Review: FastATA1200 (PowerFlyer)

Justin

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Hello guys 'n' gals,

OK then, the FastATA or PowerFlyer, where to start? oh, I know...

The FastATA is an awesome bit of kit, it supports 4 devices and has two buffered interfaces, it can get upto 16Mbsps!!:wooha: (yeah right! never going to happen!)

Let's start off with the fitting, remove your roms, place roms into FastATA, fit FastATA into motherboard rom sockets, clip the socket over the Gayle chip (do this repeatedly as it will keep popping off the chip and watch in horror as your motherboard flexes with the amount of force you need to use), place the black wire from the FastATA (or don't bother as it only gives you the hard drive access light) onto the 3rd pin from the left on the A1200 2.5" ide port and then install the software - http://www.elbox.com/downloads_fastata.html and that is it.
installation guide - http://www.elbox.com/ma/fa_1200_folder/fast_ata_1200_qig.html


Now then, there are various versions of this board released to the general public

PowerFlyer / Gold
FastATA
FastATA II
FastATA III
FastATA IV
FastATA IV CF/SATA

and what are the differences? uummmm apart from some different versions of gals, the name and some cheap CF/SATA adaptors thrown in..... none that I can see, performance doesn't seem to change across the range nor do the amount or types of devices supported. Update - There are some differences!!, only versions III and IV will work with os4.1 and from version 3 on it seems to support drives upto 2TB. (2TB on a miggy? really?? i never managed to fill my 80gb HDD lol)


I'm sure someone will correct me if I am wrong and I'll update this as required.

So are these worth having? it depends on your use, yes they are quick 8-9mbps in the real world, but will you notice it? not really, a buffered IDE splitter will do the job fine.

If you really need the speed then SCSI is a better option, no CPU drain, DMA and 10Mbps in the real world is doable:nod:

I do like this bit of kit but unless you are a power user, a buffered splitter will do you proud, if you need more then maybe SCSI is the route for you?

Another point to mention is that if you have an internal scan doubler then you will need to file down the board that sits over the gayle chip or it won't fit.

You will need rom risers if you plan you use an indy1 or 2, so if you have a mediator as well the fit may not be so good, so some things to watch for there.

hope this helps someone at some point.

cheers, Justin
 

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Thanks for review! I could sense some justified rant in this :LOL: I have gone through same emotions with the Fast-ATA. Stopped using it as I wanted to use Lyra kb-adapter (without the raiser-hassle!) and that wasn't possible. So I sold it and now use the scsi of my BPPC that goes over 9.1 mb/s, tested with SCSIBench :).
 
the only difference between the version's of fastata that ive seen is a slight speed up in transfers and the later revisions support larger disks capacity and thats it really.although this is dependant on the speed of the drive usually. based on the spindle speed

they are nice if you dont have scsi,although very cpu dependent for transfer speeds.for insatance if you happen to be watching a large avi file it becomes erm choppy
 
the only difference between the version's of fastata that ive seen is a slight speed up in transfers and the later revisions support larger disks capacity and thats it really.although this is dependant on the speed of the drive usually. based on the spindle speed

they are nice if you dont have scsi,although very cpu dependent for transfer speeds.for insatance if you happen to be watching a large avi file it becomes erm choppy


ok thanks Roy, i thought it was the drivers that added the 2TB drive support and transfer increase?
 
Nice guide mate (y)

One thing to add regarding compatibilty, OS4.1 Classic supports only the MkIII and MkIV versions and support is native in the OS :)
 
the only difference between the version's of fastata that ive seen is a slight speed up in transfers and the later revisions support larger disks capacity and thats it really.although this is dependant on the speed of the drive usually. based on the spindle speed

they are nice if you dont have scsi,although very cpu dependent for transfer speeds.for insatance if you happen to be watching a large avi file it becomes erm choppy


ok thanks Roy, i thought it was the drivers that added the 2TB drive support and transfer increase?



nah, you also need whats on the cpld's or mach chips as well,the software dont work between revisions on different fastata's/powerflyers ;)
 
and some more very useful info from our friend roy_bates(y)

"ive had a few over the years justin,after the power flyer the drive size went over about 65gig (with a mach chip upgrade that supports dvd's)the last one supports over 126 gig drives.as standard

i think its in the docs on the driver disk (as to how big a drive thats supported)on all the install disks for different versions justin,this is dependant on which one you have.


its not really documented much because most peaple use a 4-20gb drive from what i can see.

if i remember correctly there was even a power flyer junior,which had one of the mach's missing and only supported upto 65gb drives and cd's which you could upgrade at a later date yourself and power computing suplied the mach and a small tool to do it yourself.


thats all i remember at the mo justin.:smile:"

thanks again
 
thinking about,there might be some info in some old amiga format or cu amiga mags somewhere.

i know i also read about in some magazine,cant remember which one though.
at worse you wiil find references to the earlier models in the reveiws and ads sections if it helps.
just for comparison mind you.


also please remember if you happen to be selling these on, or buying one second hand, is to make absolubtly sure its got the driver install disk in the package it was shipped with from original,im saying this because there not nessarally interchangable between boards and elbox's site only has about two or three types of drivers and theres about six or seven variants of the card knocking about.

so be careful ladys and gentalmen,if theres no driver for the board its useless unless you can aquire them and they work with the one you have got.
 
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yes drivers dont work on other than they are made for as i tried my mkiv drivers on my mk 2 and it wouldnt reconise it luckly elbox had them on the website


great review justin
 
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