what hard drives compatible with SparcStation 5?
 

Sorry for the hardware question, I thought this forum would be more familiar with this old hardware.

I recently purchased several Sparc5 machines and I am looking for larger drives to install. I know there are several types of SCSI interfaces, and I have not been able to find any place that lists the drives that would be compatible with this machine. Is there any on line resource that would tell me what drives would work?

I am looking for drives on eBay to install, but I 'm having a hard time determining what will work. I know it is an 80 pin SCA connection, but are there different specs that use this same physical connection?

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Bob

It all depends. Your probably better off with SCSI though with a Sparc.

Googling for specs suggests that the interface is SCSI-2 (Same as my Sparc2, but it's listed as "optional" on the Sparc5). However, you have an SCA connector which makes things more interesting. Those drives can be a little harder to find. SCSI has a lot of built in compatibility. You can connect most different specs together (may need adapters for the cables/bays) and they just operate at the highest common data rate. The compatibility is not 100% (most notably HVD devices), but spec sheets are all you need and all the major players have them online.

I just did a search for "SCA SCSI" on google and came up with a whole bunch of them. I prefer Seagate drives personally...

Here's one on ebay that should work. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...216345237&rd=1

Note that seagate.com can be searched by model number (STxxxxxx) and complete specs are online. Ultra SCSI drives will work in SCSI-2 interfaces. Ultra-LVD *usually* can drop back to non-LVD mode. Anything HVD is to be avoided.

Last post for now ;)