dag@per2.UUCP (Daniel A. Glasser) (05/02/89)
I realize this may have been discussed before and I just missed it.
I may be guilty of running off at the hands too, however I have come
up with what might be a reasonable solution to the problem of the
short cables on the old Supra (and other vendors) hard drives.
I have a rather old Supra 20 meg drive which contains a 3.5" SCSI
hard disk, a power supply and a Supra AHDI to SCSI board. The drive
is mechanically noisy and the unit tends to run hot. I've had some
trouble with the drive due mostly to bad solder joints on the AHDI
cable connection to the Supra board. It occurs to me that the drive
mechanism itself can be quite distant from the Supra board provided
a shielded SCSI cable. I think I should be able to build a small
box with sufficient power to run the Supra board (or steal the power
from the power supply I already have in the enclosure) which would
fit neatly out of the way and have a SCSI ribbon cable running to
the hard drive, which would be conveniently distant so the noise
would not get on my nerves. It also occurs to me that if this works,
someone else would have done it a long time ago... So... Has anyone
out there tried this approach? I'd rather not set off on a course
which may damage my system without checking around first to see if it
is a valid one.
Daniel Glasser
--
_____________________________________________________________________________
Daniel A. Glasser One of those things that goes
uwvax!per2!dag "BUMP!!!(ouch)" in the night.
---Persoft, Inc.---------465 Science Drive-------Madison, WI 53711-----------john@stag.UUCP (John Stanley) (05/07/89)
In comp.sys.atari.st, Daniel A. Glasser <dag@per2.UUCP> writes... > I have a rather old Supra 20 meg drive which contains a 3.5" SCSI > hard disk, a power supply and a Supra AHDI to SCSI board. The drive ..etc...etc...etc.. (about short drive cables) > someone else would have done it a long time ago... So... Has anyone > out there tried this approach? I'd rather not set off on a course > which may damage my system without checking around first to see if it > is a valid one. The ICD host adaptor I'm using is in a small box (1" x 4" x 6") with a cable coming out both ends. One cable goes to my ST and is about 2ft long. The other, which runs to a harddisk drive-box with a power supply, is about 6ft long (but I could have ordered it in a longer length). The power for the adaptor comes thru the cable from the power supply in the drive-box so I only needed one extra outlet and it didn't need to be right next to the ST. I'm very happy with this new setup. I can put my drives anywhere within 7 feet of my ST which gives me plenty of places where it's out of the way, off my small compuer desk, and someplace where the noise isn't as obvious. Cautionary Note: I got this setup from Tech-Specialities. I have no idea if this is the standard configuration if you buy directly thru ICD. I've inspected the hardware and it's superb, but when I ordered the hard disk and host adaptor I made it clear that I needed it asap. They agreed to get it to me in 6 weeks. I can't fault their workmanship, but I can't recommend them to everyone because they were 4 weeks late with delivery, gave excuse after excuse for the delays, and when I returned the drive mechinism (NOT a problem with their hardware) for repair (next day UPS) they took over a week before they even opened the box (I called and asked...). I've heard similar stories from other people who have delt with them. (ie. They're slower than frozen molasses, but their prices are good and so is their hardware.) -Only- order from them if you're willing to -wait- (and wait, and wait, and...). Also be warned that they delay (at least) 10 days for personal checks to clear and they don't accept credit card orders... --- John Stanley <dynasoft!john@stag.UUCP> Software Consultant / Dynasoft Systems