Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!mcvax!ukc!cs.tcd.ie!csvax1!ecarroll
From: ecarroll@cs.tcd.ie (Eddy Carroll)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Problem with Drive?
Message-ID: <32368@cs.tcd.ie>
Date: 20 Jan 89 12:25:49 GMT
References: <1452@leah.Albany.Edu> <27599@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Organization: Computer Science Department, Trinity College Dublin
Lines: 32

In article <27599@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>, me128-aw@kepler.Berkeley.EDU
(me128 student) writes:
> 
> Sorry, the [external] drive takes up some memory for buffers & system stuff.
> Game software is sometimes written to use all 512k.  I would just wait for
> the memory expansion.  If you can't, you can wire a little switch to 
> disable the drive (i don't know which pin offhand), but it shouldn't be
> difficult.
> 
> -Vince Lee

I've done this (by adding a switch to pin #21), and it works great. However,
I now find myself with another problem. I recently got a hard disk, so I don't
need to use the external drive much now. As a result, I tend to keep it
switched off (it frees up some memory and stops the clicking). The problem
is that if I need to copy some floppy disks sometime after booting up with
the drive disabled, I have to reboot to get access to it again. Is there any
way to get the system to recognise the drive if it wasn't present at
the last reset? I've tried MOUNTing it (using a modified version of the
entry to make DF1: an alias for DF2: which comes in the A2000's mountlist)
but though it mounts okay, all attempts to access it say it's not there.

Speaking of hard drives, I'm using the C Ltd. controller with the V2.06
driver software, and it is only reading around 50K/second according to
DiskPerf. The dealer said that there was a new driver due out in a month
or two (V3.0) which would speed things dramatically - has anyone in the
states used this yet, and if so, is it much faster?

--
Eddy Carroll               ----* Genuine MUD Wizard  | "You haven't lived until
INTER: ecarroll@cs.tcd.ie                            |  until you've died in
 UUCP: {..uunet}!mcvax!ukc!cs.tcd.ie!csvax1!ecarroll |  MUD!" - Richard Bartle