SCSI Drives

[grodriguez]

I have just inherited a couple of servers with multiple SCSI drives. Here is the problem the previous Admin took the drives out and did not lable the order in which they were. The office does not care for the information sice it was a Backup system but they want it up and operational. I have tried positioning the drives in different configurations but when you have 4 SCSI drives it is a hassel. I have tried booting from W2K Server CD to see if the system can be reconfigured but it wont work, and it only sees two drives. Any ideas????? Giancarlo Rodriguez
MCP, MCSE, CCNA

 

[Accessdabbler]

Maybe I don't understand your problem but the order of the drives shouldn't matter. Assuming each drive is connected to the same SCSI chain (all connected to the same SCSI Host Adapter) then each drive needs to have a unique SCSI ID. Normally, the Adapter gets ID 7. The Boot SCSI drive is usually SCSI ID 0 (but you'll need to go into the Host Adapter Setup Screen to see if it specifies which ID is the boot ID). Finally, the last device need to be terminated. There should be a termination jumper on the drive. Make sure only 1 drive gets terminated.

If you are having difficulty setting the IDs, you may not understand how to do it. A drive usually has 3 sets of jumpers for IDs labelled 0,1,2 or 1,2,3.

Jumper 0 (or 1) has a VALUE of 1
Jumper 1 (or 2) has a VALUE of 2
Jumper 2 (or 3) has a VALUE of 4.

Therefore, no jumpers is ID 0, all jumpers is ID 7 (1 + 2 + 4).

 

[mainegeek]

Take the 4 drives and line them up on their backs in front of you. If these are all internal drives then one of them will have a terminator on them. The terminator looks like a
small comb about an inch long. At least they use to. Find the drive that has this and set it aside. This is the last drive on the chain. One of the other three is the boot drive. The three drives might have a terminator taped on them to use with them. I would take one drive at a time,
terminate it and try it by itself to find the drive with the Operating System on it. Find it and label it. This drive
will be attached as the first drive on the chain from the controller. Remove the terminator from this drive and all the drives except from the last one on the chain. The rule
for SCSI is that the controller and the last drive on the chain gets terminated. Unless you have both internal and external devices. Then the terminator is removed from the controller and only the devices at each end of the chains get terminated. I have been away from SCSI's for a while
and I don't know if termination methods may have changed, but this is how we use to do it.

 

[edfair]

There are terminators that look like chips that fit in a socket and terminators that are a chip that you wouldn't be able to identify as such.
My best suggestion would be to go to the manufacturer's site and hardcopy the jumper section of the specifications and post back if you have problems understanding what is there.
Each drive should at least ID by itself during the boot sequence whether or not the terminator is installed.
And if you can get into the SCSI controller's BIOS you probably have a bus scan available to help in the ID process.
If you can identify the single drives, label them so you you know what they are when you put them back.
You might also be having some problems if the drives are set up for a RAID drive set. Ed Fair
unixstuff@juno.com
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.