Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!m.cs.uiuc.edu!ernie!bazyar From: bazyar@ernie (Jawaid Bazyar) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2 Subject: Re: DIY hard disk drive Message-ID: <1991Mar11.152517.11758@m.cs.uiuc.edu> Date: 11 Mar 91 15:25:17 GMT References: Sender: news@m.cs.uiuc.edu (News Database (admin-Mike Schwager)) Reply-To: bazyar@cs.uiuc.edu (Jawaid Bazyar) Distribution: comp Organization: Mutation Testing Facility, University of Illinois Lines: 46 In article legler@masig2.masig1.ocean.fsu.edu (David M. Legler) writes: > >I want to put together a hard disk setup for myself. When the price >for an Apple II specific package (40 Meg disk) is $600 or more (for >Apple) and we can get 40Meg drives for $319 from several vendors, it >is silly not to go the route of making your own. > >I know I will need the Apple SCSI card (the RAMFast card is more than >I need right now). By the way InCider is talking (not that they are >always correct), there seems to be a potential problem with using hard >disks sold to primarily the Mac market as the Mac pseudo-standard does >not require all the SCSI connections; so I need to know which disk >drives people are using - has anyone found this Mac SCSI standard to >be a problem ? From the way the RamFast manual talks, such problems are only in the cabling. A SCSI disk drive is a SCSI disk drive is a... I'm running a Quantum 40 Meg drive, sold as an internal for a Macintosh (in fact, this exact type of drive is used in SEs, etc). All I had to do was get a standard SCSI cable (with an adapter to go from ribbon cable connector to centronics connector), plug it in, and go. Works like a charm. Re: RamFast- if you happen to buy a fast hard drive (like a Quantum ProDrive), I'd really recommend a RamFast. Boots to the finder (with loads of inits and DAs) in 10 secs. It's just astounding. >I would also like a recommendation on what kind of formatting software >to buy - for I would potentially like to have partitions for ProDos, Dos >3.3, and GS/OS. ProDOS and GS/OS are supported de facto. For DOS 3.3 (really?) you'll need a program from Morgan Davis, the name of which I forget. But you'll want to use the program SCSI Hacker and the Advanced Disk Utilities. >This would certainly be of interest to lots of folks, especially since >the April 1991 issue of Mac User reviews 32 "budget" hard drives. 40 >meg drives are going for about $300 - $400 these days. Gee. I bought my 40 meg drive for $235 (that's right, two hundred and 35) brand new with a 2 year warranty- granted, it didn't come with a case or power supply (I already had one). -- Jawaid Bazyar |"I'm sure K&R have never heard of Mike." Senior/Computer Engineering | bazyar@cs.uiuc.edu |"That's okay. I'm sure Mike's never heard of K&R". Apple II Forever! | (discussion about Orca/C)