[comp.unix.wizards] 2 hardrives of different interfaces allowed to coexist in PC UNIX?

teoh@uicbert.eecs.uic.edu (08/20/90)

I have a seagate 80MB w/ MFM interface running at 28ms hardrive. But many
people have pointed out that there's hardly any room for a complete SVR4
package. So, I decided to add another faster drive (~15ms) but of different 
interface type.
 
Is it possible to allow 2 different types of hard disks in a pc UNIX
environment (using 2 different controllers)? If so, what are comments
on AT IDE vs ESDI drives?
 
Is it true to say that the AT IDE drive is dependent on AT architecture
machine? How machine independent is the ESDI drive outside the AT arena?
 
I was planning to use the slower 80MB as secondary drive for back up
purposes or storing files of lower priority, and leaving all the executables
in the faster drive. Will there be any substantial loss of performance w/
this configuration? Or, is it better just to have a faster hardrive.
 
All comments are welcome, your help is greatly appreciated.
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hai-Chuan Teoh			    *     Email: teoh@uicbert.eecs.uic.edu
Univ of Illinois		    *       Tel: (312) 930-1942
Electrical Engr & Computer Sci      *
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

teoh@uicbert.eecs.uic.edu (08/20/90)

Message-ID: <1990Aug19.184438.8598@uicbert.eecs.uic.edu>
Organization: University of Illinois at Chicago
Distribution: comp
Date: Sun, 19 Aug 90 18:44:38 GMT
Lines: 23
I have a seagate 80MB w/ MFM interface running at 28ms hardrive. But many
people have pointed out that there's hardly any room for a complete SVR4
package. So, I decided to add another faster drive (~15ms) but of different 
interface type.
 
Is it possible to allow 2 different types of hard disks in a pc UNIX
environment (using 2 different controllers)? If so, what are comments
on AT IDE vs ESDI drives?
 
Is it true to say that the AT IDE drive is dependent on AT architecture
machine? How machine independent is the ESDI drive outside the AT arena?
 
I was planning to use the slower 80MB as secondary drive for back up
purposes or storing files of lower priority, and leaving all the executables
in the faster drive. Will there be any substantial loss of performance w/
this configuration? Or, is it better just to have a faster hardrive.
 
All comments are welcome, your help is greatly appreciated.
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hai-Chuan Teoh			    *     Email: teoh@uicbert.eecs.uic.edu
Univ of Illinois		    *       Tel: (312) 930-1942
Electrical Engr & Computer Sci      *
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

chad@anasaz.UUCP (Chad R. Larson) (08/25/90)

In article <1990Aug19.184438.8598@uicbert.eecs.uic.edu> teoh@uicbert.eecs.uic.edu writes:
+---------------
| Is it possible to allow 2 different types of hard disks in a pc UNIX
| environment (using 2 different controllers)? If so, what are comments
| on AT IDE vs ESDI drives?
+---------------
Yes, I did that to a Unisys 386 machine running Interactive 386/ix 2.0.0
last month.  The system came with a 70Mb drive, which left only about
20Mb available for "real" use once all the OS was loaded and swap space
configured.  The solution was to add a 300Mb ESDI drive and controller.

The Interactive HPDD can handle an extra controller right out of the box.
There were no real problems other than I had to edit the /etc/partitions
file by hand.



-- 
Chad R. Larson          ...{mcdphx,asuvax}!anasaz!chad or chad@anasaz.UUCP
Anasazi, Inc. - 7500 North Dreamy Draw Drive, Suite 120, Phoenix, Az 85020
(602) 870-3330            "I read the news today, oh boy!"  -- John Lennon