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From: kling@ICS.UCI.EDU (Rob Kling)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
Subject: Mixing hard drive types: ESDI, MFM, IDE
Message-ID: <9011101215.aa16378@ICS.UCI.EDU>
Date: 10 Nov 90 20:19:40 GMT
Lines: 36


Hi ...

I have an AST premium 386/90c  with an 80MB ESDI drive.
I am running out of real estate & am contemplating getting a
2nd (HH) hard drive (as well as a 3.5" floppy,
thus the preference for half-height).

For cost reasons, I was interested in adding a Connor IDE drive
w/a controller card. A local shop claims that I can't mix
drive types, even if I add drive controller cards.

The people I deal with at this shop read catalogs,
locate sources of supply, negotiate prices,
and have a tech "in the back" who can install simple things.

I find their claims about controller incompatibilities puzzling ....
But it may be based on some installation problems their tech had.

I'm curious if anyone "out in netland" has found that simple mindedly
adding a controller of a different type to an existing system makes it
straightforward to include different types of drives in the same system.
(Is this simple, are there nuances in installation/configuration?)

Why can't MFM & ESDI or ESDI & IDE be co-resident in the same system
as long as the controllers are appropriate?

Any comments/explanations about why there might be incompatibilities
if the appropriate drives are each connected to a proper controller for
that kind of drive?

Thanks in advance

Rob Kling
Information & Computer Sci
UC-Irvine