🚀 go-pugleaf

I apologize for this late summary for my request for information
as to what kind of 3rd-party hard drive could be used to replace
a failed RZ23 (104 MB) disk in a DECStation 3100.  I was hoping
that I could report the success or failure of the new drive, but
we won't get a replacement for at least another week, so I'll 
summarize now what I got as replies:

I got thirteen replies, all of them supporting the idea of using
non-DEC hard disks, and most of them described first-hand positive
experiences using non-DEC HDs in DECStation 3100s and 5000s.

Some of the brands which people told me they knew worked were
Micropolis, Seagate, Quantum, Fujitsu, Maxtor, and HP.  A specific 
recommendation was the Seagate 32430N, correponding to a 2GB rz28. 

Two writers recommended using the internal rzxx template, so
I wouldn't need to make an entry into /etc/disktab.

A couple writers mentioned possible problems only when using
non-DEC drives as boot disks, which might occur for example 
when using Ultrix prior to 4.3 or with some older HP ~1.2 
Gigabyte disks.

One writer suggested partitioning (chpt) and formatting (newfs) 
the new disk on another running DECStation, and then putting the 
disk back in its own DECSTATION and installing the O/S using
"advanced" mode and the "existing" disktable so the disktable
is not destroyed.
 
Another writer suggested using the newfs command in the form of
"newfs /dev/rrz2c /dev/rrz2c" to make the new file system on disk
/dev/rrz2c and read the partition table from /dev/rrz2c also.
He said to use "uerf -R" to see on which device the disk is, 
then rzdisk, then the newfs command as described.  Then I can
use "chpt" and then "newfs" again to format each partition.

It seems dumping system partitions from other machines to the
non-DEC disks and then hooking them up as boot disks works well.  

It was also suggested that I look through DECProfessional or one
of the other DEC journals for used/refurb resellers.

Thanks to all who replied.
  
- Jeff Hill, Assistant Systems Administrator, Philosophy Dept.
Carnegie Mellon University