Seagate ST19171FC Computer Hardware User Manual


 
18 Barracuda 9FC Installation Guide, Rev. A
Inserting the drive
Most systems provide a way to insert the drive using a carrier or
tray which allows the drive to be hot-plugged into the system’s
Fibre Channel 40-pin single connector attachment (FC-SCA).
Refer to your system documentation about the method they pro-
vide and follow their instructions.
When installing the drive on a carrier or tray, discharge the static
electricity from the carrier or tray prior to inserting it into the sys-
tem.
Formatting the drive
Warning. Formatting a drive erases all user data. Be sure that
you understand this principle before formatting any
hard disc drive (it is not necessary to format a drive
which has previously been used to store data).
1. Supply DC power to the drive (power is supplied to the drive
through the 40-pin FC-SCA).
2. Format the disc drive. This drive is designed to operate with
a variety of operating systems. Refer to your system and
Fibre Channel controller manual for information about
selecting and formatting the drive.
Enabling write cache
Write caching is a feature that allows the drive to transfer write
data to its own cache, tell the controller that the task is complete,
and then actually complete the write at a later time. This
improves write performance by freeing the CPU to go on to its
next command.