Justin
Active member
well that'll be the problem then
no termination!
ok so back to the drawing board and looking for a 50 pin scsi hard drive
no termination!ok so back to the drawing board and looking for a 50 pin scsi hard drive
Setting up SCSI HDs
- Thread starter mjnurney
- Start date
- Replies 59
- Views 6491
is this an 80 or a 68 pin connector ??
Justin
Active member
80 pin dude
ahh, only thing I got then is one of those things that plug on the back and make it 50pin but never got em work
Justin
Active member
lol yep same here
Those SCA80 models are a pain in that place to make work.
You must have another device to provide termination power (they usually does not have the option) and a couple of active 68 pin terminators (those 50pin active terminators will not work), plus a pair of cable adaptors (one 68 to SCA80, one 50pin to 68) and a 68 wires cable.
A few Amiga controllers have termination power built-in (some A3000 have it).
Remember to remove the terminator packs from the Amiga controller as SCSI can't use three terminators on the same cable!
The system must look this way:
Term--Controller (with 50>68 adaptor)--HD (with 68>SCA80 adaptor)--term
You must have another device to provide termination power (they usually does not have the option) and a couple of active 68 pin terminators (those 50pin active terminators will not work), plus a pair of cable adaptors (one 68 to SCA80, one 50pin to 68) and a 68 wires cable.
A few Amiga controllers have termination power built-in (some A3000 have it).
Remember to remove the terminator packs from the Amiga controller as SCSI can't use three terminators on the same cable!
The system must look this way:
Term--Controller (with 50>68 adaptor)--HD (with 68>SCA80 adaptor)--term
Surely you'll only need a 68-pin terminator if you're using a wide SCSI controller to begin with (So, a Cyberstorm III or CSPPC on an Amiga)
If your SCSI controller has only a 50pin connector, you only need a 50pin terminator. I used this setup on my A4000 with both a Z3 Fastlane, then later the CSII SCSI module.
Using a 50pin ribbon: Controller--->SCA Hard Disk (with 50-80pin adapter)--->50pin CD drive (with termination enabled)
If your SCSI controller has only a 50pin connector, you only need a 50pin terminator. I used this setup on my A4000 with both a Z3 Fastlane, then later the CSII SCSI module.
Using a 50pin ribbon: Controller--->SCA Hard Disk (with 50-80pin adapter)--->50pin CD drive (with termination enabled)
@Andy
Some wide drives won't work in narrow mode unless they sense bias voltage on the (unused) high byte of the bus, in that case rkauer's setup is required (if it's an SE drive, this can be bypassed by placing it last on the narrow bus with a cheap passive adapter and setting TP and TE on the drive, but this is rarely if ever applicable on SCA models).
If one's lucky to have a well behaving unit, it will simply negotiate in narrow mode and ignore the high byte.
Some wide drives won't work in narrow mode unless they sense bias voltage on the (unused) high byte of the bus, in that case rkauer's setup is required (if it's an SE drive, this can be bypassed by placing it last on the narrow bus with a cheap passive adapter and setting TP and TE on the drive, but this is rarely if ever applicable on SCA models).
If one's lucky to have a well behaving unit, it will simply negotiate in narrow mode and ignore the high byte.
I guess I must've just got lucky with my SCA hard drives then!
Thanks for the update, useful to know should I ever run into problems with SCA disks.
Andy, hardly a 50pin terminator will work on UW devices as the terminator will lack the high bytes termination.
You can use a DVD or CD-ROM in the chain, but only if unterminated and in the middle of the cable.
You can use a DVD or CD-ROM in the chain, but only if unterminated and in the middle of the cable.
I was surprised to learn that you need to terminate the high byte when you're only using a narrow SCSI controller in the first place. I just assumed that the drive would default to narrow mode and the high byte would simply be ignored. Indeed this is precisely how I had my A4000 SCSI chain working. Learn something new every day!
Some old Seagates I used behaved well, only requiring the passive adapter.
My WDs required either one with high-byte termination or the trick I mentioned (which effectively provides the same thing, i.e. if the whole bus is terminated then surely the high-byte is too!).
Never used SCA units but the idea is the same. So you've probably gotten lucky, what models were they?
My WDs required either one with high-byte termination or the trick I mentioned (which effectively provides the same thing, i.e. if the whole bus is terminated then surely the high-byte is too!
).Never used SCA units but the idea is the same. So you've probably gotten lucky, what models were they?
Some old Seagates I used behaved well, only requiring the passive adapter.
My WDs required either one with high-byte termination or the trick I mentioned (which effectively provides the same thing, i.e. if the whole bus is terminated then surely the high-byte is too!
Never used SCA units but the idea is the same. So you've probably gotten lucky, what models were they?
They were some old Seagates.
I've always been a fan of Seagate disks.
There you go, 2 for 2 for well behaving models. Seagate FTW!
Justin
Active member
ok here we go
i now have a DNES-318350 18gb scsi hard drive, full details here
http://www.hgst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/techdocs/85256AB8006A31E587256A96004D3218/$file/dnes_spw.pdf
my question is, what info do i need to enter into hdtools? to make the 18gb read as a 3.7gb?
Cylinders?
Heads?
Blocks per track?
Block per cylinder?
thanks in advance, Justin
i now have a DNES-318350 18gb scsi hard drive, full details here
http://www.hgst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/techdocs/85256AB8006A31E587256A96004D3218/$file/dnes_spw.pdf
my question is, what info do i need to enter into hdtools? to make the 18gb read as a 3.7gb?
Cylinders?
Heads?
Blocks per track?
Block per cylinder?
thanks in advance, Justin
You should let HD tools autodetect the drive parametres.
If 3.7 GB is decimal GB the cylinder range should be, say, 0-1930.
If it's binary GB, it should be, say, 0-2070.
If 3.7 GB is decimal GB the cylinder range should be, say, 0-1930.
If it's binary GB, it should be, say, 0-2070.
I just set up my A3000 per your suggestion above, and my drive errors seem to have vanished. Hopefully for good.
Thanks.
SCA 80 workes fine, I have proven it works.
Yesterday on the clubday I fired up my 4000D with CS MK I and that also has a 9.1GB SCA80, still has performed well without any nasty errors like a CF card.
The trick here is to use an active terminator.
So far all SCA80 drives are working fine, even the ones in 3000D/T.
I've even got a few in A2000's on GVP HC8 II+ cards.
Yesterday on the clubday I fired up my 4000D with CS MK I and that also has a 9.1GB SCA80, still has performed well without any nasty errors like a CF card.
The trick here is to use an active terminator.
So far all SCA80 drives are working fine, even the ones in 3000D/T.
I've even got a few in A2000's on GVP HC8 II+ cards.
