| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 870.1 | Could this be what we are all looking for? | DDMAIL::ANDREWS | How come nobody told *ME*? | Wed Nov 04 1987 01:22 | 104 |
| As for the exact specs for the drives, look in the ibmpc notes file.
(I don't remember the node name right now). It is in there in several
places. In the meantime, this may interest you:
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Path: decwrl!labrea!rutgers!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!ubc-vision!van-bc!root
Subject: Hard Drives and Interface
Posted: 2 Nov 87 22:30:23 GMT
Organization:
Warning!
-=-=-=-
The following message may be taken as an advertisement and therefore
may offend Net users. The intention is to make inexpensive Hard Drive
systems available to members of Amiga Users Groups. The WEDGE was
developed by Jim Brooks, a member of our User Group, who has devoted
many hours to helping members with hardware problems and development.
If this type of message offends you please type N now.
Hard Drive systems available for the AMIGA
------------------------------------------
* Shipping and handling are extra *
Special for Amiga User Groups Members
The WEDGE, a hard drive interface board for the AMIGA 1000 and 500.
Allows you to connect up to 4 160 Megabyte IBM style hard drives.
Requires Drive Controller card - suggested Western Digital WX1
$175.00 CDN Funds User Group Price
$195.00 CDN Funds non-user group price
-------------------------------------------
Package Number 1
20 Megabyte Half Height Hard Drive - MiniScribe 3638,
Western Digital Controller - WX1 (will control up to 2 Hard drives)
The WEDGE (as above),
Half Height Case (will hold 2 Half Height Drives) with Power supply.
824.00 User Group Price
849.00 Non User Group Price
--------------------------------------------
Package Number 2
40 Megabyte Half Height Hard Drive - MiniScribe 3638,
Western Digital Controller - WX1 (will control up to 2 Hard drives)
The WEDGE (as above),
Half Height Case (will hold 2 Half Height Drives) with Power supply.
1024.00 User Group Price
1049.00 Non User group Price
--------------------------------------------
Additional Hard Drives
======================
20 Meg (3438) without controller
------
405.00 User Group Price
429.00 Non User Group Price
----------------------
20 Meg (3438p) with controller (WX1)
------
490.00 User Group Price
514.00 Non User Group Price
------------------------
40 Meg (3650) without controller
------
525.00 User Group Price
549.00 Non User Group Price
------------------------
40 Meg (3650) with controller
------
600.00 User Group Price
624.00 Non User Group Price
------------------------
Ordering Information:
Cash or Money Order ONLY
Made payable to Reiter Software Inc.
c/o 9651 Alexandra Road, Richmond, B.C.
Canada, V6X 1C6
--
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+ Dave Allen - President of PANORAMA - Pacific Northwest Amiga Association +
+ - "I can't stop Multitasking" - Write: 9651 Alexandra Rd. +
+ // Richmond, B.C. Canada V6X 1C6 +
+ // or: Dave Allen UUCP: [email protected] +
+ \\// or: {ihnp4!alberta!ubc-vision,uunet}!van-bc!daami!dave +
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|
| 870.2 | I'm gonna go for it!!! | OASIS2::BERNARD | John Bernard DTN 288-6622 | Mon Nov 16 1987 18:29 | 81 |
|
After reading all I could find on hard disk systems, availability,
costs, etc, I decided to roll my own. Not having been involved with
SCSI, ST506, host adaptors, magic, whatever, I was essentially starting
from scratch.
A little background: I wanted to ensure my base was SCSI. I wanted
to utilize RLL format to get the extra 50% capacity (i.e. 20meg drive at
MFM = 32.8meg using RLL). I have a surplus ST-225 and ST-412 drive so I didn't
want to buy another hard drive.
After talking to several firms (Supra, C-Ltd, Interface Tech) it seems they
want to sell (naturally) an entire package. C-Ltd will sell bits and pieces
but want full price.
I contacted CA Wholesale Supply (see note 614) and had a lengthy talk
with one of the technical sorts there. They were quite helpful and I think I
have an understanding of what is needed for a disk subsystem. The following is
as I understand it (It'd better be good 'cause this stuff is on the way!!!)...
