[TruHobbyist]

Hi!!!!


This is a known problem on SGIs and btw other unixes too. The problem is SGI firmware expects a drive configurable to 512 byte blocks (logical block length in SCSI parlance), but not all SCSI drives allow this configuration (MODE SELECT scsi command).

Your best bet is to buy an external drive that's known to work. For example, I use:

1. Plextor PX-W4012TSe
2. Plextor PX-40TSE

My experience is that these drives would survive a nuclear holocaust. They are solid, durable, reliable and well worth investing in them. In the last ~15 years I had more IDE drives than I can remember (they just stop working, CDs get broken inside while reading, other pieces break inside) and my three Plextor drives (bought new 12 years ago), with much more use, are still working like a charm.

Cheers,
Tru