taak9@CCVAX.IASTATE.EDU (Steve Sheldon) (04/12/91)
I've noticed a lot of discussion on this group about harddrives for the Amiga 500. I just recently did my own research and decided on purchasing the Xetec FastTrak controller, and a seperate hard drive. Xetec has been making harddrives for the Amiga for a couple of years. They've always gotten great reviews, but I dismissed them in the past because of cost. Well, they just recently lowered the prices substantially. I imagine, to stay competitive with Supra and GVP. I decided to purchase the Xetec FastTrak driveless kit. This kit contains, the controller, which plugs into the side of the Amiga, and an external case for the drive. The external case contains a 40W power supply, which can be used to power the controller box. (The controller box can also draw power direct from the Amiga, you just need to set a jumper) The Xetec controller allows you to plug in the FastRam board, which allows you to expand using 1 Meg SIMMs(max of 4 Megs) or 4 Meg SIMMs(max of 8 Megs). The FastRAM board also has a jumper to draw power from the external power supply or the host computer. I picked up a recent copy of Computer Shopper and started looking for drives. I found a Quantum 105 LPS for a really good price, and ordered that. This drive has an average access time of 15 ms, and is very compact(about 1" high, 3.5" drive). I ordered the controller direct from Xetec, and the drive from Griffin Computer, Inc. on a Thursday. The controller came on Tuesday of the next week, and the drive on Wednesday. The Xetec documentation is excellent. The set-up software is excellent. It took me about an hour to set the correct jumpers in the controller box, and install the drive into the external case. The Xetec kit contained all the hardware necessary to mount the drive. A couple of other notes: - The Xetec controller, has a jumper to select whether you have the 1.2 or 1.3 ROMs. - The Xetec controller box and external case are made out of heavy gauge steel. The external case is designed for the monitor to sit on top of it. - The Xetec controller uses the same SCSI cables as are used on the Macintosh. You can use Mac external drives with the controller, but you do need a special adapter. The Xetec cable contains a +5V line, which doesn't exist on the Mac cable. Again, this worked real slick. I have only had this for a few days, so time will tell. Prices: FastTrak driveless kit.....$250 FastRAM expansion board....$ 75 105 LPS Quantum............$385 2 - 1 Meg SIMMs............$130 (from Xetec, it was just easier) So, if you want a 105 Meg harddrive for $650 that is fairly fast and very reliable, this is the way to go. Xetec also makes other devices which are supported with this controller, CD-ROM's, Re-writable CD's, Tape backup, and removable harddrives. Steve Sheldon TAAK9@ccvax.iastate.edu