Amiga 500 SCSI Hard Drive upper limit size?

24 November 2007, 20:23

Hi -

Is there an upper limit to the size of a SCSI hard drive that can be used with an Amiga 500 (via a DataFlyer)?

Now that I have a DataFlyer, I was thinking of purchasing a hard drive for it and I wondered if I have the option of using a new SCSI drive or if I have to restrict myself to "vintage" drives. I don't need a huge drive, of course, I was just hoping to get an unused one for (hopefully) greater reliability - and of course they aren't selling too many new 100MB drives these days. Can I use a 1 or 2G drive successfully?

Thanks,
George

Zetr0 · 24 November 2007, 20:52

@GF_Workman

Hello there,
welcome to the EAB, i am sure you will like it here,
there plenty of mischief to get up to.

now the size of the disk drive will depend on two things, infact two roms. the Kickstart rom of the A500 and the SCSI rom that drives the scsi device(s)

would you have info on the version of ROMS (both kick and scsi) ?

Toni Wilen · 24 November 2007, 21:07

Buy SCSI-IDE bridge and Compact Flash card. Old harddrives are too noisy

StrategyGamer · 24 November 2007, 21:16

Can compact flash card be formatted with FFS?

alexh · 24 November 2007, 21:19

They are a block device they can be formatted with anything.

thomas · 24 November 2007, 21:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zetr0

the size of the disk drive will depend on two things, infact two roms. the Kickstart rom of the A500 and the SCSI rom that drives the scsi device(s)

It does not depend on the Kickstart ROM. You can have drives bigger than 4GB or even up to 2TB with Kickstart 1.3. The only dependency is that you cannot have hard disks at all with Kickstart 1.2 and below (except with lousy hacks).

It only depends on the controller's ROM and the file system used.

Zetr0 · 24 November 2007, 21:53

@thomas

thanks for clearing that up. I thought there was a limmit of size and or file systems for kickstarts under 2.2.

now i know

24 November 2007, 22:51

Thanks for the welcome. I missed the Amiga the first time around (went C64 to Tandy 1000) so I'm enjoying getting caught up now.

Well, it seems the no-longer-relevant question is the only one I can answer: I have kickstart 1.3.

I'm not seeing what the SCSI ROM version is. Any idea where I could look for that? I do know it is a DataFlyer 500 that could be installed in an A2000 as well and I know that it does have the 8MB DataFlyer RAm expansion included.

I also found the "buy a SCSI-IDE bridge and Compact Flash card" response interesting. I have some old CF cards lying around from the Rio mp3 player days - where would I get the SCSI-IDE bridge to use them?

Thanks,
George

Zetr0 · 24 November 2007, 23:11

i think http://ww.vesalia.de might have them for around £40 "a-card" it is called

you might be able to find it on ebay too... i will try and post some lucious linkies soon

thomas · 25 November 2007, 00:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zetr0

"a-card" it is called

Well, actually its "ACARD" and it's the name of the company which builds the adapters.

The name of the adapter is either AEC-7720U (for 50pin SCSI controllers) or AEC-7720UW (for 68pin UW-SCSI).

http://www.vesalia.de/e_acard.htm

Zetr0 · 25 November 2007, 01:36

@thomas

If i am ever on "who wants to be a millionaire" can i have you as "phone a friend" ... please please please please please....

yeah i know ... its demeaning to beg.... but my wife says i am good at it...

thomas · 25 November 2007, 08:44

There are not so many Amiga-related questions in this programme, are there ?

Photon · 26 November 2007, 18:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by thomas

It does not depend on the Kickstart ROM. You can have drives bigger than 4GB or even up to 2TB with Kickstart 1.3. The only dependency is that you cannot have hard disks at all with Kickstart 1.2 and below (except with lousy hacks).

It only depends on the controller's ROM and the file system used.

Lousy hacks, like the binddrivers command?

I run Kick 1.2-only demos just fine off my Trumpcard 500 SCSI.

StrategyGamer · 26 November 2007, 19:11

I used a hard drive on my A500 with KS 1.2 back in 1989. It worked just fine. The catch is that you cannot boot from a HD under KS 1.2 but you can use a HD okely dokely.

Tuffy · 23 March 2008, 16:23

Hi all.

I'm new to EAB, and I have a question that is simmilar to GF Workman's question.

So my question is: Is it possible to install "SCSI-IDE bridge and Compact Flash card" OR "SCSI-IDE bridge and IDE-HD's" to my belowed Amiga500+ using the GVP external HD and SCSI??

