WF24741%UAFSYSB.BITNET@umrvmb.umr.edu (Bill Farmer) (03/24/89)
Could someone from CBM please tell me if it is possible to use two hard disks on the Bridgeboard with the following setup: WD1002A-27X controller 60 meg Miniscribe (3675) 6 heads 30 meg Seatgate (ST238R) 4 heads Currently, I am unable to use which ever drive is second as it defaults to the number of heads of the first drive (i.e., if the 1st drive has 6 heads, the second drive thinks it's supposed to have 6 heads, too - and vice versa). Is this a problem with ADISK, the partitioning software, or is this configuration just not supported. Another netter has indicated having experienced same problems and solved it by making both drives same number of heads. Again, I would appreciate an answer from someone who has been able to make such a setup work or specifically a response from Commodore. Calls to CBM customer service have been polite and showed concern (which is a definite improvement!) but as yet haven't been able to help. Thanks, Bill Farmer University of Arkansas WF24741@UAFSYSB Bitnet
sneakers@heimat.UUCP (Dan "Sneakers" Schein) (03/25/89)
In Message <11469@louie.udel.EDU>, WF24741%UAFSYSB.BITNET@umrvmb.umr.edu (Bill Farmer) writes: >Could someone from CBM please tell me if it is possible to use two hard >disks on the Bridgeboard with the following setup: > >WD1002A-27X controller >60 meg Miniscribe (3675) 6 heads >30 meg Seatgate (ST238R) 4 heads > >Currently, I am unable to use which ever drive is second as it defaults >to the number of heads of the first drive (i.e., if the 1st drive has 6 >heads, the second drive thinks it's supposed to have 6 heads, too - and >vice versa). Is this a problem with ADISK, the partitioning software, >or is this configuration just not supported. Another netter has indicated >having experienced same problems and solved it by making both drives same >number of heads. My first question/suggestion is does this same setup work in a true blue (or clone)? Not having any actual hands on with that controller im not sure if it is capable of supporting those drives at the same time. My suggestions are: 1> Call the HD controller manufacturer (Western Digital) and see if that model is capable of supporting those drives at the same time. 2> Try the setup in a true blue (or clone) and see if the results are the same or different from the BridgeBoard. Over the years ive been using BridgeBoard's and SideCar's (yes ive had more than 1 of each ;-) ive found no problems with any of the hd/controller setups ive tried (limitations but not problems). They included Xebec, Western Digital, and others along with Segate, Miniscribe, Control Data, and other hd's. Some controllers (the Xebec for example) required that both hd's be of the same configuration (# heads, cyls) - im not sure if the controller you have is this way or not. Good luck and if I can be of any other help drop me some mail.... Sneakers -- ___ Dan "Sneakers" Schein //// BERKS AMIGA BBS Sneakers Computing //// 60+ Megs of software & messages 2455 McKinley Ave. ___ //// 12/2400 Baud - 24 Hrs West Lawn, PA 19609 \\\\ //// 215/678-7691 \\\\//// {pyramid|rutgers|uunet}!cbmvax!heimat!sneakers
randyh@ozvax.WV.TEK.COM (Randy Hendry) (04/05/89)
In article <7620.AA7620@heimat> sneakers@heimat.UUCP (Dan "Sneakers" Schein) writes: >In Message <11469@louie.udel.EDU>, WF24741%UAFSYSB.BITNET@umrvmb.umr.edu (Bill Farmer) writes: > >>Could someone from CBM please tell me if it is possible to use two hard >>disks on the Bridgeboard with the following setup: >> >>WD1002A-27X controller >>60 meg Miniscribe (3675) 6 heads >>30 meg Seatgate (ST238R) 4 heads >> >>Currently, I am unable to use which ever drive is second as it defaults >>to the number of heads of the first drive > > My first question/suggestion is does this same setup work in a true blue > (or clone)? Not having any actual hands on with that controller im not > sure if it is capable of supporting those drives at the same time. I had the exact same problem about a year ago. My setup is very similar to Bill's: Across the bridge: Western Digital controller WD1002A-WX1 ROM = 62-000094-002 (latest SuperBIOS as of one year ago) Drive 1: Maxtor XT-1105 (918 cyl, 11 heads, ~80MB) Drive 2: Micropolis 1304 (830 cyl, 6 heads, ~40MB) Note the controller chips are still WD, but it's MFM, not RLL and the disks are different than Bill's (but they still have *different* number of heads). Everything (lowlevel, fdisk, adisk, etc) works fine until dpformat: dpformat drive jh1: name jh1 Format cyl 516. Retry required cylinder 1. Hard error cylinder 1. ... Using DiskDoctor: Hard Error Track 1 Surface 6. ... Hard Error Track 1 Surface 10. Hard Error Track 2 Surface 6. ... Probably needless to say I had the smaller disk (6 heads) second. Dpformat *thinks* it's like the first disk and has 11 heads. After spending a couple of weeks on the problem, I gave up and am using the 80M disk for AmigaDOS and the 40M for MSDOS (which is a big waste since I only use the bridgeboard for (1) hard disk support, and (2) file transfer from work via the 360K floppy). Given this setup everything works fine, so at least in my case, Dan's suggestion about the controller is not the problem; i.e. it works as long as I don't try to use both disks from the Amiga side. It seems it's the Amiga/Janus software that's having a problem so trying it in a true blue wouldn't help. Is this a Janus bug? Is it An incompatability beteen Janus and certain controllers? Will it work the Janus 2.0? Why can't we just use Mount, MountList, and Format like is done with all the other drives? -- Randy Hendry randyh@duoart.wv.tek.com ...!tektronix!orca!randyh Tektronix, Inc. Interactive Technologies Division (503)685-2399w P.O. Box 1000, M.S. 61-049, Wilsonville, OR 97070 (503)639-7697h