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Conference hydra::amiga_v1

Title:	AMIGA NOTES
Notice:	Join us in the NEW conference - HYDRA::AMIGA_V2
Moderator:	HYDRA::MOORE

Created:	Sat Apr 26 1986
Last Modified:	Wed Feb 05 1992
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	5378
Total number of notes:	38326

912.0. "Rll ok for ST506?" by MEIS::ROLFE () Wed Nov 18 1987 21:40

    Can a normal st506 10 meg drive handle the rll coding scheme?  If
    so, is there anything special that needs to be done to the drive
    or can one just hook it up to the controller and reformat?  The
    possibility of using rll for some of the 10 megs I have sitting
    on the shelf is appealing...

T.R Title User Personal
Name Date Lines

912.1 RLL and MFM OASIS2::BERNARD John Bernard DTN 288-6622 Thu Nov 19 1987 11:08 23

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
912.1	RLL and MFM	OASIS2::BERNARD	John Bernard DTN 288-6622	`Thu Nov 19 1987 11:08`	23
	As far as I can tell, the only limitation is the media. If the disk surface(s) have been certified for the higher density (RLL) then use an RLL formatter, If they are primarily MFM drives, then they may or may not work. What you would see is a large number of read/write/etc errors, just like you had bad spots all over the drive. There are two SCSI to ST-506 adaptors available that I know of made by Adaptec. The A4000 is a SCSI to ST-506 (MFM) adaptor, the A4070 is a SCSI to ST-506 (RLL) adaptor. I am in the process of building a hard disk system and will try using the RLL format first. All the RDxx series drives, the smaller ones which are being seen in surplus lately, are MFM certified. Its worth a try to get the extra 50% capacity if you can use RLL. See the note titled Hard Drive Madness for more detailed info. Hope this helps. Let us know what you're up to so we can share info! -John-


As far as I can tell, the only limitation is the media.  If the disk surface(s)
have been certified for the higher density (RLL) then use an RLL formatter,
If they are primarily MFM drives, then they may or may not work.  What you would
see is a large number of read/write/etc errors, just like you had bad spots
all over the drive.

There are two SCSI to ST-506 adaptors available that I know of made by Adaptec.
The A4000 is a SCSI to ST-506 (MFM) adaptor,  the A4070 is a SCSI to 
ST-506 (RLL) adaptor.  

I am in the process of building a hard disk system and will try using the RLL
format first.  All the RDxx series drives, the smaller ones which are being
seen in surplus lately, are MFM certified.  Its worth a try to get the extra 50%
capacity if you can use RLL.  See the note titled Hard Drive Madness for 
more detailed info.


Hope this helps.  Let us know what you're up to so we can share info!

-John-