Setting up SCSI HDs

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mjnurney

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The biggest i got to work on my GVP controller was 4.2 GB justin ...

i forget which rom it was tho..i think it was the last non guru rom
 
about 4gb is as big as it will see.

no point slipping a bigger one in Justin
 
@Juv

its quite likely a termination issue.

I have had all the GVP controllers here "see" any size of Hard Disk, including a 36.1GB 10K SCSI Cheetah - although accessing anything past 3.67GB proved impossible.

IMHO I wouldn't bother with Faaaastprep, instead use Workbench 3.1's HDInstalTools, or prep the drive on a PC under CW3.9, you can then format the disk under PFS3 for better performance than FFS
 
You can install any size of SCSI HD you have, Juzza.

Just, as Zetr0 already said, you can't use anything that is over 3.67Gb, even partially.

Best option is doing a little calculation when installing the drive: let the Amiga detect the drive geometry and then start to lower the number of cylinders detected.

Example: if a 9Gb drive shows 99 cylinders, lowering the declared number to 40 cylinders will show a 3.66Gb drive.

Of course, the leftover will not be used at all, but at least the drive will work no matter what.

Now, for your problem, I agree with Zetr0 again: you have a cable or termination problem. The SCA80 SCSI models often does not have built-in termination and even when they have, they don't like to be hooked to a chain with passive termination.

Then the only choice is grabbing a 50 female to 68 female gender changer and a 68 cable with a built-in terminator.

Then you hook this to the Amiga controller this way:

TERM---Amiga_controller (with gender changer)--Terminated_HD.

If in need for a picture I can take one from my A2000.
 
You can install any size of SCSI HD you have, Juzza.

Just, as Zetr0 already said, you can't use anything that is over 3.67Gb, even partially.

Best option is doing a little calculation when installing the drive: let the Amiga detect the drive geometry and then start to lower the number of cylinders detected.

Example: if a 9Gb drive shows 99 cylinders, lowering the declared number to 40 cylinders will show a 3.66Gb drive.

Of course, the leftover will not be used at all, but at least the drive will work no matter what.

Now, for your problem, I agree with Zetr0 again: you have a cable or termination problem. The SCA80 SCSI models often does not have built-in termination and even when they have, they don't like to be hooked to a chain with passive termination.

Then the only choice is grabbing a 50 female to 68 female gender changer and a 68 cable with a built-in terminator.

Then you hook this to the Amiga controller this way:

TERM---Amiga_controller (with gender changer)--Terminated_HD.

If in need for a picture I can take one from my A2000.

ok so i may need a dumb person step by step here.

i have an 18 gig 80 pin drive in the gvp connected with a sca adaptor, there are no jumpers on the board (it has jumpers but none are on), then from the external port there is an external scsi enclosure with an external terminator (supplied by johnim)

when the amiga is turned on i can here the hard drive power up and it sounds like it is running a self test.

hdtoolbox (latest one from aminet) finds no devices:(

---------- Post added at 23:04 ---------- Previous post was at 22:47 ----------

on the sca adaptor i have

led
syn
dly
mtr
id3
id2
id1
id0

all of these are off at the moment
 
yes:thumbsup:

---------- Post added 27th August 2012 at 00:04 ---------- Previous post was 26th August 2012 at 23:13 ----------

anyone seen these for sale anywhere?

SCA-8050

sca-8050_s.jpg



it has a jumper for termination:thumbsup:
 
I have put one (back) in the box with the 4.1GB HDD buddy =)


I would also suggest that you check the 18GB drive for a jumper labelled SE - (Single Ended) and enable this if its not.
 
The GVP installation seems fine to me.

The problem seems to lie in the HD itself. As Keith pointed, get a few mini-jumpers and put three on the HD (the 80>68/80>50 adaptor does not have those) jumpers named:

-SE. this will tell the HD it is the single unit on the chain and it will behave like that;

-TP. Termination Power: will give power to the internal termination pack;

-TE. Termination Enabled: will terminate the device as the last one in the chain.
 
a good guide for these converters would be nice, well it help explain a lot to me

so anyone up for writing a guide for the orical section then ??
 
The GVP installation seems fine to me.

The problem seems to lie in the HD itself. As Keith pointed, get a few mini-jumpers and put three on the HD (the 80>68/80>50 adaptor does not have those) jumpers named:

-SE. this will tell the HD it is the single unit on the chain and it will behave like that;

-TP. Termination Power: will give power to the internal termination pack;

-TE. Termination Enabled: will terminate the device as the last one in the chain.

i don't have these on any of the 4 drives i have here:(
 
Code of the drives, please? I can search for available jumpers on teh interwebz.
 
make and model of the drive Justin?.

I formatted and used a 4.2gb 80 pin scsi on my GVP 030 in a 2000 for over a year ...

HDtools found the drive when install3.1 would not...

@ justin i use that adaptor too.
 
Last edited:
@Justin: can you stop fixing my Lamborghini and come back here to answer us?

I'm not in a hurry, can use the Ferrari while waiting. /crazy dream mode off
 
oops

HP BD03685A24 36.4GB 10K
HP BF01886384 18.2GB 15K
HP ST373207LC 18.0GB 10K
HP BD0728A4B4 72.8GB 10K

all 80 pin :)
 
Edit: the ST373207LC (it is not HP, it is a Seagate drive. HP does not make HD) have at least two jumper blocks, one in the front of the drive and another marked as J2 in the middle of the logic board, on the lateral.

You must use micro-jumpers for this task.

Looking in the board with a magnifier you'll see those micro jumpers.

You simply have to put two jumpers on it, at the extremities of this header. The nearest of the front of the drive is the SE jumper, the other near the cable connector is the TP (termination power). Don't mess with the others.

Oh, this drive does not have internal termination, you must use an external termination.

---------- Post added at 18:25 ---------- Previous post was at 18:05 ----------

The HP BF01886384 18.2GB 15K is in fact a Fujitsu mas15krpm/MAS3184NC and it have built-in termination power.

Check the jumper terminals on page 78, as this drive can be used in narrow SCSI natively!

Of course, set the drive as SCSI ID0 to save the little hard to get mini jumper blocks. (HINT!)
 
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