CompuServe Messages

I had a similar experience with a Seagate 1 gig HD in an external box. This one was a 5.25" full height drive- a major motor current hog.. 🙂 The external box was a modified clone minitower case. I found that the typical PC power supply isn't well (or at all) regulated on the 12v. If there's not enough load on the 5 volts, there's not enough current capacity on the 12 volts. The drive appeared to spin up, but never actually went ready. I finally had to hook up a dummy load – a 4 ohm 50 watt resistor – to the 5 volts. (But not before I had mistakenly sent the first drive back 🙁 ) Jim