[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

I thought I was going to be aok because the drive inside the IBM unit is a Panasonic lfd291 (a drive that was supposed to be compatible lols...) 
http://forums.irix.cc/thread-152.html

But either its broken or I'm just using it wrong :(

Just in case, check the jumper/switch settings on the back of the drive. It should be something like:

SCSI ID: unique ID on that SCSI bus.
Parity: ON or OFF
Block: ON (ON: 512 byte sectors. OFF: 2048 byte sectors)
Terminate: If your device is the last/only one on that SCSI bus, ON. Otherwise, OFF and check for proper termination on the last device.


Good luck!!!