[comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware] Hard Card Question

close@lunch.wpd.sgi.com (Diane Barlow Close) (08/02/90)

I own an ancient televideo ``luggable'' XT (fully IBM compatible).  Earlier
this year I removed one of the 360 K drives and put in a 720 K.  Now I find
the external hard drive is frustrating to move around, being awkward and even
heavier than the computer itself.  I'd like to throw out the 10 meg.
floor-based monster and install a 20 meg hard card (hard drive mounted on
internal card) in my XT.  What are the pros and cons of doing this?  Can
anyone recommend a cheap source of these types of drives?  E-mail and I'll
summarize if there's enough interest, thanks.
--
Diane Barlow Close
	close@lunch.wpd.sgi.com
	also 	close@cygnus.com
	I'm at lunch today.  :-)

jwbirdsa@amc-gw.amc.com (James Birdsall) (08/04/90)

   I tried to mail this, but it bounced... grrr.

   Having done roughly the same thing myself (with a true-blue IBM Portable
PC), here's the troubles I had:
   Before you buy anything, take a look at how much room there is around
the slots. This is VERY important. I bought a real Plus Hardcard, which
is much thinner than the average hardcard -- the average hardcard being
an ordinary drive mounted on a card rather than a custom drive such as on
the Plus -- and I still had a very hard time getting it in. It would only
fit at all in one of the slots, and I had to bend one of the internal
supports a bit to do it. It did work, though.
   As far as cheap goes, most of the cheap hardcards are the ordinary-drive
type. Plus Hardcards, being custom drives and well-made, are expensive.
   You might well do better to buy a case and power supply and transplant
your motherboard, then buy a normal hard drive and controller. Depends
on how adventuresome you are. It's what I ended up doing eventually.
   If you want more specifics, just email me.

-- 
---
James W. Birdsall        jwbirdsa@amc.com         71261.1731@compuserve.com
          Compu$erve: 71261,1731            GEnie: J.BIRDSALL2
For it is the doom of men that they forget. -- Merlin