pnl@hpfinote.HP.COM (Peter Lim) (05/02/90)
> > This is quite normal for most AT hard disks. The controller is in 'latched' > mode and keeps the last physical drive selected until another physical > drive is > selected. If you only have one hard disk then the drive will remain selected > until you turn off the computer. I use a WD controller and it has > a jumper to > enable/disable the latched mode. I have no idea why they have this latched > mode. The only possibility would be speed but surely it doesn't take > that long just to select the drive. > I use a DTC 6280 and it also has a jumper to enable/disable the latched mode. I tried to disable the latched mode once and the disk runs a LOT SLOWER. Very noticeable difference. It probably do more than just select the drive; probably keep the drive in a ready state (may be high speed spinning ?? -- can hard disk be slowed down and placed in a sleep mode by the controller ? -- sounds reasonable if they are to be usable in a portable computer). Anyway, it is normal. Regards, ## Life is fast enough as it is ........ Peter Lim. ## .... DON'T PUSH IT !! >>>-------, ########################################### : E-mail: plim@hpsgwg.HP.COM Snail-mail: Hewlett Packard Singapore, : Tel: (065)-279-2289 (ICDS, ICS) | Telnet: 520-2289 1150 Depot Road, __\@/__ ... also at: pnl@hpfipnl.HP.COM Singapore 0410. SPLAT !
emmo@moncam.co.uk (Dave Emmerson) (05/05/90)
In article <10090@sdcc6.ucsd.edu+, cs163wbf@sdcc10.ucsd.edu (RICHARD WUN) writes:
+ I have a miniscribe 20Mb hard drive with the led on the drive not
+ stopping once it's starts booting. When I turn on the power
+ everythnig is normal and the hard drive is booted when there isn't a
+ disk in the floppy drive, but then the light on the drive doesn't go
+ off after that. The drive is reading and writing with no problems.
[deleted]
It could just be that you have it configured as a RADIAL system. If so,
you won't have any problems till you try to add a second drive, then
you may have to swap some jumpers around.
Dave E.pohjala@kannel.lut.fi (Janne Pohjala) (05/07/90)
emmo@moncam.co.uk (Dave Emmerson) writes: >In article <10090@sdcc6.ucsd.edu+, cs163wbf@sdcc10.ucsd.edu (RICHARD WUN) writes: >+ I have a miniscribe 20Mb hard drive with the led on the drive not >+ stopping once it's starts booting. When I turn on the power >+ everythnig is normal and the hard drive is booted when there isn't a >+ disk in the floppy drive, but then the light on the drive doesn't go >+ off after that. The drive is reading and writing with no problems. >[deleted] On the other hand... It could be selected-drive led... At least Toshiba MK134FA has one red led in front of drive showing wether the drive is selected active by controller. In case of one hard-drive, the only disk is always selected = led is on. If you add more drives in same controller, "active led" should go on and off in drives when changing drives... So if you got " HD active indicator " led from controller and it seems to work properly, everything is OK. Don't worry. Be happy ! Janne Pohjala Lappeenranta University Of Technology, FINLAND PS. Some disk-caches cause "all drives selected" - phenomenon Don't worry about that either.