HP 97540 SCSI disks summary

[Kjell Eidem]

Thanks to all who responded to my question about HP 97540 series SCSI
disks. Here is a short summary:

the HP drives are very good drives... with the help of HP we have tested
them on: Sun 3/60, 4/60. HP 345,340,370. DEC vaxstation 3100, DECstations
3100. Apple MAC's and PC with WD8000 FASS controler....  we had problem
with early version of the microcode with some of the above but HP has
fixed all of the problems.  The drive has a 5yr warranty.... cost is $2200
to $2800

Yes; we like the new HP drives!

We've been using a 97548 SCSI pretty hard for about 6mo with no major
problems.  We had one bad block come out (simple format repair) and it
occasionally "loses" the disk label on reboot.  We're quite happy to put
up with that at 1/2 to 1/3 the price of the equivalent Sun disk.

We use several HP 97548 S/D drives that are 793 MB unformatted.  I don't
know if this is the same device as yours. It works at a SUN-3/60 SUN-3/160
and SUN-3/260. The only thing you have to do is to disable the SDTR
message (jumper 2 open). Our drives came with the jumper enabled.  We use
them for three months now without any faults.

That would be the 97448, 660 Mb formatted.  They work fine.  We sell em
for $2200 each (bare drive cost) if you are interested...  The 5 year
warranty is a pretty good selling point.  I run one on my own Sun as well.

We bought two of these disks 4 months ago and got them set up on our 2
3/60s.  After some initial trouble getting the kernal changes and format
parameters correct, they have been running flawlessly since.  We have no
performance stats, however.  Both disks are pounded mercilessly all day
and night.  BTW, negotiate the price - we got a salesman to drop from
$3300 to $2700 (each) at the mere mention that we had received a cheaper
price from someone else.


Kjell Eidem <eidem at itk.unit.no>
Sintef Automatic Control
The Technical University of Norway
Trondheim, Norway.