/------------------\ /--------------------------------------------\
|AMIGA Host Adaptor| | DISK ENCLOSURE, Cables, and Power Supply |
|__________________|<------->|<-- ______________ _______________ |
| | | Adaptec SCSI |<-->| ST-225/ST-412 ||
| -->| to ST-506 | | Hard Drive ||
| |______________|<-->|_______________||
| |
|____________________________________________|
AMIGA (A500) This comes with the host controller $179.00
SCSI Host Controller and enclosure like the Supra controller.
It also comes with two floppies. One has
A1000 and A2000 the drivers/whatever, the other has the
available documentation. Controller has a 25 pin
SCSI DB25 bus connector to the SCSI device(s)
and an 86 pin conn to the expansion port.
It is a pass-thru bus.
A4070 Adaptec SCSI This converts SCSI to ST-506 (RLL). It $129.95
to ST-506 controller has a 50 pin conn on the Amiga side and
a 20 pin and 32 pin connector that connects
to the ST-506 drive.
Drive Case, 45w Power This is the drive enclosure, Drive and $109.95
Supply, and Cables A4070 power, and cables to connect the
A4070 to the drive and 25 pin to 50 pin
adaptor cable from the host to the A4070.
In other words, this has all the stuff to
connect everything.
=============
TOTAL $418.90
This should give me an ST-506 drive on line, with the capability
of adding SCSI or ST-506 devices in the future. The key is that as far
as the Amiga/Controller knows, there are only SCSI devices out there.
I can use the enclosure for a real SCSI drive later. The cost in
"throw-away" hardware is $129. The reality is probably that the '506
will stay and an additional SCSI drive of some type would be added later.
So... for $418 and shipping ($19.00) I'll (hopefully) have a hard drive
system. There are hard drives on the market for $150-$200, so the total
system would be $600-$650. Seems reasonable for 30 meg....
If you didnt need the '506 adaptor, you're now talking a hard drive system
for $470-$520.
If there is any interest, I'll continue to post the details, answer
questions, etc... Remember, I'm a beginner at this stuff so I'm still
stumbling around!!! With any luck, I'll have the stuff in by the middle
to end of next week.
Cripes!!! What have I done!!!!!
-John Bernard-
|
| 870.3 | YES YES YES YES YES | USFHSL::SPATOULAS | | Wed Nov 18 1987 16:19 | 8 |
| D E F I N E T L Y !!!!!!!
Please keep us post it. I refuse to pay the $800-1000 for a 20 MB
hard disk. This sounds very interesting, so keep us posted
george
|
| 870.4 | Drives On-Line!!! | OASIS2::BERNARD | John Bernard DTN 288-6622 | Sun Dec 20 1987 19:48 | 453 |
|
-= Note: This reply is LONG =-
As I had mentioned in previous notes, I have been working on hard drive storage
for my A500. I now have a 10M, 20M, 21M, and 75.3M drive tested, formatted
and mounted on my system. I am running normally with the 20M and 21M drives
on line. I do not yet have additional SCSI to ST506 adaptors, or they could
all be on line.
The 20M drive is configured as a single partition drive (i.e. DH0: takes up
all of Unit 1)
The 21M drive is also configured as a single partition drive as DH1: (Unit 2).
The 75M drive (Unit 3) was broken up as follows:
21M - DH2: Test Programs
21M - DH3: Backup of DH2:
21M - DH4: Backup of DH0:
1M - HF1: 1 meg partition to store a floppy image
1M - HF2: " " " " " "
5.9M - DH5: Work Space-Remainder of the space left on the drive
I did this for a couple of reasons:
- Speedup directory access - if you filled this sucker up as a single
partition, it would take forever to get a directory.
- Backup - As above, it would take forever to back up.
- Drive can act as it's own "shadow". DH3 could be backup of DH2:
What is nice about partitions on a drive is the fact that if a single partition
dies or has an error, it normally does not take out the entire drive. The
obvious exception is a head or logic problem. Therefore, you could reformat
just the bad partition, say dh2:, and copy the data back from DH3:. I tried it
by trashing DH2:, the system declared it not a DOS Disk. I then reformatted it
using format, copied the data from dh3:, and was back on-line with DH2: in
10 min.
=== COPY command ===
I use a different dos copy than the one originally supplied. This version
has some nifty features such as:
COPY -au DH3: DH2:
-a = all (directories, subdirectories)
-u = update copy only new/modified files
This will copy all the contents and directory/subdirectories from DH3: to DH2:
and will only copy the files that have a more recent date than those that
already may exist on DH2:. If the director or subdirectory does not exist
on the target device, it creates it. It also uses the more familiar '*' as
the wild card, rather than #?. #? is not accepted. A nice patch to this
program would be to allow both styles... perhaps in a later release. This
is a PD program I DL from PLINK.
