MSER001@ECNCDC.BITNET (Scott Hutinger) (07/20/89)
My Sider is an old non SCSI drive. Of course its used as a heavy Paper- weight, as it has some errors on the drive. But what would you expect after 5 years of 24hours/day use? (BBS hard drive). I still try to re-format it once a month, just to see if the Ions are positive. Never seems to work just right though. Any sugestions? Scott Hutinger->Macomb Projects.WIU
mikes@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu (Michael Steele) (07/20/89)
In article <8907200206.aa02661@ADM.BRL.MIL> MSER001@ECNCDC.BITNET (Scott Hutinger) writes: >My Sider is an old non SCSI drive. Of course its used as a heavy Paper- >weight, as it has some errors on the drive. But what would you expect >after 5 years of 24hours/day use? (BBS hard drive). I still try to >re-format it once a month, just to see if the Ions are positive. Never >seems to work just right though. > >Any sugestions? Get a BIG Magnet :-) On a more serious note I thought I might explain that old Sider drives use SASI format(the precursor to SCSI I believe). We took apart an old 20 meg and found a ST-506 inside! So one solution might be to pull your drive apart and see what's at the base....you might be able to find an old IBM replacement. Michael Steele mikes@ncsuvx.ncsu -- Michael Steele mikes@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu mikes@ncsuctix.ncsuvx.ncsu.edu netoprms@ncsuvm.bitnet
kodali@portia.Stanford.EDU (VAS KODALI) (07/21/89)
In article <3445@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu> mikes@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu (Michael Steele) writes: >In article <8907200206.aa02661@ADM.BRL.MIL> MSER001@ECNCDC.BITNET (Scott Hutinger) writes: >>My Sider is an old non SCSI drive. Of course its used as a heavy Paper- >>weight, as it has some errors on the drive. But what would you expect >>after 5 years of 24hours/day use? (BBS hard drive). I still try to > On a more serious note I thought I might explain that old Sider > drives use SASI format(the precursor to SCSI I believe). We took > apart an old 20 meg and found a ST-506 inside! So one solution > might be to pull your drive apart and see what's at the base....you > might be able to find an old IBM replacement. > I recently picked up a DataMac drive called the Thrustor 10, which uses a Xybec interface card. Naturally, having been used as a doorstop for some time, it didn't feel like formatting - parm block error of some sort. Funny thing was though, the setup software was the same version of the old siders, just a tad more primitive. Unfortunately, the later software didn't help it any, but for some reason, early this morning it decided to start working. However, it appears that the only usable part is the Prodos section - i can't boot into it, dos doesn't like it, and I can't setup the CPM partition. I gave First Class a call to see if they had a utility to setup it to boot into Prodos, and they refered me to Advance Technical Products in South Carolina. Seems that they make a chip that you replace on the interface card so that you can use it as a Prodos only bootable drive. The price is reasonable - $59.95, software included, but I wonder if this is really necessary. If you can boot off of the drive into Dos, shouldn't it be possible to boot into Prodos just by re-writing the boot track on the Hard Drive? Oh yes - their phone # is 404/441-3322 First Class Peripherals # is 408/752-2482 I should mention that this modification is for the 10 & 20 megs only - First Class supports complete prodos volumes on their larger drives (40 meg & up). > Michael Steele > mikes@ncsuvx.ncsu Chan Wilson kodali@portia.stanford.edu -- it's a full moon - that's the problem....
borovkd@jacobs.CS.ORST.EDU (Damian Borovka) (07/21/89)
Concerning hard drives, I have an old ('82) Davong Systems hard drive that
I picked up at an auction held by the local university. Obviously, it isn't
configured to work with prodos (released in '83), but it supposedly supports
CP/M, DOS 3.3, and Apple Pascal. All I got with it was a manual ('generic',
so I don't even know what size it is - only that is in the DSI-A5xx series),
and a CP/M installation disk that was crashed. The disk is formatted in CP/M from what I can tell. I know that Davong is out of business, so posting her
(here) is a last resort. Anybody out there have one of these drives? Better
you, anybody have a prodos patch for one?
