igielski@mmm.UUCP (Tom Igielski) (12/12/85)
First, I would like to thank all of you that responded to my question regarding the number of hard disks one may have on a XT. Second, I have another question. With a standard XT configuartion, how do most people add the additional hard disks? The XEBEC controller is set up to handle two drives, but there is physically no room in an XT to add the additional drive. Do most people buy an external drive, and add another controller? Another option would seem to be to junk the standard floppy, buy a half hight floppy and hard disk and put them inside. If you do this, will the half hight winchester be able to use the XEBEC controller? Can the half hight floppy use the existing floppy controller? I'm sorry for taking up people's time with this, but it would seem that to add this kind of hardware is a real kludge, no matter what you do.? Thanks in advance..... Tom Igielski
dillon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU (Matt Dillon) (12/13/85)
Personally, I would NEVER use IBM's standard full height floppy. I bought two half-height DSDD floppy drives for < $140.. you can get a pair for even less now. ANYBODY who has a full height drive, now is the time to get a replacement (or 3). Make sure your floppy controller can handle handle more than one (most can handle four). With my configuration, I have two half-height floppies, and a 20Meg half-height hard drive, with one half-height openning left over. Also, anybody getting a hard-drive MUST get a 130Watt+ power supply. IBM's 60Watt standard cannot handle a HD + 5 filled slots. -Matt
brown@nicmad.UUCP (12/16/85)
In article <371@mmm.UUCP> igielski@mmm.UUCP (Tom Igielski) writes: >With a standard XT configuartion, how do most people add the additional >hard disks? The XEBEC controller is set up to handle two drives, but >there is physically no room in an XT to add the additional drive. > >Do most people buy an external drive, and add another controller? Another >option would seem to be to junk the standard floppy, buy a half hight >floppy and hard disk and put them inside. If you do this, will the >half hight winchester be able to use the XEBEC controller? Can the >half hight floppy use the existing floppy controller? The IBM floppy disk controller WILL run half-height floppies. We use the TEAC 55 series drive. Unfortunately I don't know the XEBEC hard disk controller. If it is the normal controller board that IBM installs, we don't use it. We buy our XTs w/o any floppies for hard disks, only the floppy disk controller and monitor board. We install hard disks that we purchase from third party vendor. They include a matching controller. -- ihnp4------\ harvard-\ \ Mr. Video seismo!uwvax!nicmad!brown topaz-/ / decvax------/
arh@bdaemon.UUCP (arh) (12/17/85)
> With a standard XT configuartion, how do most people add the additional > hard disks? The XEBEC controller is set up to handle two drives, but > there is physically no room in an XT to add the additional drive. > > Do most people buy an external drive, and add another controller? Another > option would seem to be to junk the standard floppy, buy a half hight > floppy and hard disk and put them inside. If you do this, will the > half hight winchester be able to use the XEBEC controller? Can the > half hight floppy use the existing floppy controller? As long as the disks use the inferfaces that are compatible with the IBM PC controllers (most do), the answer is yes for both the floppy and hard disk questions above. And the external approach is fine, too. You do not need any additional controllers. I have used both approaches with no trouble. The Teac FD55-series and similar floppy drives are compatible half heights, and most half-height hard disks with the ST-412 interface can usually be made to work in an IBM PC or compatible machine, although in some cases you may need to waste some of the capacity of the drive to match the PCs internal drive tables. If the hard disk you install does not respond to FDISK for partitioning, you may need to use the low-level format procedure I described in the March issue of PC Tech Journal (The Making of an XT) before using FDISK and FORMAT commands. An external disk can be wired to the controller, but you will need longer cables than those provided with the controller card. Watch out for the swapped leads that are needed to set up the correct drive-select signals, and remove the load resistor pack (a dual in-line package on most drives) on the drive in the middle of the chain. The original drive C: should be the last in the chain, and it should keep its load resistor pack to properly terminate the signal lines. You may also need to flip a few switches to identify a particular drive or its position in the chain. Augie Hansen {allegra|amd|attunix|cbosgd|ucbvax|ut-sally}!nbires!bdaemon!arh