================================================================================
DRIVE TYPES:
DH0: ST225N This is a comercially available drive in the $350 bracket.
It has a built in SCSI controller and is a half height drive.
DH1: ST225 This is the EXACT model we use as our RD31-A drives which
should be readily available. It is also a half height drive
and can be found for $190-$275. This drive has an ST506
style interface and needs an Adaptec A-4000 SCSI to ST506
interface.
DH2: ST506/412 This is an RD53 I borrowed from my PRO-380. It too needs
an A-4000 SCSI to ST506 interface. This is a full height
drive.
OTHERS - I tested an RD50 (too small), RD51, RD52, RD53, RD31 on the system
using an Adaptec A-4000 SCSI to ST506 interface on both the C-Ltd
and Phoenix SCSI host controllers. All worked perfectly.
================================================================================
Miscellaneous:
Copies of my Startup-Configuration and Mountlist are included at the end of this
note, as is the performance specs from the two drives. Contrary to different
discussions, there isn't a hell of a lot of difference between whether you use
a "real" SCSI drive, or an ST506 drive with a built-in SCSI interface. As a
matter of fact, in my configuration, the drive which has the SCSI to ST506
interface is the fastest. As someone previously pointed out, the ultimate
limitation is with the rotational speed of the disk, recording density, and
the head movement/settle (seek) time.
PHOENIX Host Controller - This comes with the driver only. I have another
disk coming from Phoenix with the low level disk formatter utility. The
SCSI host controller is still going through some development but is extremely
simple to use and has proven very reliable. I do not yet know if this
controller will be offered from Phoenix as a stand-alone item. It is
currently shipped as a complete system, with disk.
C-Ltd Host Controller - This comes with the driver as well as many Hard Disk
utilities. This controller has many possibilities and is sold as a stand
alone product including the manual and utilities disk. This allows you
to low level format any SCSI/ST506/512 drive.
What would it cost to get a hard disk on-line?
Included here is the MINIMUM you need to get a drive on-line. I spent
quite a bit more, since I was exploring (having fun) and trying different
approaches. I have an A500. The cost for the A1000 host controller is $229
and for the A2000 is $149.
C-Ltd SCSI Host Controller and Software $179
Adaptec A4000 SCSI/ST506 Interface $119
Power Supply PS75 $25
Disk Drive Power Splitter PC-Y $6
6' 50 pin ribbon cable w/50 pin berg conn $6
"Some kind of ST506 style Disk Drive" ????
======
$335 w/o disk
Figure $300 for a disk and you come out with $635. Find a poor disk looking for
a home, and the cost decreases proportionately. My recommendation is to
go for the 20-30 meg half height drives. You can find a cabinet for them
readily at any electronics supply house and they take up minimal space.
The cabinet size for a half height drive/power supply should be a minimum of
8 1/2" w x 4"h x 10 1/2"d. This gives plenty of room for the drive, power
supply, etc. You may wish to add a small 3" whisper fan. Makes a big
difference in retained heat. Blank cabinets run about $20-$30.
================================================================================
; -= DF0:S/Startup-Sequence John D. Bernard =-
; For AMIGA 500 System with PHOENIX and C-Ltd SCSI Host Controllers
;
;Copy DF0:Devs/mountlist_PHOENIX DF0:Devs/mountlist ; FOR PHOENIX SCSI HOST
ECHO " Booting System Using PHOENIX SCSI Controller....*N"
;
;Copy DF0:Devs/mountlist_CLTD DF0:Devs/mountlist ; FOR C-LTD SCSI HOST
;ECHO " Booting System Using C-LTD SCSI Controller....*N"
;
;
;
Wait 3 ; Give DH0: a chance to spin up at power-up
Mount DH0: ; Mount hard drive
Stack 40000 ; Set Stack Size
Assign sys: DH0: ; Assign SYS and CMD paths so all further
Assign C: DH0:C ; commands are taken from Hard Disk
Assign DEVS: DH0:devs ; Point to mountlist and drivers on HardDisk
;
; From here on, we use the mountlist on the Hard Drive. Need to be sure that
; it is the correct one for the current configuration. Once configuration
; is determined, the line can be commented out.
