#IDE Drive MaxTransfer
21 messages in this thread
Attn: All IDE Hard Disk Users: Set your MaxTransfer in your Rigid Disk Block
(RDB) to be 65024 (i.e., one block less than 64kbytes). This is a limitation of
IDE drives (or at least many of them). Setting it higher (such as the RDPrep
default setting) will cause less than optimal operation. RDprep defaults were
created with SCSI in mind, not IDE.
–Redmond
I tried setting the MaxTransfer to 65024 as you suggested on my A1200 and
it made the drive unusable, the system reported that it wasn't a DOS
drive. I had to reformat to get it back.
=Rick=
I've changed my Maxtransfer value at least a hundred times without a problem!
be sure if you are using RDPREP to READ THE RIGID-DISK-BLOCK before making ANY
changes!
later!
Your guess was right, I wasn't reading the RDB before changing the
"Maxtrans" and saving the RDB. I assummed that RDPREP did that when first
started, I usually get myself in trouble when I assume anything <G>.
Thanks
=Rick=
Huh? I don't understand that result at all !!! You should be able to change the
MaxTransfer *downward* with no problems at all. –Redmond
Fred corrected my problem, I wasn't reading the RDB before changing any
values, so that when I saved the RDB, I must have been changing something
else that made the drive unreadable as well.
BTW, what other than buffers/hypercache can be manipulated to increase
drive performance, my A1200 hass an 84meg conner IDE drive.
=Rick=
Periodic de-fragging will of course help. I don't have a lot of experience
hands-on with the drive interface in the A1200, so I rely on others in the shop
for expertise. I'll see if I can work up a laundry list of items for
optimization. –Redmond
I'd appreciate it too!
Bob Comer — Flying high and fast with my A1200HD'030 on Autopilot!
From Cheyenne, Wyoming U.S.A.
Redmond,
I currently have my MaxTrnsfer set to 130560. Is this bad? Should I set
it to the lower setting? I have been having
unexplained/unreproducable/intermittent system Guru's. Since I have been
running on the stock 1200 with the 1230-XA and 8MB of RAM, I have been
thinking it is a power problem. I can't be sure until I get my Bigfoot…
hopefully by the end of this week. Just wondering what I should do…
Thanks,
JDSoftware
Jonathan Schmidt – On AutoPilot from CompuServe Land
Do you have the A600 power supply? My 1200 came with an A500 power supply
(which provides about 50% more power than the A600's power supply)
Supposedly Seagates and Western Digital IDE's can run fine with large
maxtransfer values…others should be set to just under 64k.
later!
Nope… I got the standard 1200 power supply which is the same as the 600 I am
told. I will have to wait until I get the bigfoot to be sure that I have
enough juice. I also want to put a High Density drive inside the 1200. I
don't know if you know anything about this but supposedly, you can remove the
housing around the DD drive and the HD drive and switch them… putting the HD
drive into the case.
Jon
I have a Bigfoot, so power's not my problem…
I couldn't get the shell from the orginal A1200 floppy to fit the HiD
floppy I have… (I had the same idea.)
Bob Comer — Flying high and fast with my A1200HD'030 on Autopilot!
From Cheyenne, Wyoming U.S.A.
Robert,
So did you get the other shell to fit into the 1200? I have heard from a
dealer here in Columbus that he has done this before but I'm not sure
how…
JDSoftware
Jonathan Schmidt – On AutoPilot from CompuServe Land
No I didn't. Myabe I'll give it another shot though…
Bob Comer — Flying high and fast with my A1200HD'030 on Autopilot!
From Cheyenne, Wyoming U.S.A.
Bob,
So did you get the HiD floppy in there at all?
If so, how. I wouldn't mind squeezing one in, myself.
(Take it from me, I LIKE squeezing things into my A1200…like my 3.5"
Maxtor HD!)
Joe
Unfortunately not…
I'm going to try going with the HiD floppy external. I haven't gotten
around to it yet. (I have a patch that supposed to let Amiga's use one as
an external.)
Bob Comer — Flying high and fast with my A1200HD'030 on Autopilot!
From Cheyenne, Wyoming U.S.A.
Bob,
Thanks. What are the dimensions of the floppy as compared to the unit
that comes stock with the 1200?
Which floppy did you get? The one listed for the 2000 or the 3000? Is
there any real difference between the two?
I called Software Hut and got what seems to be their standard reply of
late on the external HiDex drives: In about a month.
Joe
P.S.
Would you want to move this over to USER/HARDWARE? I'm not sure how
much non-Micrbotics talk Redmond will let slide by! O:)
(BTW, I'm still waiting for that guy to get his 1230XA/50MHz back from
the shop, Redmond!)
Probabaly should take it over to Amigauser…
I believe (I haven't measured) the the floppy in the 1200 is a 1/3 height
drive, and the HiD floppy, is a 1/2 height. What this means, is that the
the HiD floppy is about a 1/4" to tall.
I'll look at my 1200's floppy again within the next few days, and I'll try
to tell you more…
Oh, and I have the A3000 version, and I think that only the faceplate is
different between the 2000/3000/4000 versions. The 3000 version fit's
great in an A500, but you need to make an eject button.
Bob Comer — Flying high and fast with my A1200HD'030 on Autopilot!
From Cheyenne, Wyoming U.S.A.
Haha! How'd you squeeze a 3.5" Maxtor in your 1200!
-HELMET
Tom,
It took a bit of work (not major, but interesting) to get it in there.
It "mounts" in the same spot that the 2.5" IDE would go, but without
the mounting frame used for the small drives.
I have worked up a "hack" file that I've posted on the AMIGA HACKS
FidoNet echo. If there is interest, I could upload the files here.
Joe
P.S.
I did need a new power supply. A Big Foot would do, but I got a 192W
clone supply set up now.
BTW, this exact conversation is going on over in USER/HARDWARE. Someone
else asked if a 3.5" IDE could be used just a few days ago!
Set it to 65024 or less. IDE drive firmware (usually) is limited to the
environment of the ibmpc ISA bus and its expectations as to maximum transfer
sizes. –Redmond