🚀 go-pugleaf

keelers@igs.net (Stephen Keeler) wrote:

>I've been having problems getting a complete backup for a couple 
>months now.  I'm running the NTBACKUP utility that ships with Windows 
>NT Workstation 3.51 on the following hardware configuration:
>   Dell OptiPlex XMT/590
>   Adaptec 2940W SCSI card (factory default settings)
>   Toshiba XM3501 CDROM drive (internal, not terminated)
>   Exabyte 4200c DAT drive (internat, terminated)

>The SCSI chain looks like this:
>   <term>  Adaptec  <-->  Toshiba  <-->  Exabyte  <term>

	[snip]

>One thing of note, I've read that MS has deemed NT to be somewhat 
>sensitive to SCSI cabling, especially regarding active vs. passive 
>termination.  Currently, all my devices are connected via a single 
>internal ribbon cable of unknown quality, and both ends are passively 
>terminated (I'm assuming that the AHA-2940W is passively terminated 
>on-board -- please correct me if I'm wrong there!)

>If better quality internal cable and/or active termination on an 
>internal cable is a suggestion, I'd also appreciate pointers to 
>companies (and even part names/numbers).  At this point, I'm a little 
>leary of spending even more money on hardware that 'might' fix the 
>problem.

You should definitely use active termination for SCSI II. If you are
using an external passive terminator, then just switch to the internal
termination provided by your last device (Exabyte). If Exabyte is
providing termination then try turning on "provide power to
terminator" setting on Exabyte. According to SCSI specs only one
device is supposed to provide power for termination, it sometimes
helps to have last device also provide power.

If this still does not solve problem, try using the Toshiba to
terminate the bus by switching it and Exabyte on the cable. There is a
small chance that your internal ribbon cable or one of the connectors
is bad, but not too likely. Internal ribbon cables usually do not
produce problems unless they have loose connectors. External cables
tend to produce most SCSI cabling problems.

I have an Adaptec 1742 with 2 Seagate disks, Toshiba CDROM, and
Wangtek tape drive. The tape backup works perfectly with NT Backup.

It is possilbe that the Exabyte driver is having problems so you might
check for a newer version. But software is the least likely issue here
in my opinion.