paryavi@harris.cis.ksu.edu (Saiid Paryavi) (12/07/88)
Does anyone know anything about the Quantum Q540 hard drive? Is this a
standard ST506/412 interface drive? If so, what XT or AT controller
works best with it?
Thanks for the info.
***/\/\****/\/\******/\/\****/\* Saiid Paryavi
**/*/\*\**/*/\*\****/*/\*\**/*/* paryavi@ksuvax1.cis.ksu.edu
*/*/**\*\/*/**\*\**/*/**\*\/*/** paryavi@ksuvax1.BITNET
*\/****\/\/****\*\/\/****\/\/*** {pyramid,ucsd}!ncr-sd!ncrwic!ksuvax1!paryaviasgard@cpro.uucp (J.R. Stoner) (12/08/88)
From article <392@deimos.cis.ksu.edu>, by paryavi@harris.cis.ksu.edu (Saiid Paryavi): ; Does anyone know anything about the Quantum Q540 hard drive? Is this a ; standard ST506/412 interface drive? If so, what XT or AT controller ; works best with it? The Quantum Q540 is about as vanilla an MFM ST506 drive as you can get. You must inform your low-level formatter to begin write pre-compensation at cylinder 256. If you do not have one of the very smart diagnostic programs you can specify drive type 7 to setup and get use of 462 cylinders by 8 heads. ; Thanks for the info. You are welcome. -- "To prevent having to tell fools to RTFM don't let on you WTFM in the first place." - J.R. (May the Source be With You) Stoner asgard@cpro.uucp asgard@wotan.uucp asgard@well.uucp ...decwrl!pacbell!cpro!asgard
mms%sordid@Sun.COM (Michael Silverstein) (12/08/88)
In article <392@deimos.cis.ksu.edu> paryavi@harris.cis.ksu.edu (Saiid Paryavi) writes: >Does anyone know anything about the Quantum Q540 hard drive? Is this a >standard ST506/412 interface drive? If so, what XT or AT controller >works best with it? > >Thanks for the info. I bought one in 1983, being the first kid on the block to have more than 10 Mb in a PC or XT. It has, and continues to, work flawlessly since that time. Regular ST506 interface, it should work with any controller (WD, Mountain, nameless clone, etc). A tad slow by today's standards, however, it's 40 ms average access. *-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-*-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=* | /\/\ike Silverstein | This can't be deja vous. Things are more like | | sun!mms -or- mms@sun.com | they are now than they've ever been before! | *-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-*-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=*
liber@darth.UUCP (Eric Liber) (12/09/88)
> Does anyone know anything about the Quantum Q540 hard drive? Is this a > standard ST506/412 interface drive? If so, what XT or AT controller > works best with it? > > Thanks for the info. > > ***/\/\****/\/\******/\/\****/\* Saiid Paryavi > **/*/\*\**/*/\*\****/*/\*\**/*/* paryavi@ksuvax1.cis.ksu.edu > */*/**\*\/*/**\*\**/*/**\*\/*/** paryavi@ksuvax1.BITNET > *\/****\/\/****\*\/\/****\/\/*** {pyramid,ucsd}!ncr-sd!ncrwic!ksuvax1!paryavi Yes and no. I have used this drive extensively and i have the oem manual for it .. unfortunately i am at work and it is at home :-(. Anyway the interface is indeed st506/412 no problems there. But.. this drive uses an "embeded" or "wedge" servo technique to determine the centerline of each cylinder. Simply stated, this is 2 bursts of "data" at the end of every track that are aligned slighly to the left and right of the center line. The drive uses these to figure out if it is in the center of the track (drive says to itself ... "self; the left signal is stronger than the right signal .. golly gee i must be to the left of the center line .. adjust the position on the next revolution so i am centered"). Anyway, what this means is that the drive must record its information in slightly less than one full circunference of a track to allow for the "wedge" information. And your controller MUST know how to deal with that situation. Some controllers don't (xebec 1410), some controllers do (xebec 1410A ... don't ask I just know) by setting a special bit in a status word, and some controllers figure it out for themselves such as a controller in a Convergent Technologies Mini Frame. I suspect that most of the standard AT type controllers (WD1003 etc) will firgure it out but i can't say for sure. One thing is sure: if the controller can't deal with the "wedge" I sure as heck isn't going to work. I don't remember all of the tech specs for this drive except that it will format to about 35mb (at 17 sectors 512bytes per sector) and is spec'd at 40ms per track. Also it is the same drive that DEC sells as an RD52A. If you call Quantum and ask for a Q540 OEM manual they will send you one for free. If you want the specs send me mail or post here or call me at home some night (weekdays after 7:00 pm at 412-367-7308) and i will give them to you. Good luck Eric (the red) Liber