Hi All! I'd like to report a success with recent loaner SCSI2SD 2020d and then newly acquired v6 2021!
I got mine from here:
https://store.inertialcomputing.com/SCSI2SD-v6-p/scsi2sd-v6-rev2021.htmWhile I have not ran them extensively and 2021 rev only a day, both appear to be stabile and working normally.
Much appreciations went to @Nitro, @Morgon, @Rob Blessing of Black Hole, etc. in this thread
http://www.nextcomputers.org/forums/index.php?topic=4494.15 I know have a fully functional SCSI2SD card with multiple partitions from one single 8GB SD card.
Summary:
1. obtained the correct version of scsi2sd-util6 from source
http://www.codesrc.com/files/scsi2sd-v6/latest/Attach the scsi2sd card to a Mac use a good data micro usb cable ( not a charging cable. You'd be surprised how many cables out there are only for charging! if the card isn't recognized by the scsi2sd-util6, then it's probably a bad or charging cable! )
sudo ./scsi2sd-util6
For some reason the UI seemed broken on Catalina and Big Sur, and was presented with a mostly white washed pane. This, however, seemed to work just fine on High Sierra and running as root.
The diag window would show the device and total number of blocks from the SD card.
I also used this doc to prep the SD card but I am not sure if it's needed
http://www.chickensys.com/_docs/scsi2sd_online.pdfUsing the UI, I enable the first device to SCSI Target 2 ( Because my internal boot drive had target 1 )
attached scsi2sd-7gb.xml is the saved config from UI. But here are the settings for the Target 2 I setup
scsi2sd-7gb.xml.zipThis portion of above config was critical
<bytesPerSector>512</bytesPerSector>
<sectorsPerTrack>139</sectorsPerTrack>
<headsPerCylinder>4</headsPerCylinder>
By default it reads from the SD and came with its values. These are changed by writing out the config xml file, modify to these values for the Target device you are setting up to, then load the config from xml file, and write it to the device.
It should act like a SCSI device once config is written. The change seems to need a power cycle to activate the new configs.
2. If not done yet, it's time to connect to the host. I used an external SCSI enclosure ( my old Sun CDROM drive! ) attached SCSI2sd to the scsi connector and powered SCSI2SD with usb cable attached to my old old MBP High Sierra, for both experimenting config and powering the card.
3 Reboot NeXT and you should see the Target 2 SCSI device with Vendor and Name in the verbose boot messages.
4. Your NeXT would complain about unreadable device and asks to initialize. I chose to ignore that so I could do things manually step by step.
5. Create /etc/disktab for the 8GB SD. In my case it's really more like 7.2GB
SCSI2SD 7GB:\
:ty=fixed_rw_scsi:nc#27885:nt#4:ns#139:ss#512:rm#7200:\
:fp#320:bp#0:ng#0:gs#0:ga#0:ao#0:\
:os=sdmach:z0#64:z1#192:ro=a:\
:pa#0:sa#4194304:ba#8192:fa#1024:ca#16:da#4096:ra#10:oa=time:\
:ia:ta=4.3BSD:\
:pb#4194304:sb#4194304:bb#8192:fb#1024:cb#16:db#4096:rb#10:ob=time:\
:ib:tb=4.3BSD:\
:pc#8388608:sc#4194304:bc#8192:fc#1024:cc#16:dc#4096:rc#10:oc=time:\
:ic:tc=4.3BSD:\
:pd#12582912:sd#2921355:bd#8192:fd#1024:cd#16:dd#4096:rd#10:od=time:\
:id:td=4.3BSD:
From this doc
http://www.nextcomputers.org/NeXTfiles/Docs/NeXTanswers/By_Number/For 512k block devices
fp#320
z0@64
z1#192
For 1024k block devices
fp#160
z0#32
z1#96
I am using 512k
Using scsimodes on the raw device
# scsimodes /dev/rsd1a
SCSI information for /dev/rsd1a
Drive type: SCSI2SD 7GB
512 bytes per sector
139 sectors per track
4 tracks per cylinder
27885 cylinder per volume (including spare cylinders)
Host bad block handling
0 alternate tracks per volume
15504587 usable sectors on volume
I have 15504587 - 320 ( fp# ) = 15504267 usable blocks. Now divide these into 2GB x 3 chunks and remaining into 4th. These resulted the disktab "SCSI2SD 7GB" above
6. Build with disk command
disk -b -t "SCSI2SD 7GB" -i /dev/rsd1a
Above installs boot block and build file system into first partition. We need to manually build filesystem for the rest.
