6500boo@ucsbuxa.ucsb.edu (William Bushing) (04/19/91)
A word of warning (and request for comments): After many years of using MFM drives without a single drive failure, i decided to get an IDE drive on my 386 machine. I hadn't considered one major problem... the integration of the controller into the drive! Although in the past I'd never had a hard disk fail, I did have 2 controller cards fail. With MFM drives that proved no problem... I simply replaced a ~ $100 controller and was back up and running with no data loss. When the controller on my IDE drive failed, I discovered a major flaw in IDE design (as far as I can tell)... lose the controller and you lose the drive AND the data! Compare the replacement of a $100 controller card with the replacement of an $800 IDE drive... and the fact that the MFM drive still has the data intact while your new IDE drive is virgin and your data history unless (as you should be) you're backed up. If I'm wrong on this, please respond... I'd love to know how to pull the data off my IDE drive! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ William W. (Boo) Bushing | "Life is too important to be 6500boo@ucsbuxa.bitnet | taken seriously" 6500boo@ucsbuxa.ucsb.edu | - Einstein Marine Biotechnology Lab Univ. of Calif. Santa Barbara ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
umcarls9@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Charles Carlson) (04/19/91)
In <10676@hub.ucsb.edu> 6500boo@ucsbuxa.ucsb.edu (William Bushing) writes: >When the controller on my IDE drive failed, I discovered a >major flaw in IDE design (as far as I can tell)... lose the >controller and you lose the drive AND the data! Compare the >replacement of a $100 controller card with the replacement >of an $800 IDE drive... and the fact that the MFM drive still >has the data intact while your new IDE drive is virgin and >your data history unless (as you should be) you're backed up. I've heard weird things like that before, but haven't come across it. I've put different IDE ADAPTERS <the board in the computer is more appropriately called an adapter, not a controller> on the same drive and never lost any data. One problem I have noticed though...Is a lack of compatability. Some adapters won't work in some machines, some adapters won't work with some hard drives. There seems to be no 100% followed guidline.
antonyc@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Antony Chan) (04/21/91)
umcarls9@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Charles Carlson) writes: >In <10676@hub.ucsb.edu> 6500boo@ucsbuxa.ucsb.edu (William Bushing) writes: >>When the controller on my IDE drive failed, I discovered a >>major flaw in IDE design (as far as I can tell)... lose the >>controller and you lose the drive AND the data! Compare the >>replacement of a $100 controller card with the replacement >>of an $800 IDE drive... and the fact that the MFM drive still >>has the data intact while your new IDE drive is virgin and >>your data history unless (as you should be) you're backed up. >I've heard weird things like that before, but haven't come across it. >I've put different IDE ADAPTERS <the board in the computer is more >appropriately called an adapter, not a controller> on the same drive >and never lost any data. i think that the original poster's point was that if the *controller* failed (on board the drive) then you're s.o.l. >One problem I have noticed though...Is a lack of compatability. >Some adapters won't work in some machines, some adapters won't work >with some hard drives. There seems to be no 100% followed guidline. > this problem seems unlikely (although i'm not questioning that you've had problems) since the adapters are more or less just straight wires to the bus- maybe there are a couple of buffers that dont work right, or maybe a different style floppy controller could be the culprit.
jupakkanen@cc.helsinki.fi (04/22/91)
>>When the controller on my IDE drive failed, I discovered a >>major flaw in IDE design (as far as I can tell)... lose the >>controller and you lose the drive AND the data! Compare the >>replacement of a $100 controller card with the replacement >>of an $800 IDE drive... and the fact that the MFM drive still >>has the data intact while your new IDE drive is virgin and >>your data history unless (as you should be) you're backed up. > > I've heard weird things like that before, but haven't come across it. > I've put different IDE ADAPTERS <the board in the computer is more > appropriately called an adapter, not a controller> on the same drive > and never lost any data. > > One problem I have noticed though...Is a lack of compatability. > Some adapters won't work in some machines, some adapters won't work > with some hard drives. There seems to be no 100% followed guidline. > I guess he meant the controller in the drive, not the adapter. And it's true that in case of a controller failure it's not so simple as with the drives with separate controller. Anyway, it shouldn't be impossible to replace the controller, or the defect part of IDE drives either.. Jukka
jmr@mebsuta.rtp.semi.harris.com (Mike Reid design eng x636) (04/23/91)
In article <1991Apr20.213957.8952@nntp-server.caltech.edu> antonyc@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Antony Chan) writes: >>One problem I have noticed though...Is a lack of compatability. >>Some adapters won't work in some machines, some adapters won't work >>with some hard drives. There seems to be no 100% followed guidline. >> >this problem seems unlikely (although i'm not questioning that >you've had problems) since the adapters are more or less just >straight wires to the bus- maybe there are a couple of buffers >that dont work right, or maybe a different style floppy controller >could be the culprit. I have a Seagate ST1144A IDE drive which gave me fits when I first got it. Sometimes it worked some times it failed. I replaced the bus card and it has worked flawlessly since. I don't claim to be able to explain the difference but all IDE interface cards are not equal. Maybe another reader can enlighten us. -- Mike Reid (jmr@rtp.semi.harris.com) Harris Corporation, Research Triangle Park, NC (919) 361-1636