GVP A500 HD+ Controller Questions

[trip6]

What is the largest hard drive I can put into a GVP A500 HD+ Controller? Is it SCSI-II or IDE? What is the max size of partition supported in Workbench 1.3 with Kikstart 1.3? Thanks in Advance.

[RRunner]

I wouldn't make a partition over 2 Gb. I don't know what the largest HD it can handle. That would probably depend on the controller card you have. Most classic Amigas are SCSI.

[countzero]

That's definitely SCSI. I never got any success with partitions larger than 200 mb. Actually any size after the first 200mb. Probably filesystem/scsi rom issues.

[doctorq]

I don't know for sure about the GVP HD+ controller, but it looks like it's the same as the GVP HD8+ controller according to BBoAH. At least I have a 2.1 GB harddrive installed, full capacity in use over 4 partitions, with the largest partition being around 1 GB. I have an external CD drive connected as well. All fully working on Kickstart 1.3.

I once tried to get a 4 GB harddrive up and running in the controller, but never managed to, and haven't attempted ever since.

[trip6]

OK, so then the drive is just a standard 50-pin SCSI... Ok, so it sounds like a 2GB drive is the best that I can use. Hopefully this will arrive soo so that I can start playing with it... It has a 220mb hard drive installed currently. Are these units hard to modify at all?

[rkauer]

trip6 wrote:
OK, so then the drive is just a standard 50-pin SCSI... Ok, so it sounds like a 2GB drive is the best that I can use. Hopefully this will arrive soo so that I can start playing with it... It has a 220mb hard drive installed currently. Are these units hard to modify at all?

 Depends on how you mean with modify.

 SCSI controllers can handle up to 7 devices, hds, CDs, CD-RW, DVDs( on an A500?), scanners, etc. Put a termination on the last device and that's it. :-D

[trip6]

By modify, I specifically mean... Is it hard to install a larger hard drive into these units?

[marcfrick2112]

by trip6 on 2007/7/8 0:25:38

By modify, I specifically mean... Is it hard to install a larger hard drive into these units?

Hi trip6: Well, I have never owned a GVP A500 HD controller, but have owned IVS Trumpcard, and SupraSCSI controllers...
Replacing/changing the HD should be pretty easy, I did it on my Supra unit once. I believe you need a Half-Height 3.5 inch SCSI drive (SCSI 1 or 2) Should be just a matter of removing the screws of the HD enclosure, remove the old HD (maybe in with more screws), pull power and SCSI cables, put in the new drive, re-connect everything....
Make sure you have a boot floppy to get to Workbench, for partioning and formatting the new drive....
Biggest HD I had on an A500 was 640MB, with a Zip Drive

[vk3heg]

trip6 wrote:
By modify, I specifically mean... Is it hard to install a larger hard drive into these units?

Undoo the screws that hold the cover on.
Undoo the screws that hold the hd in place.
Remove the power/scsi cable from old hd.
Put new hd power cable/scsi cable in to it's sockets.
Screw in hd screws.
Put lid back on, and then the screws.

Have fun setting up the new software/os.

[trip6]

Cool, sounds easy... I just picked up a brand new 2gb IBM 50-pin SCSI 2 drive. I can't wait for the controller to get here... Woohoo...