Hey All,

Thanks to several folks that responded.  Here's more information for the
record:

Emulex uses Seagate ST-82272J drives in the SD893 unit.  Seagate's spec
sheet lists
the interface as SMD E.  However, here's what Emulex wrote in their User's
Guide:

   "As a native SDI disk drive, the SD89X implements the full functionality
   of DEC's Digital Storage Architecture (DSA), with no operating system
   modifications required.  SD89X drives work with all DSA controllers, such
   as the HSC40/50/70, UDA50, KDA50, and KDB50.  Physically the drive consits
   of the following:

      1. An eight-inch HDA assembly with associated control electronics
      2. A high-capacity power supply
      3. An Emulex SM90 interface PCB
      4. An intelligent user control panel"

On the rear panel, there is a 13-pin inline connector with square holes
labeled
J15.  The two 8-pin SDI ports A and B are labeled J24 and J25, respectively.

The spec sheet doesn't detail how the servo information is maintained.
Besides, the
degaussing effectively destroyed it in any case.  (I'll bet that there
wasn't any
data critical to national security on them to begin with!  They were
removed from a
VAX 4300.  Wonder what happened to that beauty.)  What happens is that the
drive spins
up, then varies speed several times, then displays a fault condition (error
code '4D' -
spin error) on the front panel.  Is the servo information something that
can only be
restored by the manufacturer?  If the servo info can be restored, would the
drive then
require standard reformatting?

It sure would be nice to replace a couple of RA81s with these...

Thanks,
Jason Brady   jrbrady@mindspring.com   Lynnwood, WA