A1200 Hard Drives
39 messages in this thread
What is the difference between the 2.5" & 3.5" IDE drives? Is it more than
just physical dimensions? Do they have different power consumption rates
or require different cabling?
Always curious….
Shane
– via Whap!
Shane,
The differences between 2.5" drives and 3.5" drives is similar to
the differences between 5.25" drives and 3.5" drives. Everything about
them is smaller.
They are inherently faster (all else being equal) because things
don't have to move as far to get from one point to another. They
inherently use less power because there's not as much work to do…less
mass for the motor to spin, etc.
They generally have a higher recording density…that is…fit more
data in the same physical area than bigger drives.
And of course, they're more expensive…because they're the latest
and greatest.
As an example…sitting beside me is a 5.25" 150 Meg HD…one of
the better ones. It probably weights about 8 pounds or so. In my NCR
notebook computer, I've got a 2.5" 120 Meg drive. The whole
computer…battery and all only weights about 6 pounds. The HD itself
probably is probably less than a pound.
The move to smaller drives is just a matter of technology moving
forward, just as what used to fill a whole room, now can sit on your
desktop…or your laptop for that matter.
Don
Thanks for the info. Don. Does this mean that a 3.5" IDE hard drive could
be used in the new A1200 despite the increased size. Would it perhaps need
to be externally mounted? Or, is there formatting, etc. differences that
would cause the operating system to not recognize it or work properly with
it?
Thanks,
Shane
Shane,
I would presume a 3.5" IDE drive would work in an A1200…but I
also understand it would have to be externally mounted because there's not
enough room for a 3.5" drive inside.
However, I do not know for sure that it will work as I've not tried
it nor have I heard of anyone else doing it.
Don
Don,
I believe that there's a problem with long (More than a couple of inches)
IDE cables that will prevent you from using external IDE hard drives with
the A1200.
About the only solution I can think of for using a 3.5" drive, if it's one
of the really thin ones, would be to put it where the internal floppy
normally goes. 3.0 will let you boot from DF1. …
Denny;
We use foot long IDE cables in our Clone PC's…. Should be able to go at
least that far in an A1200.. No? Or, is there a problem with Commodores IDE
controller?
I plan to put an A1200 on my desk soon, and plan to use an external IDE
3.5" drive…. Hope it works!
Karl
Karl,
It has to do with the IDE implementation in the A1200. Sorry, I don't know
the technical details, I've just heard the Commodore engineers say the
cables need to be really short.
Great, Commodore blows another one!
Seems like C= needs to do some serious work internally. A4000's that can't
accept full size drives in internal drive bays… A1200's that can't drive
an IDE signal furthar than a few inches,…. And, they fine folks in
marketing bring the A1200 out WAY too late for Christmas.
Typical Commodore job, it seems…. I guess I will stick with the A2000
till it dies, and then will toss it, and focus on IBM compatables.
Now, before anyone starts telling me about how wonderfull Amigas are, or
how technically surpior, let me jus say, I know! But, as the owner of an
Edsel, I know that technical superiority, combined with mediocre quality
controll (either because of lack of care, or because the product is built
in someone else's factory), combined with non-existant marketing will kill
products. I plan to be off the Amiga before Commodore sinks. <sigh>
Karl
Karl,
At the risk of hearing someone tell me that I am just a Commodore
cheerleader I am going to respond to your posting.
I have seen several postings that say you can get a Syquest and CD ROM
drive in the A4000. I have seen some that say they can't get their
particular unit to fit. It may mean that Commodore has adhered to a
standard drive bay that is not as standard as we would like.
I do think that it would be nice to have had the A1200 out before
Christmas. In fact, we did have several units before Christmas, but not
enough to meet demand. I am sure Commodore wanted with all of their heart
to have the A1200 in dealer hands before Christmas. Things take time, and
wanting something to happen doesn't always make it possible. There are
many factors out of the control of the US sales company. I can tell you
this they honestly did try to make it before Christmas.
I am not going to tell you how Amigas are superior — you know that. What
I am going to tell you is that Commodore is not the pack of fools you
think they are. The line 'typical Commodore job' is a tired cliche'.
