[comp.sys.atari.st] Who knows SH204 interiors? Help!

sievert@gypsy.ims.fhg.de (Karsten Sievert) (05/06/91)

Hallo!

I posted a cry for help some weeks ago in atari.st.tech. That area is
corrupted since - looks like it's been a difficult question.  ;-) 
But so I have to mail this here.

 Q: The SH204 controller accesses my ST251 HD-drive after the HD has finished
it's selftest. It's not the Atari, it's the controller, as the Atari does 
not have to be connected. What does the controller look for on the HD?
None of my friends (most of them use IBM's) has any idea.

I ask, because this first seek often fails and the HD will not be accepted
by the controller. HD runns fine in an IBM.
After a successful start, it also works fine for me. 

-Clarance

csbrod@immd4.informatik.uni-erlangen.de (Claus Brod) (05/07/91)

sievert@gypsy.ims.fhg.de (Karsten Sievert) writes:

> Q: The SH204 controller accesses my ST251 HD-drive after the HD has finished
>it's selftest. It's not the Atari, it's the controller, as the Atari does 
>not have to be connected. What does the controller look for on the HD?
>None of my friends (most of them use IBM's) has any idea.

The Adaptec tries to read the disk's format from the drive itself. The
format data must have been written onto the drive before, of course. This is
done when formatting the drive.

After reading the disk format, the controller seeks to 18 zones on the
surface of the drive.

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Claus Brod, Am Felsenkeller 2,			Things. Take. Time.
D-8772 Marktheidenfeld, West Germany		(Piet Hein)
csbrod@medusa.informatik.uni-erlangen.de
Claus Brod@wue.maus.de
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