the format "repair" function I reassigned block #2676800 (28D840x).
The Flexstar tester reports block # 576648 (08D840 hex) to be reassigned.
Using the Ancot bus analyzer I verified that the driver is issuing a
reassign block command for block 08D840 hex, indicating that it is
truncating the most significant bits of the address and supports only a
21 bit address in this section of the code.
User data will remain intact, but since the block in error is not being
reassigned it will continue to fail, which could eventually lead to loss
of data. Good blocks will be reassigned unecessarily, which can adversely
affect performance.
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A partition can't be bigger than 2GB, but the disk certainly can. WIth
On Line DIsk Suite, you can concatenate the partitions into a larger FS.
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