hepner@cod.NOSC.MIL (Thomas A. Hepner) (12/24/90)
I have an opportunity to get an 40 MB 3 1/2" hard drive made by Western Digital for a very good price. The drive is an RLL drive, model number WD93044-A. It appears to be very similar to the drive that came with my A590 hard drive/controller system. Will this drive work in place of the 20 MB drive that comes with the A590? If so, is there any thing special needs to be done, and if not, what type of drives are exceptable?. Thanks for your help! Tom Hepner hepner@cod.nosc.mil P.S. Email is preferable, but post if you feel it will be of help to others.
thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan) (12/27/90)
hepner@cod.NOSC.MIL (Thomas A. Hepner) in <2610@cod.NOSC.MIL> writes:
I have an opportunity to get an 40 MB 3 1/2" hard drive made by
Western Digital for a very good price. The drive is an RLL drive,
model number WD93044-A. It appears to be very similar to the drive
that came with my A590 hard drive/controller system. Will this drive
work in place of the 20 MB drive that comes with the A590? If so, is
there any thing special needs to be done, and if not, what type of
drives are exceptable?.
Two points:
1. I seriously doubt Western Digital "makes" anything; they just affix their
name to that which is made for them by others (although it could be their
design (as their chips, for example, are manufactured by AT&T since WD doesn't
have their own silicon foundry)).
2. Your referencing "RLL" implies the drive sports an "ST506/412" interface,
so it's VERY likely the drive WILL WORK (assuming the A590 has that kind of
interface and not SCSI (I haven't seen an A590)). All you will need to know
is number of heads, number of sectors per track, and the number of cylinders.
"2,7 RLL" drives typically have either 26 or 27 secotrs per track.
What I don't know is whether the A590 supports RLL. If it doesn't, and you
still want that drive (i.e. the price is right :-), you could still use it
formatted to the "standard" MFM at reduced capacity. RLL encoding usually
adds 50% more capacity to a HD, everything else being equal, and assuming a
drive is RLL-certified.
But note that a drive certified with RLL at 40MB will, with MFM, have 33% less
capacity (26.8MB) so you'll have to make a decision if the A590 doesn't support
RLL.
Thad Floryan [ thad@cup.portal.com (OR) ..!sun!portal!cup.portal.com!thad ]lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca (Larry Phillips) (12/27/90)
In <37258@cup.portal.com>, thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan) writes: >hepner@cod.NOSC.MIL (Thomas A. Hepner) in <2610@cod.NOSC.MIL> writes: > > I have an opportunity to get an 40 MB 3 1/2" hard drive made by > Western Digital for a very good price. The drive is an RLL drive, > model number WD93044-A. It appears to be very similar to the drive > that came with my A590 hard drive/controller system. Will this drive > work in place of the 20 MB drive that comes with the A590? If so, is > there any thing special needs to be done, and if not, what type of > drives are exceptable?. > >Two points: > >1. I seriously doubt Western Digital "makes" anything; they just affix their >name to that which is made for them by others (although it could be their >design (as their chips, for example, are manufactured by AT&T since WD doesn't >have their own silicon foundry)). I have serious doubts as to whether any of their chips can be said to be 'made', if you consider 'made' to imply some sort of quality control having gone into the process. :-) >2. Your referencing "RLL" implies the drive sports an "ST506/412" interface, >so it's VERY likely the drive WILL WORK (assuming the A590 has that kind of >interface and not SCSI (I haven't seen an A590)). All you will need to know >is number of heads, number of sectors per track, and the number of cylinders. The A590 supports IDE and SCSI only. If the drive is one of these (not wnough info given), it will work, but the only way to use an ST506 drive is with a SCSI <-> adapter. -larry -- The best way to accelerate an MsDos machine is at 32 ft/sec/sec. +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | // Larry Phillips | | \X/ lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca -or- uunet!van-bc!lpami!lphillips | | COMPUSERVE: 76703,4322 -or- 76703.4322@compuserve.com | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
billsey@agora.uucp (Bill Seymour) (12/28/90)
