dmk2@homxc.UUCP (D.KUSTER) (12/15/88)
greetings all, I am looking to add a hard disk to my 520ST system, and I'm wondering if it is worth building one from a kit. I know ICD and Berkeley Microsystems make complete kits where you supply the hard drive mechanism and they supply everything else. I don't have a hard drive unit so I would have to buy one. Have any of you had any experience with either of these company's kits? How hard/easy are they to build? Is there a significant cost savings over just buying a complete drive unit? Any comments would be greatly appreciated. dan
ric@uwovax.uwo.ca (Ric Wheeler) (12/17/88)
I have the interface from Berkely Microsystems, the BMS 100
and am very pleased with it.The advantage is that you can put any kind of
IBM-type drive on it.I have a 15 meg tandon and a 40 meg Vertex both
running together.If anything happens to either one of them,or heaven
forbid,both of them.(and someday it will) it should be no problem finding
inexpensive drives to replace them.
Ric-----a very satisfied customer.Robert_Bob_Mulholland@cup.portal.com (12/17/88)
If you'd like to know more about the ICD hard drive kit take a look at my review of ICD's Hard Drive Kit in the August 1988 issue of ST World. It's a fairly in-depth review of this kit -- including my own experiences (good and bad) in building the kit.
lincoln@ihlpa.ATT.COM (Lincoln) (01/17/89)
I'm looking for a low-cost hard drive for my 1040ST. Does anyone have any first-hand experience with either the ICD or Tech-Specialities kits? Chuck Lincoln att!ihlpa!lincoln
tremblay@cg-atla.UUCP (Ken Tremblay) (01/17/89)
In article <11275@ihlpa.ATT.COM>, lincoln@ihlpa.ATT.COM (Lincoln) writes: > I'm looking for a low-cost hard drive for my 1040ST. Does anyone > have any first-hand experience with either the ICD or Tech-Specialities > kits? > > Chuck Lincoln > att!ihlpa!lincoln Chuck, I helped my brother-in-law install an ICD hard drive kit in his 1040ST. No problem with any connections and the software they provided worked fine. If you get a drive that is MFM and buy an RLL controller then you could get more capacity from the hard drive. His 40meg is now packing 60 meg. ICD is a good choice and the price is right. But that's just an opinion. -- Compugraphic cg-atla!tremblay 200 Ballardvale Wilmington, Ma. rectum? Shit, nearly killed 'em!
bobw@hpsad.HP.COM (Bob Waltenspiel) (01/19/89)
I bought a 20M tower disc from Tech-Specialties last fall, and except for initial lose connections that occured during shipping, I've had no problems. The folks there are not good at hand-holding, so you should be sure you can troubleshoot simple problems yourself. Their products are inexpensive because your not paying for good after sale service. Overall, my disc has been good for me. Bob Waltenspiel (my employer doesn't have to agree with what I post on the net...)
Robert_Bob_Mulholland@cup.portal.com (01/19/89)
I've had first hand experience with the ICD hard drive kit and you can find out ALL about it in the July 1988 issue of ST World, where I reviewed this kit. It's very good and I continue to use it to this day on my Atari 520ST with a 52MB hard disk drive.