;
;Copy DF0:Devs/mountlist_PHOENIX DH0:Devs/mountlist ; FOR PHOENIX SCSI HOST
;Copy DF0:Devs/mountlist_CLTD DH0:Devs/mountlist ; FOR C-LTD SCSI HOST
;
;
; Display header
;
ECHO " "
ECHO " Hard Drive Boot Disk - WB V1.2 version 33.56*N"
ECHO " PHOENIX HDDriver V1.1 - C-LTD HDDriver SCSIDOS V2.01"
ECHO " Last Change: 20-DEC-87 "
ECHO " Last Backup: 19-DEC-87 "
ECHO " Boot Disk - Version 1.4a "
ECHO " "
;
; NOTE: See Version.Txt for notes on changes to the boot/system disk
;
;
; Rest of Logical Assignments
;
Assign Fonts: DH0:Fonts
Assign l: DH0:l
Assign libs: DH0:libs
Assign system: DH0:system
assign s: DH0:s
assign t: DH0:t
;
; Special Assignments
;
Assign MWDisk: DH0:[GAMES] ; MindWalker Game
;
Assign LC: DH0:C ; LATTICE Compiler assignments
Assign INCLUDE: DH0:lc/include
Assign LIB: DH0:lc/lib
Assign QUAD: RAM:
;
;
PATH SYS:system ADD
;
; Application Directories
;
PATH SYS:[UTILITIES] ADD
PATH SYS:[COMM] ADD
;
STEPRATE DF0: 2000 ; Speed up the floppies step rate a bit
STEPRATE DF1: 1800
DIR RAM: ; Mount regular RAM disk
PATH RAM: ADD ; Add it to the search path
;
; Recoverable RAM Disk
;
MOUNT VD0: ; Mountlist for VD0: is on the hard drive
CD VD0:
PATH VD0: ADD
;
; Mount Additional Hard Drives
;
;@ DF0:S/MOUNT_HARDDRIVES ; Execute commandfile in S: to mount desired
; ; additional hard disk drives if desired
;
; Rest of Normal System Startup
;
CD DH0:[USERFILES] ; THIS IS WHERE WE ALWAYS START FROM (@ HOME)
SETMAP usa1
ADDBUFFERS DF0: 32 ; Try to speed up the floppy a bit
ADDBUFFERS DF1: 32
LOADWB ; We might as well start the WorkBench
failat 30
SETCLOCK >NIL: Opt load ; Get the system time from the RTC
WAIT 1
RUN ConMan ; Enable command line editing
RUN BlitzFonts ; Speed up the Font display
; Run POPCLI (LA + ESC = NEWCLI)
RUN PopCLI 300 NEWCLI > NIL: CON:0/10/590/202/PopCLI_II
ENDCLI >NIL: ; All Done... We come up in WorkBench
; Hit Left-Amiga(or Commodore) key and
; Esc and a new CLI will be present
============================= DEVS:mountlist ===================================
VD0: Device = asdg.vdisk.device
Unit = 1
Flags = 0
Surfaces = 1
BlocksPerTrack = 16
Priority = 5
Reserved = 2
Interleave = 0
LowCyl = 0
HighCyl = 63
Buffers = 5
BufMemType = 3
#
/* PHOENIX ST225N 20 Meg Hard Drive PHOENIX SCSI Controller */
DH0: Device = harddisk.device
Unit = 1
Flags = 0
Surfaces = 4
BlocksPerTrack = 17
Reserved = 2
Interleave = 0
LowCyl = 0 ; HighCyl = 611
Buffers = 9
BufMemType = 0
#
/* A4000/ST225 21 Meg Hard Disk Drive PHOENIX SCSI Controller*/
DH1: Device = harddisk.device
Unit = 2
Flags = 0
Surfaces = 4
BlocksPerTrack = 18
Reserved = 2
Interleave = 3
LowCyl = 0 ; HighCyl = 609
Buffers = 9
BufMemType = 0
#
/* A4000/RD53 75 Meg Hard Disk Drive PHOENIX SCSI Controller*/
/* Partition 1 21 MB (formatted) */
DH2: Device = harddisk.device
Unit = 3
Flags = 0
Surfaces = 8
BlocksPerTrack = 18
Reserved = 2
Interleave = 3
LowCyl = 0 ; HighCyl = 304
Buffers = 9
BufMemType = 0
#
/* A4000/RD53 75 Meg Hard Disk Drive PHOENIX SCSI Controller*/
/* Partition 2 21 MB (formatted) */
DH3: Device = harddisk.device
Unit = 3
Flags = 0
Surfaces = 8
BlocksPerTrack = 18
Reserved = 2
Interleave = 3
LowCyl = 305 ; HighCyl = 609
Buffers = 9
BufMemType = 0
#
/* A4000/RD53 75 Meg Hard Disk Drive PHOENIX SCSI Controller*/
