philba@microsoft.UUCP (Phil Barrett) (09/06/89)
If you recall, I put out a request for info on the Seagate 4144R and WD1006VSR2 controller. Thanks to those who replied. Basically, all but one response was positive (5 for, 1 con) and that one was with an Adaptec controller on a wobbly table. Several people mentioned that the performance with the WD 1:1 controller was quite good. I even found a local source for both the controller and drive for about $700 total; I've put my order in and if I fall into disk drive hell, I'll let you all know. Phil Barrett Microsoft the actual feedback ---------------------------------- Yes, it works fine. The WD1006 is a real screamer too; you'll like it. We sell 'em and haven't had any problems at all. Do make sure you get correct setup info from your dealer however. ST4144Rs have a few quirks :-) These are especially important if you intend to use two drives on the board at once (ie: the 4144 and something else). Failure to get correct setup can make it appear as if one or both drives have failed or aren't working correctly when this is not the case. Specifically, make sure you have the jumpers on the board (drive) correct. If your dealer doesn't know what needs to be done, DONT BUY THERE. >were there any problems getting the BIOS recognize the drive type? (and >just what *is* the drive type?) Use the controller BIOS to set geometry, set the ROM disk type to ONE (1). Yep, that's right, one. The controller will do the rest for you. >Also, is the 4144R really just an RLL version of the 4096 (80Mb seagate)? >Is the 4096 RLL capable? Is anyone using this combo? The 4096 is about $50 >cheaper. Probably not worth the risk, though. Yes, it is just a RLL version of the 4096. SOME 4096s work fine as RLL Devices, but if you don't like to gamble, spend the extra $50. -------------------------------- At work we have a CompuAdd 386/20 with a Seagate 4144R drive and an Adaptec controller (2332B?? 1:1??) This disk has a chronic problem of deterioration. It seems as if every Monday, several sectors go bad. A run through with Nortons Disk Doctor (3-4 times) cleans things up for a week or so. This computer was put together and formatted elsewhere, and sometime I'm going to break down and re-format it from scratch. Right now I just make FREQUENT backups. BTW, is the 4144R VERY senstive to movement? The computer is currently on a table that is not the most sturdy. In fact, severe head seeking can cause a noticable vibration in the table. ------------------------------- I use the Seagate 4144R with the WD RLL controller, and I like it. If I remember aright, CORETEST says 635 KB/second transfer rate. No reliability problems so far, but then I've only had it a week. Using a SOYO motherboard (lots of Chips & Tech chips on it) with AMI BIOS. I think the BIOS version is 3.30. (The machine is at home, and by the time I get home I'll probably forget to reply to this posting.) I highly recommend the disk installation software that comes with the 4144R. It's the standard Seagate software, written by a third party. (Sorry, can't remember the name.) The documentation that comes with the drive really isn't enough for you to figure out the proper drive type. The Seagate program figures it out (based on the model number of the drive, which you tell it) and can do a low-level format for you. None of the 46 standard drive types looked right to me, and I was trying to construct a drive type 47 to describe the disk (evidently with no luck). The Seagate program decided that drive type 19 (if I remember correctly) was close enough, even though the AMI BIOS doc implies otherwise. Anyway, the drive works fine and I have a single partition with about 122,600,000 free bytes. (117MB or very close) (DOS 4.01.) The drive does get pretty hot during operation--I guess I won't worry about that. ------------------------------- Both the WD and Adaptec controllers want you to set drive type to one, then ask you for the parameters. ------------------------------- I'm using a WD 1006V-SR2 RLL controller with 2 4096's on a 5 user ISC 2.01 unix box. No problems at all so far (since April/89). ------------------------------- thanks to: Karl Denninger Andrew Rossmann Mark Riordan Wm E Davidsen Jr Bill Kuykendall