newton@cit-vax.UUCP (09/18/87)
First I tear apart the mac C compilers, now a disk drive. Hm... I guess
I'm kind of destructive....
Here are some comments on disk drives for the Mac, the EasyDrive 30Meg
in particular. (I posted the disktimer II results a while ago, though
I'm happy to repost again if necessary..)
Anyway:
Assembly: The outer case held on by 4 screws on the base. Alignment was
not to great, so re-assembly required a little pulling.
Insides: A 45 What ("110 V 1A 220V .5A 47-63Hz, 115VA 45 W") non-
switching (I believe -- lots of fair sized capacitors) power supply. This
feeds power directly to an Adaptec 4070 (RLL capable) drive and the drive
itself.
The Adaptec board is configued w/ jumper (J4) going from G to H, which I
assumed selected the SCSI address. Both resistor packs were still on the
board.
The amusing part was the disk drive itself -- INSIDE the outer box was a
PC drive -- complete with the arms those things usually slide in and out on,
and the typical PC LED for the front panel. I could not get the frame of
the inner box off (too tightly screwed on), but it had the following markings:
FK305-39R
Anyway, it seems like software is really the problem for a SCSI drive. For
a drive, just buy a PC drive, an Adaptec board ($150 ?) and a power supply.
Software can be the macTutor articles on a SCSI formatter, though I have not
tried these.
- mike
ps: If my drive ever croaks, I guess I'll go get a 40M pc drive and just replace
the 20 Meg in there now ( With RLL coding 40 -> 60, 20 -> 30). I can buy the
PC drive for many $$$ less than a Mac one.
--
newton@csvax.caltech.edu {ucbvax!cithep,amdahl}!cit-vax!newton
Caltech 256-80 818-356-6771 (afternoons,nights)
Pasadena CA 91125 Beach Bums Anonymous, Pasadena President
I'm never biased...