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JessH

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 6, 2015
26
2
Out East
Hey guys,

Just went into NYC this weekend to spend my latest paycheck on Craigslist gold. I got an Apple 2e with a Duo Disk drive/Green Monitor, an SGI Indy ($250 altogether, I know, probably not too great, but I am a sucker for making other collectors happy when they cash out), and 2 14x500 xServe RAIDS in gorgeous condition, (I don't want to admit how much I will spend on these, lol).

It's getting pretty crazy: I am now up to 6 working enclosures, and 2 enclosures for parts. I have enough blanks for all 84 bays, and enough PATA ADMS for 5/6 and drives to fill 4/6.

1 -14x750
2 -14x500
1 -14x400
2 - With Empty ADMS. (Just need drives).

I am also at 5 xServes (2x G4, 1x G5 CN, 1xG5, 1x Intel) and am going to probably make it 8. The only thing that is killing me is knowing how many copper apple fibre cables I will have to buy. I am also going to have to buy cards for 4 of the XServes as I plan on running 2 XSAN seats simultaneously. The rest is just going to be for storage.

I am in the process of getting some cool stainless steel tables, I will post a pic if I do. I really wanted to get a 42U rack. They are cheap used, and I am at 27-30u already. It's just so hard to find the mounting hardware for the RAIDs cheap enough. I would gladly pay about $50 a kit to properly mount them. But eBay some people want like $150+, even some of the sites out there with the knockoff gear still want $100+, but I have to buy 6 haha.

I am not sure why these XRAIDs have taken such a strong place in my heart. It started off getting a G5 and a 14x180 because they looked so beautiful next to the G5s. When I got them up and running I just melted. The status LEDs, the WAL, excellent software management... I knew I would be buying many more.

Do any of you guys have any ideas for mounting these heavy things? I have a telco rack and can get a 42u rack for $100-200. Right now I am putting them on those stainless prep tables.

I need to get a life!
 
I'm afraid I can't help you on the Xraid, as I have just one Xserve G5 and it's leaning against a closet wall. I completely understand the appeal, though-when I set it next to the IBM SystemX Rackmounts I have, it truly is a thing of beauty.

I'd also love to see your SGI Indy. I have yet to add an SGI to my collection, although I've always really admired them and have been perilously close on occasion. I have enough Macs to keep me busy, though :)
 
"Picked up 2 more XRAIDs" careful there, beginning to sound like @bunnspecial with various PPC Macs :)

It's interesting that someone actually collects those. I have quite a few PPC Macs, and I've never even seen one.
 
I will gladly post a pic of the Indy tonight if I can get to it sir!

redheeler, I have gotten that response quite a bit over the last few months, maybe that's why I keep collecting!

In all seriousness, though, I really think (and hope) it's as simple as I thought they were cool when they were $6k a piece and am actually happy to finally be able to afford them.

Is there anyone else here on the forum who just has fun with them? The first response is usually a laugh when you tell people you actually use them. I have no problem accepting the antiquated tech within them. I just have a problem when people think they are useless.

Sure, they aren't SATA and are not terribly fast. But they integrate into OS X (at least the versions I like, max 10.6) like no other SAN based storage. They are absolutely gorgeous and for some reason I will continue to keep using them to store data for a long time. I have 3 forms of redundancy, so I am really not worried about losing my data. I am not expecting much from FCS 3 and XSAN now, but I do edit on FCP7 a little bit and still digitize from decks. So an XSAN workflow makes a lot of a sense for my old G5s.

I would rather use something that is interesting to me and inspires me to keep learning than go spend my 2-3k at once on a new piece of promise/lacie gear.
 
Few Ikea lack tables a saw, some angle brackets and four casters can give you a decent mobile enclosure to store them in
IMG_0383.jpg
 
Hey guys,

Just went into NYC this weekend to spend my latest paycheck on Craigslist gold. I got an Apple 2e with a Duo Disk drive/Green Monitor, an SGI Indy ($250 altogether, I know, probably not too great, but I am a sucker for making other collectors happy when they cash out), and 2 14x500 xServe RAIDS in gorgeous condition, (I don't want to admit how much I will spend on these, lol).

It's getting pretty crazy: I am now up to 6 working enclosures, and 2 enclosures for parts. I have enough blanks for all 84 bays, and enough PATA ADMS for 5/6 and drives to fill 4/6.

1 -14x750
2 -14x500
1 -14x400
2 - With Empty ADMS. (Just need drives).

I am also at 5 xServes (2x G4, 1x G5 CN, 1xG5, 1x Intel) and am going to probably make it 8. The only thing that is killing me is knowing how many copper apple fibre cables I will have to buy. I am also going to have to buy cards for 4 of the XServes as I plan on running 2 XSAN seats simultaneously. The rest is just going to be for storage.

I am in the process of getting some cool stainless steel tables, I will post a pic if I do. I really wanted to get a 42U rack. They are cheap used, and I am at 27-30u already. It's just so hard to find the mounting hardware for the RAIDs cheap enough. I would gladly pay about $50 a kit to properly mount them. But eBay some people want like $150+, even some of the sites out there with the knockoff gear still want $100+, but I have to buy 6 haha.