-mark=
Syquest drive does not fit correctly inside the A4000 it the 50 pins data
connector is hooked to the drive it looks that C= went to close to the
5"1/4 specification in designing the A4000 bay and forgot that there is a
5 pins connector that goes in the back of the drive. At least I was able
to make mine fit by removing the grid that protect the fan of the power
supply and by bending a little bit the fron of the machine but it was not
really nice to see!
I'm always amazed by people running down Commodore as a company. I wish I
could put together a $1 BILLION company! I find it difficult to criticize
those who're doing much much more than I could dream to – anyone who can
sell $1Billion worth of computers per year can't possibly be a pack of
fools. Perhaps they could do better, but how they run the show is up to
the stockholders. All you critics out there – put your money where your
mouth is and buy a couple million CBU shares and then YOU can be charge of
Commodore!. The A1200 is a delightful product and generating HUGE interest
in my little community of 60,000 people.
Actually Karl, C= didn't have to have the A1200 out in time for
Christmas. In Aachen, Germany the HORTONS department store sold out their
supply of 40 in only 3 days. Other high-volume stores have a display model
out but none left in stock. I would say the machine is a pretty hot seller
over here. Then again maybe I'm too easily impressed :>).
Charlie Badalati
APing from Wurselen,Germany
> A1200's that can't drive an IDE signal furthar than a few inches
Remember that the 1200's IDE interface was designed strictly for
internal use; that anyone wanting an external drive was expected to use
the trapdoor slot.
=Edjs-
Edward_Swatschek@mindlink.bc.ca
We'll see this weekend……I doubt that it will have any problem driving a
signal about 1 foot AS LONG AS the drive does not draw it's power from the
cable…..if you forgot what you have just said is a rumor and has never
been tested.
Dave
Elite MicroComputers – via Whap!
Don,
Perhaps some experimentation is in order here. I am very curious to
know if it will work and I guess I'll just have to try it. Perhaps my
dealer will be curious as well!! I'll let you know what I found out when
I've had a chance to set up this test.
Thanks for your help.
Shane
– via Whap!
Please take this with a lick of salt, but a correspondant in England
assured me they have put 3.5" LPS low profile drives into the 1200 "by
trimming the casework a bit". I lost his message in a corruption of my
harddisks this week, unhappily. It does sound plausible, since they are
very thin and use a lot less power than the normal ones. I am looking at a
Quantum-Pro 52mb LPS right now and it is very thin.
Anyone want to trade me a 2000 deinterlacer for it? (major grin).
where's they get the SCSI I/F for the A1200? LPS are SCSI, no? you want to
trade your A2000 deinterlacer for a 52MB Hard Disk?
Tony
LPS designates 1" heigth.
Dave
Elite MicroComputers – via Whap!
The LPSs come in both SCSI and IDE versions.
=Edjs-
Quantum LPS refers only to the 1 inch low profile form factor. These
drives are available from Quantum in both IDE and SCSI (IDE ones seem to
sell for $10 – $20 less than SCSI). Most of the drive manufacturers (at
least Connor, Maxtor, and Quantum) have identical drives in IDE and SCSI
available. Freedom of choice is a wonderful thing. There are even 2.5
inch SCSIs as well as IDEs.
I just (FINALLY) recieved my A1200 yesterday and it does appear a 3.5×1"
drive could fit in there if the case was trimmed….however a 4 pin power
cable would also have to be added since the 2.5" drives get their power
from the 40 pin cable.
Dave
Elite MicroComputers – via Whap!
No good on the before mentioned….tried fitting 3.5" dirve in and the
keyboard lays on top of it. Not enough clearence.
NOTE…..EMC is currently working on a kit to fit an external 3.5 HD on the
A1200…I will be testing this weekend and if al goes well will be
annoucing RETAIL pricing and availiblity sometime next week.
Dave
Elite MicroComputers – via Whap!
If anyone needs a 60MB 2.5" IDE HD, I have one that's just sitting here gather-
ing dust. i got it 'cuz my sister said she needed one, then the deal fell thru
(her buying the PC) so, I gotta dump it. It also has the kit to use it on
NORMAL IDE cables(ie, adapter that brings out the 4-pin power, ans std. 40-pin
cable) looking to sell it for $180, just to get it outta here. I don't need
it at all. My A2000 has SCSI's in it. The drive was bought new in oct. 27,1992,
so it still has like 9-10 mos. of warranty on it. has 20 minutes of use, for
testing, as this is the first one i've used. works great.
