tmkk@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Scott Coleman) (01/28/91)
I have an opportunity to purchase a 120Mb HD made by Microscience. It's an
RLL drive (comes with a DTC RLL 1:1 controller). Glancing through the
documentation for my '386, however, reveals no disk drive types in the (Award)
BIOS with 26 sector tracks (all are 17 sector). At this point it is unknown
whether the controller will perform the 26->17 sector translation or not. If
it won't, does this mean I won't be able to use this HD with my machine?
Would I need a) a special driver, such as the one included with Disk Manager
or perhaps b) (a) new BIOS ROM chip(s)?
Also, what's the limit on partition size with DOS 4.01? Can I use the entire
120Mb as a single partition, or will I have to divvy it up into multiple
logical drives?
Thanks in advance for the impartation of your wisdom.
--
Scott Coleman tmkk@uiuc.edu
"Unisys has demonstrated the power of two. That's their stock price today."
- Scott McNealy on the history of mergers in the computer industry.schwalbe@pinocchio.Encore.COM (Jim Schwalbe) (01/30/91)
In article <1991Jan27.183610.23269@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> tmkk@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Scott Coleman) writes: >I have an opportunity to purchase a 120Mb HD made by Microscience. It's an >RLL drive (comes with a DTC RLL 1:1 controller). Glancing through the >documentation for my '386, however, reveals no disk drive types in the (Award) >BIOS with 26 sector tracks (all are 17 sector). At this point it is unknown This is the exact same drive that I have. Although I have the AMI BIOS, I believe that the Award works the same way with respect to this. You want to select the last drive option (I think it's type 47 but I'm not certain). When you do, it will allow you to configure the number of sectors, platters, etc. If you didn`t get this information with your drive, I can dig it up for you. BTW, do *NOT* do a low level format of the drive. It comes preformatted and if you accidentally do, you need a special SW package (that costs around $60) to correct the mistake. .---------------------------------------------------------------------------. : Jim Schwalbe .----------------. "Half of what I say is : : Hardware Research Group .--+-------------. | meaningless; but I say it : : Encore Computer Corp. | | E N C O R E | | so that the other half may : : Mail: | `-------------+--' reach you." : : schwalbe@encore.com `----------------' - Kahil Gibran : `---------------------------------------------------------------------------'
klf1305@chensun1.tamu.edu (Kelly L. Fergason) (01/31/91)
In article <13941@encore.Encore.COM> schwalbe@pinocchio.UUCP (Jim Schwalbe) writes: >In article <1991Jan27.183610.23269@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> tmkk@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu >(Scott Coleman) writes: >>I have an opportunity to purchase a 120Mb HD made by Microscience. It's an >>RLL drive (comes with a DTC RLL 1:1 controller). Glancing through the >>documentation for my '386, however, reveals no disk drive types in the (Award) >>BIOS with 26 sector tracks (all are 17 sector). At this point it is unknown > >This is the exact same drive that I have. Although I have the AMI BIOS, I >believe that the Award works the same way with respect to this. You want to >select the last drive option (I think it's type 47 but I'm not certain). When >you do, it will allow you to configure the number of sectors, platters, etc. >If you didn`t get this information with your drive, I can dig it up for you. >BTW, do *NOT* do a low level format of the drive. It comes preformatted and >if you accidentally do, you need a special SW package (that costs around $60) >to correct the mistake. > We have several of these, 120 MB Microscience, with the DTC controller. All Gateway 2000 machines. We also have the AMI Bios. The documentation that comes makes no mention of what the drive type should be, but calls to Gateway determined that it is type 1. I have the DTC7287 manual here, if you would like specifics just email back to me. The bios is on the controller board, and formats the hard disk just fine. Kelly Fergason klf1305@sigma.tamu.edu