Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!yale!cmcl2!adm!smoke!gwyn From: gwyn@smoke.brl.mil (Doug Gwyn) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2 Subject: Re: DIY hard disk drive Message-ID: <15441@smoke.brl.mil> Date: 11 Mar 91 18:39:13 GMT References: Organization: U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory, APG, MD. Lines: 37 In article legler@masig2.masig1.ocean.fsu.edu (David M. Legler) writes: >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 ? So far as I can determine, any reputable hard disk manufacturer's products with embedded SCSI interfaces should work fine with Apple's High-Speed (DMA) SCSI Card. Certainly the Syquest and Seagate drives that I have work fine. Most third-party packaged SCSI disks are just some OEM drive manufacturer's drive and embedded interface with a case and power supply added. Cabling is the most difficult part of building your own unit, since there are a variety of 50- and 25-contact connectors in use with SCSI peripherals, some of them rather hard to find in stores. >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. There are several SCSI formatting/partitioning utilities posted for downloading on the various information utilities such as AOL and GENIE. Chinook was supposedly upgrading their excellent utilities (formerly specific to the old non-DMA SCSI card) to work with the DMA SCSI card, but I haven't heard whether or not this has occurred. >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. If you have an Apple IIGS, I'd recommend at least 80MB, and/or the Syquest cartridge drive (44MB on-line). A2-Central (or whatever it's called) offers complete disk drive kits including cabling sufficient for a single-drive installation, case and power supply. This is the most convenient route for most do-it-yourselfers.