/* Partition 3 Floppy Partition */
HF1: Device = harddisk.device
Unit = 3
Flags = 0
Surfaces = 8
BlocksPerTrack = 18
Reserved = 2
Interleave = 3
LowCyl = 610 ; HighCyl = 622
Buffers = 9
BufMemType = 0
#
/* A4000/RD53 75 Meg Hard Disk Drive PHOENIX SCSI Controller*/
/* Partition 4 Floppy Partition */
HF2: Device = harddisk.device
Unit = 3
Flags = 0
Surfaces = 8
BlocksPerTrack = 18
Reserved = 2
Interleave = 3
LowCyl = 623 ; HighCyl = 635
Buffers = 9
BufMemType = 0
#
/* A4000/RD53 75 Meg Hard Disk Drive PHOENIX SCSI Controller*/
/* Partition 5 21 MEG (Formatted) */
DH4: Device = harddisk.device
Unit = 3
Flags = 0
Surfaces = 8
BlocksPerTrack = 18
Reserved = 2
Interleave = 3
LowCyl = 636 ; HighCyl = 940
Buffers = 9
BufMemType = 0
#
/* A4000/RD53 75 Meg Hard Disk Drive PHOENIX SCSI Controller*/
/* Partition 6 Remainder of the Drive (Unit 3) */
DH5: Device = harddisk.device
Unit = 3
Flags = 0
Surfaces = 8
BlocksPerTrack = 18
Reserved = 2
Interleave = 3
LowCyl = 941 ; HighCyl = 1022
Buffers = 9
BufMemType = 0
#
================================================================================
Drive Performance:
The following is the performance of the drives using a PD program called
AutoTest.
Floppy
Autotest: device name df0:
1 sectors/cluster, 69 free, 1760 total, 512 bytes/sector
Total number of sectors = 1760
Sequential reads
1 sectors - 0.017 Sec/read
8 sectors - 0.217 Sec/read
16 sectors - 0.420 Sec/read
24 sectors - 0.624 Sec/read
Random reads - 1 sector
.10 width seeks - 0.316 Sec/read
.33 width seeks - 0.390 Sec/read
.50 width seeks - 0.444 Sec/read
.90 width seeks - 0.572 Sec/read
Random reads - 8 sector
.10 width seeks - 0.515 Sec/read
.33 width seeks - 0.596 Sec/read
.50 width seeks - 0.646 Sec/read
.90 width seeks - 0.774 Sec/read
ST225N Drive with built in SCSI interface
Autotest: device name dh0:
1 sectors/cluster, 23658 free, 41616 total, 512 bytes/sector
Total number of sectors = 41616
Sequential reads
1 sectors - 0.013 Sec/read
8 sectors - 0.077 Sec/read
16 sectors - 0.174 Sec/read
24 sectors - 0.243 Sec/read
Random reads - 1 sector
.10 width seeks - 0.081 Sec/read
.33 width seeks - 0.088 Sec/read
.50 width seeks - 0.102 Sec/read
.90 width seeks - 0.153 Sec/read
Random reads - 8 sector
.10 width seeks - 0.133 Sec/read
.33 width seeks - 0.173 Sec/read
.50 width seeks - 0.172 Sec/read
.90 width seeks - 0.215 Sec/read
ST225 / A4000 ST506 drive with SCSI to ST506 interface
Autotest: device name dh1:
1 sectors/cluster, 25997 free, 43920 total, 512 bytes/sector
Total number of sectors = 43920
Sequential reads
1 sectors - 0.007 Sec/read
8 sectors - 0.042 Sec/read
16 sectors - 0.092 Sec/read
24 sectors - 0.088 Sec/read
Random reads - 1 sector
.10 width seeks - 0.074 Sec/read
.33 width seeks - 0.084 Sec/read
.50 width seeks - 0.104 Sec/read
.90 width seeks - 0.154 Sec/read
Random reads - 8 sector
.10 width seeks - 0.096 Sec/read
.33 width seeks - 0.113 Sec/read
.50 width seeks - 0.151 Sec/read
.90 width seeks - 0.194 Sec/read
============================== END LISTING =====================================
|
| 870.5 | | WJG::GUINEAU | W. John Guineau III | Mon Dec 21 1987 10:19 | 24 |
|
re .4:
Your making a Hard Disk very tempting !
