Startup disk & FWB, Adaptec preferred slot

[Enrico Donner]

First of all, thanks for this new Forum!

I've read somewhere in other discussion posts that it is better to keep the startup disk (the one with PT software and all authorizations) formatted with Apple utilities and not with FWB. It was also recommended NOT to upgrade the HD drivers with FWB but letting the Apple drives. Is it correct?


Besides, I've also read that the best place to place the Adaptec SCSI card is in the last slot.
In my case, a 9600 with 2 video cards and the Magma host card, the order should be (top to bottom):

Magma 7 host card
empty
1st video card
2nd video card
empty
Adaptec 2940UW.

Does it make sense or it is better to place the video cards at the bottom?

[Steve Rosenthal]

Enrico,

Your system drive -- if it is an Apple OEM drive -- should always be initialized with the Apple drivers.

It was also recommended NOT to upgrade the HD drivers with FWB but letting the Apple drives. Is it correct?

I'm afraid I don't quite understand the question. Can you clarify?

As far as slot order goes, the thing that really matters with the 6-slot Macs is to keep high-traffic and/or bus-mastering cards on seperate PCI bridges. This means thinking of your PCI slots in two groups of three. So long as the SCSI card is in one group of three, and something like a chassis host card is in the other, you'll see fewer performance issues over the PCI bus. I think it also makes sense that you split your monitor cards between the two bridges for the same reason. However, I don't think it matters whether or not you keep an empty slot between cards. (There may be something to it, but I haven't heard anything.)

--Steve Rosenthal, Digidesign ETS

[Enrico Donner]

Coco, Steve, thanks.

When I was speaking about the startup disk I was meaning the 4 GB hard disk which Apple gave me in the 9600/300.
I think it's an IBM HD, yet I'll double check it this afternoon at home.
In that HD I put the system OS and PT software and authorizations.

I'm sorry for my English; when I wrote: "it was also recommended NOT to upgrade the HD drivers with FWB but letting the Apple drives. Is it correct? " I was meaning that I have read that I should not update the HD drivers with FWB. In FWB (as well as in the Apple utility for formatting disks - I don't remember its name) there's an option called <<Update drivers>> which I use everytime I get a new release of the software. [I've used the word "upgrade" instead of "update"!!]
So, from what I've heard, you should update the apple-formatted HD drivers with the Apple utility, and the FWB-formatted HD drivers with the FWB utility.
Never Mix this "updating" policies up!!

Steve?

[Steve Rosenthal]

So, from what I've heard, you should update the apple-formatted HD drivers with the Apple utility, and the FWB-formatted HD drivers with the FWB utility.

Never Mix this "updating" policies up!!

That's correct.

In general, if a drive is initialized with Brand X utility, never update only the drivers with Brand Y utility. If you intend to switch from Brand X to Brand Y, you will need to reinitialize your Brand X drives with Brand Y utility.

--Steve Rosenthal, Digidesign ETS