BTW, it's a Western Digital TidBit-60 60MB IDE
Tony
Tom,
Thanks for that information. If you find out more, please let me
know.
Shane
– via Whap!
<grinning back> wanna trade your de-interlacer for a 2.5" 60MB IDE Western
Digital Hard disk? Darn thing is gathering dust here. bought in oct. 27th,
used 20 minutes to test it. Still has like 9-10 mos. warranty left. Any
interest? and, gee! ya don't have to experiment, 'cuz it's a 2.5" IDE! and
it's 8MB more than what you're looking for!
BTW, for all the other readers, power rating is 3.5Watts (5VDC @ .7A) drive
is 1024x7x17spt 62.3MB
Tony
Tony:
If Tom isn't interested in that drive, I might be, give me a call.
// -Mike Schiller
\X/ AMIGA! On AutoPilot in sunny Fort Lauderdale
That is interesting Toni, really. What system did you test it on? I don't
have a 1200 (yet) but if this crate will fly on the Amiga 1200 I am very
interested. Why are you selling it by the way?
I have a microway flickerfixer I could trade for it. I am sure you
appreciate the difficulty involved in even trades through the mail, but
let me know if the drive will do what I want to do with it, I will be
checking in later. Thanks for offering.
What monitor does the MicroWay allow you to use? will it work with a
superVGA monitor?
Tony
Tony:
Yes, the Flickerfixer should work with a SVGA monitor. It will definately
work with one of your NEC multisync monitors. If you're gonna hookup a
multisync monitor to it, another thing you could do is to hook one of them
directly to the 23pin connector on your 2000 (C= has a 23 to 15 pin VGA
adapter available), and use the productivity mode. It will let you have a
4 color WB that is flicker free. The only problem with that route would be
that programs that open their own screen would still flicker, and if your
multisync couldn't go down to 15.75khz then you'd be SOL.
// -Mike Schiller
\X/ AMIGA! On AutoPilot in sunny Fort Lauderdale
Very important – the 2.5 inch drives are extremely low power (as little as
2-3 watts power usage) and 3.5 inchers are substantially higher. My A1200
power supply looks to be rated only about 20 watts so please, folks, be
cautious about trying to ad a 3.5 incher IDE to a A1200 – you could be
really limiting other expansion capabilities or even 'poof' the power
supply.
Hey, Don – Happy New Year – and GOOD NEWS! 2.5 inch HDs for A600/1200 ARE
NOT more expensive than 3.5! I've got 'em priced either same or lower.
I'm offering my A1200 customers to buy a A1200 sans HD and I'll put in a
85mB IDE 2.5 for $300. That gives the customer about double the drive for
only a few bucks more than CBM is charging (i.e. the price difference
between the A1200 empty and the A1200 with 40Mb HD). And I just put a
120mB in my A1200. This isn't meant to be commercial, just good news that
prices on the 2.5 inch drives aren't necessarily higher than 3.5 SCSI.
Also 250Mb 2.5 inchers are ON THE WAY! Love that 1200.
Don,
Toshiba already has a 2.5" 213MB drive. I ordered one and am waiting
patiently. The specs are incredible! 12ms access. 6.5 MB transfer rate.
128k cache. Part number MK-2224FC. All I can say is WOW! I am
salivating…
/ /_
/_/onathan __/chmidt – On AutoPilot from CompuServe Land
How much do you sell the 120MB for?
Elite MicroComputers – via Whap!
" I'm offering my A1200 customers to buy a A1200 sans HD and I'll put in a
85mB IDE 2.5 for $300."
I wish our local dealer was as on the ball as you are. They had a 4000
for over 2 weeks, and didn't know about the 5.25" bay until we started
asking about putting the CD-ROM in our 4000 (which we bought from them).
-Chris
2.5" IDE drives also do not require a seperate power cable, the ribbon
cable that connects the drive to the host also supplies power.
I noticed the subject line in your message, and the 2.5" drives are also
important for the A1200 since there is only enough room inside for a 2.5"
drive' a 3.5" drive would not fit.
-=*) Gary Nush (*=-
Thanks Gary. Does this mean that a 3.5" drive could not be mounted
externally then?
Shane