I am not sure why these XRAIDs have taken such a strong place in my heart. It started off getting a G5 and a 14x180 because they looked so beautiful next to the G5s. When I got them up and running I just melted. The status LEDs, the WAL, excellent software management... I knew I would be buying many more.

Do any of you guys have any ideas for mounting these heavy things? I have a telco rack and can get a 42u rack for $100-200. Right now I am putting them on those stainless prep tables.

I need to get a life!
E7'shttp://
Hey guys,

Just went into NYC this weekend to spend my latest paycheck on Craigslist gold. I got an Apple 2e with a Duo Disk drive/Green Monitor, an SGI Indy ($250 altogether, I know, probably not too great, but I am a sucker for making other collectors happy when they cash out), and 2 14x500 xServe RAIDS in gorgeous condition, (I don't want to admit how much I will spend on these, lol).

It's getting pretty crazy: I am now up to 6 working enclosures, and 2 enclosures for parts. I have enough blanks for all 84 bays, and enough PATA ADMS for 5/6 and drives to fill 4/6.

1 -14x750
2 -14x500
1 -14x400
2 - With Empty ADMS. (Just need drives).

I am also at 5 xServes (2x G4, 1x G5 CN, 1xG5, 1x Intel) and am going to probably make it 8. The only thing that is killing me is knowing how many copper apple fibre cables I will have to buy. I am also going to have to buy cards for 4 of the XServes as I plan on running 2 XSAN seats simultaneously. The rest is just going to be for storage.

I am in the process of getting some cool stainless steel tables, I will post a pic if I do. I really wanted to get a 42U rack. They are cheap used, and I am at 27-30u already. It's just so hard to find the mounting hardware for the RAIDs cheap enough. I would gladly pay about $50 a kit to properly mount them. But eBay some people want like $150+, even some of the sites out there with the knockoff gear still want $100+, but I have to buy 6 haha.

I am not sure why these XRAIDs have taken such a strong place in my heart. It started off getting a G5 and a 14x180 because they looked so beautiful next to the G5s. When I got them up and running I just melted. The status LEDs, the WAL, excellent software management... I knew I would be buying many more.

Do any of you guys have any ideas for mounting these heavy things? I have a telco rack and can get a 42u rack for $100-200. Right now I am putting them on those stainless prep tables.

I need to get a life!
 
Few Ikea lack tables a saw, some angle brackets and four casters can give you a decent mobile enclosure to store them in
View attachment 563437

Thanks for the input, I was always concerned about how well these things can handle the weight of more than one XRAID. I figure if I have 6 RAIDS and 8 regular 1U blades, plus the hardware, I am not sure it would handle the weight of all of that.

Nice turntable, I have a small vinyl collection going as well. With a pro-ject 2xperience classic (sumiko blue point no2. ), Rotel RA-1570 and B&O CM10's. Only stereo though, none of that video nonsense in the bedroom.
 
I passed on a couple of 19" Telco racks that I could have gotten for free, but were only 2 post. I do have a rackmount Digital Audio(4U Marathon Case) that would fit nicely in them, but I'd be uncomfortable mounting the Xserve and SystemX stuff in a 2-post rack.

I also passed on a 4 post 19" cabinet because it wasn't deep enough for a typical rackmount "blade"(I removed a bunch of 4U Marathon cases from it that had dual PIIIs).
 
Speaking of SGI stuff-I spent the afternoon playing with this one.

Unfortunately, I'm locked out of it as I don't have any of the user account passwords(two people with accounts are still around the department, but couldn't come up with their passwords).

I tried booting off an IRIX install disk(I understand this will allow me to at least create user accounts if not change existing passwords), but either the external CD-ROM drive I'm using is dead(not an impossibility, although the computer does see it and report the correct SCSI ID), the CD is bad, or I just don't have the right CD. I found a stack of about 20 CDs. Fortunately, there's at least one more Octane around the department that there's a decent chance has the install disks with it.

There's an O2 that I have yet to hook up that's in the same room, and I think in the worst case I can pull the HDD from the Octane, install it in the O2, and change passwords.

IMG_1690.JPG


(It's sitting on a half ton 4x8 optical bench, which is actually a great work surface since it's not going anywhere)
 
I'd love to get my hands on a SGI workstation - they were real mythical beasts in the 90s with their 'exotic' CPUs and OS....the appeal was diminished when they went Intel...sounds familiar :)

The same room where I'm working on this has an Altix 3000 minicluster. It's Intel, but at least is full of Itaniums. I'd call that at least somewhat obscure :)

If I could get away with it, I'd haul it home and use it as an end table :p . I don't want to deal with overhead that come with running it(I'd need to convince the landlady to let me put a 240V outlet in the living room, and even then don't want to pay the power bill to keep it going. It would at least make a good spaceheater in the winter).
 
Nice turntable, I have a small vinyl collection going as well. With a pro-ject 2xperience classic (sumiko blue point no2. ), Rotel RA-1570 and B&O CM10's. Only stereo though, none of that video nonsense in the bedroom.

Nice setup, I use a clearaudio concept turntable and an icon Audio Stereo 40i as an integrated amp which, I play the turntable, my akai gx-230d, philips n4450, macintosh plus and iMac through.

Practically all the records I own are in "redundant" formats.
 
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