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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: DoomMaster on October 12, 2003, 03:42:25 AM

Title: SyQuest 88 MB Drive on an Amiga 2500 / 040
Post by: DoomMaster on October 12, 2003, 03:42:25 AM
I want to install and format a SyQuest 88 MB drive on my new Amiga 2500 / 040 professional computer.  How do I do it?  I am using a Commodore A2091 SCSI Controller card.  Do I use HDTools to format and partition this SyQuest drive, like I would on a normal SCSI harddrive, or does it have to be mounted first, like a ZIP or CD ROM drive?  If so, what would the mountlist look like for this SyQuest 88 MB drive?  Do I need special drivers or software.  I am running Kickstart / Workbench 2.04 on this particular Amiga 2500 / 040 computer.      :roll:
Title: Re: SyQuest 88 MB Drive on an Amiga 2500 / 040
Post by: cecilia on October 12, 2003, 04:24:26 AM
Title: Re: SyQuest 88 MB Drive on an Amiga 2500 / 040
Post by: shaf on October 12, 2003, 05:02:10 AM
The layout I used for my old Syquest 88 (SQ5110) drive was as follows:
Heads 2
Cylinders 1172
Blocks/Track 74
Blocksize 512 Bytes
Interleave 0
Removable Yes
That was the settings for my Comspec controller.
I don't use thre Drive any longer but still have as 2091 with Guru ROM.

Cheers
Shaf
Title: Re: SyQuest 88 MB Drive on an Amiga 2500 / 040
Post by: DoomMaster on October 12, 2003, 09:31:54 PM
Do I use HDTools to format the disk after I add the mountlist?     :-o
Title: Re: SyQuest 88 MB Drive on an Amiga 2500 / 040
Post by: Lilkit on October 13, 2003, 12:21:18 AM
For someone who claims to have done just about everything short of helping design the actual machines, Doomy sure doesn't seem to know how to do a lot of relatively minor things with his 2000HD Professional Computer.

And what's with having to point it out in EVERY new post he makes that it's Professional?

If I use my old A500 to do serious work on, doesn't that too, make it professional?  It's not the computer, it's the use.

Just sounds to me like someone's got an Ego to feed and yes, I'm throwing old steaks at him.  Don't worry Doomy, you're special.  Now someone give him a button to wear that says it.
Title: Re: SyQuest 88 MB Drive on an Amiga 2500 / 040
Post by: issarad on October 13, 2003, 12:31:45 AM
At least he didn't mention military spec chips.
Title: Re: SyQuest 88 MB Drive on an Amiga 2500 / 040
Post by: odin on October 13, 2003, 02:34:44 AM
Two fat fish ate the bait already :-).
Title: Re: SyQuest 88 MB Drive on an Amiga 2500 / 040
Post by: Iggy_Drougge on October 14, 2003, 04:52:04 PM
Just treating your SyQuest disk as a new HD, using HDToolBox or an equivalent program, works fine.
Title: Re: SyQuest 88 MB Drive on an Amiga 2500 / 040
Post by: Rassilon on October 14, 2003, 05:03:00 PM
@DoomMaster

This is just a suggestion, and in no way meant as an insult -

When you talk about you A2500, drop the 'Professional' part, it will make you sound a lot less....... erm...... erm....... hopefully you can guess why :-)

Rassilon
Title: Re: SyQuest 88 MB Drive on an Amiga 2500 / 040
Post by: CU_AMiGA on October 14, 2003, 05:03:41 PM
DoomMaster, tip of the day:

Why don't you just get yourself a higher capacity Hard drive? I mean, it would be better for more space for your goodies and running Amiga OS 4.0! :-)

PS: Enough of the  :roll: PLEASE!
Title: Re: SyQuest 88 MB Drive on an Amiga 2500 / 040
Post by: Jiffy on October 14, 2003, 05:48:49 PM
Be smart and trash the 88 MB Syquest. I had three of them for free, all of them from different sources. After working for a while, they all started behaving erroneously. I trashed the last of them only a couple of days ago.

I expect the age of them is a major contributor to the unreliability of the drives.

Anyway, if you want something removable, use a Zipdrive. They're far more reliable.
Title: Re: SyQuest 88 MB Drive on an Amiga 2500 / 040
Post by: Jope on October 14, 2003, 07:36:05 PM
Quote
Anyway, if you want something removable, use a Zipdrive. They're far more reliable.


In addition to the click of death problem, any removable disk media that has the ability of destroying the drive, resulting in the destroyed drive making more of these destroyer disks doesn't rate very high in my book.

Click of death (http://grc.com/tip/codfaq1.htm)
The head snagging problem (beginning from "Now for Some REALLY Bad News") (http://grc.com/tip/codfaq4.htm)

When I found out about these two problems, I didn't want a zip drive of my own any more. (I used to borrow one every now and then, when I still thought my data was safe on Zip disks. :-)
Title: Re: SyQuest 88 MB Drive on an Amiga 2500 / 040
Post by: Jiffy on October 14, 2003, 07:55:45 PM
Quote
>Anyway, if you want something removable, use a Zipdrive. They're far more reliable.

In addition to the click of death problem, any removable disk media that has the ability of destroying the drive, resulting in the destroyed drive making more of these destroyer disks doesn't rate very high in my book.


And still the Zipdrive outperforms the SQ5110 drive when it comes to reliability. I had three SQ5110 drives  in three different computers with a grand total of 10 disks and all of them failed in a period of about two or three months while only being used every now and then. This shows me very clearly these drives, whether it be because of their age or because of something else, are completely unreliable nowadays. The zipdisk, even when I take the Click-of-Death into account is much more reliable. I have seen dozens of zipdrive being used daily over the last couple of years with about 200 (maybe more) disks being in use. None of them have failed. Ever.

Removable drives have a higher chance of getting physically damaged compared to a non-removable harddrive because they are carried around, even if it is only within one room. And if I compare the (old) SQ5110 to the newer and more compact Zipdrive, the Zipdrive wins easily.

Ah well, if the guy wants to use the drive, so be it. With luck, it keeps on spinning for years to come... :-)
Title: Re: SyQuest 88 MB Drive on an Amiga 2500 / 040
Post by: Jope on October 14, 2003, 08:10:36 PM
Quote
Removable drives have a higher chance of getting physically damaged compared to a non-removable harddrive because they are carried around, even if it is only within one room. And if I compare the (old) SQ5110 to the newer and more compact Zipdrive, the Zipdrive wins easily.


Yeah, that is true.

Myself, I use DLT for backups, CD-R for stuff that needs to be easily accessible and CD-RW for moving large bits of data between non-networked computers.

Personally I'm glad that I don't have to use thin magnetic pieces of plastic regularly.. DLT goes in that category, but it isn't random access and the tapes aren't in use all the time, so it has a good probability of being readable when I badly need that restore. :-)