Amdrive Hard Disk

[Parsec]

I would really appreciate any information on an "Amdrive" hard disk that has just been given to me. It fits on the side of an A500, and has a red power and green activity LED. It is a large metal case, with a built in transformer. Think it's a UK specific model. The serial number on the bottom is about 1000, so it's a fairly rare item I think.

It powers up fine, judging by the sound of the drive it sounds like an MFM or RLL unit rather than IDE. I've plugged it into the side of my A500, powered them both up and nothing seems to happen. I've tried switching to the startup-sequence.hd startup file but this makes no difference.

However when I switched the unit off it guru'd the A500, indicating that the machine knew something about it (or got hit by a power spike :eek).

Will this jobbie need drivers to make it work? Perhaps it's dead?

I've checked this forum and amiga-hardware.com and there is no mention of it.


Any ideas?

[Severin]

What KS are you using? if your using 1.3 or 2.0 then you should be able to boot from floppy to access the HD (but you will need a driver :( ), with 2.1 the drive should auto boot from the HD.

If you only have 1.2 it could be a problem :(

[Parsec]

Hi mate, thanks for trying to help

I'm running KS 1.3 on the A500. I've booted from the Workbench 1.3 disk, and there is no icon on the workbench. Also tried changing to DH0: or "mount dh0:".

Since I never had a hard disk back in the old days I'm a bit out of my depth!

Cheers

[Severin]

If it's similar to most old hard drives you will need the disk that should have come with it. Most old hd's systems had their own partitioning software that was imcompatible with the later hdtoolbox :(

Your best bet is to put wanted ads anywhere you can think of and hope someone still has a copy...

[jmmijo]

Is "Amdrive" the name of the manufacturer or the model name?

If you look on the bottom and/or the back of the unit perhaps there is more info about this piece of hardware.

I couldn't locate anything specific on Google, just a bunch of AM radio sites and other such things :(

[Miggy2TheMax]

if you have a digital camera take a piccie of it and post it here! Someone might recognise it that way. I think I know the drive you speak off I think they were advertised in amiga format a while back. cheers.

[jmmijo]

Was it only available in a country or two Miggy :confused

[Miggy2TheMax]

well, I assume they were sold in the UK as they advertised in the amiga Format. I wish I had a scanner so I could show you the advert I talk about. The drive design was crude, pretty much a metal box with two round leds. The manfacturer was aiming for the budget market and therefore didn't really worry about cosmetics, I recall that their prices seemed pretty competitive at the time too.

[Severin]

Is this the drive? if so it's a rebadged 'reference' drive from evesham micros, and you'll be pleased to know it's SCSI not mfm/rll :)

it also takes up to 4Mb of ram...

[Parsec]

Sorry it's taken a while to reply. Here is a picture.

Sounds like drivers are needed then?

[Parsec]

Right I've just got this thing opened up, and there is a 3.5" Seagate ST-138N drive in there. According to this http://www.mm.mtu.edu/drives/seagate/scsi/st138n.txt it is a 38Mb SCSI drive.

Good news if the drive's dead it will be easier to replace.

[jmmijo]

Originally posted by Parsec

Good news if the drive's dead it will be easier to replace.

Correct, the problem however is that you have KS1.3 and thus will most likely need the special drivers/setup/install disk from Amdrive. This most likely would add their own amdrivescsi.device or similar and I bet it had it's own partitioning software like most other manufacturers did ;)

[Miggy2TheMax]

I thought it was the drive that severin posted a picture off. I haven't seen an amdrive before, take a snapshot of the inerts so we can see what sort of controller chips they use. Maybe you can getaway with using HDtoolbox?

Have you tried taking the HD out and just powering it up and see what the amiga does with that?

[jmmijo]

I thought that HD Toolbox was for KS2.xx and above :confused

[Miggy2TheMax]

You are right Jmmijo, but you can always kick up to KS2.xx+ and try running HDToolbox and see if the HD works that way. Just a suggestion.

