Xref: utzoo comp.sys.amiga.hardware:6732 comp.periphs.scsi:2008 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!cbmvax!jesup From: jesup@cbmvax.commodore.com (Randell Jesup) Newsgroups: aus.computers.amiga,comp.sys.amiga.hardware,comp.periphs.scsi Subject: Re: Amiga (A590) <-> Seagate ST225N help needed. Message-ID: <19373@cbmvax.commodore.com> Date: 1 Mar 91 04:03:09 GMT References: <1991Feb28.040101.18591@hades.ausonics.oz.au> Reply-To: jesup@cbmvax.commodore.com (Randell Jesup) Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA Lines: 86 In article <1991Feb28.040101.18591@hades.ausonics.oz.au> andrewl@hades.ausonics.oz.au (Andrew J Lockwood) writes: >I need a little help getting a Seagate ST225N 20MB SCSI hard disk working >with the A590. The problem is: Note that the ST225N is seagate's oldest scsi disk, and is only marginally SCSI-1 compatible at best (for example, it ignores the LUN field - if you flip the LUN-enable dip-switch on the 590, it will show up as 8 drives). >I can low level format the drive, partition and FFS format without to >much trouble. Then if I copy files to the Seagate I will eventually get >a R/W error no 42. The drive doc says: > "Defect map overflow: This error indicates that the total number > of defective sectors to be formatted exceeds the table size." Kind of wierd. Where did you get the 42 number from? I read that as HFERR_Phase: illegal or unexpected scsi phase (note that scsi extended error codes are not the same as scsi.device io_Error codes). Do you have reselection turned on? It may well be that the seagate doesn't support it (the original reason for the flag to turn it off!) >The verify option in HDToolbox sends commands the Seagate >thinks are invalid. The error explaination from the Seagate manual is: > "Invalid Command: This error indicates that the received > command byte is illegal or not implemented" They apparently don't implement the scsi Verify command (very bad). >When I read the configuration from the drive I get: > > Cyl : 613 > Heads: 1 >Blocks per Track: 68 ( Amiga assumes this for me !) > >The drive doc says: > > Cyl : 615 > Heads: 4 >Blocks per Track: 17 for 512 Byte block Note: seagate reserved 1 sector per _cylinder_ for mapping, plus 2 cylinders for track/cylinder replacement. You sure that's not 17 blocks per track, 67 blocks per cylinder? Hmm, maybe the old HDToolbox with A590's didn't have that - you could try a more modern one off an A2091 or A3000 install disk. In any case, Seagate is talking hardware, not usable configuration. >I have connected the Seagate to the A590 internal SCSI 50 pin connector. CBM >Sydney Consumer Support say this is O.K. to do. The 20MB 3.5 " ST506 disk >inside the A590 works fine. Yup. >1/ What is the significance of the Seagate self test? Does it really indicate > that the drive is O.K.? Does it indicate that there are no bad block that > can't be slipped automatically? (Fixdisk is only READING blocks as this > self test claims to do). Dunno, sorry. >3/ Does anyone use a Seagate ST225N connected to the A590? Any problems? We did it while writing the drivers and hdtoolbox. Sort of worked, though it has some serious firmware bugs (like the lun problem). >4/ If my hard disk really does have 4 radial scratches on every surface, is > it possible to map out more than 100 or so bad sectors. I need at least > 6 times the normal space. HDToolbox won't do it at this point (it only reserves 2 cylinders for our own bad block mapping (plus partition/fs info)). However, the value is variable, and other RDB setup programs (like the one for the Hardframe) can also read/write RDB's, and may allow setting the number of cylinders. With scsi disks normally mapping is done by the drive with the scsi command Reassign Blocks. >6/ Do I need some special termination at the A590 end? The cable is 1m long. 6m is the scsi spec. _should_ be ok (it might not hurt to try a short cable). -- Randell Jesup, Keeper of AmigaDos, Commodore Engineering. {uunet|rutgers}!cbmvax!jesup, jesup@cbmvax.commodore.com BIX: rjesup The compiler runs Like a swift-flowing river I wait in silence. (From "The Zen of Programming") ;-)