A1200 hard drive
Chris Rex
I want to put a bigger harddisk in my 1200. I have an 810mb 2.5 laptop
drive. It is an IBM OEM DVAA-2810. I have kickstart ver 3.0 My question
is this. Will any 2.5 ide hard disk work? This hard drive is currently in
a dell Lattitude XPi (P75). Next, earlier in the life of IDE (on pc's) IDE
harddrives had a 500MB limitation that was caused by the paramaters in the
bios's (of pc's). Does the amiga have that limit? Would I have to upgrade
the kickstart to get this Amiga to recognise the drive? The logical
paramaters of the drive are:
1571 cyclinders - 16 heads- 63 sectors per track.
Any help you could be would be appreciated.
Chris
John Deker
There are 2 limitations as I uderstand it. I'm not familiar with laptops in
general, but I understand some drives are physically designed to fit certain
laptops. So check the physical aspects of the drive first. Will it physically
fit the Amiga's cradle and cable.
Second, there are 2 size limitations in pre OS3.5 systems. The file system is
limited to 4GB and the IDE interface is limited to 8GB. OS3.5 was buggy on some
A1200 IDE interfaces. Mine being one, but OS3.9 works fine. AFAIK, OS3.9 will
raise the supported hard drive capacity limit into the terra byte range by
patching the IDE interface and providing an updated version of the FFS.
So, with your OS3.0 you are essentially limited to 4GB hard drives and 2GB
partitions while using FFS.
=======================
I use ICQ and AmiComSys; ICQ ID#:78972393
joe
Chris Rex <chri...@robbware.com> wrote in message
news:t9kqb92...@news.supernews.com...
> Hi,
>
> I want to put a bigger harddisk in my 1200. I have an 810mb 2.5
laptop
> drive. It is an IBM OEM DVAA-2810. I have kickstart ver 3.0 My question
> is this. Will any 2.5 ide hard disk work?
No. I have the exact same IBM hard drive right down to the OEM model
number. The drive spins slowly - which normally isn't a problem since you
can just reboot. However, unlike other slow hard, this IBM drive actually
turns off (spins down) and then back on when you reboot - very strange. So
it never has enough time to spin up whether it's powered on or rebooted. I
couldn't find a jumper on this drive to keep it spinning during reboots.
Maybe KS3.1 ROMs may help since I've read they add a spin up delay when you
turn on the A1200. I think the have an option for a longer spin up delay if
needed. I'm planning on buying KS3.1 ROMs soon. I'll try this drive again
when I install the new ROMs.
BTW, I was able to partition this drive and install OS3.0 from the floppys.
Everthing appeared to work fine and I could run programs on the paritions
just fine. It wasn't until I rebooted that I ran into the problem
above.........joe
Mikey C
Snip.
And there I was, thinking that no one still used a vanilla amiga
anymore. Or at least a 2.5inch hard drive :)
Chris, may I suggest you think about upgrading your machine?
Although, I would add that it is probably best to wait until the new
AmigaOne1200 PPC machine. :)
Regards
Mikey C
Ross Vumbaca
joe wrote:
> No. I have the exact same IBM hard drive right down to the OEM model
> number. The drive spins slowly - which normally isn't a problem since you
> can just reboot. However, unlike other slow hard, this IBM drive actually
> turns off (spins down) and then back on when you reboot - very strange. So
> it never has enough time to spin up whether it's powered on or rebooted. I
> couldn't find a jumper on this drive to keep it spinning during reboots.
> Maybe KS3.1 ROMs may help since I've read they add a spin up delay when you
> turn on the A1200. I think the have an option for a longer spin up delay if
> needed. I'm planning on buying KS3.1 ROMs soon. I'll try this drive again
> when I install the new ROMs.
The Standard Seagate that came with the A1200 also spins down when we
hold down reset, as well as the hard disk in the A600. I think that
these drives spin down when the computer sends a reset signal, and
remains down until the reset signal disappears. I also think that this
can be fixed if you cut the reset wire on the IDE cable (I read it
somewhere)
Regards,
Ross..
--
*TO E-MAIL ME: Reverse the order of the domain name in my e-mail
address.*
Ross Vumbaca, a 'poor' Uni student at USyd.edu.au
http://www.fl.net.au/~rossv
Running an Amiga 3000 (030/25), GVP Spectrum, C= A2065,
12Mb Fast/2Mb Chip, HD FDD, SCSI HDD's (never mind their size),
Kickstart 3.1 (40.68), OS 3.9, Linux m68k 2.2 (Debian 2.2r0).
--
Stalky T Fish
>
>Chris Rex <chri...@robbware.com> wrote in message
>news:t9kqb92...@news.supernews.com...
>> Hi,
>>
>> I want to put a bigger harddisk in my 1200. I have an 810mb 2.5
>laptop
>> drive. It is an IBM OEM DVAA-2810. I have kickstart ver 3.0 My question
>> is this. Will any 2.5 ide hard disk work?
>
>No. I have the exact same IBM hard drive right down to the OEM model
>number. The drive spins slowly - which normally isn't a problem since you
>can just reboot. However, unlike other slow hard, this IBM drive actually
>turns off (spins down) and then back on when you reboot - very strange. So
>it never has enough time to spin up whether it's powered on or rebooted. I
>couldn't find a jumper on this drive to keep it spinning during reboots.
You have to disconnect the _RESET wire on the IDE cable. Pin 1 (the striped
one), I believe. The easiest way is to snap the back off of the IDE connector
X-acto the wire from the rest of the ribbon, pull it off the connector, and
snap the back back on. You can put the wire back on later if you need to.
