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G5 agony
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03-23-2006, 05:16 AM
Actually - the first drive we encountered with the SSC issue was a Seagate 160GB that we shipped October 28th. Returned to us - we tested and found no problems - sent back to customer - and then learned about the SSC issue. We test with a Firmtek card - which had no issue with the SSC.
The SSC issue was not limited to just the larger Seagates at all.
03-23-2006, 06:07 AM
OWC Larry Wrote:
------------------------------------------------------- > Actually - the first drive we encountered with the > SSC issue was a Seagate 160GB that we shipped > October 28th. Returned to us - we tested and found > no problems - sent back to customer - and then > learned about the SSC issue. We test with a > Firmtek card - which had no issue with the SSC. > > The SSC issue was not limited to just the larger > Seagates at all. Well I'll be danged! And here I was thinking that the 7200.8 SATA HDs were immune to the problem. So you're saying that a FirmTek SATA controller has no issue with SSC? If that's so, then how would testing with one tell you that a given HDrive *has it enabled?* I'm missing something in your equation and I'd like to undersstand it better. Please educate me, as I'm all ears and eyes. I have 4 retail boxed ST3300831AS-RK's sitting here beside me that I want to use with an onboard PCI Express SATA controller in my new G5 Dual Core PowerMac. I assumed, when I bought them, that they don't have SSC enabled. I was reading reports at XLR8YOUMAC.com that suggested that it was the 7200.9 SATA HDs that had SSC enabled, where the 7200.8's shipped without it enabled. That's where I got the bright idea to invest in retail boxed 7200.8 300GB SATA HDrives. Don't tell me that these things have SSC enabled! That would pretty much suck eggs. But then again, it would depend on which controller I use also.... ________________
03-23-2006, 07:03 AM
OWC Larry, certain 4-port FirmTek controllers will NOT function with SSC enabled, according to the MacGuru's.com web site. In addition, Seagate.com's web pages describe SSC as being enabled only in the Barracuda 7200.9 "family" with 3GB/sec rated chipsets.
There are also certain early Hitachi SATA HDrives that had SSC enabled, that are incompatible with 4-port FirmTek controllers, and the PowerMac G5 internal bus controller. To wit: http://www.macgurus.com/productpages/sat...drives.php And from the Seagate.com web site: "What SATA models have SSC? SATA drives such as those in the Barracuda 7200.9 family utilize 3Gbps transfer rated chipsets. A few special OEM-only models of Barracuda 7200.7 were released with 3Gbps. What is the default state of SSC on Seagate 3Gbps SATA drives? Initial 7200.9 models were released with SSC enabled. Currently, there are two configurations available with SSC disabled as the target for general distribution and retail channels." So it appears that my retail boxed ST3300831AS-RK SATA 300GB HDrives do NOT have SSC enabled, thank the lord!  ________________
03-23-2006, 07:19 AM
Think we might have crossed wires here... not my intention at all to suggest that 7200.8s have and SSC enabled issues. It's only the 7200.9s that I am aware of shipping from Seagate with SSC. the .9 is the series - not related to capacity, related to model generation. 7200.9 is the latest Barracuda model version line.
There are 7200.9 SATAs under 300GB... ST3160812AS is a 7200.9 SATA 160GB ST3200827AS is a 7200.9 SATA 200GB ST3250824AS is a 7200.9 SATA 250GB ...... ST3500641AS is a 7200.9 SATA 500GB It was because we tested with the Firmtek card that that we missed this issue initially in the beginning of November. Customer says drive doesn't work right - we get it, works fine (passes all tests connected to our firmtek card)- send it back, doesn't work right. Get it back - recreate customer test in our G5 - woah, doesn't work - talk to Seagate - SSC enable issue, no disable option. Yikes. We're a Seagate Partner and had been none too please at the time. Lots of Mac users and PC users depending on SATA controller also were not pleased - while it's stupid that the issue was a problem at all, it was good that Seagate made the PC utility for disabling SSC - and that solved things - if with a little extra effort. Any 7200.9 bought from us is all good to go in any g5. Anyway.....you're good to go with the 7200.8s. And I THINK that at some recent point, the SSC feature being enabled by default was not going to be the case... That default would be disabled with option to enable - but I don't know that one 100%. And wish they did a darn OS X app for doing the enable/disable so wouldn't need to involve a PC.
03-23-2006, 12:52 PM
How exciting! All these new posts!
The drive i got is a 300 gb seagate with the 16mb cache (OEM bare from zipzoomfly). So thats a 7200.9 right? i am not sure of the serial number though since i'm sitting at work now. So all this will be fun to try when i get home. First thing I'll do is disconnect the drive and try to install from the original drive. And we shall see what happens. Thanks all for al the tips! Will keep you posted.
03-23-2006, 01:57 PM
I am pretty sure the 16MB cache is the .9
Seems I recall the .9 Seagate was equivalent to the WD SE16.
03-23-2006, 05:49 PM
While there are 7200.9 models that have only a 8MB cache - it has to be a 7200.9 if it has a 16MB.
03-23-2006, 10:16 PM
Hmmm, actually the 16MB Cache 300GB HDrive could be a 7200.8 model #ST3300631AS, which is the 16MB Cache version of the 7200.8 #ST3300831AS 300GB Seagate HDrive.
The reason I know this is that I bought one through an eBay seller's mistake...I was supposed to get 2 ST3300831AS-RK's but one turned out to be the #ST3300631AS-RK. Rather than deal with returning it to the seller, I auctioned it on eBay and made $35 profit, and found another ST3300831AS-RK at an eBay auction. That auction ended on a Wednesday in the middle of the day, and didn't attract many bidders, so I got it for $111 shipped. Sometimes you can just get lucky on eBay. We'll know soon enough as Mr. bazookaman will be trying to get the G5 working soon. Hopefully he'll update the thread here, and we can figure out what's causing the problems with his "new" G5: whether it's that HDrive, or something else. ________________
03-23-2006, 10:47 PM
The OEM ST3300631AS is an 8MB Cache model 7200.8. Seems they did the retail box -RK version with 16MB. Just looked into.. and yes.. Unreal... the 631AS is 8MB... but the 631AS-RK is 16MB data buffer. same goes for the PATA OEM/RK versions. What a frikkin pita.
One thing for sure - Seagate's part numbers go all over the dang place. Some numbers go up to indicate new models. Others, the new models have numbers going down. And learn something new everyday.
03-23-2006, 11:55 PM
In case someone is still watching, I posted an update in a new thread...
http://forums.macresource.com/read/1/69179 |
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