Original question
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I recently ordered two RZ29B-VW 4.3Gb disk drives and got two RZ1CB-CA's
instead - the supplier said they were the same - just a part number change.
There is no entry for RZ1CB in /etc/disktab in DU 4.0B !
My question is this. Are these disks identical so that I can mix them with
RZ29B's in a raid set - I read somewhere it was a good idea to have the
same disk model/firmware revision level for each drive in a RAID set.
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Thanks to the following for their replies - I've just ordered 9 more !
Reply from : Mitch Bertone <mbertone_at_gtech.com>
The RZ1CB-VW disk is an exact replacment for your RZ29B-VW, it is
a 4.3gb, 7200 rpm, Ultra-wide SCSI 16 bit disk, and should work
in your RAID sets IF all your other RZ29's in that set are up to
correct firmware, they do not have to be the save rev level as the new
disk, just the correct supported version. I belive the correct level
for RAID controllers is 0016 or greater, but you should check with DEC.
If your disks have older firmware, they should be upgraded to current
levels, DEC can do this for you, but it requires removal of the disks.
Messy as best, but if you value the data it is worth it. We had a
problem with EISA based SWXCR raid controllers on a 2100 with out
of date firmware on RZ28's & RZ29's. We were getting Misc disk errors
2-3 times a week, sometimes the disk would fail, some times it wouldn't.
Firmware upgrades seemed to help quite a bit.
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Reply from : John.Becker_at_digital.com
These are the same drives. The new naming convention is:
Rz conenction RZ=SCSI, RG=fibre channel
1 connection capability 1=ultra, 2=ultra2,
C capacity a=1g, b=2G, c=4G, d=9G, etc...
B rotation speed B=5400, C=7200, C=10K ETC...
(not always though)
C connection type a=narrow, b=wide,
c=sca-2, d=fibre, (others are pc only, ldv only, etc...)
A vendor various letters for different vendors
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Reply from alan_at_nabeth.cxo.dec.com
With the exception of FR- part numbers of drives we sell
of a particular capacity are arranged so that they have
the same capacity and geometry, not matter what the
underlying disk does. 3rd party array controllers might
be more particular, but I think ours are tested so that
the drives only have to be in the same capacity point.
The HSZ40/50/70 is the least particular since you can add
a larger drive to an array if need be and those are nearly
always different vendors, firmware revs, etc. As long as
the particular drive is supported, that's all that matters.
The FR- family of drives are PC versions of the base drives
and we simply pass through whatever the vendor provided.
These drives under go less qualification and don't have
any particular firmware changes to make them compatible.
Thus, they're also less expensive.
Since all the drives we sell have to be well behaved for
us to sell them, the lack of entry in /etc/disktab doesn't
matter, since disklabel can get the geometry information
from the drive.
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Received on Fri Jan 23 1998 - 16:06:17 NZDT