[robbo007]

If your intention is to reinstall the operating system then the answer is no.  Not ALL SCSI optical drives can reinstall Irix.  But all SCSI optical drives will likely read normal Discs under Irix. 

Irix (like many UNIXes) uses a trick to install itself over optical media. Is used a 512 byte block layout (like a hard drive of the same era). 

So the optical drive (DVD or CDROM) but support 512 byte block mode (from the normal 1024). 

Lots of drives have jumpers with 512/1024 on the back to indicate this.  If the optical drive is branded SUN (for SUN Microsystems) it should support this 512 Mode as SUN Solaris had to use the same trick. 

So hopefully that is clear.  Many of the supported drives will be caddy-based.  Tray & slot loading DVD drives are available that support this feature but less common.  I’m told that for DVD drives to reload Irix you may wish to target certain Toshibas and slot-loading pioneers (HP SCSI rebranded slot loading SCSI drives may work as well).

No real guarantees.  The safest bet is get an old 1X-2X caddy based SUN CDROM drive. It will definitely work without complaints.  These drives used to be around a lot.  However starting around 2013 most of the vintage peripherals started to be thrown away and become scarcer and therefor prices have risen dramatically.  For an external SUN CDROM drive, expect around $100, for an internal SCSI DVD drives, expect around $60-$70. 

Also drives can have old do belt issues and such. I’ve never had one of my SUN drives fail yet though.  They are built like tanks.  I’ve not looked too hard, but the community to provide new gears and belts is really in its infancy, so repair isn’t a good option right now. 

Spend the money on a drive in known good shape, if you don’t want to risk it. 

Also while I tend to reinstall via optical drive, many owners don’t want to bother and use a network based installation instead.  If you’re buying this optical drive just to reinstall, I’d advise you to first look into the VMs available for doing network installs. 

If you want the optical drive for other reasons, by all means go for it.

ok, big help thanks. I do have a SCSI cdrom from a Sun Ultra 30 I just found on my storage. I have no external bay for it as it’s an internal drive. Can I buy a converter cable for the big scsi ribbon cable to ultra wide and plug it in on the back of the Octane2?