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rlmorel · Mar 29, 2002, 12:44 AM

At my hospital we have a BW G3, I would like to try to install OSX on it, but there are two SCSI Adaptec cards in it. There are two 120 GB RAID arrays attached to one SCSI card, and a tape drive and CD burner attached to the other one. We also added two 120 GB Firewire Lacie drives. They use it for mainly Photoshop work and Powerpoint presentation assembly. Because there are up to 20 users, this has been a real chore to keep the machine running using Multiuser under OS9, a real horror show. (yes, I did try to make it work) People were installing all kinds of crap on it, so I had to try.

Even if OSX is pokey, if it is stable (on my mac it is unbelievably stable) and offers superior multiuser support, it might be worth it. I understand SCSI support is nearly non-existent, although I hear Adaptec has new drivers out. Any users with SCSI out there who have any insight?

Thanks,
Bob Morel

surfacto · Mar 29, 2002, 12:49 AM

You should check out the Adaptec website to see if your card is supported. I know they support the 2906 and 2930U. Both of these work with the same driver. As long as you have the correct driver, you shouldn't have any problems. Be warned though, using the wrong driver can lead you to kernel panic city.

Nonsuch · Mar 29, 2002, 01:31 AM

It's likely you won't be able to use your CD burner in the Finder. (Some people have gotten theirs to work, but I haven't.) I believe Toast Titanium will detect a SCSI CDRW though. Otherwise, I agree with Surfacto: as long as you've got the drivers installed you'll be fine.

NeilCharter · Mar 29, 2002, 02:10 AM

I know for sure that a Sony DAT 10000 works in X in combo with Adaptec 2906.

The RAID arrays and SCSI and X I dunno - could be tricky - all depends on drivers etc. What software do you use?

Toast X can handle the newer SCSI CDRW drives - there's some newer technology required. But it couldn't handle a LaCie 4x4x16.

If it is at all possible - sounds like its time to upgrade. The new towers are going to be way faster than a B&W especially with photoshop X.

You'll get an extra machine, OS X for free and you probably could set up all your users on the new machine for them to login from the B&W.

Otherwise see if you can upgrade the processor to a G4 - Other world computing are selling them pretty cheap. And whilst you at it have at least 512 megs of ram. Both of these will really hel p boost the speed of your existing machine.

good luck Neil

starfleetX · Mar 29, 2002, 03:17 AM

I don't know of any software for tape drives on OSX.

Regarding the SCSI CD-R, though, what kind is it? A lot of people have had success getting SCSI CD-R's to work natively in OSX and many that don't work with with Apple's software will work with Toast. My Lacie Yamaha6416S works fine.

pmcd · Mar 29, 2002, 05:54 AM

I run it on a bw/450 which came with a SCSI drive and card and I also added an Adaptec 2906 for external devices. With 10.1.3

- Jaz drive works, Yamaha 8x4x24S CDRW works with Finder and Toast and iTunes, Umax 1220S scanner works (with Vuescan though I rarely scan).

I don't know about RAID setups but otherwise SCSI supporting in OSX is turning out just fine.

philip

Originally posted by rlmorel:

Even if OSX is pokey, if it is stable (on my mac it is unbelievably stable) and offers superior multiuser support, it might be worth it. I understand SCSI support is nearly non-existent, although I hear Adaptec has new drivers out. Any users with SCSI out there who have any insight?

Thanks,
Bob Morel

rlmorel · Mar 29, 2002, 06:44 AM

Wow. Thank you for all the info. That was precisely what I was looking for. Now, this is why I still come to MacNN. You never know with the postings on here lately, some lamebrain saying "You're f*cked, dude! Just buy a new computer, but don't install X on it..."

Sorry. Just had to say thank you, and then vent. I just read a few other threads on these boards...

iHolger uMax · Mar 29, 2002, 07:06 AM

Being a support tech I have had to deal with SCSI in X from the begining and this is what I have found out:

Cards I�ve tried:
Adaptec 2906, 2930, 29160, 29160N and 39160 is supported and works. I have tried the 2940 and 2940U2B and the seem to work fine with harddisks but I get kernel panics with tapedrives. But these cards are not supported by Apple or Adaptec so try it on your own risk.

