Conference hydra::amiga_v1

    I'm using a 2090A on my A2000 with an ST225 mounted internally.
    The 2090A supports upto 2 ST506 drives and 7 (?) SCSI drives. An
    ST225 is a ST506 drive.  I have also mounted one externally in an
    old modified RX180 case (Floppy drive chassis from the VT180). 
    The drive uses +5 and -12 (or was it +12?) which was available
    internally in the A2000 chassis and in my RX180 case.
    
    So, aside from a controller you'll need somewhere to mount and power
    the drive and of course cables (20 pin and 34 pin ribbon).  Perhaps
    someone with an A500 could provide better details for your
    configuration.
    
    ...Ed

    one thing to consider... does the Subsystem have a fan?
    I've heard that that 2090 produced a lot of heat, don't know about
    the 2090A.
    
    -dave

    As far as power is concerned, go ahead and get some PC type power
    supply. The A500 will definitvly NOT support either the A2090a nor
    a hard disk. If the subsystem is well designed, they should have
    a power fed somewhere...
    
    -	<CB>
    

    The Subsystem, is simply a 2 slot expansion chassis, with a biult
    in 3.5" drive.
    It does come with it's own power supply, wich it needs even if 
    I use the drive alone.
    It doesn't have a fan in it, so heat might become a problem unless
    I can hook something up.
    I'll have to check the supply to see if it perhaps can be used to
    feed the hard drive.
     Either that our check into a BA23 case, (wonder what Dec charges
    Employees for it ?).
    						Thanx;
    							Ed.
    

    I've just priced the 2090a and find it a little expensive.
    is there another choice available for a MFM type controler card.
    Are there any sacrifices for going with a particular substitute?
    
    
    					Ed.
    

    The 2090A is $300 Canadian here, so it MUST be less in the US!
    
    and is in not wise to pay a bit more for the controler and a lot
    less for the drives (cheap ST-506).
    
    Jean
    

    Hi Jean,
    
    That's a great price!  I shopped around and the best price I found
    locally (not mailorder) was $349 US.  At $300 CAD (about $240 US)
    it would be worth ordering from Canada eh!
    
    ...Ed

	There's probably an obvious answer to this (other than "it 
depends how you plan to use it") but I'll ask anyway.

	Which "SIDE" (Amiga or IBM) to put a hard disk and its controller ?

Rationale:-

	Packaged deals on drive + controller seem to be low enough on 
the IBM side that the cost of a bridge card to get there still comes 
out cheaper than doing it on the Amiga side.  OK, so there might be 
"some"  performance impact when running stuff on the Amiga side, 
though I can see how things could be arranged for it to be zip.  It 
does look to be a free lunch to get a PC as well, albeit an XT....
Anyone done this ?  Any obvious replies to  "Why shouldn't I ?"  ?

	Reg

    
    You might wanna take a look at my HD controller review (in an upcoming
    note), allthough it doesn't get to specific on this question.
    
    As you already guessed, performance is the difference.
    You can expect about 50-70 KB/sec transfer rate with a BridgeBoard
    solution (the limiting factor is the Dual-ported RAM and the fact
    that the CPU has to move the data), whilst with an Amiga based card
    like the A209x, Microbotics Hardframe or Supra you could get as
    fast as 1.2 MB/sec. 
    That's quite a differencem, eh???
    
    Regards,
    
    -	<CB>
    

    re: .8
    
    	I have a bridgeboard and 2 hard disks in my 2000
    	(A 20 meg on the Amiga side (A2090A) and a 30 meg
    	  RLL on the ibm side.)
    	I have experimented both ways and here is my conclusion:
    	1) If the IBM try to use the Amiga Hard disk, it intermittently
    	   wipes its MSdos directory. (Bug?, still have to be fixed,
    			I suspect the PC software?)
    	2) If the Amiga tries to use the IBM Hard disk, it works
    	   good, but if you compare the speed of a direct amiga
           drive, you (or I should say I) wouldn't be happy.
    	   Perhaps because I am used to the A2090A speed?.
    
    Personnaly, I would get the Amiga HD and forget the IBM XT
    If you want an IBM, just buy a clone, it is more compatible
    (Keyboard, expansion slots, graphics etc..).
    
    Vince.
    

	In browsing through the Mac conference (OK, so hit me) it 
seems that 60 or so Meg hard disks are now somewhere around the $10 
per Meg price range, complete with controller, driver and formatting.  
Is there a reasonable way to build a hard drive for an Amiga at 
comparable cost ?

	R	{I changed my mind, DON'T hit me}

BTW, Toshiba has a 760 Mbyte drive with their new scsi controller for 
~$2600 - too much for me, but its getting down towards $3 per MByte.

    
    Don't forget that Apple includes a SCSI interface in all Mac models,
    wheras it's an add-on for Amigas.
    
    That may further skew the cost/meg equation.
    
    Ed.

    Several months ago I looked into the price/performance for 
    the various drives, and settled on a ST-277N (~64M SCSI) and
    Microbotics Hardframe.  The drive cost ~$450.00 (Mail Order)
    and the controller ~$250.00 (local).  So this setup works out
    to be $11/Meg.  Not too bad.  A ST-296N would have worked out
    cheaper per meg, but I didn't _really_ need an 80M drive.
    
    Of course, there are lower cost controllers, but this one had
    the features and good performance that I wanted.
    
    Steve

Steve,

Is that configuration giving you any problems?  That is what I thought I
would do, but I've got a friend that was having problems getting the 277N
to work.  He called Microbotics and they said, "Yeah, we've had some
problems with those..."

How does yours seem to be holding up?

...richard

    My setup has been working great so far.  I did have one mishap
    where ZOO mangled my directory structure, but that was definitely
    not the drive/controllers fault.  (Remember: Buy Quarterback,
    and backup regularly.  If you don't, it may come back to haunt
    you :^(
    
    My drive is only ~5 months old, so I can't comment on the 
    long-term reliability.  I believe that Ed Acciardi has been using 
    a ST-277n for several years.  There was some talk about the
    reliability of Seagates in general a few months ago on Usenet,
    but it did not dissuade me from purchasing one.  They may not
    have the life expectancy of a Quantum, etc, but then again
    they are much cheaper.  
    
    Anyone care to comment on their Seagate?  (The IBM-PC notes file
    may have some useful information about Hard Drives also.)
    
    Steve

    I've been using an ST251 for over a year without any problems.
    
    (Yes, I do back it up regularly with Quarterback.  I'm sure that I
    would be having problems if I didn't.  Murphy's law.)
        John Sauter