scott@CIE.UOREGON.EDU (10/05/89)
I have an Atari 1040ST. I want a hard disk. I don't want to
spend lots of money. I want lots of Megabytes. Lots.
What can I buy? Can I go out and buy a Seagate SCSI drive that
I find advertised in _Computer Shopper_? Do I have to buy a
drive made specifically for the Atari ST? Is there a way to
make a drive that is designed for an IBM PC work with my Atari.
I'm very uninformed about hard drives and I'm sure there are
lots of others out there just as ignorant. We'd love to be
enlightened. If you can dish out lots of "how to" and "where
to find" and "what'll work," I'd like to hear it.
________________________________________________________________________
Scott Settlemier Univ. of Oregon scott@cie.uoregon.edu
The opinions expressed reflect in no way those of society.
------------------------------------------------------------------------pi@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Peter J Ikusz) (10/07/89)
In article <8910050648.AA01585@cie.uoregon.edu> scott@CIE.UOREGON.EDU writes: > > I have an Atari 1040ST. I want a hard disk. I don't want to > spend lots of money. I want lots of Megabytes. Lots. > > What can I buy? Can I go out and buy a Seagate SCSI drive that > I find advertised in _Computer Shopper_? Do I have to buy a > drive made specifically for the Atari ST? Is there a way to > make a drive that is designed for an IBM PC work with my Atari. >------------------------------------------------------------------------ I have built acouple of H. Drives for the ST. My method is as follows: Items needed : SCSI Hard drive (any size) ICD Host adapter Power supply (wattage determined by HD needs) I have a Seagate st-138n, and it uses approx. 17 Watts MAXIMUM. The host adapter uses maybe 10 Watts Max. and I have a 30 Watt power supply. The ICD host adapter comes with all the software you need. From this point on it is all just mounting and plugging it together. (Setting drive select to zero: instructions come with drive) First, I would buy the host adapter, it supports most SCSI drives, but use this to determine what drive you will buy. (It supports all Seagate, Miniscribe, and lots of others) ICD Mailing address: ICD, Inc. 1220 Rock Street Rockford, Il 61101-1437 or 815-968-2228 Recommendation : Use SCSI.... It is faster, easier to work with (setup), and you can chain up to 8 hard drives to just 1 ICD controller. The adapter also has another ACSI in port for Laser printer, or other stuff. ------------------------------------------------------------ "Poachers shooting at rabbits will scare the big game away" From: DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS pi@csd4-UWisconsin Milwaukee ------------------------------------------------------------
clf3678@ultb.UUCP (C.L. Freemesser) (10/07/89)
In article <8910050648.AA01585@cie.uoregon.edu> scott@CIE.UOREGON.EDU writes: > > I have an Atari 1040ST. I want a hard disk. I don't want to > spend lots of money. I want lots of Megabytes. Lots. (rest deleted) With an ST, there are 3 basic things you need: 1) Hard disk - you can use EITHER a generic ST506/412, or sometimes referred to as as a PC hard disk, OR an SCSI drive. The main difference is that the first has no controller built in. The second already has the needed SCSI controller. 2) controller - if you use an ST506/412 drive, you need a SCSI controller. There are a few different kinds, but the Adaptek 4000 series is probably the best. Most controllers will let you hook up two hard disk mechanisms, which is an advantage over a hard disk with an embedded SCSI controller. However, you have an extra PC board to mount. If you want to expand your drive later, a separate controller is the way to go. 3) ST interface - goes from the controller to the ST. Berkeley, ICD, and Supra make such interfaces. My personal preferences for each item: 1) Seagate hard disk mechs. They are recognized as the best. 2) Adaptek 4000A controller. Quite popular from what I gather. There is also the Adaptek 4000 controller, but this older version will NOT support removable media hard disks. However, the 4000 is cheaper. 3) ICD Host Adapter. I like them, and everybody I know uses one. I recently put together a hard disk for my father. Got a Seagate ST-225 20 meg hard disk, Adaptek 4000 controller (NOT 4000A), and an ICD Host Adapter. Put it in a PC/XT case, used a PC power supply. Cost him $350. Considering Atari wants $200 more for their 20 megger, the savings is quite large. You will also need 3 cables. First, you need a 20 pin card edge -> header to go from the hard disk to controller, a 34 pin card -> card to go from hard disk to controller, and a 50 pin header -> header to go from the controller to the ST interface. The interface will come with the 19 pin DMA cable. If you get a drive with an embedded SCSI controller, you only need the 50 pin cable. Hope ALL this helps. Chris Freemesser, Rochester Institute of Technology | What I like : BITNET: %clf3678@RITVAX GEnie: C.FREEMESSER | 1) My Atari ST USENET: Just reply and hope it gets through | 2) My '77 Mercury Call the ACORN BBS (716)436-3078, 300/1200 baud | 3) Coke Classic
saj@chinet.chi.il.us (Stephen Jacobs) (10/07/89)
Chris Freemesser wrote some good stuff about hard drive assembly, and mentiones
cables in passing. I know that cables used to scare me. No reason to worry
about building your own, as long as they're fairly simple and you can get
the end connectors. Ask the nice man at the electronics store (even R S).
Crimp pins are easy; ribbon terminators are even easier.
Steve J.paul@cacilj.UUCP (Paul Close) (10/10/89)
A very informative posting, Chris! Thought I would add my own experiences in... In article <1381@ultb.UUCP> clf3678@ultb.UUCP (C.L. Freemesser) writes: > >My personal preferences for each item: > >1) Seagate hard disk mechs. They are recognized as the best. These are your personal preferences -- please don't throw in lines like "They are recognized as the best"! When I went to put together my own hard drive, the hard drive dealer steered me away from Seagate, because they had switched manufacturing plants, and the new drives were not reliable. When selecting a hard drive, get the MTBF (mean time between/to failure?) figures. I have a Micropolous drive, and it should last twice as long as a seagate based on these figures. I have read on the net of many unhappy Seagate customers (the ROM7/ROM8 contraversy)--it is unlikely that they would recognize Seagate as the best! >2) Adaptek 4000A controller. Quite popular from what I gather. There > is also the Adaptek 4000 controller, but this older version will NOT > support removable media hard disks. However, the 4000 is cheaper. I like the 4000A as well. I believe there is a controller called omni or omnti that is supposed to be very fast. If you have a fast drive, you might want to find out more. I think the fastest result is to get an embedded-SCSI controller drive, like the Quantum. >3) ICD Host Adapter. I like them, and everybody I know uses one. I went with a BMS-200. It worked for me.... I did have to get software that would support more than 4 partitions -- it seems that BMS didn't bother extending Atari's four partition scheme. For me, the big win in building my own hard drive was speed! I have a 28ms 65 meg drive that also happened to cost much less than an equivalent 60 ms Atari drive! >You will also need 3 cables. First, you need a 20 pin card edge -> >header to go from the hard disk to controller, a 34 pin card -> card to >go from hard disk to controller, and a 50 pin header -> header to go >from the controller to the ST interface. The interface will come with >the 19 pin DMA cable. If you get a drive with an embedded SCSI >controller, you only need the 50 pin cable. My BMS-200 came with all cables and some mounting hardware. You still need some form of enclosure. If you buy a kit, like ICD's kit, make sure the drive(s) you have will fit the enclosure. ICD's kit will only take half-height drives. My drive happens to be a full-height. Not a flame against ICD or others, just be aware that there are different sized drives! -- Paul Close paul@cacilj.CTS.COM ...!{uunet, ucsd, crash}!cacilj!paul The Obi-wan Kenobi method: "Use the Source, Luke" -Jim Fulton