Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Fri, 28 Nov 2003 13:33:36 -0600
From:      Stephen Hilton <nospam@hiltonbsd.com>
To:        Marc Wiz <marc@wiz.com>
Cc:        freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: (Semi)hot swap IDE
Message-ID:  <20031128133336.79560039.nospam@hiltonbsd.com>
In-Reply-To: <20031123032643.GD13382@wiz.com>
References:  <200311222031.hAMKVwm2006917@lv.raad.tartu.ee> <20031123032643.GD13382@wiz.com>

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Sat, 22 Nov 2003 21:26:43 -0600
Marc Wiz <marc@wiz.com> wrote:

> On Sat, Nov 22, 2003 at 10:31:24PM +0200, Toomas Aas wrote:
> > Hello!
> > 
> > I'm looking for a cheap solution to back up a FreeBSD 4.8 machine. 
> > Cheap meaning that tape drives are out of question. Even external 
> > FireWire drives are deemed a bit too expensive by the folks for whom 
> > I'm doing this research.
> 
> External Firewire drives are too expensive?   I would ask these people
> how much their data is worth to them.  I understand about being
> on a budget but there are limits.
> 
> I'm not trying to flame anyone but you sometimes you have to spend
> a little bit of money.
> 
> IMHO most of the time Firewire drives cost too much.  If you shop
> around you can get an enclosure and a drive and put the drive in
> yourself.

I have been using a Buslink 1394 Firewire HD model #FW80 72E on 2  
4-STABLE systems for backup. The Firewire ports are onbord on an 
ASUS P4PE and an ASUS P3B-1394 motherboard.

Pulled this from pricewatch, I have not used this vendor before or 
the included Firewire card, my Buslink 1394 drive came w/o:

 Generic  (Hard Disk Drives) Buslink 1394 Firewire 40.0GB
 7200rpm External Hard Drive W/Firewire Card 
 Part - HD-BL40FW2
 Price -  $ 138
 Shipping - $6.00 - 8.00 Fed Ex Ground Insured
 http://www.digitalstormonline.com/

My firewire chassie appears to be easily opened, and if cost is 
that important you could try swapping drives in the chassie after 
removal. (warranty issues beware)

--------------
the correct sequence for hot swapping this firewire hard drive on 
my motherboard is this:
(this is with firewire and sbp devices compiled into my kernel)

...
plug the firewire drive cable in
run 'fwcontrol -r'
mount the firewire drive
do backups
unmount the firewire drive
unplug the firewire drive cable
...

My PC and firewire drive would work fine on the first time plugin 
of the hard drive, but unplugging the drive and coming back later 
to plug in again needed the 'fwcontrol -r' to work properly. YMMV

This reconnect issue may be fixed now in 4-STABLE for my firewire 
on-board interface :-)
---------------


Another option to research would be the new SATA IDE drives and 
controllers and trays. Anyone with more info regarding doing this 
on 5.x or 4.x please chime in!


Regards,


Stephen Hilton
nospam@hiltonbsd.com



Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?20031128133336.79560039.nospam>