CompuServe Thread

Amiga User Forum · Amiga Hardware

#Bare 1200 upgrades

8 messages in this thread

#127918From: Chris LesterJan 13, 1994 5:42 PM

If I buy an A1200 with no hard drive, how difficult is it going to be to add one? I assume all I need is a 2.5 inch lptop HD, IDE cable (standard cable, yes?), and the desire to void my warranty? By my brief estimates, I look to save around 100 dollars upgrading that way, and taking the installation myself… Thanks! Chris

#127930From: Keith MeyersJan 13, 1994 7:41 PM

I went the same way when I purchased my A1200. It's really no big problem at all. As you said, voiding the warranty is the biggest thing to worry about. You also will need four small screws to hold the hard drive in place, along with some HD installation software. For this you have three choices: 1.) Borrow the A4000 HD installation software, 2.) Buy Commodore's HD installation package which I believe includes cable, screws, and software, and my personal favorite 3.) download one of the HD installation utilities here on Compuserve. I don't remember off hand which file I actually downloaded, but it was uploaded by some popular A500 HD manufacturer. All it really does is partition the drive and write the "Rigid Disk Block". Good Luck, Keith.

#128053From: Chris LesterJan 14, 1994 8:55 PM

How difficult will a 10 meg DOS partition be to establish? I don't know if you've been following my pursuit of PCTask info, I need an MS-DOS partition as well…. Thanks for the info!

#128119From: Richard GraffJan 15, 1994 11:51 AM

Its easy to set up a file that acts as a DOS partition with PC-TASK, the method of creating one is built into the program. There are instruction for setting up an amigados partition as a device for creating a dos partition, although I wasn't very succesfull with that method. The advantage is it is supposed to be faster. =Rick=

#128139From: Chris LesterJan 15, 1994 1:50 PM

Thanks… I'm sure you'll be seeing a lot more HELP ME screams when PC-Task and my 1200 get here…

#128180From: Brian BartlettJan 15, 1994 5:32 PM

Chris, just keep in mind that 10 MB goal. DOS 6.x expects to have a bit more than 7 MB to just install. It is very unhappy when it can't find that much disk space. Brian bjbart@watserv.ucr.edu

#128199From: Chris LesterJan 15, 1994 9:15 PM

Thanks for the warning…. I guess I'll go to 20 then… (And not a single meg more! 🙂

#127976From: Robert ComerJan 14, 1994 12:03 AM

It's not hard to put the drive in yourself, but since you have to open the 1200 to do it, you might lose your warranty. Yes, the cable and drive are standard laptop issue. You also need the C= HD setup software. Bob Comer — Flying high and fast with my A1200HD'030 on Autopilot! From Cheyenne, Wyoming U.S.A.