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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: motorollin on April 05, 2006, 08:24:03 PM
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I will shortly be removing all of my IDE devices from my A1200 and installing SCSI replacements. I am therefore faced with a long delay when booting, while Kickstart tries and fails to locate an IDE drive to boot from.
I've seen an A4000 no IDE hack here (http://www.aminet.net/package.php?package=hard/hack/no4000ide.lha), and was wondering (a) if anyone has tried it and can vouch for its effectiveness/safeness, and (b) whether it will also work on an A1200.
Thanks!
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moto
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Yes, it will work.
The mini IDE connector used on the A1200 is essentially the same thing as the regular A4000 IDE connector, other than the extra 4 pins that the 2.5" hard drives require in order to receive power.
So the guide is valid also for A1200, however you do need an appropriate 44-pin header, obviously.
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No problem finding a connector - I'll just butcher my 2.5" IDE cable once I've got my SCSI drives up and running. Let's hope I can afford the resistors! :lol:
Thanks for the info.
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moto
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when you done it tell us the results, i'm interesting for it in the future.
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Will do mate. Amigakit don't have any SCSI hard drives in stock atm so I can't migrate totally to SCSI, but once I have I will try this hack and report back.
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moto
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motorollin wrote:
No problem finding a connector - I'll just butcher my 2.5" IDE cable once I've got my SCSI drives up and running. Let's hope I can afford the resistors! :lol:
You could always make some out of kitchen foil if you're that hard up :hammer:
Disclaimer:
Don't put kitchen foil anywhere near an Amiga, it's only good for 2 things.
1. Barbequeing sweetcorn
2. Stopping THEM from reading your thoughts.
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Amigakit don't have any SCSI hard drives in stock atm so I can't migrate totally to SCSI,
So why don't you get your SCSI drive from another store, or for something like 5 EUR on Ebay?
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This might be a prime example of YMMV, but when I migrated to SCSI, leaving the IDE bus completely empty didn't cause any delays at all. Having only a CD drive on it, however, did.
My machine "boots" so quickly that my SCSI hard drive doesn't have time to spin up before the Kickstart screen appears.:crazy:
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humppa wrote:
So why don't you get your SCSI drive from another store, or for something like 5 EUR on Ebay?
Because I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing when it comes to SCSI. If I buy from Amigakit I know it will be compatible.
Matt_H wrote:
when I migrated to SCSI, leaving the IDE bus completely empty didn't cause any delays at all. Having only a CD drive on it, however, did
Interesting, was this on an A1200? I'll try it without, and see what happens.
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moto
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Doobrey wrote:
motorollin wrote:
No problem finding a connector - I'll just butcher my 2.5" IDE cable once I've got my SCSI drives up and running. Let's hope I can afford the resistors! :lol:
You could always make some out of kitchen foil if you're that hard up :hammer:
Disclaimer:
Don't put kitchen foil anywhere near an Amiga, it's only good for 2 things.
1. Barbequeing sweetcorn
2. Stopping THEM from reading your thoughts.
I dunno - its also good for stopping the garlic bread burning in the oven...
no good as bodywork filler though.
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Because I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing when it comes to SCSI. If I buy from Amigakit I know it will be compatible.
Yeah, and if you plan to buy a PCMCIA WLAN card, be sure to buy the "Amiga compatible WLAN card" for 25 EUR on Ebay which is 100% identical to an off-the-shelf 3Com card for 5 EUR.
Oh well... :roll:
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Ok well if you can show me the right drive to buy for 5 quid on eBay then I'll buy it :-)
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moto
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As a suggestion, why don't you just search for the model that Amigakit was offering?
Otherwise just look that the interface has the right amount of pins (50, 68 or 80p) and you are fine.
For the other ones, you need an adaptor. That's it basically. No need to look for an "Amiga compatible" harddisk.
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Would this one (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/IBM-18-GB-SCSI-HARD-DRIVE-DGHS-18Y-HARDDRIVE_W0QQitemZ8791197646QQcategoryZ16178QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem) be ok?
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moto
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Oops just noticed it's 80 way. Why is SCSI so complicated?!
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you can get a converter
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/New-Adaptor-SCSI-SCA-80-Pin-F-to-68-Pin-F-Adapter_W0QQitemZ9705935283QQcategoryZ41993QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
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Hi Moto,
From my experience, I would suggest caution with second hand drives, as they can appear to be fine at first, but have reliability issues down the track. I've had a couple of bad experiences with second hand drives, and try to avoid them as much as possible. There's nothing quite so fun as pinning down an intermittent problem, spending lots of time troubleshooting, and possibly loosing valued data. If you can afford a new drive, and get an adapter for it to connect to your miggy, that may be worthwhile. If you need an old drive, some shops may sell with a limited warranty.
Also, I would always recommend reading thoroughly about a product before buying. There are some very good guides to SCSI hardware online. It would probably be worth reading one or two of these.
Good luck,
Oli