I have a couple questions (not really for HD, just general)
What's the program STEPRATE? Can it be used to speed up the
internal and external floppies?!?
Where's AUTOTEST?
For DH devices you have directories like DH0:[directory-name]
This looks like VMS structure! What happened to
DH0:dir-name/subdir/file etc...
Whats device VD0: (Virtual disk? Where's it virtualize to?)
Whats device HF0:?
Thanks
John (the-question-asker)
|
| 870.6 | | HYSTER::DEARBORN | Trouvez Mieux | Mon Dec 21 1987 15:45 | 4 |
| VD0: is the recoverable RAM disk.
Randy
|
| 870.7 | More info... | WINNER::JBERNARD | John Bernard YWO/292-2591 | Tue Dec 22 1987 08:34 | 21 |
| Steprate allows you to change the constant governing the stepping
rate of the heah stepper motor. Essentially, lowering the value
decreases the seek time. This program is PD. I'll upload it if
you wish.
AUTOTEST is on PLINK.
Funny directories: I name my non system directories DHn:[directory]
to eliminate my typing errors. After typing [] all day, it makes
the transition to home easier. I still need to type mu subdirectories
as DH0:[directory]/subdir ...
A couple of other "mods"... on the vax SET DEF = CD and
CREATE/DIR = MAKEDIR on the amiga, I copied EXECUTE to "@"
to make it easier to @ commandfile . Sick, but it helps....
HF0: is a 1 meg partition on a hard drive. You can use it to store
an entire floppy for copying, etc...
John
|
| 870.8 | | WJG::GUINEAU | W. John Guineau III | Tue Dec 22 1987 10:18 | 22 |
|
> Steprate
Definetly upload!. This sounds too good to be true. If you can
decrease the seek time for the floppy (the major component of ave.
access time) you would speed the little buggers up! After using
VAXes and hard disks all day, even *two* floppies just don't seem
right :-)
AUTOTEST is on PLINK.
Can someone Upload it? I'd like to do a quick performance eval on
the floppies with various transfer sizes, ADDBUFFER values etc...
> Funny directories:
I see. The Amiga gives lots of control over file/dir names!
John
|
| 870.9 | Bare minimum? | WJG::GUINEAU | W. John Guineau III | Tue Dec 22 1987 10:21 | 14 |
|
Assuming I have a SCSI disk, cables, power supply etc.
Is
C-Ltd SCSI Host Controller and Software $179
all I need to plug into the expansion port on the left side of the A500,
and then plug in the SCSI drive and go?
John (who hopes for a simple "yes"!)
|
| 870.10 | | PLDVAX::SMCAFEE | Steve McAfee | Tue Dec 22 1987 11:35 | 13 |
|
Re: steprate
When this came over the usenet some time ago there was a brief
inconclusive discussion about whether or not this was safe to use
as it might decrease the drive's life expectancy. Even though
personally I think a low step rate is used so that they get a higher
yield on the drives, I decided not to take the chance...
steve mcafee
BTW A higher steprate would also supposedly make the "gronking"
of a higher pitch so that it seemed to be quieter.
|
| 870.11 | Plug 'n' Play | WINNER::JBERNARD | John Bernard YWO/292-2591 | Tue Dec 22 1987 12:02 | 14 |
| RE: .9 YES! Plug - Low Level Format - High Level (DOS) Format
- Mount - You're up!
Any problems, give me a call....
RE: .10 I've been using steprate for about 2 months with no ill
effects yet... I did get an occasional R/W error on the internal
drive when I dropped the rate from 3000 to 1200. I'll post the
performance specs on the different access times and it should
show what type of performance increase steprate will allow.
