MX-2424 and Ultra 320 SCSI Drives

[Watergap Media Group]

The documentation only lists Ultra 160 not Ultra 320. Will a 300gb Ultra 320 drive work?

 

[DJ X]

Yep, it will work, just not at Ultra320 speeds.

 

[witzendoz]

Well actually I know most 320 drives work but I thought that only up to 74gig? Have you had a 300gig drive working DJX?

To have larger drives working you also need to have the latest operating system in the MX2424 as the early OS did not support anything over 18gig.

Alan.

 

[DJ X]

Alan, this is what I've found regarding storage capacity of the MX-2424 drives:

The maximum size of a hard drive should be no more than 72GigaBytes external or 36GigaBytes internal when both an internal hard drive and a hot swap internal drive exist. This limit on these two internal drives is because of heat buildup inside the MX-2424. This heat build up can destroy one or both of these drives.

It's not clear whether the 72GB limitation is mandated by the OS or simply guidance to avoid heat issues. In theory, if the latest OS update reads FAT32 drives, then all 300GB should be accessible, but I have no way to confirm that.

Ironically, a 300GB drive is probably both cheaper and easier to find today than a 72GB drive, especially if you go the SATA + adapter route.

 

[witzendoz]

It is dictated by the OS, back in the day there were no 300gig drives, and nothing above 74gig. The MX does not know what the capacity is and therefore will probably reject the drive. If you have a look at the threads about SATA drives with the SATA/SCSI adaptor and the making the MX see the large SATA drives I think the same problems will pop up, the solution could be the same as setting up the SATA drives but you would need a SCSI to PC card to do this.

I may be wrong so if anyone has used large SCSI drives let us know. Regarding heat and power load, regulars here will know that I always recommend removing drives from the MX and using an external box to take heat away from the MX and to spare the MX power supply.

Alan.

 

[RedBus]

I think there were problems with unexpected data loss on 144GB drives, so they were never recommended.
Something to do with a bug in the File system code itself.
So a 300GB drive would be doubly troublesome.

 

[DJ X]

Thanks @RedBus. Were those drives partitioned to take advantage of the full 144GB or just the first 72GB?

 

[witzendoz]

You will find that if a drive has any partition the MX will not be able to use it.
Alan.