newfs /dev/rsd1b
newfs /dev/rsd1c
newfs /dev/rsd1d
mkdir /disk1a /disk1b
mount /dev/sd1a /disk1a
mount /dev/sd1b /disk1b
I did these because my existing Seagate SCSI drive is a 4GB device and has 2 partitions. I used dump to duplicate data to the new device. Example dump command below.
dump 0f - / | ( cd /disk1a; restore xf - )
Now, I originally created two partition, first 2 GB, and remaining 5.x GB as 2nd partition. All seemed well, and even newfs worked. However, trying to write anything to this large partition would crash the machine running OpenStep 4.2. So I have modified disktab into chunks of 2GB partitions, used disk command to label the disk with new partition table (and since i wasn't touching boot device, all data in partition 0 was intact ), used disk command "label" "print" to verify that partition table is written to the scsi device, then followed by newfs commands to the partition 1,2,3.
disk label print
part base size bsize fsize cpg density minfree newfs optim automount type
a 0 4194304 8192 1024 16 4096 10% yes time no 4.3BSD
b 4194304 4194304 8192 1024 16 4096 10% yes time no 4.3BSD
c 8388608 4194304 8192 1024 16 4096 10% yes time no 4.3BSD
d 12582912 2921355 8192 1024 16 4096 10% yes time no 4.3BSD
7. When device is fully prepared. umount them all from system. use scsi2sd-util6 and changed SCSI Target to 0. Power cycle SCSI2SD card. Reboot NeXT.
This time NeXT booted from external drive because it has lowest SCSI target.
All seemed to be working normally if not slightly slower but that might just be from the lack of busy scsi disk's seeking heads. Shutdown and power off successfully too!
8. Now let's move SCSI2SD internal. Before doing this, I like to change it to SCSI Target 1. Doing so, it enables me to boot from an external device by setting it to Target 0. Use scsi2sd-util6, load config from device, modify to target 1, and write config to device. Power it down. This device is ready to be installed internally. I ordered the power cable along with SCSI2SD so that it can be daisy chained to the existing power cable to power the SCSI2SD v6 card.
I am not going about how to install it internally, i think everyone should be expert by now, if not, i am sure others have written a how-to.
Machine should boot up normally. On mine, however, it appeared to be in a rebooting loop for 3 times but on the 4th time it came up all the way to login screen. Since then it boots normally. It also shuts down normally without the hanging issue often observed with SCSI2SD 5.2 as mentioned on the forum as well as a few colleagues who's used SCSI2SD on their NeXTcube.
So I am calling it a success!!!
9. SCSI2SD V6 2021! So I reached out and asked about when 2021 rev will be ready and Alex responded that it should be days. Indeed, it was available to order within a few days!! I also ordered this bracket to mount it on a standard disk mout
https://www.etsy.com/listing/828766404/macintosh-scsi2sd-bracketWithin minutes, I secured the SCSI2SD v6 2021 onto the bracket with included screws, and then installed it with cable and the configured SD card to the new SCSI2SD module. Powered up NeXT and it booted up like nothing had happened.
So both v6 2020d and v6 2021 are working properly on my NeXTstation Turbo Color.
10. Thoughts: I felt it's a little slower than the Seagate SCSI drive but it might be because it's completely silent lacking the fun noise of physical drive's seeking heads. I'll need to get some benchmark done to confirm that. however, it appears to be working perfectly so it's a wrap!
The reason that pushed me to do this was two fold. 1) my HDD was getting intermittent clicking noise like the head was resetting/parking, and that once so often id get a media error so I knew it was on the way out. 2) I was offered a SCSI2SD v6 card from a colleague to try it out!!! cannot refuse that offer! :) So here we are, I am confirming that the v6 2020d and 2021 rev both indeed work in our black hardware!
Thanks to the forum's wisdom. I am sharing what I've learned and what I did here, hopefully making it easier for the next person who needs a scsi storage to keep a NeXT going.