Hello, Does anybody know if the Sparc 5 workstation accepts > 2GB SCSI harddisks ? This SUN support manual suggested it didn't, but some other places in the web hold it is true; moreover, they suggest I can even install an 18GB drive in my box. Any help will be appreciated Pamelo

I'm pretty sure you should be able to put a 2GB disk in as long as it's the right type (ie with the right connector - it's name escapes me). I have 2x2Gb SCSI disks in my Sparc20's, and I'm sure they're not that different to a 5. (of course I stand to be corrected).

I would think so. Usually the limitation is the version of the operating system. We ran 2GB IDE Seagate drives on i86 platforms in Solaris 2.5, 2.6 and 2GB, 4GB SCSI disks and later 18GB SCSIs in 2.6 (I think). The SCSI interface is a standard so that would not be an issue. Paul

Be careful on the SparcStation platform when you set up your partitioning if your disk is greater than 2 gig. The end of the root partition must not fall outside the 2 gig limit, but all other partitions can. Below are some examples. This will work: Total disk space = 9 gig swap = 512 meg (starting at block 0) / = 1.5 gig everything else = 7 gig This will not work because the root patition falls outside the first 2 gig of the disk: Total disk space = 9 gig swap = 512 meg (starting at block 0) / = 2 gig everything else = 6.5 gig With Solaris 8, you can start the swap space somewhere besides block 0. So, this will also work: Total disk space = 9 gig / = 2 gig (starting at block 0) swap = 512 meg everything else = 6.5 gig

By the way, the bad part about all this is if you set up the root partition outside the first 2 gig limit (an example would be setting up the whole disk as one large root partition), the installation of Solaris will complete without incident or failure. HOWEVER, on reboot the SparcStation will not find the kernel. So, you will have gone through the whole installation thinking everything is great.....and then find out otherwise afterwards.