[scaf]

The kickstat 1.3 has its own HDToolBox : on the A2091 driver floppy (using scsi.device).
Don't know if it'll work for AmDrive.

[jmmijo]

I see what you mean there Miggy, never really tried to softkick a higher KS then what was on the machine before, just downgraded to KS1.2/1.3 for some games :)

@scaf, yes this can be tried to see, I do have experience with GVP units but their built-in interface used the gvpscisi.device instead. So you maybe able to get buy if you can change the name of the scsi device, of course you have to know what that name is too ;)

[Parsec]

As requested an image of the internals.

[Parsec]

And another, of the controller and board info. Interesting to see the AMD chip there!

[jmmijo]

Originally posted by Parsec
And another, of the controller and board info. Interesting to see the AMD chip there!

They started by making controller and flash memory chips years ago ;)

Now a days they are better known for their x86 CPU's :D

[Parsec]

There's been a few ideas thrown about here :) but having left the Amiga in the A500/KS1.3 days I'm not all that sure what it means. Can anyone give me a rough idea of what my options are with this drive?

It sounds like

i) get the original driver disks (no chance:( )
ii) try to get it working with KS2.0/HDToolbox. This is only a temporary solution right?
iii) get the A2091 driver disk and try that. Aminet?
iv) put it on eBay?
v) bin it?

Does that sound like a fair summary:D Don't worry I won't bin it ;)

[jmmijo]

I just noticed the manufacturers name:

Applied Systems Developments, Ltd.

Does anybody remember them?

The Amiga Hardware page doesn't seem to have them listed under any category :(

[scaf]

you can download the A2091 driver disk on this page :
http://www.planetemu.net

On the left of the page, click on "Amiga" (of course ;) )
then, on "ROMS", then on "Commodore Amiga - Installation, ROMs, Tutorials & Promotional", and finish with "A2091 SCSI Controller Install Disk".

I tried a more direct link, but it didn't work :/

[Miggy2TheMax]

Originally posted by Parsec
There's been a few ideas thrown about here :) but having left the Amiga in the A500/KS1.3 days I'm not all that sure what it means. Can anyone give me a rough idea of what my options are with this drive?

It sounds like

i) get the original driver disks (no chance:( )
ii) try to get it working with KS2.0/HDToolbox. This is only a temporary solution right?
iii) get the A2091 driver disk and try that. Aminet?
iv) put it on eBay?
v) bin it?

Does that sound like a fair summary:D Don't worry I won't bin it ;)

agree to some extent with (i), but don't give up!!
(ii), it would only really serve as a temp solution and is only to try to proove that the unit works under KS2.+, you'd have to get new roms for the 500, but then you loose compatibility.
(iii) you can also get that driver and more here:
http://www.L8R.net/install/hdc.html
(iv) truely a last resort,
(v) never an option with amiga hardware!!!!

[Alex]

Looking at the circuit board, there's no autoboot ROM (a piece of read only memory that would contain the driver software). It means that without a driver floppy disk you cannot access the hard disk at all.

So your options are:

> i) get the original driver disks (no chance:( )

This seems to be vital for this drive.

> ii) try to get it working with KS2.0/HDToolbox.

Will work only if this drive RDB compliant and supports scsi.device. Little chance regarding the drive's age but give it a try.

> iii) get the A2091 driver disk and try that. Aminet?

The A2091 is an autobooting controller, its driver is on the card. So its install disk won't help.

But don't give up, (AMD)5380 based controllers are quite common for Amigas. Here's a list of them for the A500, some of them with install disk:
http://amiga.resource.cx/exp/search.pl?amiga=500&ic=5380

As I've never heard of Applied System Development, there's a chance this company is related to an other better known company. You can check this by reading out the autoconfig ids (if the controller supports autoconfig). Load a util such as Sysinfo, ShowConfig, ShowBoards, AIBB, etc., these will print out the ids which can be used to identify the developer company.