Allanon@cup.portal.com (Arnie Big-A Elkins) (01/19/89)
I have the ICD hard drive kit, and am very happy with it. I am using it to run a Seagate 251-1, and it works extremely well. The only problems I have had were related to a faulty drive mechanism, and did not involve the ICD kit. I bought my kit(ICD host adapter, Adaptec drive controller, cables and software) from Computability some months ago, for about $220. Then you need a drive mechanism and a power supply, and it helps to have something to put it all in. All in all I am very pleased with the ICD kit, and recommend it highly. Arnie Elkins Allanon@cup.portal.com or sun!cup.portal.com!allanon
paul@cacilj.UUCP (Paul Close) (01/20/89)
In article <6458@cg-atla.UUCP> tremblay@cg-atla.UUCP (Ken Tremblay) writes: >In article <11275@ihlpa.ATT.COM>, lincoln@ihlpa.ATT.COM (Lincoln) writes: >> I'm looking for a low-cost hard drive for my 1040ST. Does anyone >> have any first-hand experience with either the ICD or Tech-Specialities >> kits? > > [...] If you get a drive that is > MFM and buy an RLL controller then you could get more capacity > from the hard drive. His 40meg is now packing 60 meg. ICD is > a good choice and the price is right. But that's just an opinion. *WARNING* As far as I know, formatting a MFM drive for RLL use voids the warranty. It might well work, but it is not part of the MFM spec, so be careful!! Dealers I've talked to advise not trying the MFM->RLL until the warranty expires. I'm waiting for my order from Berkeley Microsystems (BMS). It's not a kit per se, but you can buy everything you need (save the drive) from them. I'll know more once I get the parts, so email if you're interested. The cost breakdown is (roughly): BMS-200 (Atari-SCSI) $150 MFM Adaptec controller $115 Case w/power supply $ 80 80mb, 28ms Seagate 4096 $565 ---- Total $910 I think this is even cheaper than the ICD kit. Also, it is my impression that the ICD kit will only hold half-height drives. The Seagate I'm considering is full height, as is the 71mb Miniscribe 6085 (an alternate). Something to consider.... P.S. Does anyone have any experience using either the Seagate or the Miniscribe? Would you recommend either? -- Paul Close paul@cacilj.CTS.COM ...!{uunet, ucsd, crash}!cacilj!paul The Obi-wan Kenobi method: "Use the Source, Luke" -Jim Fulton
c60a-2bn@web-1a.berkeley.edu (Lawrence Chiu) (01/20/89)
I've used the Berkeley Microsystems' BMS-100 host adapter for over a year now with no problems. I recommend it for the customer sup- port, which is excellent, and its reliability. The BMS-200, which is available now, has all the features of the ICD board; a 2nd DMA port and a clock. Lawrence Y. Chiu; University of California, Berkeley.
rthurlow@van-bc.UUCP (Rob Thurlow) (01/22/89)
In article <874@cacilj.UUCP> paul@cacilj.UUCP (Paul Close) writes: >As far as I know, formatting a MFM drive for RLL use voids the warranty. Could be. I've been told that formatting a drive for RLL can result in the drive failing to reformat under MFM, and most drives are only spec'd to MFM. I have a kit with a Priam V170 60 Meg, and I won't format the thing to RLL unless I have real data indicating that it will work, since it is more demanding on the media and the analog electronics of the disk drive. >I'm waiting for my order from Berkeley Microsystems (BMS). It's not a kit >per se, but you can buy everything you need (save the drive) from them. >I'll know more once I get the parts, so email if you're interested. The >cost breakdown is (roughly): > > BMS-200 (Atari-SCSI) $150 > MFM Adaptec controller $115 > Case w/power supply $ 80 > 80mb, 28ms Seagate 4096 $565 > ---- > Total $910 > >I think this is even cheaper than the ICD kit. Oh, we can do better than that. ICD sold us their host adaptor with software and documentation for $115 US, I think. We were actually quoted more like $99 US as I remember, but the bill was higher, so ask carefully. And Timeline Inc., Gardena CA sold us some Adaptec 4000A MFM controllers for $60 US (!), and they're still advertising that great price in this month's Computer Shopper, p544. As for the mechanism, I lucked out; I bought a refurbished Priam V170 mechanism for $300 CDN (~ $240 US). That is a 60 Meg MFM drive which I've seen advertised new for $700 US. I'm not sure of the speed rating, but the IBM CORETEST said it was 15 msec average and 8 msec track-to-track. (No, I can't get any more deals like that!) And I got my PC-XT case for $45 CDN and a used 150 Watt power supply for $20 CDN, so with cables my total damage comes out to about $625 CDN. So: ICD host (Atari-SCSI) $115 