[Info-vax] Exploring a hard drive on a new Vaxstation

DaveFroble davef at tsoft-inc.com
Sun Jan 28 18:39:00 EST 2018


Cliff Miller wrote:
> I have a Vaxstation 3100 Model 30 which came with an RZ23 hard drive.  I access the system with a serial console cable.
> The system boots to the >>> prompt and self-tests just fine.  When I try to boot from the hard drive, however, it returns "File not found."
> I am reluctant to initialize the drive and start from scratch as I am curious to see what was on it.
> What are my options for being able to explore the hard drive?

I'd be a bit surprised if there are still any working RZ23 drives.

Another note, the VAXstation 3100 systems can use a boot device of no more than 
1 GB, if I remember correctly.

It would not surprise me if the electronics worked just fine.  DEC designed and 
built fine HW.

If you could find a working VAX with SCSI bus, you could place the disk on that 
system to explore it.

Where are you located?  Perhaps someone here could be helpful.

Steve's "Ask the Wizard" articles should have some helpful information.

There are devices now that allow use of various solid state memory on these 
systems.  Memory cards, SSDs, and such.  I currently have no experience with such.

I might have a RZ23 or RZ24 laying around.  Would have to look.

-- 
David Froble                       Tel: 724-529-0450
Dave Froble Enterprises, Inc.      E-Mail: davef at tsoft-inc.com
DFE Ultralights, Inc.
170 Grimplin Road
Vanderbilt, PA  15486



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