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From: nfs@elan.Princeton.EDU (Norbert Schlenker)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Re: IDE disks
Summary: Hmmm...
Message-ID: <6974@rossignol.Princeton.EDU>
Date: 16 Feb 91 20:02:41 GMT
References: <44838@nigel.ee.udel.edu>
Sender: news@cs.Princeton.EDU
Organization: Dept. of Computer Science, Princeton University
Lines: 32

In article <44838@nigel.ee.udel.edu> wjb@cogsci.cog.jhu.edu (Bill Bogstad) writes:
>
>In article <30432@usc> kjh@pollux.usc.edu (Kenneth J. Hendrickson) writes:

Actually, I wrote the following paragraph.

>>It looks like a normal AT drive.  Some look like MFM drives, others
>>look like RLL drives, others (like my Conner CP3104) look like ARLL
>>drives.  They are neither SCSI nor ESDI.

>	Is this true for ALL IDE drives?  I'm sure that many (most) of them
>implement the Western Digital de facto register set, but I don't think they
>all do.  Integrating the electronics on the drive doesn't require that you
>implement the SAME programming interface.  Even when they implement the
>register set, they may have a variable number of sectors per track which
>Minix doesn't handle right now.  (Your best bet would be to use the smallest
>number.  Of course this means you might waste quite a bit of space on your
>drive.)  My suggestion is to find out if it works with any of the low level
>disk utilities programs like "Spinrite" or "Disk Technician".  If it does
>then it will probably work, if not look for something else.

These points are all possible, I suppose.  I would add that my Conner CP3104
works flawlessly under Minix, while Spinrite seems unable to do anything at
all with the drive.  I disclaim knowledge of the characteristics of any
other IDE drive, although it would surprise me if they didn't include some
sort of compatibility with the WD standard (e.g. the CP3104 can be set up to
look like an old MFM drive, 17 sectors per track - I don't run it that way).
I highly recommend the CP3104, which is physically tiny, quiet, capacious,
and very fast.  I believe prices have come down to <$500 mail order, which I
think is reasonable for 104 Mb.

Norbert