Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!ogicse!intelhf!agora!billsey
From: billsey@agora.uucp (Bill Seymour)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: Re: hard drive compatibility
Message-ID: <1990Dec27.172502.24590@agora.uucp>
Date: 27 Dec 90 17:25:02 GMT
References: <2610@cod.NOSC.MIL> <37258@cup.portal.com>
Organization: Open Communications Forum
Lines: 39

In article <37258@cup.portal.com> thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan) writes:
:hepner@cod.NOSC.MIL (Thomas A. Hepner) in <2610@cod.NOSC.MIL> writes:
:
:	I have an opportunity to get an 40 MB 3 1/2" hard drive made by
:	Western Digital for a very good price.  The drive is an RLL drive,
:	model number WD93044-A.  It appears to be very similar to the drive
:	that came with my A590 hard drive/controller system.  Will this drive
:	work in place of the 20 MB drive that comes with the A590?  If so, is
:	there any thing special needs to be done, and if not, what type of
:	drives are exceptable?.
:
:Two points:
:
:1. I seriously doubt Western Digital "makes" anything; they just affix their
:name to that which is made for them by others (although it could be their
:design (as their chips, for example, are manufactured by AT&T since WD doesn't
:have their own silicon foundry)).
:
:2. Your referencing "RLL" implies the drive sports an "ST506/412" interface,
:so it's VERY likely the drive WILL WORK (assuming the A590 has that kind of
:interface and not SCSI (I haven't seen an A590)).  All you will need to know
:is number of heads, number of sectors per track, and the number of cylinders.

	Missed the original posting. :-) Anyway, the 590 uses an IDE interface,
not an ST-506 type. To use this drive with the 590, you'll have to by one of
the ST-506 to SCSI type convertor cards. The OMTI 3527 from Scientific Micro
Systems supports up to two RLL type ST-506 drives as one SCSI device, and comes
in the 3.5 inch form factor that you would want for this drive. You'll have to
get a seperate power supply and case, along with the appropriate cables. It's
probably not going to be a good deal by the time you get everything, even with
a free, or very cheap, drive. :-(

:Thad Floryan [ thad@cup.portal.com (OR) ..!sun!portal!cup.portal.com!thad ]

-- 
     -Bill Seymour                                            billsey@agora
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