Message-Id: <9303121054.AA17568@mailserv.zdv.uni-tuebingen.de> Subject: Re: Problems with early versions of Maxtor 7213A (fwd) Date: Fri, 12 Mar 1993 11:54:58 MET From: Peter Jesinger <jesinger@mailserv.zdv.uni-tuebingen.de>
Forwarded message:
>From dbeeman@dogstar.Colorado.edu Tue Mar 9 00:44:03 1993
Date: Mon, 8 Mar 1993 16:44:50 PST
From: dbeeman@dogstar.colorado.edu (Dave Beeman)
Message-Id: <9303090044.AA19760@dogstar.colorado.edu>
To: zrsjp01@tapio.zdv.uni-tuebingen.de (P. Jesinger)
Subject: Re: Problems with early versions of Maxtor 7213A
In article <1993Mar7.090059.4511@softserv.zdv.uni-tuebingen.de> you write:
|> Hi,
|>
|> I've heard there are some problems with the earlier
|> Versions of the Maxtor 7213A AT-Bus drive.
|>
|> I have such a drive, the PCBA is 63A HDA 30A UNIQUE 56A
|> and have some strange Problems with different results in
|> reading a file multiple times under linux (un*x)
|>
|> Can anybody tell me with version numbers are affected and
|> what can be done to fix this?
|>
|> Thanks, Peter
|>
Here is some stuff I found on the net a few months ago when I was looking
into getting a Maxtor 7213A. The postings report problems with Linux,
but seem to suggest that you should be OK with PCBA = 63A.
Dave Beeman
========================================================================
Subject: Maxtor 7213A owners: read this!
Summary: Early 7213s have a problem under Unices. Maybe Linux as well.
Date: Tue, 22 Sep 1992 14:45:33 PDT
Some of you may have been following my trials and tribulations with
a Maxtor 7213A under Linux. I spoke with Maxtor tech support today,
and they agreed that there was a problem with early 7213As and the
commercial variants of Unix (Xenix, SCO). If you have a 7213A whose
PCBA number is less than 63, then you may have a problem with it
under Linux. My present drive's PCBA number is 54. (The PCBA number
is their revision tracking number of the on-board controller board.)
The PCBA number is listed on the label on top of the drive.
Before you start ripping your PC apart, Maxtor is sending me a new
drive as a in-warranty replacement, and I'll try it under Linux and
see if it solves my problems. I'll follow-up here with details. Feel
free to e-mail me or post follow-up questions, comments, etc.
-- Steve Aliff (swaliff@afterlife.ncsc.mil [144.51.1.1])Subject: Re: Maxtor 7213A owners: read this! (replacement drive installed) Summary: Results with new drive summarized. Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 15:00:10 PDT
Follow-up to the Maxtor 7213A problem:
I received a replacement drive from Maxtor, PCBA rev level 63A. I installed this new drive, first under DOS, then under Linux. Under DOS, I executed Norton Utilities' CALIBRAT pattern test with 5 patterns -- no problems found. I also executed On Track's read-only diagnostics -- no problems.
I booted Linux using the SLS 0.96c boot disk and partitioned the drive; after installing the SLS release, I executed "ufstst" as before. While I still get a small number of timeouts (8 for the entire run), I no longer get garbled data. I changed HD_DELAY to 1,000 (per Linus' suggestion) and the timeouts disappeared. Speed was affected as follows (see the ufstst code posted previously):
HD_DELAY 0: Avg. write rate = 657.34, read = 615.47, rand = 207.99 8 timeouts 1000: Avg. write rate = 657.89, read = 575.45, rand = 208.81 0 900: Avg. write rate = 655.94, read = 576.75, rand = 210.02 2 timeouts 800: Avg. write rate = 653.98, read = 578.41, rand = 208.32 4 timeouts
Since I haven't had the time or inclination to test the entire drive in this fashion, there may still be undetected problems. However, the replacement drive clearly performs better than the original. Since the new SLS release is imminent, I'll be testing it there soon.
I requested the drive from Maxtor early one week and received it Friday of the same week. -- Steve Aliff (swaliff@afterlife.ncsc.mil [144.51.1.1]) =====================
Subject: Re: MAXTOR 213 MG 15ms ?? ANYGOOD?? Date: 27 Oct 1992 21:54:13 -0600
quoth jrsellec@socs.uts.edu.au (91066720 j r selleck): > am iterested in purchasing a Hard disk and in OZ at the moment the > maxtor 213Mg 15ms is widely available and a good price.. > > Is it reliable have people had an problems.. > > Thanks > James >
Um, I like someone else mentioned, I've had problems running this drive as a master in a dual-IDE system. Be warned about that.
More seriously, though, I've had lots of problems with this drive running under Linux (a free unix for i386 and i486 processors). It seems that older versions of this drive had more serious problems, but the newer ones have problems that creep up now and again, silently, and without warning...
For instance, when I've attempted to compile a program, (especially while recompiling the kernel), gcc would puke about the file being bad input. I'd cat the file, it'd look good, and then recompile, and it would work.
Other problems manifested themselves while running virtual memory off the drive.
I've called maxtor, and they were *supposed* to call me back last week and send me a new prom that they think should fix it. (sigh) Support never calls you back...
-- =========================+================================================== Keywords: 213 MB HD MAXTOR LINUX Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 10:03:07 PST
In article <jrsellec.720951453@syzygy> jrsellec@socs.uts.edu.au (91066720 j r selleck) writes: > was wondering if Linux gets along with a 213 Mb Maxtor Hd. >
I use a Maxtor 7213A IDE 15ms 213 meg drive in a Linux box with no problems. Others may have reported trouble with this drive; the box this drive is in is a 386SX/16mhz, 4 megs ram.
mdw
====== :
I have heard that the Maxtor 213 does not get along with other IDE drives. You cannot mix it with a Seagate or a Conner IDE and have them work together as master/slave. I know two cases where it didn't work. Be careful! It is tempting with the price of the Maxtor drive.