DEC CI Hierarchical Storage Controllers

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DEC built a whole series of HSC controllers beginning with the HSC50 and ending with the HSC95.

See the following table for characteristics and upgradability of the HSC models:

DEC HSC Controllers
Model HSC50 HSC70 HSC40 HSC90 HSC60 HSC95 HSC65
Introduction 1983 1986 1989 1991 1991 1993 1993
Peak I/O per s 550 1150 800 1300 1300 1800 1800
max. # of channels 6 8 3 8 3 8 3
max. # of devices 24 32 12 48 20 48 32
Upgrades to HSC60 x
Upgrades to HSC70 x
Upgrades to HSC90 x x x
Upgrades to HSC65 x x
Upgrades to HSC95 x x x x x

HSC channel interfaces

A Channel is a pluggable HSC interface to either hard drives, tape drives, or both, depending on the channel module. The number of devices that can be connected also depends on the channel module.

HSC controllers may contain a mix of the following data channel module options:

  • HSC5X-BA (L0108-YA) K.SDI INTERFACE KIT TO 4 SDI DISK DRIVES
  • HSC5X-CA (L0108-YB) K.STI INTERFACE KIT TO 4 STI TAPE FORMATTERS
  • HSC5X-LA (?) HSC5X-BA WITH SUPPORT FOR TOPS-10/TOPS-20 (18 BIT WORDS)
  • HSC5X-DA (L0119-YA) K.SI INTERFACE KIT TO 4 SDI DISK DRIVES OR 4 STI TAPE FORMATTERS
  • HSC5X-FA (L0119-YB) 8-PORT DISK DATA CHANNEL DISK/TAPE DATA CHANNEL (not supported by HSC50, HSC70, and HSC40)
  • HSC9X-SX (L0131-AA) K.SCSI SCSI DISK DATA CHANNEL (not supported by HSC50)