CompuServe Thread

RLL Hard Drives

2 messages in this thread
#93537From: Bill ForcadeNov 14, 1987 11:54 PM
When (or if) my A2000 Bridge Card arrives, I would like to add a 3 1/2" hard disk that will work with an IBM controller, and partition part of it for the Amiga. In selecting the hard disk I would like to retain the option of later switching to the Amiga 2090 controller and using the HD only on the Amiga. I have seen several 3 1/2" HD's that use RLL encoding and need a special IBM controller for RLL. If I get an RLL HD and controller for the IBM side, will I still be able to partition part of it for the Amiga side ? Second Question, if I get an RLL HD would I be able to later run it with the A2090 ? I like the larger capacities of the RLL drives for the IBM, but was afraid it would require special adapters for the A2090 or special formatting utilities which are not presently available. Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance.
#93780From: Claude J. GoschNov 16, 1987 8:56 PM
Bill, I'm not sure what happens if you want to partition part of an RLL drive for use with the Amiga side, but my understanding of RLL drives is that they are designed to meet the more severe requirements of RLL controllers, however, they can be formatted with standard controllers. The one MAJOR glitch is that RLL allows more storage on the drive (eg,. a 20 meg. becomes a 30 meg with RLL), however if you format with a standard controller, you get standard capacity (eg. the 20 megs. NOT 30 as the RLL would supply). Claude