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Author Topic: DTS units and there drives Michael Voiland Expert Film Handler Posts: 219 From: Naperville, IL US Registered: Aug 2009 posted 12-19-2009 03:49 PM                     So here is the issue. Our dts6 decided that its drives were going to start to fail. So the company bought some cheap drives aka old used SCSI drives from a wholesaler. Those lasted 2 weeks. Then we got some drives from another dts6 that the company had but those are bad drives. Finally I went out and bought 4 slot loading SCSI drives. Now they were cheap but they were also brand new meant for hp servers. The first set of these drives is going. Why does a dts unit seem to chew through any drive that is not a dts drive, and can I make my 3rd party SCSI drives work.  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 퍼항시, 경상푹도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 12-19-2009 04:02 PM                     Because the firmware could've easily been written in such a way that it only worked perfectly with the intended hardware. On the other hand, at least with the 6D (I'm not sure if this applies to the 6) they have a DVD-drive upgrade kit that includes an IDE-to-SCSI adapter. So now if you had a drive fail, it could literally take any old IDE DVD drive. But of course 6D isn't 6 so this might not help you.  |  IP: Logged Michael Voiland Expert Film Handler Posts: 219 From: Naperville, IL US Registered: Aug 2009 posted 12-19-2009 05:46 PM                     I think they do have the upgrade kit for the dts6 I would we could get an xd20. 9 Theaters and only one broken dts unit.  |  IP: Logged Marin Zorica Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 671 From: Biograd na Moru, Croatia Registered: May 2003 posted 12-19-2009 06:02 PM                     That SCSI to IDE kit is same for DTS6 and 6D machines. I did asked dts tech support for it, too bad they don't longer support that units, but there is some out company that do it for them, I send them mail only still no replay. Even....newer figured whay they didn't just replace SCSI controller with IDE one and make new firmware that thing can go....  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-19-2009 07:13 PM                     Yes, Computer Spirit is now the parts source for those drives. I believe this company also built all the DTS units for DTS... They also put together the upgrade kits back when they were available. Like any computer item the older it gets the harder it is to keep em going. Mark  |  IP: Logged Marco Giustini Film God Posts: 2713 From: Reading, UK Registered: Nov 2007 posted 12-19-2009 08:14 PM                     In my personal experience DTS Toshiba drives have no special firmware. I compared the firmware between a retail unit and a DTS unit and it was the same (at least the SCSI card showed the same firmware version). What I found testing several drives of different brands, is that they work but with no reliability. Only the same type of drives work flawlessy. I think you just have to find on the market the same model of drive, and try them. Of course they must be brand new. Or you simply could buy the SCSI/IDE adapter  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 12-19-2009 08:37 PM                     It is a firmware issue with the drives's firmware has to be all the same to match the SCSI controller. And forget about doing IDE controller with HD/IDE drives,et. al. - units pretty proprietory with SCSI  |  IP: Logged Michael Voiland Expert Film Handler Posts: 219 From: Naperville, IL US Registered: Aug 2009 posted 12-20-2009 03:32 AM                     To bad dts had there head up their butt when they built these things. Dts will sell the drives for a few hundred bucks. Any idea on part numbers / cost of the ide upgrade kit. does anyone have a number for computer spirit?  |  IP: Logged Demetris Thoupis Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1240 From: Aradippou, Larnaca, Cyprus Registered: Apr 2001 posted 12-20-2009 03:36 AM                     You are better off making an exchange for an XD20 unit. It will eventually be cheaper. Demetris  |  IP: Logged Michael Voiland Expert Film Handler Posts: 219 From: Naperville, IL US Registered: Aug 2009 posted 12-20-2009 03:45 AM                     I would love an XD20 I would love 4 of them does anyone have info on this trade up program.  |  IP: Logged Demetris Thoupis Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1240 From: Aradippou, Larnaca, Cyprus Registered: Apr 2001 posted 12-20-2009 07:16 AM                     I speak with Adam McDonald but that's for the European region. I am not sure of the US region. Demetris  |  IP: Logged Julio Roberto Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 938 From: Madrid, Madrid, Spain Registered: Oct 2008 posted 12-20-2009 08:41 AM                    From memory, their upgrade kits were around $250. We upgraded the ROM chip in some controller and they used Acard SCSI-to-IDE adapters and standard IDE DVD drives. Yes. The adapter cards can be bought off-the-shelf and they cost around $80, far less if you find them used (we paid like $35 for a few). They need to be above a certain revision, though. After installing the kit, if a drive fails (which they all eventually do), it's only a matter of getting another standard $25 IDE DVD drive in there and you are good to go for a couple more years.  |  IP: Logged Demetris Thoupis Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1240 From: Aradippou, Larnaca, Cyprus Registered: Apr 2001 posted 12-20-2009 12:36 PM                     Julio if I recall correctly the drives should not be above x16 speed otherwise they have a lot of fallbacks. That is the limitation of the DTS6D and DTS6 unit. Demetris  |  IP: Logged Marco Giustini Film God Posts: 2713 From: Reading, UK Registered: Nov 2007 posted 12-20-2009 06:02 PM                     Newer TEAC drives were 32x, reduced to 4x by software if I'm not mistaken. Maybe with IDE DVD drives they can reduce speed without the need of a particular drive model. When I fitted in SCSI 40x version of Toshiba drives (6401 instead of 5401 if memory serves) my DTS was NOT able to reduce their speed. Obviously the command sent to the drives was not compatible with 6401. Maybe with IDE drives it's no more an issue.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 12-21-2009 01:21 PM                     quote: Michael Voiland does anyone have a number for computer spirit? Computer Spirit 2649 Townsgate Road Suite 200 Westlake Village, CA 91361 (805)-373-5107 E-208 (2-tray kit) $429.00 E-209 (3-tray kit) $571.31  |  IP: Logged

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