C-LTD controller + C-LTD Drive - How to format ?

[danbeaver]

C Ltd made the controller and hard drive box but used a standard (Mac) hard drive; I think mine was a Rodime. The drive was small by today's standards ~ 20 MBytes. The software worked under OS 1.2 & 1.3.  Hence, could you better describe your setup?  The differential diagnosis is quite wide at this point and includes using a different hard drive (what do you mean by "MFM?" As opposed to GCR or RLL/RLE?) is is terminated properly? Is it known to work on other controllers? Etc

[danbeaver]

OK, that helps, now what size is it?  Older software could deal with large HDD's or partitions greater that 4 GB; if so you would need to patch you OS files with TD64. Actually HDDs greater than 2GB generates negative numbers on drive inquiry. Now HDtoolbox on OS 3.1 is a limited and you will find better drive setup programs in OS 3.9. With 3.9 you get the file system all ready to handle larger drives (best to keep partitions less than 4 GB) as some salvage and optimization programs choke on greater that 4GB

[danbeaver]

Ok, that removes that issue. Has your controller been able to work in the past with other hard drives?  Do you have access to a PC based SCSI controller card that can access this drive?  If so you can use an emulator to format it in OFS/FFS or just to make sure the drive functions properly; right now it leaves both the C LTD Controller and the Hard Drive as suspect. You should be able to score  a PCI based SCSI controller for a PC for < 20 USD. As far as the drive goes I've never heard of an Okidata HDD, they are known for printers; perhaps it was damaged in shipping. On good drop on the floor can kill a HDD; is there another drive you can test?  A drive in the 40 megabyte range is very old (circa 1980) and more commonly you can find a 400 - 500 MB drive off Eba_.com or Amibay.com. The A1000 SCSI controller is the rare find, but at 27 years old it may be faulty