In article <37258@cup.portal.com> thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan) writes: :hepner@cod.NOSC.MIL (Thomas A. Hepner) in <2610@cod.NOSC.MIL> writes: : : I have an opportunity to get an 40 MB 3 1/2" hard drive made by : Western Digital for a very good price. The drive is an RLL drive, : model number WD93044-A. It appears to be very similar to the drive : that came with my A590 hard drive/controller system. Will this drive : work in place of the 20 MB drive that comes with the A590? If so, is : there any thing special needs to be done, and if not, what type of : drives are exceptable?. : :Two points: : :1. I seriously doubt Western Digital "makes" anything; they just affix their :name to that which is made for them by others (although it could be their :design (as their chips, for example, are manufactured by AT&T since WD doesn't :have their own silicon foundry)). : :2. Your referencing "RLL" implies the drive sports an "ST506/412" interface, :so it's VERY likely the drive WILL WORK (assuming the A590 has that kind of :interface and not SCSI (I haven't seen an A590)). All you will need to know :is number of heads, number of sectors per track, and the number of cylinders. Missed the original posting. :-) Anyway, the 590 uses an IDE interface, not an ST-506 type. To use this drive with the 590, you'll have to by one of the ST-506 to SCSI type convertor cards. The OMTI 3527 from Scientific Micro Systems supports up to two RLL type ST-506 drives as one SCSI device, and comes in the 3.5 inch form factor that you would want for this drive. You'll have to get a seperate power supply and case, along with the appropriate cables. It's probably not going to be a good deal by the time you get everything, even with a free, or very cheap, drive. :-( :Thad Floryan [ thad@cup.portal.com (OR) ..!sun!portal!cup.portal.com!thad ] -- -Bill Seymour billsey@agora ***** American People/Link Amiga Zone Hardware Specialist NES*BILL ***** Bejed, Inc. NES, Inc. Northwest Amiga Group At Home Sometimes (503) 281-8153 (503) 246-9311 (503) 656-7393 BBS (503) 640-0842
ben@epmooch.UUCP (Rev. Ben A. Mesander) (12/28/90)
>In article <7402@sugar.hackercorp.com> peter@sugar.hackercorp.com (Peter da Silva) writes: >In article <1990Dec27.172502.24590@agora.uucp> billsey@agora.uucp (Bill Seymour) writes: >> Missed the original posting. :-) Anyway, the 590 uses an IDE interface, >> not an ST-506 type. > >IDE, not SCSI? Both, actually. I wonder if any of the driver software is written in assembler :-) (O.K., I'm just being annoying...) >-- >Peter da Silva. `-_-' ><peter@sugar.hackercorp.com>. -- | ben@epmooch.UUCP (Ben Mesander) | "Cash is more important than | | ben%servalan.UUCP@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu | your mother." - Al Shugart, | | !chinet!uokmax!servalan!epmooch!ben | CEO, Seagate Technologies |
peter@sugar.hackercorp.com (Peter da Silva) (12/29/90)
In article <1990Dec27.172502.24590@agora.uucp> billsey@agora.uucp (Bill Seymour) writes: > Missed the original posting. :-) Anyway, the 590 uses an IDE interface, > not an ST-506 type. IDE, not SCSI? -- Peter da Silva. `-_-' <peter@sugar.hackercorp.com>.
billsey@agora.uucp (Bill Seymour) (12/30/90)
In article <7402@sugar.hackercorp.com> peter@sugar.hackercorp.com (Peter da Silva) writes: :In article <1990Dec27.172502.24590@agora.uucp> billsey@agora.uucp (Bill Seymour) writes: :> Missed the original posting. :-) Anyway, the 590 uses an IDE interface, :> not an ST-506 type. : :IDE, not SCSI? :-- :Peter da Silva. `-_-' :<peter@sugar.hackercorp.com>. Both, actually. The internal drive is IDE, the external port is SCSI. -- -Bill Seymour billsey@agora ***** American People/Link Amiga Zone Hardware Specialist NES*BILL ***** Bejed, Inc. NES, Inc. Northwest Amiga Group At Home Sometimes (503) 281-8153 (503) 246-9311 (503) 656-7393 BBS (503) 640-0842
lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca (Larry Phillips) (12/30/90)
In <7402@sugar.hackercorp.com>, peter@sugar.hackercorp.com (Peter da Silva) writes: >In article <1990Dec27.172502.24590@agora.uucp> billsey@agora.uucp (Bill Seymour) writes: >> Missed the original posting. :-) Anyway, the 590 uses an IDE interface, >> not an ST-506 type. > >IDE, not SCSI? Both, actually. The internal drive supplied is IDE, and the external interface accepts SCSI devices. -larry -- The best way to accelerate an MsDos machine is at 32 ft/sec/sec. +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | // Larry Phillips | | \X/ lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca -or- uunet!van-bc!lpami!lphillips | | COMPUSERVE: 76703,4322 -or- 76703.4322@compuserve.com | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
peterk@cbmger.UUCP (Peter Kittel GERMANY) (01/05/91)
In article <7402@sugar.hackercorp.com> peter@sugar.hackercorp.com (Peter da Silva) writes: >In article <1990Dec27.172502.24590@agora.uucp> billsey@agora.uucp (Bill Seymour) writes: >> Missed the original posting. :-) Anyway, the 590 uses an IDE interface, >> not an ST-506 type. > >IDE, not SCSI? IDE *and* SCSI. The builtin drive is IDE. -- Best regards, Dr. Peter Kittel // E-Mail to \\ Only my personal opinions... Commodore Frankfurt, Germany \X/ {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!cbmger!peterk