-john-
|
| 870.12 | Use steprate too.. no problems | PUERTO::ALVAREZ | Miguel,from sunny Puerto Rico | Tue Dec 22 1987 20:57 | 6 |
| I've been using steprate too for some time now, with no ill
effects. I lowered the rate to 1500. Even though I haven't done
any benchmarks, the access speed has not changed noticeably, although
my drives are less noisy now.
Miguel A. Alvarez
|
| 870.13 | Misc. giblets. | KYOA::WEGER | Bruce Weger | Sat Mar 19 1988 17:17 | 36 |
| Well, I've begun the plunge and have purchased the C-Ltd Host adapter
for the A500. Since I plan to use a RD53 drive I've also ordered
the Adaptek A-4000 ST-506/SCSI hard disk controller.
Now I seem to be having difficulty locating the misc. parts needed
to complete the subsystem.
Can anyone recomend vendors and/or products specifications for the
following.
Power supply - How much power do I need to reliably run an RD53?
How does the C-ltd controller get power? I hope its not
from my A500. I can't locate the 75W "PS75" mentioned in an
earlier note. Is there another in the under $50 price range?
Cables - I believe I need cables for both the connection between
the the A-4000 and the RD as well as to the C-Ltd Host
controller. I assume I also need a "drive power Y cable"
but I'm not sure why. Do these cables have names or just
descriptions.
The mail order joints don't seem to understand what I need
or maybe I'm not describing them clearly.
Misc. - How should the jumpers be configured on the RD53? I think
they have something to do with interleaving.
I don't plan to purchase an enclosure right now. Any problem with
just putting the drive and power supply on the table with maybe
some stick-on rubber feet?
Comments, suggestions, warnings or recomendations would be greatly
appreciated. Am I on the right track with this effort?
Thanx in advance.
Bruce Weger (Desperately_seeking_encouragement_in_Piscataway_N.J)
|
| 870.14 | | POBOX::ANDREWS | How come nobody told *ME*? | Sun Mar 20 1988 22:38 | 4 |
| Bruce, Check out some of the advertisers in the computer shopper.
Some of them offer a stand alone drive enclosure and power supply
for around $50-75. This will give you an enclosure, power supply
and power cable for your drive.
|
| 870.15 | 80 meg on Amiga, huh? | WJG::GUINEAU | Do you know we exist? | Mon Mar 21 1988 09:15 | 61 |
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>RD53 power
Requires (like all disks) 5 and 12 volts.
On power up, the RD53 will require 4.7 amps on the 12V for about 3 seconds.
The current then falls off to about 2.5A after 20 seconds or so.
During operation, the 5V requires 0.9A max, and the 12V requires 3.3A max
(while random seeking, 2.25A idle)
> Cables - I believe I need cables for both the connection between
> the the A-4000 and the RD as well as to the C-Ltd Host
> controller. I assume I also need a "drive power Y cable"
> but I'm not sure why. Do these cables have names or just
> descriptions.
> The mail order joints don't seem to understand what I need
> or maybe I'm not describing them clearly.
from A-4000 to RD53 will be 2 ribbon cables: one 20 pin, one 34 pin.
These cable can be made or "borrowed" from a DEC stock room...
From the C-Ltd to A-4000 is most likely a 50 pin ribbon (standard SCSI cable).
This can be made from parts in the stockroom, or you could buy an RQDX3
50 pin cable...
> Misc. - How should the jumpers be configured on the RD53? I think
> they have something to do with interleaving.
The only jumpers on the RD53 which require setting are the DRIVE SELECT
jumpers. Hold the RD53 with the PC board on the bottom, and the cable
connections facing you. JUst off to the right of the center of the PC board
is a row of 6 jumpers (some RD53's has switches). The first 4 (left to right)
are the drive select jumpers:
: : : : : :
^ ^ ^ ^
4 3 2 1 (or, if you prefer - 3 2 1 0)
Just put ONE jumper across the pins of the rive number you want (usually
in "1" for a single drive)
> I don't plan to purchase an enclosure right now. Any problem with
> just putting the drive and power supply on the table with maybe
> some stick-on rubber feet?
Shouldn't be. RD53 does not require any special cooling. But your always better
off to put this stuff in a box.
> Comments, suggestions, warnings or recomendations would be greatly
> appreciated. Am I on the right track with this effort?
Hard disks are somewhat fragile devices. Be carefull not to drop or bump it!
When mounting the disk, use ONLY the mounting holes provided on the frame -
The "HDA" (part where the actual disk platters are in) should remain free!