US or $155 CDN MFM Adaptec 4000A cont $ 60 US or $ 80 CDN (Adaptec 4070 for RLL) Miscellaneous cables $ 20 US or $ 25 CDN Case w/power supply $ 50 US or $ 65 CDN 60mb, ~22ms Priam V170 $240 US or $300 CDN ---- Total $465 US or $625 CDN The system worked first time, but some people up here have had trouble with the Adaptec controllers - one fellow went through two from Best Electronics which didn't work, although we've had great luck with the ones from Timeline. It all still has to be mounted in the case, but it will be soon. I liked this approach in general because the investment in the mechanism and possibly the Adaptec controller is secure, because I can use the Adaptec with a Macintosh, and I can use the drive with a Macintosh or with a IBM PC clone running Xenix. And the drive is fast! A note about cables - you need a cable with 50-pin female dual-inline connectors on either end to connect the ICD and Adaptec boards, and you need a 34-pin edge-card to edge-card connector plus a 20-pin dual-inline to edge-card connector cable to connect the Adaptec controller to the meachanism. You get these with the full ICD kit, but you have to buy them separately if you just buy the host adaptor like I did. It turns out that the 34-pin cable, which carries signals common to both mechanisms in a two drive system, is very like the normal IBM-PC floppy connector, rather than the normal IBM-PC hard drive connector, while the 20-pin is exactly like the IBM-PC connector. To plug in two drives, you use two 20-pin connectors and you modify the IBM 34-pin floppy cable to *not* have the usual twist of seven wires between two of the connectors. You can but all this stuff from ICD, but it's probably cheaper from Jameco Electronics; a 50-pin 12" cable was about $3 US from them I think, and I know they have the PC type cables in their catalog also. So if you buy the boards like I did, and collect the cables, you can afford a better hard disk mechanism. This is what you *don't* skimp on. One final idea is that you can buy a Seagate ST277N with a *built-in* SCSI-to-ST506 (i.e., forget the Adaptec controller) for $450 US from Hard Drives International in Tempe, AZ. This drive is RLL-rated, and formats to 65 Meg at a speed of 40 msec, which is pretty nice. That could make a VERY nice compact system. I'm a little surprised I haven't heard of more Mac types wiring this sucker up to their systems. It has to be one of the better values in new drives right now. -- ---------------------------------------------------------------- "There was something fishy about the butler. I think he was a | Pisces, probably working for scale." - Nick Danger | Robert Thurlow uunet-----\ | Vancouver, BC, Canada !van-bc!rthurlow | In the heart of Kitsilano ubc-cs----/ | ----------------------------------------------------------------
caromero@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (C. Antonio Romero) (01/22/89)
In article <874@cacilj.UUCP> paul@cacilj.UUCP (Paul Close) writes: [after some talk on the "MFM for RLL" trick] >P.S. Does anyone have any experience using either the Seagate or the >Miniscribe? Would you recommend either? Well, I don't know about the Seagate, or even about the Miniscribe in the Atari context, but I spoke to an engineer at Miniscribe a few weeks ago and he said: 1) We do NOT recommend using the MFM drive as an RLL drive, and 2) The RLL version of the drive should only cost about ten dollars more anyway. I called a dealer and found this to be the case for one Miniscribe drive whose model number escapes me right now... Given the amount of money you save vs. the pain of having the drive turn bad one day, I don't know if the difference is worth it. -Antonio Romero romero@confidence.princeton.edu
gjwelych@wotan.uucp (Greg Welych) (03/02/89)
Hi there. I just purchased a Sheagate ST4096 80Meg full height hard drive,
and would like to know which hard dive kits are the best?
I have various questions about the kits:
1) Which kits support full height dives?
2) Which interface hardware is the best?
3) Which softare best supports an 80Meg drive? How many partitions are
allowed? Auto-bootable? Whats the maximum size of a partition? Is
it compatible with Minix or other OSs?
4) How large is the case? Does the fan make alot of noise?
5) Which Adaptec interface is the best for a MFM drive?
6) Which kit is the fastest? Which is the easist to put together?
7) What are the prices?
Please Email me directly. If anybody wants me to summarize, send me
Email.
Thanks in advance for any and all replies.
Greg Welych.
gjwelych@top.cis.syr.edu
#! rnews