Atto - all card tried works fine

Acard - Works fine but do not support Apples built in Softraid

Advancys - is supposed to work but I have not yet tried

Orange - just tried the beat drivers and they worked for harddisks but I could not get the tape drive to work

Drives I�ve tried:
All harddisks seems to work fine.

CD-burners have to be MMC compatible and you have to download a program from El Gato to make them work. Just do a search on Versiontracker for El Gato.

I�ve tried the following tapedrives and they have all worked - Lacie DLT 20 GB, ADR 50, Lacie AIT 35/70 GB, Sony and Compaq AIT2 50/100 GB (mechanism SDX-500C). The Compaq is is supposed to not be Mac OS compatible according to Dantz but it works for me.

Removable drives that work is Zip and Jazz. Have not tried Syquests yet but I doubt I ever will have to.

Other useful info:
Mac OS X seems to be more touchy with termintation than 9 ever was. If you are in a hurry doing some copying from one UW SCSI drive to another and do not connect a terminator i X you wont see any of the drives. One drive works without but in 9 you could be sloppy and take a chance, but then again you risked SCSI freezes. X forces you to be more careful with your SCSI chain.

Another thing that worked in 9 but not X is to convert SCSI 68 pin to Micro 50 pin. I have not been able to make this work in X.

-Bob
Is it hardware raid arrays or soft raid? If it is softraid you will probably have to back them up and do a new raidsetup in X. Hardware raid will work fine as they are.

I recommed you to make the jump to X - in the long run it will be worth it. Multiuser is just great in X and with Photoshop in about 2 weeks I say "Go for it"

Cipher13 · Mar 29, 2002, 07:21 AM

Originally posted by Nonsuch:
It's likely you won't be able to use your CD burner in the Finder. (Some people have gotten theirs to work, but I haven't.) I believe Toast Titanium will detect a SCSI CDRW though. Otherwise, I agree with Surfacto: as long as you've got the drivers installed you'll be fine.

I have an Adaptec 2906.

Connected to that I have a Yamaha CRW8424SX-VK CDRW drive, and an 18 gig SCSI drive.

The HD appears and works fine.

The CDRW works fine as a CD-ROM.

I can't burn from Toast, or anything else.

Not happy.

iHolger uMax · Mar 29, 2002, 07:44 AM

Cipher13 - If you start OS 9 is your CD-RW reported as MMC compatible in Toast? If it is have you installed the El Gato extension in X?

[ 03-29-2002: Message edited by: iHolger uMax ]

Millennium · Mar 29, 2002, 10:24 AM

Almost all SCSI hard drives work in OSX (there is one specific model from Seagate that doesn't work, but that's the only exception).

Some SCSI CD-burners work, though you might have to use Toast. Older models generally do not work.

I don't know about tape drives.

barney ntd · Mar 29, 2002, 12:36 PM

My Yamaha 2100S 16x10x40 CDRW and my Minolta Dimage Scan Dual work fine connected to my Adaptec 2906. I don't use el Gato or Toast: I use disk copy/finder/itunes for the CDRW and Viewscan for the scanner. Not had any problems at all since 10.1.3.

Barney.

BigMac2 · Mar 29, 2002, 02:28 PM

Originally posted by Cipher13:


I have an Adaptec 2906.

Connected to that I have a Yamaha CRW8424SX-VK CDRW drive, and an 18 gig SCSI drive.

The HD appears and works fine.

The CDRW works fine as a CD-ROM.

I can't burn from Toast, or anything else.

Not happy.

I got the CRW8424s with an Adaptec 2906, and it work just fine with iTune, DiskCopy, Finder Burning, Toast on 10.1.3 without the el gato driver. Some users who got trouble with CDR found that reinstalling iTune 2 can correct problem in some case..