#A3000 Scsi Problem HELP!
7 messages in this thread
Hi, Tim!
Well, this whole thing of SCSI-2 vs SCSI-1 is fuzzy at best, but from what I've
gleaned from the book I bought this is what you need to know about
compatibility, assuming the A2091 is essentially the same as my A3000 SCSI
controller (built-in):
1) SCSI-2 Hard Drives all have the SCSI-1 commands standard, which means they
will be "software-protocol" compatible with a SCSI-1 controller. If you later
add a SCSI-2 controller, the extra features in SCSI-2 are then available. Using
a SCSI-1 controller on a SCSI-2 drive presents no real problems, the only side
effect might be that you are limited in the transfer rates (the drive may be
slightly slower than if you had a SCSI-2 controller), which isn't really a
factor for Syquest or ZIP drives.
2) A Syquest or ZIP drive is a removable hard disk, so it should have no
problems with your A2091, assuming you have the proper driver. I think that for
the Syquest you might need a utility called SCSIMounter or something like that,
to make the Amiga aware when you swap cartridges. Otherwise, I think the setup
is similar to setting up a regular hard disk using HDToolbox. On the ZIP drive,
I read in CU-Amiga that Fourth Level Development has come out with a driver
that lets the OS know when you swap cartridges. Dale Larson (IAM) may know more
about this, as he distributes their products. This driver is sold with ZIP
Drives in England/Europe. Those drivers would be needed if you had a SCSI-2
controller, anyway.
3) The external Drive needs to be Terminated. As of SCSI-2, there is an option
for the drive to supply the +5v termination power, either to its own resistors,
or the bus. I highly recommend that this be disabled (Bus supplies term power),
usually set by a jumper or dip switches, so that no damage can be done to the
drive or the A2091. Under SCSI-1, only the Controller supplies the termination
power.
Hope this helps… remember, I might be wrong about some of this… I hope
others will chime in and point out any errors…Bottom line is you can use
Syquests and Zips on a SCSI-1 controller without too much hassle – just be
aware of the termination.
— Dave
Hey Dave,
Glad to hear your system is settling down with the new cable! Computers tend
to demand much trial and error despite understanding fundamentals.
I really appreciate your response to my query. I think I'll try the Syquest
EZ135 and then post my experiences with it for the benefit of the community
here. I'm a bit surprised then aren't other users out there who've tried it.
Its advertised seek time is 13.5ms with transfer rates of about 2.4MB/sec;
that's compared to 29ms and 1.25MB/sec for Iomega's Zip drive. Of course, the
Syquest specs could be based upon using the SCSI 2. Anyway, I'll see how it
goes. Thanks again. See ya boards. VR, Tim K
Tim,
I'm using a Syquest EZ 135 on my 3000, and I am very pleased with it. Probably
the reason you haven't seen postings from other users is because the drives
themselves, not to mention the removable hard disk cartridges, are, like the
ZIP drives, still very hard to find. Other than that (and not quite getting a
full 135 megs after formatting) I have no complaints.
-John
"…there is no such thing as a bad tube amp"
Thanks for the encouraging word. I'm in the Washington DC area and they have
quite a few at the local CompUSA and Computer City stores… also seen them
mailorder from Creative Computer's MACMALL, etc. Even though the cabling looked
fine, I wasn't sure what to expect trying to hook the Syquest EZ135 (SCSI 2) to
the external connector on an A2091 controller. Any secret to the setup that
you can remember? Did you have to use SCSImounter to get it to recognize disk
changes? Just curious. Thanks again. VR, Tim Knutson
Tim,
Re:
<what to expect trying to hook the Syquest EZ135 (SCSI 2) to the external
connector on an A2091 controller. Any secret to the setup that you can
remember?>
The install was pretty easy. As I understand it, the 2091 is very similar to
the 3000's SCSI so physically you shouldn't have a problem. My EZ135 came with
a 25 to 50 pin cable which looks pretty substantial. However, I already had a
similar cable between my 3000 and my CD-ROM so I just inserted the EZ135 in the
middle and used a 50 to 50 pin cable to go from the EZ135 to the CD-ROM. I
left the termination switch turned-on in the CD-ROM since it is the last
physical drive on my external path. The only way to terminate the EZ135 is
with a block which plugs into one of the 50 pin sockets. So, as long as both
50 pin sockets on the Syquest EZ135 are full, then you can be sure that at
least the EZ135 is seeing a proper load.
I got a little concerned when reading the "manuals" for PC and Mac
installation. They speak of software commands which must be executed prior to
ejecting a cartridge. However, the <STOP> button on the front works just fine
for me and my Amiga (we don' need no steenkin sofware jes' to stop a Syquest
<g> ). There is supposed to be quite a bit of documentation on the platter
which I would like to have offloaded, but I have been running low on disk
storage recently, and I didn't wait to get the EZ135 formatted for Amiga file
compatability.
HDToolBox took care of that pretty quickly. The Amiga Hard Drive User's Guide
is thorough in covering how to do it, so I won't go into detail here. If you
don't have a copy, you still shouldn't have too much of a problem since
HDToolBox is fairly self-explanatory. Under <Change Drive Type> is a selection
<Define New…> which has a button to <Read Configuration>. Once you <OK> out
of that, it's just a matter of partitioning the newly recognized EZ135 with
your favorite File System in your choice of block sizes. If you find a way to
get 135 megs, though, let me know. I was only able to get 127 megs.
<Did you have to use SCSImounter to get it to recognize disk changes? >
Yes, works OK on the ONE EZ135 Removable Hard Disk Cartridge I've been able to
find locally (I saw a posting on the PC forum that Syquest has a toll-free
number (800) 394-6374 for ordering the cartridges for $19.95 each – I paid
$21.95 at Software Etc – I don't know about shipping and handling charges when
buying direct from Syquest). All in all, I'm glad I got the EZ135. I find it
to be fast and versatile. In fact, I've already started installing Linux on my
'spare' cartridge, and Linux accepted the EZ135 as a SCSI drive and I was able
to install ext2 and minix filesystems to the Syquest partitions.
I hope this information helps you and any other Amiga owners who decide to add
an EZ135 (or two or three or more – but the Jaz drive is coming soon for those
big storage needs) to their system.
-John
"…there is no such thing as a bad tube amp"
John,
From photos I've seen the EZ135 cartridges look very similar to the 105/270eg
regular Syquests, but cost a lot less. I wonder if they could be used in my
105Meg drive ?
Steve Brightman
Daring to be different – Amiga on the Internet – Lotus on the Interstate
John, Again, thanks for the info about your experiences with the Syquest EZ135.
I just bought one today. Haven't had time to hookup yet. I'm sure it will
suit my modest storage needs nicely…Talk to you later. Ciao, Tim Knutson