jdp@killer.UUCP (Jim Pritchett) (12/20/87)
To: CBM and others out there
I have just upgraded to the A2000 and I have some questions about adding
a hard disk to the Amiga.
1. Has anyone successfully used a SCSI drive with the A2090? (I've read many
reports of persistent "read/write" errors (nonexistant?), but no reports of
successful (error free) use of these drives.) Is there a problem? If so,
is it software or hardware or firmware?
2. My dealer reports that there are variations in the A2090. It seems that
some of them will support a very fast 40 Meg 3.5" Rodime drive, but most
will not. He says that there is a difference in the manufacturer of the
chips on the cards.
3. Has anyone successfully used the Seagate ST-251 40 Meg drive on with the
A2090? Someone on CompuServe reported that this is an RLL drive. Does
this mean that the A2090 will not use the full space available? Is it RLL?
4. Has anyone found a reasonably priced 3.5" drive bigger than 40 Meg? Please
provide info
5. Will the A2090 support tape drives? (SCSI or ST-506?)
6. Please note that I am not using the BridgeBoard at this time, so please dont
suggest that I use a PC controller.
7. When can I get the Fast File System?
Thank you,
Jim Pritchett
Sorry, no fancy .signature yet.papa@pollux.usc.edu (Marco Papa) (12/20/87)
In article <2515@killer.UUCP> jdp@killer.UUCP (Jim Pritchett) writes: >To: CBM and others out there > > I have just upgraded to the A2000 and I have some questions about adding >a hard disk to the Amiga. >2. My dealer reports that there are variations in the A2090. It seems that > some of them will support a very fast 40 Meg 3.5" Rodime drive, but most > will not. He says that there is a difference in the manufacturer of the > chips on the cards. > >3. Has anyone successfully used the Seagate ST-251 40 Meg drive on with the > A2090? Someone on CompuServe reported that this is an RLL drive. Does > this mean that the A2090 will not use the full space available? Is it RLL? I am running the Seagate ST251 40 Meg, with 2 partitions (20 Meg each) with the A2090 with absolutely NO problem. They are rated at 40 msec. average access time, but that should go down to about 30 msec. with two partitions as above. Now that is definitely NOT a slow drive. NO, the ST251 is NOT an RLL drive. The ST251R is. I tested mine with only 1 40 Meg partition and the A2090 worked just fine. Among the 5.25" Seagate drives, this is the split up: MFM drives: ST225 (20M), ST251 (40M) ST251-1 (40M-28msec) RLL drives: ST238R, ST251R, ST277R (not OK with the A2090) SCSI drives: ST225N, ST251N, ST277N (64M), ST296N (85M) > >4. Has anyone found a reasonably priced 3.5" drive bigger than 40 Meg? Please > provide info Tough luck. 5.25 drives are now "relatively" inexpensive. 3.5 drives are still relatively expensive; more expensive if SCSI instead of ST506. -- Marco
spencer@eris.BERKELEY.EDU (Randy Spencer) (12/21/87)
In article <2515@killer.UUCP> jdp@killer.UUCP (Jim Pritchett) writes: >To: CBM and others out there >3. Has anyone successfully used the Seagate ST-251 40 Meg drive on with the > A2090? Someone on CompuServe reported that this is an RLL drive. Does > this mean that the A2090 will not use the full space available? Is it RLL? I have been running my ST-251 for as long as the 2000 has been available... There are probably several versions of the 251, just like the 225, there is the 225, the 225R (for RLL), and the 225S (I think its 'S', for SCSI). My new dream is getting the new ST-277, 60 meg half height. an I just bought a 40 meg 3-1/2" Lapine drive, anybody know who makes these? I can't get it to work, won't talk to my C-Ltd, I will have to try the 2090... > Jim Pritchett -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Randy Spencer P.O. Box 4542 Berkeley CA 94704 (415)222-7595 spencer@mica.berkeley.edu I N F I N I T Y BBS: (415)222-9416 ..ucbvax!mica!spencer s o f t w a r e AAA-WH1M -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
cmcmanis%pepper@Sun.COM (Chuck McManis) (12/24/87)
I don't mean to pick on Jim but this stuff always amuses me ... In article <2515@killer.UUCP> jdp@killer.UUCP (Jim Pritchett) writes: >4. Has anyone found a reasonably priced 3.5" drive bigger than 40 Meg? Please > provide info Something that Jim and others don't understand apparently is that the hard disk market is easily as competitive cost wise as the PC clone market. Distributors complain they can't make any money selling drive units because the price pressure is so great. Now Jim wants a "reasonably" priced 3.5" drive > 40Meg. I guess reasonable would be the same price as a 20Meg drive? We are talking some serious high tech gear in these drives, not to mention that the tolerances are amazing as well. Call up your distributor and see if they have the Connors Peripherals 100Mb half height 3.5" drive. I believe is sells for $2000 and this is a *bargain*. Full height 5.25" 120Meg drives from Maxtor (not even SCSI) go for $1300. Three years ago the CP drive was not even *possible*. So I am amused when someone says, "But I want a 'reasonably' priced drive." No offense intended, welcome to the real world. >5. Will the A2090 support tape drives? (SCSI or ST-506?) Yes, any SCSI Tape drive will work, Archive and Wangtek both make one. But there is zero software support so why bother at this time? One thing you might do is whack Gilmore's PDTar to talk directly to the drive (it's a hack and unsupportable I know) but then you could dump and read files that the Sun at the office could read and write too. >7. When can I get the Fast File System? From Commodore when they release it. Not Yet Available. --Chuck McManis uucp: {anywhere}!sun!cmcmanis BIX: cmcmanis ARPAnet: cmcmanis@sun.com These opinions are my own and no one elses, but you knew that didn't you.