Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uflorida!mephisto!ncsuvx!news
From: big@shumv1.ncsu.edu (Alan Porter)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.tech
Subject: ST-506 controllers (cheap)
Keywords: cheap, hard-drive, ST-506
Message-ID: <1990Jan16.053837.14871@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu>
Date: 16 Jan 90 05:38:37 GMT
Reply-To: big@shumv1.ncsu.edu (Alan Porter)
Organization: NCSU Computing Center
Lines: 39


    I am looking for an inexpesive hard-drive (aren't we all?) that will
fit into a poor college student's budget.  What I want is a 40-meg or so
SCSI drive, DMA and all that.  That should run me $500-$600?  At those
prices, I will have to wait until the summer or maybe next winter
(Christmas?).  I fully intend to get one of these *when* I can afford
it.

    Until then, I have been looking at a way to hook up a 10-meg ST-506
drive that a friend of mine gave to me (FREE).  (It is a MiniScribe II model
2012 -- I have an A500, 1 meg, 2 floppies).  Dave Allen was nice enough
to send me some info on the wedge.  The prices he quoted were:

Wedge 500                    US $160
DTC-5150 MFM Controller      US $90
Box and Power Supply         US $175
Cables                       US $15
Shipping & Handling          US $18

    That is $458 !!!  for a 10-meg drive !!!

    My question is this...  How much of this do I need to hook up my
drive to my Amiga?  The box is only cosmetic (or is it?) and I can get a
power supply for the drive for about $20 at a HamFest.  Do I need both
the Wedge AND the MFM Controller?  Has anyone else chosen this route?

    I heard about a product called a 'max'?  It was supposed to sell for $99?
What does it do?  Is it an ST-506 controller for an A500?

    Is there an inexpesive ($100-$150 -- or less) way to use this drive,
until I can afford a "real" set-up?  I would really like to hear from
someone who is as money-conscious as I am who knows about these
controllers.

                                     thanks in advance,

    //      big@shumv1.ncsu.edu                Alan Porter
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 Amiga      Box 21536 NCSU / Raleigh, NC 27607 / (919) 737-6156