Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!usc!ucsd!ucbvax!hplabs!hp-pcd!hplsla!andyc
From: andyc@hplsla.HP.COM (Andy Cassino)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: Supra 45meg
Message-ID: <5440054@hplsla.HP.COM>
Date: 22 Sep 89 18:33:08 GMT
References: <32314@ames.arc.nasa.gov>
Organization: HP Lake Stevens, WA
Lines: 36

|
|     I recently bought a Supra 45 meg hard drive for my ST
|system.  I'm very impressed with its speed, built-in clock
|option, DMA thru port and SCSI thru port.  Overall, it's a very
|solid product.  However, I've also discovered some very annoying
|aspects of my hard drive:
|     
|	 1).  The cable from the drive to the ST is only 28 inches
|long!

The cable is this short because a longer cable increases susceptability to
electrical noise that can corrupt data. This is a pretty high speed
interface and the shorter the cable, the more reliable the data transfers
will be (in the absence of error-checking and correction).

I use an ICD host adaptor which allows a longer cable (3 or 4 feet). They
claim their adaptor can drive the longer cable due to a superior hardware
interface. Also, ICD claims they are the only company that provides write
verify capability in their software. This provides an extra level of
protection against data corruption, but slows tranfer times 20%.

I didn't know any of this before I bought my drive, guess I just got lucky.


Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are those solely
of the author, who has no pecuniary interest in the companies mentioned.

Copyright (c) 1989 by Andrew Cassino.  All rights reserved.

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    % Andy Cassino                                                  %
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