ndeng@EULER.BERKELEY.EDU (10/07/89)
A friend of mine is considering to buy a LARGE hard disk. But the dealer ask more than $300 for the disk controller. He thought it was outragous and wanted to buy it himself. Can anybody recommend a reliable and non-expensive ESDI controller? It must be able to control a LARGE hard disk (At least 150MB, with seek time in the 15-20 ms range). Any pointer on this would be appreciated. P.S. Just curious: Is ESDI a really standard interface? Say, Can one just buy a ESDI HD and ESDI controller without taking care of the brand name, then get total compatibility? P.P.S. My friend's machine is a 386-AT. That is, a very fast machine but with a so called ISA (AT) bus. ndeng@euler.berkeley.edu
Will@cup.portal.com (Will E Estes) (10/10/89)
The best ESDI controller I have used is the Western Digital WD-1007. It generally retails for around $225-$275. I have purchased one too many '386 boards that had *serious* compatibility problems with the ESDI interface. Generally, it's a question of whether the motherboard manufacturer has explicitly addressed the issue of ESDI compatibility. By now most probably have. But some haven't. Good luck, Will
davidsen@crdos1.crd.ge.COM (Wm E Davidsen Jr) (10/10/89)
In article <8910070607.AA20583@euler.Berkeley.EDU>, ndeng@EULER.BERKELEY.EDU writes: | | Can anybody recommend a reliable and non-expensive ESDI controller? It must | be able to control a LARGE hard disk (At least 150MB, with seek time in | the 15-20 ms range). Any pointer on this would be appreciated. The Western Digital is reliable and cheap. Street price should be <$200. Several people advertize 170MB and 230MB ESDI drives for <$1000, why go with such a small one? You would probably be cheaper at 150MB to stay with the ST412 and not have to buy a controller. | | P.S. Just curious: Is ESDI a really standard interface? Say, Can one just | buy a ESDI HD and ESDI controller without taking care of the brand name, | then get total compatibility? Yes. Stay with quality brands, of course, but the standard is established. If you change controller brands with an existing disk you will probably have to reformat. | | P.P.S. My friend's machine is a 386-AT. That is, a very fast machine but with | a so called ISA (AT) bus. | | ndeng@euler.berkeley.edu -- bill davidsen (davidsen@crdos1.crd.GE.COM -or- uunet!crdgw1!crdos1!davidsen) "The world is filled with fools. They blindly follow their so-called 'reason' in the face of the church and common sense. Any fool can see that the world is flat!" - anon