[teh]

A500's tend to say up yours to hard drives. Ive tryed a hdd in winuae on a 1.3 kickrom. No hdd there eather!

[Jope]

Originally posted by Superfrog
A500's tend to say up yours to hard drives. Ive tryed a hdd in winuae on a 1.3 kickrom. No hdd there eather!
Well, if you don't know how, feel free to ask for help here on the board!

An 1.3 A500 works just fine with hard drives, as long as the controller or mechanism isn't broken.. But that isn't the A500's fault either. :-)

[Jope]

Originally posted by Alex

As I've never heard of Applied System Development, there's a chance this company is related to an other better known company. You can check this by reading out the autoconfig ids (if the controller supports autoconfig). Load a util such as Sysinfo, ShowConfig, ShowBoards, AIBB, etc., these will print out the ids which can be used to identify the developer company.

Sysinfo is great for this kind of thing.. You can also check the devices section whether a new device for the controller becomes visible in the list when it's plugged in.

Also just in case, click the drives button to see if it shows up there.

If there's no .device or volume visible, it's a non-autobooting drive - you'll have to set up a mountlist on a boot floppy (a good idea is to set up a small RAD: drive from that boot floppy) to be able to use it.

[Unregistered]

Hi,
I have just read this thread after getting my old Amiga 2000 working again. I actually wrote the firmware for AMDrive back in the early 90's for Applied Systems Developement, a small company in Scunthorpe UK. Yes it is SCSI and yes it does need a boot disk, it wasn't auto booting, that was the next generation but it just didn't happen. It was certainly geared at the home user, with a very competative price tag for its day. Don't know if I can help anybody today, its been a long time but having transfered all my Amiga software to my PC I might be able to find a driver or something.

Regards

[Parsec]

I have just read this thread after getting my old Amiga 2000 working again. I actually wrote the firmware for AMDrive back in the early 90's for Applied Systems Developement, a small company in Scunthorpe UK.

Cool :cool

The drive I had actually came from a celler in a house in Yorkshire.

I don't have the drive anymore but if you do come across the drivers it might be worth putting them on the web (and trying to get a link on amiga-hardware.com) someone might benefit from them

[chrisbwy]

Hi All,

It's been a long time but myself Chris and a colleague Tony used to work for Applied System Developments of Scunthorpe in the UK 1988 -1990/1. This was the hardware and software development company associated with one of Commodore's biggest Amiga UK distributor's Applied Systems and Peripherals Ltd. ( ASAP for short ).

We were responsible for the AMdrive, AMIOX and miniGen products along with a prototyping board and a few other little bits and pieces from what I can remember. The previous post re the driver software was from Dave ( hello! ) who we subcontracted the writing to.

Not sure if I can be of much help but please feel free to ask.

Glad to know that some of this vintage equipment is still working ( or not as the case may be ).

Good Luck.

Regards

Chris H.

You'll see my name on the AMIOX pcb artwork.

[Parsec]

Nice one Chris.

The problem with that drive was the drivers never turned up so it was unusable :(

Shame as it looked pretty solid really.

[Alex]

Chris!
Is this the miniGen you did? amiga.resource.cx/photos/minigen (http://amiga.resource.cx/photos/minigen)
Then we have to correct the manufacturer from PP&S to Applied System Developments.
Oh, and here's the AMIOX pcb with your names:
amiga.resource.cx/photos/amiox,Amiox (http://amiga.resource.cx/photos/amiox,Amiox)

[meedermow]

Sorry to resurrect this thread, but I have just found one of these in my loft along with a number of other Amiga peripherals. I've linked it up to my A500 and it chunters away fine (it actually makes a very pleasing noise when it boots up!) and autoloads Workbench. In all honesty it's going to Ebay with everything else - but what does it actually do!?

Thanks in adavance,

Simon