John
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| 870.16 | Give me a call | WINNER::JBERNARD | John Bernard YWO/292-2591 | Mon Mar 21 1988 09:54 | 13 |
| Give me a call at 292-2591 or VaxMail at WINNER::JBERNARD and I'll go
over the whole process, along with second sources, parts needed,
partition sizes, format parameters and mountlists specific to the
C-LTD controller/software, whatever. If there is interest, I'll
post all this here, but it is lengthy!!
Anyone in the area of Westboro MA is welcome to drop in at YWO (Walkup
Drive) pole E3. I have an Amiga 500 with a hard drive I built,
along with an LJ250 and Parallel -> serial adaptor.
John
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| 870.17 | | DICKNS::MACDONALD | WA1OMM Listening 52.525 | Mon Mar 21 1988 14:18 | 1 |
| Please post!!!
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| 870.18 | It Works !!! | KYOA::WEGER | Bruce Weger | Sun May 15 1988 00:45 | 25 |
|
Hooray!!! It's done. It works. It's fast and I love it!
Patience has prevailed. My C-Ltd/Adaptec ACB-4000 RD53 is up and
running. It should have been up 2 months ago but:
CMO forgot to send the S/W (drivers) and documentation with
the C-Ltd Host/controller. The folks at C-Ltd were good enough
to send it to me next day air.
The Adaptec A4000 had a rather intermittent problem causing
the disk structure to become corrupt. Had to wait for a replacement
from Computer Surplus Store. Although they *were* pretty good
about it. Just the usual paperwork insanity.
Then there were the boneheaded cockpit errors on my part. Geesh,
I even got bit by the power supply! (youch).
I am virtually oozing gratitude to all of you who provided me with
info and encouragement. I learned quite a bit and found it truly
rewarding.
Thanks again to all.
Bruce Weger
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| 870.19 | How to set device selects? | VTHRAX::KIP | Explain the Universe and give 3 examples. | Mon Jun 13 1988 15:45 | 12 |
| Could someone describe how to set the device select for the following?
RD50, RD51, Rd52
I've searched around in this notesfile and only found instructions
for an RD53.
The Rd52 doesn't even seem to have device select jumpers...all I
can see is a 7-pin DIP shorting plug (shorts opposed pins) which
looks like you're supposed to use a small screwdriver to break apart
the connections you don't want.
Thanks.
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| 870.20 | | WJG::GUINEAU | | Tue Jun 14 1988 08:35 | 23 |
|
All the RD type drives set their "drive select" in one of three ways:
jumper plugs
dip switch
short plugs
All RD (i.e. ST-506) drives can be set to 1 of 4 addresses.
On RD50 and RD51, I think there were dip switches (these 2 and RD52 were before
my time here in the Disk Buyout group). Anyway, if that doesnt help, I'll
try to dig one up and see.
I think RD52 has those short plugs - you were right, break all the ones you
*don't* want, HOWEVER, only break 3 of the 4 drive select shorts. The others
typicall select some optional behaviour of the drive (such as latch write fault
or even - "go into endless diagnostic loop on power up")
Again I can try to find one (RD50-52's are rather scarce here these days)
John (who doesn't feel like he's much help!)
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| 870.21 | Current prices? | WINERY::COLLUM | | Fri Dec 16 1988 16:47 | 5 |
| I've decided to take the leap. Whats the cheapest price anyone's
found for the Adaptec 4070 and C Ltd SCSI controller for the Amiga
1000.
Jim
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| 870.22 | RD50/51 info | FSCORE::KAYE | He who dies with the most toys is dead | Thu Mar 23 1989 10:36 | 19 |
| The jumper arrangement for ST506/ST412 (RD50/51 drives) is as follows:
9 SEL0 8 X = Jumper
10 SEL1 7 O = No Jumper
11 SEL2 6
12 SEL3 5
13 X 4
14 X 3 Cut the jumper of the "SELn" line
15 X 2 you want. All other "SELn" lines
16 0 1 remain jumpered
RD50 is a 5 meg drive : 153 cyl x 4 heads, 17 sectors
RD51 is a 10 meg drive : 306 cyl x 4 heads, 17 sectors
These drives will work with a CBM A2090A autoboot controller.
The last cylinder is the factory "bad block record".
mark (courtesy of Jim Pacey - who finally got them to work)
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