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satantango
Asked: 2021-06-02 17:30:50 +0800 CST

Turning an IBM lto6 sas HH drive from library to standalone, how?

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new here. I have been using a stand alone lto6 hh drive (ibm ts2260/3580 h6s) for two years. Just recently I bumped into an almost new ibm ts2900 autoloader with an hh lto6 drive in it and bought it.
Since I dont need a library or autoloader, I want to convert the drive to a stand alone unit. I have read on the dell forums that it is posible, and that you need to use the serial port. I understand this would have to be done with the drive connected to the library, as the ts2260 case does not have serial, only ethernet.

The question still remains how to do it. I have a pc with a lsi sas hba, ITDT software, the 2900 autoloader, the ts2260...Windows 10. Can also use linux or mac, but am no programer.

Thanks a lot in advance.

library serial lto

3 Answers

  1. Thank you Kevin. I will try that in the near future. I have found a stop gap solution that I find usable. The drive I have came with an autoloader, wich is very loud and unpractical for my needs. I have found that disconnecting the robot, the library does not block the drive from working. The only thing the drive needs to work, is to see the small lib logic board attached to it. So I took the robot out, the magazine out, cut the autoloader by half the deep (this thing is 85cm deep) and placed the drive at the front, where the magazine used to slide in. Its now a neat 1u rack lto 6 unit that is ready to take a newer library drive (be it 7 or 8) and work right away without the need to hack it. The only problem is that you need to use itdt or the lib´s web interface to load or unload a tape. Not a big deal. An autoloader with a broken robot is as cheap as a sas case for a standalone drive, so if anyone is handy with a saw but not so with a command line, this may be your ticket. Will share pictures when finished. Would like to try your method but I am not sure if I should, being that I have a perfectly fine drive now...

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  2. Try this at your own risk.

    What You Need

    1. RS-422-USB cable with screw terminal
    2. JST-SH (1.0mm) Plug and Cable - 10 PINS
    3. Power Supply to the Drive

    Step.1

    There is a 10-PIN connector behind the drive. Two of them are Data Transmitter (TXD+-), other two are Data Receiver (RXD+-) and one is a ground for RS-422. Connect RS-422 to this connector with JST-SH plug. You may need to figure out pin assignments by reverse engineering.

    Step.2

    Setup PC and RS422. The default value of baud rate and stop bit should be okay. Now boot up drive.

    Step.3

    Send the following commands (Hex) from PC to the drive: 02 00 36 AC 01 00 00 00 01 FF F2 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 80 66 03

    This is a "Set_Config" command that allows the drive to go online to SCSI or Fibre Channel automatically without needing Set_Config. Reboot the drive to see if it can be detected via SAS.

    Reference

    1. LDI Specification
    2. Pioneer found in Reddit
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  3. I got it working and did set up an github account for an easier documentation. https://github.com/AC7RNsphnHVbyT4/ibm-tape-drive-automatic-standalone

    SUMMARY

    • Set all DIP Switches on the drive to off.

    • Connect the RS-422-USB Adapter as follows: - TxD+ → Red - TxD- → Brown - RxD+ → Yellow - RxD- → Orange - GND → Black

    • Send the Package to the drive: \x02\x00\x36\xAC\x01\x00\x00\x00\x01\xFF\xF2\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\xE6\x03

    • Drive restarts and goes online to SCSI or Fibre Channel automatically.

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