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From: MALCOLM@tower-vax.city-poly.ac.UK
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re-using a Megafile
Message-ID: <9005030701.AA17821@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
Date: 2 May 90 10:48:59 GMT
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I have an Atari Megafile hard drive which I want to use with a non-Atari
system equipped with a SCSI interface.  Since my knowledge of the hardware
technicalities of hard disks is fairly scant, I'm going to air my
ignorance here in the hope that I can learn something.

The drive is a Megafile 30, using a Seagate ST238R.  The controller board
is rev 2.1 and is labelled 'RLL with SSI'.

1.  RLL is a means of formatting a disk to obtain more space at a slight
    time penalty, isn't it?  Is it a modulation technique (like MFM)?
    Can it be used with any drive?

2.  My understanding is that a hard drive for the Atari ST needs three
    things:  a host adaptor (which converts the ST DMA interface to SCSI),
    a disk controller card (various Omti and Adaptec part numbers are bandied
    about), and the drive itself.  The controller card can be omitted when
    the drive has embedded SCSI.  If I've got this right, it seems that the
    'controller' board in the Megafile combines the first two functions.
    I'll need to bypass the host adaptor part.  Any tips?

3.  30MB isn't much, and the ST238R isn't fast, so at some point in the
    future I'll probably want to swap it for a bigger/faster unit (or add
    a second drive).  What will I need to know when choosing which drive
    to buy?

4.  Am I wasting my time?  Would it be cheaper to sell the Megafile intact
    and buy a drive with embedded SCSI?  (I already have various PSUs lying
    around).

Thanks in advance,
Malcolm

--
Malcolm Ray
City of London Poly Computer Service, 100 The Minories, London EC3N 1JY ENGLAND
JANET:			M.Ray@uk.ac.clp
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