Hi Keith,

While we're on this topic I have a question for you and the group:

Of the used disk and tape peripherals out there, what is the best choice for 
a VAX 11/750?  It has SDI (UDA50) and MASSBUS controllers.  I'd prefer some-
thing lighter and more robust than the RA81, but it sounds like the RA70
series
may not be compatible.  The goal is a system capable of running NetBSD and
VMS.
Any suggestions, or pointers to Web resources where I can research this?

Thanks,
Jason

--- Original Message ---
Date: Mon,  7 Jun 99 00:47:44 PDT
From: Keith Huff <kshuff@fast.net>
Subject: RE: Need Help with RA81 Error 
To: Jason Brady <jrbrady@mindspring.com>

Hi Again,

  Other than cleaning the pickup, I don't know. It might be a bearing
problem, has the drive been sitting awile? It might also be the IR diode,
its hard to say. I still have a MicroVAX II with two RA82 drives attached,
and if I don't spin the drives up at least twice a month, I have problems
with them. You might want to consider stocking up on spare drives, or at
least spare HDA's

  A note on the RA7x drives, you will need a controller with recent
firmware to run these drives, I tried a couple in the past with the uVax
and two different controllers, no dice. That's when I found out I didn't
have the correct firmware, so I sold the drives along with the SA7x
interface enclosure.