I've had Windows NT servers up and running my own sites since about 1995 (before MS IIS!) but never let anyone else host on my servers - so I could control the stability of Windoz...

I've recently purchased a Cobalt raq4r (I always though they were so cool looking!) that has 512ram with 2x20gig disks in it.

I purchased server used and I thought it would be nice to replace the drives with new - larger - drives.

I've tried searching the archives of this site, and the cobalt list server run by Sun and find conflicting answers. It appears that you could not do it (Kernal problems) several years ago, but now people are starting to do it.

Because of the heavy Windoz usage in the past, I'm no Cobalt / Unix expert. I was hoping that I could just go out and purchase a couple new 60 - 80 gig IDE drives and replace the current ones.... then use the recovery CD's to reinstall the OS and be on my way.

If anyone can shed some insight on how I can go about this task it would be much appreciated.

You can drop in a pair of 5400 rpm 80GB drives with no problem - provided you use the most recent OSCRD. Make sure you get the one from the FTP site that ends in BU, not AU.

Brandon

Brandon,

Thanks for that info, I will be sure to download the latest CD. You mention 5400rpm, is that a requirement? There are less and less drives operataing at 5400rpm in the Cobalt form factor size drive.

Is the 5400rpm limit a requirement? (it must be or you would not have mentioned it).


Rob

It's primarily a heat & power draw issue. The RaQ only has a 65W power supply. You can do it with one 7200 drive, two in a 4r is really pushing it - it may work, but if it does you can count on decreased component life.

FYI, I have had certain Maxtor 5400 drives (30GB) overpower the RaQ power supply and refuse to boot in a 4r config. So it does happen.

B

I've been doing some online research into power consumption of different drives currently onthe Market.

Maxtor is the worst! Some of their drives use 41 watts to spin up!

Segate looks like the best bet, most of the 5400rpm drives function at about 7.5 watts, and the 7200 use about 13.

I'll probably stick with a 5400 to be on the safe side.

Originally posted by yapadu
I've been doing some online research into power consumption of different drives currently onthe Market.

Maxtor is the worst! Some of their drives use 41 watts to spin up!

Segate looks like the best bet, most of the 5400rpm drives function at about 7.5 watts, and the 7200 use about 13.

I'll probably stick with a 5400 to be on the safe side.

How do you find the Watts used for drive spin up?

Thanks

Jjma

It's often quoted in the technical specs provided by the manufacturer.

WOW, only 65w???

all my servers have 400w supplies

but they arn't raq so thats why :P

u want to use as little power as possible then, so that all the other components get the power when they need it.

overloading the power will cause a shortend life in not just the power supply, since fans go slower when they get less power, so it will run warmer.

Yeah, the low wattage was a _great_ selling point when all the rolling blackouts were going on in California!

Also, the 65W is the total rating. During normal operation, the RaQ4 only used about 40 watts.

The advantage of the "slow" 450MHz CPU and 5400rpm drives.