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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: leofoe on April 28, 2006, 03:48:01 PM
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I obtained three SCSI harddisks Seagate Barracuda, modelnumbers ST32xxxN. From the labels attached to it I think they come from Compaq servers. None of them work:
1. Starts spinning and stops after a few seconds.
2. Starts spinning, gives a "clunk" and then stops
3. Spins, but is not recognized in HDToolbox.
Tested in an A590.
Can I throw these in the bin?
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hi leofoe, how many mb/gb are on these disks? i read somewhere that a590 (i had one once) can work with disks up to 2 gb.
is it working ok with other disks?
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Hi,
some of these HDD need a "slave hdd" to run !
take care to set them to "SingleEnded", "Terminated",Motor/AutoSpinUP : ON, ID=0.
and also use an active terminator !
PS : the 2nd seems to be dead !
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I would try them in a different setup, as it is really weird that all 3 is dead.
The clunk you hear might be the head locking itself in place. This is normal with some brands..
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I don't know what kind of psu you're using to power the a590, but the original psu is not strong enough to power modern drives. I've bought 6 scsi drives recently like you, and four of them had symptoms like yours. I got suspicious and connected to my pc and voila ! all of them spin and work flawlessly with the pc supply. I recommend you try them on your pc (the first two) before you throw them away.
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Thanks a lot for all your comments!
I will try them all in a different setup (A2000 or A3000) and let you know the results.
@amije: They are 1.2GB and 2.1GB respectively
@CLS2086: Need a slave? That's new to me. Can't be done in an A590 internal!
@countzero: I used the standard A590 PSU. I'll try them on an A2000 or A3000.
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All newer Segate hard drives have that distictive "clunk" of the heads parking after spin up and some produce a "buz" sound after the drive reaches full spindle rotation. If the drive seems to continue spinning then chances are the drive is still good (to varify have the drive pluged in, powered up and not mounted to anything you can feel it spinning in your hands). Segate drives are built like tanks and can take alot of abuse.
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I tried the drives in my A2000 (gvpscsi.device) and A3000 (scsi.device). They all spin but are not recognized. HToolbox hangs on "Checking scsi.device address n unit 0". The machine didn't boot at all (from floppy) when connecting the Seagate as the only drive.
They may not be defective and work in a PC. I will try that later. In the meantime: better stay away from ST32 drives. I have some ST34 drives: they work fine.
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You do have an active terminator on the SCSI cable right?
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@tonyvdb: I replaced the existing, good working ST34 by a ST32, configured exactly the same. It didn't work. :-?
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It is possible that it had a built in terminator on the drive. Some SCSI drives have a jumper to activate it or bypass it.
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I bought a 2GB Seagate Barracuda but the heat it was producing alarmed me...
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@leofoe,
What's the full model number of these harddrives? I'd suggest you go to Seagate's web site and search for information on your model. You can usually get yourself a pdf of the install instructions which covers some trouble shooting and jumper settings. I had a similar problem getting four Hawk ST32151N Seagate drives to work in my 3000. The problem was with some of the option jumpers, and I had to connect the drives to a PC and then low-level format them before the Amiga would recognize it and let me work with it. One of the four was just totally dead. When even the PC couldn't recognize it, I chucked it.
-David
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@dnelsonfl: They are 2x ST32171N and ST32155N. I will try them in a PC. So you've got an ST32 working in your Amiga?
@tonyvdb: I had the working and non-working drive exactly jumpered the same. (They are physically the same).
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It is possible that it had a built in terminator on the drive. Some SCSI drives have a jumper to activate it or bypass it.
At least my 4 GB UWSCSI SG has one.
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@leofoe,
Yes, I have two ST32155N's working: one in a 3000 and one in an external SCSI enclosure connected to a 4000 thru a Fastlane. For a little while, I had both of them connected to the 3000 and they both worked fine together.
-David
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I tried one of the disks in a PC. After a lowlevel format in the Adaptec SCSI controller utility it was recognized in WinXP. I formatted it there with NTFS.
Then I connected the disk to my Amiga but, unfortuantely, was not recognized by HDToolbox.
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@leofoe,
So at the moment we know the drives are definitely good. That is a good start. Now it's just a matter of convincing them to play nice with your Amiga...
The jumpers for your drives are all the same as the ones for my Hawk ST32 drive. Can you try just one of those drives in your Amiga to see if we can get it working? And if so then move on to the others? Set the SCSI ID jumpers so it's unique. Now on my drive, I have a jumper on "TE" (enable termination). I also have a jumper only on the "TP" next to "RES". The other "TP" is open. This sets it to Term power from drive.
There are many more options. I do not have jumpers on these: "DS", "WP", "PE". I have a jumper on "ME".
That is how the drive is working in the 3000 with termination.
Now if that works, and you want to add the second, all I did was remove the jumper on "TP" and "TE". Everything else stayed the same.
Hopefully this will get it going for you!
If you think you might have troubles/conflicts with external drives, try disconnecting them and properly terminating the external side so the HD in question is the only SCSI device.
-David
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I got one ST32171N working! It turned out to be a termination problem after all. Every time I had the TE jumpered and thought that was sufficient as termination. Then I tried a cable with a terminator at the end. That did the trick. This cable was not necessary on the PC.
I will now try the other drives and a CD-ROM player as a second device.