corywest@pygmy.rice.edu (Cory Richard West) (05/06/91)
This being a hardware group, I was wondering if anyone would mind spending a
few minutes answering my hardware questions about hard drives.
I recently bought an Epson equity II (for real cheap, which is why I bought it),
but it has a blown hard drive and I have some questions before I go replacing
it.
1. What the difference between IDE, RLL and MFM. I can get a larger RLL
drive for less than a smaller IDE drive. Why?
2. Controller cards. What should I be aware of. Can I use the controller
that's already in the machine if it's type (i.s. RLL or whatever it is)
matches the drive I buy? Is it a good idea to replace the controller
card anyway?
3. Drives. This epson has a metal case that has two drive bays. Are the screws
to secure the drive in the same place on all drives or should I request a
drive that has certain installation equipment. Also, are power supply
connections standard?
4. Any suggestions on drives or deals that I should look into? I'm on a very
tight budget, being in school and all. I need as much space for the buck as
I can manage. Is there a mail order place that I should look into.
5. What about buying used drives? Or getting the bunk drive repaired? It does not
spin up and I've checked all the connections and even tryed bumping it a few
times on the side (under the advice of a friend who supposedly has more
experience than I).
6. Anything else that may be handy, like configuring or stuff? Where can I find
other useful information like low level format address, etc.....
Thanks a lot for your help. I think it would be appropriate for someone, if they
are interested in doing so, to post a formal reply to this group. There are
probably others out in netland who would enjoy reading about this.
Once again, thanks for all your help!!!
corywest@rice.edu