Re: Need help with zip drive

[shack@io.frii.com (Randy Shackelford)]

In article <19971024140541250236@slip129-37-106-113.wa.us.ibm.net>,
B.J. Major <bjblackbear@ibm.net> wrote:

>But we're not talking about an internal SCSI chain, we're talking about
>an *external* one.  If you want to power on your PC & GS setup
>simultaneously, go right ahead.  But you refer to a Mac setup above, and
>you don't *have* a Mac setup.  I do, with quite a lengthy external SCSI
>chain.  If you have a Mac setup with an external SCSI chain, you power
>on the SCSI chain FIRST.  No exceptions.  External hard drives in
>particular take a few seconds to spin up and if you power on the CPU
>first (or simultaneously), the driver will not be read and the drive
>will not be acknowledged.  My Mac setup at work has both an internal &
>external SCSI chain.  I have all the external SCSI devices on one power
>strip that is turned on FIRST, then I turn on the CPU which has two of
>its internal SCSI items in the CPU case.

Actually, I have the external devices power on at the same time as my Q840av,
and it works trouble free. As you know, all Macs without built in monitors 
have an outlet on the power supply to power the monitor. I prefer to have
the monitor powered independently of the CPU so I use that outlet for my
external drives instead. There is a 2 gig hard disk and a 230 mb magneto 
optical, both in APS SR2000 enclosures. They have the nifty power setup
which lets an entire stack of SR2000 devices run off a single power cord.
Moreover, the magneto optical's fan is noisy and I don't want it powered on 
sucking in dust all the time so I leave it off except when I plan to use it.
Even though it's before the 2 gig in the chain, that drive works fine with 
the magneto off. If I want, I can turn on the magneto and use it, but I have
to use the APS control panel to mount the first magneto disk I use. If the 
magneto is on at startup, there is a memory resident driver and magneto disks
mount straightaway.

I used the same setup on my Q700 until the 840av replaced it and the 700
went on loan to a buddy.

My SE/30, on the other hand, is a little less forgiving. It prefers that
all drives are completely spun up before turning it on. But in the worst
case, it only takes a press of the reset button to get it to boot if you turn
on the box too soon.

I even discovered (by mistake) that you can plug/unplug SCSI devices on
a Powerbook when it's asleep. I did that once when I thought it was off
but it really was only sleeping, and was pretty relieved that I didn't
roast anything.
--
Randy Shackelford                                 
shack@frii.com