Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!njin!princeton!njsmu!mccc!pjh
From: pjh@mccc.UUCP (Pete Holsberg)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: RLL controller
Message-ID: <407@mccc.UUCP>
Date: 18 Nov 88 02:42:15 GMT
References: <299@deimos.cis.ksu.edu> <400@mccc.UUCP> <1038@pilchuck.Data-IO.COM>
Reply-To: pjh@mccc.UUCP (Pete Holsberg)
Organization: The College On The Other Side of U. S. Route 1
Lines: 53

In article <1038@pilchuck.Data-IO.COM> del@pilchuck.Data-IO.COM (Erik Lindberg) writes:
=In article <400@mccc.UUCP> pjh@mccc.UUCP (Pete Holsberg) writes:
=>Use an RLL controller ONLY with drives certified by their manufacturer
=>to be compatible with RLL operation.
=>-- 
=
=Sigh. Here we go again... I think this piece of mis-information was
=started by a conspiracy between Western Digital and Seagate. And it
=keeps getting spread around and around. 

Erik, that was a recommendation, not a piece of information.
=
=RLL was originally designed to work with *standard* hard drives. 

On mainframes, not on micros.

=And it will, with any high quality drive/controller combination. 

Define "high quality drive/controller combination" please.

=I have installed many non "RLL certified" drives and they 
=work fine. Specifically, most Miniscribe drives and Maxtor drives
=are not "RLL certified" but will work with RLL (as long as you don't
=use the Western Digital 1002-27x controller). Many other drives will
=also work. I suspect Maxtor and Miniscribe "RLL certified" drives are
=not any different from their "regular" drives, but they are filling
=the public demand for "RLL certification". At a price.

Now if you would just tell us which Miniscribe and which Maxtor drives
won't work with RLL, we'll be home free!

=If you are a novice at hardware installation, and are purchasing 
=both the drive and the controller new, it is good advice to stick
=with an RLL certified combination. If you already have a drive and
=are wondering whether it will work with RLL, buy an OMTI or
=Adaptec controller and try it. 

Be sure to back up your hard disk first.  Then be scrupulous in backing
up your work on the newly formatted disk.  This is probably good advice
to folks who aren't novices, although they probably don't need it.

=del (Erik Lindberg) 
=uw-beaver!tikal!pilchuck!del

What do I have in my XT clone?  A Rodime 203E RLL-formatted to 48MB and
an Adaptec 2070A controller.  But I know what I'm doing (TONGUE-IN_CHEEK!!).

Pete
-- 
Pete Holsberg                   UUCP: {...!rutgers!}princeton!mccc!pjh
Mercer College			CompuServe: 70240,334
1200 Old Trenton Road           GEnie: PJHOLSBERG
Trenton, NJ 08690               Voice: 1-609-586-4800