Xref: utzoo comp.sys.mac.misc:2851 comp.sys.mac.hardware:5136
Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!cbnews!joe
From: joe@cbnews.att.com (Joseph Judge)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc,comp.sys.mac.hardware
Subject: Re: Connecting an st506 to mac SCSI
Message-ID: <1990Sep2.040510.29201@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 2 Sep 90 04:05:10 GMT
References: <6804@milton.u.washington.edu>
Followup-To: comp.sys.mac.hardware
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 82


(Mark Ward) writes:
> Hello, all.  I'm interested in connecting my mac+ to one or more st506
> interfaced hard drives.  I've seen ads for many scsi to st506 adapters,
> but I'm not sure which I need. I seem to remember that some won't work
> with the mac, but of course the places offering them don't mention that
> in their ads.  

	Oh poo. Those boards all do SCSI <-> ST506. Some dance and sing.
	Some have some spiffy SCSI calls (Read Capacity, etc). Some don't. 
	That's about all I have found. 

	You *need* drive docs. Contact a local electronics firm or the 
	manufacturer. Tell them you need the OEM guide for whatever drive.

	You need a drive, a board, cabling (board to drive: (1) control and 
	(1) data cables, std Mac SCSI cable (1), board to SCSI socket(1)), 
	power supply and a formatting program.  
	
	You can get ESDI, ST506 (RLL or MFM), and SCSI drives. If you get a 
	SCSI drive, forget the board.  I've only tried the MFM ST506 drives, 
	so don't ask me about the others.
	
	Formatting programs I have used: 
		SF&I by E. Vishniac (sort of free-ware, read the docs 
		- I donated blood for it!), 
			&
		 Silverlining. 

	I've done this before SilverLining and after. I much prefer the after.
		 
	There is a SCSI formatter source somewhere (sumex?). Never tried it.

	I've used an OMTI 3100 board (called Scientific Micro Systems 
	themselves for the OEM guide). I know of folks who have used the 
	Adaptec 4000A (?) board, also. Some SCSI/ST506 boards do RLL, some MFM,
	some both - depends what you want and if your drive can handle RLL. 

	Some are able to hang 2 or 4 drives (more?) - doesn't matter, the Mac 
	can only handle 1 drive to a SCSI id (== 1 board, 1 drive). Someone 
	want to write a driver to get around this someday? :)

	Some places have  SCSI <-> ST506 boards made esp for the Mac. These 
	will work with the (earlier) Mac SCSI startup problem. I don't think 
	it matters much these days, though. Apple fixed that a long time ago.

	Hook them all up apropriately.

	Kick off the formatter, answer the questions by looking in your OEM 
	guide (how many tracks/surface, how many surfaces, etc ...)

	and done.

	It seems scarier than it really is. I heartily recommend this for folks
	with drives sitting around. I have a harddrive now and can remember
	running with floppy/RAM disk (booo). It may sound like a plane taking
	off while running, but then, it was a drive destined for the trash
	anyway. Someday, I'll save some bucks and buy a newer, quieter, larger
	capacity drive.

	Oh, don't make ungodly huge partitions. Anything over 30-40 Meg make 
	your Mac sooooo slooooow in updating the desktop.


> 
> 
> Oh, I just remembered: I've also got a tape drive (archive) with a 50 pin
> connector on it. No docs.  I've heard there are only a couple standard
> tape drive interfaces, and with a controller avail (scsi to oic36) for $33,
> sounds good.  Any hints???
> 

	Always wanted to try this. No time, $$ to.

	There is a mailing list of folks who did this/doing this somewhere.
	On rascal.ics.utexas.edu, I think. Look in the TEAC or .TEAC directory
	(in /mac ???). 

	I thought that was supposed to qic not oic.


	Joseph Judge		joe@cblpf.att.com