Who would be interested in a SCSI tutorial?

Scsi?! Arghhhhhhh!!!!

(insert assorted sounds of human suffering an anguish).

Can some kind hearted and learned individual PLEASE post a tutorial on SCSI and the Amiga? I'm sure there would be quite a few of us interested.

For instance... I have an A2k with GVP G-Force 030/40. It presently has a 50 pin 1280 Mb Quatum Fireball and a scsi (50 pin) CDRom connected. The Cdrom has termination on it and so is last in the chain.

This works great. Except 1280 Mb is way too small for, well, anything. I have a couple of nice 36 GB Seagate Cheetah 10k.7 (model ST336807LW) hard disks I would like to use. These units are 68 pin and require active termination.

Well, I have some 50pin to 68 pin adapters, and so put one in line BEFORE the (terminated) CDRom and plugged in the Seagate. Boots fine to OS 3.9, but hdtoolbox will not find it. Changed unit ID number etc, no good.

THEN I thought maybe the CDRom termination is not good enough for something requiring active termination... so I unplugged the cdrom, plugged in another 50 pin to 68 pin adapter and plugged an active termination module into this. Boots straight to OS 3.9, but hdtoolbox STILL does not find the new hd (cdrom and Quantum appear).

Are there any 68 pin HDs (50 are impossible to find) that DONT require active termination (if this is indeed the problem) that someone can suggest? A model or series to look for would be great.

Or.... could some kind hearted fellow please write a SCSI tutorial? :)

I'm not convinced your problems are termination issues.

Start by throwing away HDToolBox and using the most-recent release of HDInstTools from Aminet.

I've got a couple of similar Seagate drives myself (Mine are 80pin SCA ones) and with cheap Chinese import bridges, they connect fine to my A2000 and A3000 SCSI controllers.

i would 2nd this request, but to be honest setting up SCSI can be a nightmare (great once it's done though) there are so many variables, the SCSI controller, the hard drive/optical drives themselves, drivers, incompatible controllers, 50-68/80 pin adaptors etc, a basic guide is doable but to cover all the bases and what is or isn't compatible would take pages and pages to cover.
still a basic how to would be great :)

So, you think HDToolbox is not finding them? How is that possible? HDToolbox is always found everything Ive thrown at it.

Also, the EXTERNAL scsi port on the G-Force card is not terminated. Not sure if this matters as 50 pin devices dont seem to care. Could this be a problem?

HDToolbox didn't see my SCSI drives I had to use the Blizzard SCSI Tools to pick them up. (using Blizzard PPC SCSI) Maybe you need to use a GVP SCSI Tool?

Steve.

But HDToolbox already finds the other two devices on the same cable (gvpscsi.device is in the hdtoolbox tooltypes), so I find it hard to believe it would find some devices and not others unless there was a termination issue....

...BUT, I will not speak out of ignorance - anything is worth a shot. I have just downloaded HDInst and I shall see if it can find my wayward drives.

Brb. :)

---------- Post added at 19:30 ---------- Previous post was at 19:17 ----------

Okiez,

tried HDInst - no difference (except it seems a bit more feature rich than HDToolbox).

To be sure, I connect an Epson GT-7000 scsi flatbed scanner (AWESOME unit) into the external connection of the G-Force card. Both HDToolbox and HDInst find and correct identify the scanner, but no Cheetah HD...

Any other suggestions?

I'm seeing similar 'unable to find devices' issues but with an adaptec controller in the Mediator PCI.

@Andylandy, do you have any jumpers set up on your drives or 50/68/80 adaptors other than the address jumpers?

Cheers,
Ed.

Just to test...

At the HDD 68 pins drive, check:

- If TERM_PWR is ON
- If SE Mode is ON
- If PWR from SCSI bus is ON

Also check if you have similar config options on adapter.....

hi, I have the same problem atm, i have a 36gb scsi 80 pin with 50pin adapter, i was told that the settings are done on the converter not the hd, but still no joy, using the 1230scsi device from the blizzard. as im doing a scsi tower for all the drives wanted to put it all in a enclosure, everything else gets found apart from the hd :( would be easier just to put a normal 4gb drive, i think i found one that was 9gb but the cost of them was better off getting the 36gb for a lot cheaper. So my plan B is to buy a 2.5" hd and use the CF externally, as it fits inside the case, quiet, and loads more space. oh and the noise of a 10k spinning scsi hd! ouch.. lol

@abraXXious here is the manual for your drive http://www.seagate.com/staticfiles/s...100260915d.pdf and the installation guide
http://www.seagate.com/staticfiles/s...100358431a.pdf

You have an LVD drive, have a read here http://www.cablemakers.com/lvdfaq.html for info on how LVD works.

Try to forget Amiga at the moment and think SCSI rules first,
Hope that helps

Gary