Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!walt.cc.utexas.edu!lihan
From: lihan@walt.cc.utexas.edu (Bruce Bostwick)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Hard Disk?
Keywords: wires cards chassis HEADACHES
Message-ID: <19938@ut-emx.UUCP>
Date: 22 Oct 89 01:29:07 GMT
Sender: news@ut-emx.UUCP
Reply-To: lihan@walt.cc.utexas.edu (Bruce Bostwick)
Distribution: usa
Organization: UT-Austin, Texas
Lines: 39

OK, this is going to sound really stupid but...

I have in my hand a hard drive of unknown specifications.  It's made by CMS,
if anyone recognizes that company, and came to us without any sort of
controller.  I am interested in putting this drive into a Compaq portable
that originally came with two full-height floppy drives. (The HD is a half-
height machine.)

My questions are these:

-What will I have to obtain for the retrofit?  Include info on what I'll need
to take into account selecting controllers, etc.

-How do I determine if the drive is even 100% functional?  Will I have to take
it someplace and get it bench tested?  If so, how much can I expect to pay?

-What will I have to do DOS-wise once the little bugger is safely installed
physically?  Assume I know nothing about DOS other than by using floppies,
since our machine has never had a HD and I've never installed one.

-What is unobvious about the whole procedure that doesn't fit into the above
categories?  This is a fairly expensive toy and I don't want to screw this up.

Thanks in advance for the support -- no need to post your replies, just e-mail
either to me:
lihan@vondrake.cc.utexas.edu
or :
{cleon@vondrake.cc|doug@utig.ig}.utexas.edu
with questions or help.


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