...Sean.
Ville Jouppi
>There are 2 limitations as I uderstand it. I'm not familiar with laptops in
>general, but I understand some drives are physically designed to fit certain
>laptops. So check the physical aspects of the drive first. Will it physically
>fit the Amiga's cradle and cable.
They're all 2.5", but the heigth and placement of the bottom screwholes
differ. The heigth isn't an issue, because the drives have only gotten slimmer
over the years, but the screwholes might become a problem.. (duct tape to the
rescue ;-) Some drives (New IBMs for example) have the holes in each corner,
where others have them grouped like 3.5" drives do, nearer to the centre of
the drive.
Ville Jouppi
wrote:
>And there I was, thinking that no one still used a vanilla amiga
>anymore. Or at least a 2.5inch hard drive :)
What's wrong with 2.5" disks? They're not overly expensive anymore these days,
even though you can get a bigger 3.5" disk for the same price. I like the
quietness and low power consumption..
In addition to my laptop and mp3 player, I have a 2.5" disk as a transfer
disk, because it's so small to carry with you. Add a small adapter board and
you can connect it to desktop machines without a hitch.
joe
"Ross Vumbaca" <ro...@au.net.fl> wrote in message
news:3A9E14D7...@au.net.fl...
> Hi,
>
> joe wrote:
>
> > ...this IBM drive actually
> > turns off (spins down) and then back on when you reboot - very strange
> The Standard Seagate that came with the A1200 also spins down when we
> hold down reset,
Not mine. It only spins down when you turn the power switch off. It stays
spinning during a reset. I don't recall off hand if it's a Seagate or not.
It's the standard 120MB drive that came with the A1200HD back in '93.
> as well as the hard disk in the A600. I think that
> these drives spin down when the computer sends a reset signal, and
> remains down until the reset signal disappears.
Apparantly, not always. My original 120MB hard drive never spins down
during a reset - but the replacement IBM drive does using the same cable.
> I also think that this
> can be fixed if you cut the reset wire on the IDE cable (I read it
> somewhere)
Do you remember where you read this? Does it apply specifically to certain
model hard drives - especially given what I wrote above? Will cutting the
cable prevent me from using the original hard drive as a spare? The cable
is not a standard part so I'd rather not cut it without being very sure of
the results...........joe
Tx
news:B9No6.1500$Aa.3...@news1.epix.net...
>
> "Ross Vumbaca" <ro...@au.net.fl> wrote in message
> news:3A9E14D7...@au.net.fl...
> > can be fixed if you cut the reset wire on the IDE cable (I read it
> > somewhere)
>
> Do you remember where you read this? Does it apply specifically to
certain
> model hard drives - especially given what I wrote above? Will cutting the
> cable prevent me from using the original hard drive as a spare? The cable
> is not a standard part so I'd rather not cut it without being very sure
of
> the results...........joe
>
and used the same cable in my A1200 until I replaced that drive. If you're
still in doubt though, it's easy to cut the wire in such a way that it can
easily be rejoined. Never lock the door behind you ;-)
Tx
Darrin01311
magazines.
I had a drive with this problem, but rather than cut line 1 on the ribbon I
simply hold both mouse buttons down on a warm reset, select dh0: on the boot
menu and then hit the boot button. This reults in a delay long enough to
reboot with the drive detected.
It's not as big a deal as it sounds doing this - after all, how may times to
you have to reset your Amiga a day?
Darrin
joseph cavola iii
darri...@cs.com wrote on 3/5/01 10:46 AM:
I also have a new hd in my amiga 1200, they don't even spin up. Also how do
I tell which pin is pin 1? my cable seems to work with the origional drive
when pluged in either way.
Ross Vumbaca
joe wrote:
> > The Standard Seagate that came with the A1200 also spins down when we
> > hold down reset,
>
> Not mine. It only spins down when you turn the power switch off. It stays
> spinning during a reset. I don't recall off hand if it's a Seagate or not.
> It's the standard 120MB drive that came with the A1200HD back in '93.
Mine is from a 1995 ESCOM (170Mb). Most likely the old 120Mb seagate
doesn't support the spin down on reset "feature".
> > I also think that this
> > can be fixed if you cut the reset wire on the IDE cable (I read it
> > somewhere)
> Do you remember where you read this? Does it apply specifically to certain
> model hard drives - especially given what I wrote above? Will cutting the
> cable prevent me from using the original hard drive as a spare? The cable
> is not a standard part so I'd rather not cut it without being very sure of
> the results...........joe
I think it's pin 1, if you look at a pinout for the 44 pin IDE port I
think it will be called RESET or something. The cable is not too hard to
replace, it is a standard part used in laptops. You could "disable" pin
1 by coating the first pin on the hard disk with glad wrap or something
(this is to test temporarily) to stop it from making contact.
Ross Vumbaca
joseph cavola iii wrote:
> I also have a new hd in my amiga 1200, they don't even spin up. Also how do
> I tell which pin is pin 1? my cable seems to work with the origional drive
> when pluged in either way.
It is pin 1 with the red stripe. The cable works both ways assumedly
because you keep flipping it on both ends, if you had it the right way
on one end, and the wrong way on the other hand, then the Amiga wouldn't
boot. Look at your A1200 mainboard - pin 1 (red stripe) should be
aligned with the "1" (or arrow) printed on the mainboard. On the hard
disk, there may also be an indicator of the pin 1 side, or perhaps there
will be a small notch above the rows of pins which is usually used to
key the cable (the IDE cables sometimes have a small tooth on one side,
sometimes it is not present, but you can still see an outline of where
it would be).