VERY VERY dumb question!

[Gavilan]

Guys, im very ashamed of asking this, but...since its been a really long time since last time i happened to use a plain A1200...i feel that i really have to ask this...
 :-o

On the plain A1200 that i was talking about yesterday (the one with the broken mouse pins), i want to put it a hard disk, but i dont want to put the machine on a tower.
I know i have 2 choices: 1) use a 2.5´´ inside the machine (in which case i need the cable for that hard disk, since i have no cables for small hard disks. ) I used to have an adapter for 44 to 40 pins cable, but who knows where´s it...
 :-D  :-D
Anyway, my other choice is to put a 3.5´´ hard disk. And this is where the fun begins...
I used to have a Dataflyer (my first A1200 had this Dataflyer in which i used a CD Rom and a Hard disk), but all cables are missing, i just have the case.
I dont remember, and have no clue on how to connect the 3.5´´ hard disk to my plain 1200. From where do i get the power to connect it? I read somewhere from the floppy drive, but how exactly? I cant remember anything of this...and would love to use this A1200 again...

Where can i find schematics on how to build the cables to use the power flyer again??
Or do i have any other choice? What would you suggest me?

Thanks in advance!!

Sebastian

 :-)

[doctorq]

I would use a 2,5" hdd, because then you wouldn't have to think about power. You just need a 44-pin cable and off you go.

[Gavilan]

Ok, an internal 2.5´´. Now next question would be, how could i attach a CD ROM to the same machine? I would need an extra power source right?

Just think, its a plain A1200, with no accelerator, no scsi board, no Squirrel or something like that...just the plain machine... i would defintely need to find out how to build the dataflyer cable again i think..

 :-D  :-D

I dont know in your country, but here, a 2.5´´ costs more than twice than 3.5´´ hdd, and are very difficult to find...

 :-)  :-)  :-)

[Gavilan]

Ok, an internal 2.5´´. Now next question would be, how could i attach a CD ROM to the same machine? I would need an extra power source right?

Just think, its a plain A1200, with no accelerator, no scsi board, no Squirrel or something like that...just the plain machine... i would defintely need to find out how to build the dataflyer cable again i think..

 :-D  :-D

I dont know in your country, but here, a 2.5´´ costs more than twice than 3.5´´ hdd, and are very difficult to find...

 :-)  :-)  :-)

[doctorq]

Well, if you need a CDROM as well, then the best option would be a 3,5" HDD, but for desktop Amiga 1200s with only a need for a HD, a 2,5" would be the best choice.

For connecting HDD and CD get a IDEfix, or a 44->40 pin IDE cable and attach both devices to the cable. The power could be taken from the diskdrive as you mention. Basicly, just make a split cable out of the existing floppy power connector going from motherboard to floppy drive. In one end you should have the usual 4 pin connector for floppy drives, and at the other end both a 4 pin floppy and a 4 pin HDD connector.

As for prices, I got a 30 GB 2,5" HDD for 20 UKP...Running nicely in my A1200D with Blizzard 1230 :-)

[rayt]

You could use one of these external cdrom drives with pcmcia connector, like this one for example.

[neofree]

A VERY VERY dumb answer:   Get a pillow case.

OK, couldn't resist  Q doesnt actually sound dumb if u not sure.

[whabang]

One of the cooler mods of an A1200 that I've seen, was to remove the internal floppy drive and seal off the port. He then put a 3.5 HD there.
The motherboard had been modified so that the external floppy was detected as DF0:.

It looked cool as hell and apparently worked pretty good. It sure beats all those fitting-the-HD-into-an-ESD-bag-lying-on-the-motherboard kind of sollutions.

[whabang]

Just as the others did, I will now post an alternative sollution:

If you can find a PCMCIA-SCSI controller, you could get one of those SCSI-casings. That way you could have a hard-drive, a CD-ROM, and (in theory) a network card and a scanner.
Those casings looks like small PC-towers and mostly have their own power supply.

I don't know the price or availibility of those items in South America, though.

[RacerX]

Another alternative would be to get some form of SCSI card (like the Squirrel Scsi you mentioned).  That way you could connect up to 7 external SCSI devices, hard drives, CDROMs or whatever.

Or you could put your A1200 in a case.  That way you could connect both a hard drive and CD ROM internally on the A1200's IDE port.  Unfortunately, the A1200 needs a special case and it costs more than a regular pc case.

Good luck.
:-)

[Argo]

Have you seen this?

http://www.amiga.org/gallery/index.php?n=734

[Piru]

There are no dumb questions, only dumb answers :-)