Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!amdcad!ames!nrl-cmf!cmcl2!rutgers!rochester!ritcv!iav1917
From: iav1917@ritcv.UUCP (alan i. vymetalik)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec.micro
Subject: Re: Harddisk Replacements for Rainbow
Message-ID: <117@ritcv.UUCP>
Date: 23 Jan 88 05:12:55 GMT
References: <8801222356.AA13313@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
Reply-To: iav1917@ritcv.UUCP (alan i. vymetalik)
Organization: Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY
Lines: 86

In article <8801222356.AA13313@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> U30Q@CBEBDA3T.BITNET (K.Haedener @ Berne, Switzerland) writes:
>
>There has been some discussion recently on this list about replacing
>the Rainbow's 10 MB harddisk by non-DEC products such as Seagate 225
>and higher capacity drives.
>
>Could somebody with some hands-on experience please give a review of
>what has been checked to work with the standard DEC controller and
>which formatting software has been used in each case.
>
>P.S: Thanks for the pointers to TEK 4010 emulation software.
>
>Konrad Haedener,  University of Berne Computing Center, Switzerland


   OK, here's the scoop on DEC Rainbow hard disks.  Using the standard
   controller with the Rainbow, I have tested (or have info on) the
   following drives:

       5mb DEC RD50 (Seagate ST506)  (The original drive!)

      10mb DEC RD51 (Seagate ST412)  (The old standard drive)

      20mn DEC RD31 (Seagate ST225)  (This is the new *standard* DEC
                                     Rainbow drive; if you could
                                     still purchase the machines
                                     from DEC (which you can't!))

      30mb          (Seagate ST238)  (An RLL-drive. I have been told
                                     it works and formats to 20mb)

      33mb DEC RD52 (Quantum Q540)   (I have this drive running in
                                     my Rainbow at this moment!)

      71Mb DEC RD53 (Micropolis 1325D)
                                     (Check out the HitchHiker's
                                     FIDO BBS at 1-315-589-7361
                                     to see an actual machine using
                                     this drive!)
      

   I have also heard that the Corvus drives work on the Rainbow
   (Corvus' Omninet machines had a version designed for the Rainbow,
   I believe.)


   Except for the ST-238, I have played with or own all the above
   drives (I have an RD50 and RD51 sitting on a shelf and the RD52
   purring contently in my Rainbow)...Funny, DEC never wanted to admit
   that these higher capacity drives worked on the Rainbow...They
   MAY have sold more machines if people had known!...Isn't life
   funny, sometimes? ;-)  Remember, it's the same controller running
   all of the above drives.  You'll need some decent formatting
   software, however, to use the larger drives (ST-238 and up).

   Anthony Camas' WUTIL V2.0 is preferred. Also, DISKPART and
   WUP32 (DEC's Winchester Utility) are good alternatives.  I have
   used WUTIL to format all of my disks and I haven't had any problems
   with it.  Does anyone need WUTIL to format large hard disks?
   It's a PD program.  If I get enough requests, I'll post it.

   Remember, though, if you don't have Rainbow MS-DOS 3.10, you
   won't be able to take advantage of the larger disks beyond a
   maximum of 4 8-mb partitions.  DOS 3.10 should allow 4 32-mb
   partitions (if it ever comes out ;-).

   Also, CP/M will only allow up to 10mb for everything...
   So, some disks may not be worth it for you to buy.

   I hope this helps.

   Enjoy!

   Alan

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