Thanks
Damian Borovka
borovkd@jacobs.cs.orst.edu
p.s. please reply by email
p.p.s. I have had problems posting- if you see this message twice, please
excuse.danield@pro-grouch.UUCP (Daniel Davidson) (07/22/89)
Network Comment: to #2142 by pnet01!crash!ucbvax.berkeley.edu!agate!shelby!portia!kodali >I recently picked up a DataMac drive called the Thrustor 10, which uses a >Xybec interface card. Naturally, having been used as a doorstop for some >time, it didn't feel like formatting - parm block error of some sort. Funny >thing was though, the setup software was the same version of the old siders, >just a tad more primitive. Unfortunately, the later software didn't help >it any, but for some reason, early this morning it decided to start working. >However, it appears that the only usable part is the Prodos section - i can't >boot into it, dos doesn't like it, and I can't setup the CPM partition. I >gave First Class a call to see if they had a utility to setup it to boot into >rodos, and they refered me to Advance Technical Products in South Carolina. If the DataMac is anything like the Sider (I am told that they hard ware is the same...), you can boot into Dos 3.3, and then have that load the ProDos boot strap. There sould be a file on one of the Disks called "PRODOS" that can be BRUN. it will them load the real prodos file off of the first ProDOS partition of the drive. Atleast that is how the Multi-OS sider I have works. As for the ATS ROM, I have one in the Sider I am using for my IIgs, they are very nice. With it my 20 meg sider formats as one 20.5 meg ProDOS volume, and works quite will with GS/OS, with is more than I could say before I installed the ATS ROM. If you are only using ProDOS, the ATS ROM is well worht the money. Daniel _______________________________________________________________________________ BITNET : danield%pro-grouch.cts.com@nosc.mil | ProLine: danield@pro-grouch UUCP: crash!pnet01!pro-grouch!danield | INET:danield@pro-grouch.cts.com ARPA: crash!pnet01!pro-grouch!danield@nosc.mil| All opinions here in are MINE!!
dvac@drutx.ATT.COM (Daniel Vachon) (07/24/89)
In article <3445@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu>, mikes@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu (Michael Steele) writes: > In article <8907200206.aa02661@ADM.BRL.MIL> MSER001@ECNCDC.BITNET (Scott Hutinger) writes: > >after 5 years of 24hours/day use? (BBS hard drive).... > >Never seems to work just right though. > > ...old Sider drives use SASI format... > So one solution might be to pull your drive apart and see what's at > the base....you might be able to find an old IBM replacement. > Michael Steele Well, I recently put together a home-made SCSI drive and in the process took my old (1986) Sider 10 Meg aprt to clean it up and see what was in it... Well, needless to say, I couldn't tell what kind of drive it was... It wasn't an ST-506 and if it was, it didn't use standard cables & connectors. The drive I ended up with was an ST506 to Adaptec 4000 to Apple SCSI Rev.B . Had to format it on a MAC, but once I did that, its been working pretty good for the past month or two. (it is also a 24 hour bbs). Later - Dan !att!drutx!dvac
kodali@portia.Stanford.EDU (VAS KODALI) (07/25/89)
Well, it turned out that something was wrong with the hard drive itself- I couldn't get it to format once I powered it up again - it insisted on giving me a NON MEDIA ERROR 84 or 94, depending upon it's mood. So I tore the little sucker apart (great way to take fustrations out :) and noticed that the drive was made by Tandon, model number 502. I journeyed down to the local computer surplus shop, and found a replacement. It was on a pallet with a number of other Tandon drives, all marked "As is" But, for $17, why not? I took it home, plugged it in, formatted, verified, and boot tracked it. No problemo. So, for $17, I have a working hard drive. It runs quieter, also. (Now, will a Tandon 603 fit in there? it's supposed to be 20 Meg... Hmm..) Hope this helps anyone with a dead Sider (or Datamac) --Chan kodali@portia.stanford.edu