I have a flatcable with 4 connectors on it (from the GVP SCSI controller)

The reason that i want to have more drives on my Amiga is, that I used to have 3 HD's installed, but they just dissapeared and I need to restore some data I have been keeping for the last (hold on!!!) 12 years

Regards
Tuffy (Puma BBS - back in the 1990's)

Toni Wilen · 24 March 2008, 15:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tuffy

So my question is: Is it possible to install "SCSI-IDE bridge and Compact Flash card" OR "SCSI-IDE bridge and IDE-HD's" to my belowed Amiga500+ using the GVP external HD and SCSI??

At least ACard adapters work with CF cards, apparently Yamaha adapter isn't as compatible.

You need SCSI-IDE bridge + IDE to CF adapter, CF card and power cable splitter (both ACard and CF-IDE adapter have "floppy drive" power connector).

I have ACard AEC-7720U in this configuration in my SupraDrive 500XP and CDTV SCSI.

Tuffy · 24 March 2008, 15:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

At least ACard adapters work with CF cards, apparently Yamaha adapter isn't as compatible.

You need SCSI-IDE bridge + IDE to CF adapter, CF card and power cable splitter (both ACard and CF-IDE adapter have "floppy drive" power connector).

I have ACard AEC-7720U in this configuration in my SupraDrive 500XP and CDTV SCSI.

Hi Toni, and thanks for your answer, I appreache it.

But... but.... more questions....

If i buy what you have said, can my Amiga 500+ see the CF as a Harddisk (need to be formatted offcourse), or do I need to install some drivers/devices first???

Second more, Can I split the CF up in more HD's (partitions), cuz I need DH1 & DH2 (DH0 is allready mounted as a REAL HD)

Regards
Tuffy

Toni Wilen · 24 March 2008, 16:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tuffy

If i buy what you have said, can my Amiga 500+ see the CF as a Harddisk (need to be formatted offcourse), or do I need to install some drivers/devices first???

Second more, Can I split the CF up in more HD's (partitions), cuz I need DH1 & DH2 (DH0 is allready mounted as a REAL HD)

No drivers needed, you can use standard Amiga tools because Amiga sees it as a standard SCSI drive.

Just buy big enough CF card and toss your noisy real drive

Tuffy · 24 March 2008, 16:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

No drivers needed, you can use standard Amiga tools because Amiga sees it as a standard SCSI drive.

Just buy big enough CF card and toss your noisy real drive

WOOHOOOO - I gotta try that - Thanks Toni

Tuffy · 01 April 2008, 20:37

Hi all.

I've now bought AEC-7720U and an IDE-to-CF adapter, and it seems to be working GREAT (copying files from HD to CF card right now).

But I think I have one more question right now, and that is:

Can AEC-7720U card "only" controll ONE IDE-to-CF adapter???

means, if I want to install 2 CF cards, do I then need 2 x AEC-7720U and 2 x IDE-to-CF adapter, or just 1 x AEC-7720U + 2 x IDE-to-CF adapter????

24 November 2007, 20:23	#1
GF_Workman Posts: n/a	Amiga 500 SCSI Hard Drive upper limit size? Hi - Is there an upper limit to the size of a SCSI hard drive that can be used with an Amiga 500 (via a DataFlyer)? Now that I have a DataFlyer, I was thinking of purchasing a hard drive for it and I wondered if I have the option of using a new SCSI drive or if I have to restrict myself to "vintage" drives. I don't need a huge drive, of course, I was just hoping to get an unused one for (hopefully) greater reliability - and of course they aren't selling too many new 100MB drives these days. Can I use a 1 or 2G drive successfully? Thanks, George

23 March 2008, 16:23	#15
Tuffy Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Copenhagen / Denmark Posts: 17	Amiga 500+ with a GVP A500HD+ Impact Series II Hi all. I'm new to EAB, and I have a question that is simmilar to GF Workman's question. So my question is: Is it possible to install "SCSI-IDE bridge and Compact Flash card" OR "SCSI-IDE bridge and IDE-HD's" to my belowed Amiga500+ using the GVP external HD and SCSI?? I have a flatcable with 4 connectors on it (from the GVP SCSI controller) The reason that i want to have more drives on my Amiga is, that I used to have 3 HD's installed, but they just dissapeared and I need to restore some data I have been keeping for the last (hold on!!!) 12 years Regards Tuffy (Puma BBS - back in the 1990's) Last edited by Tuffy; 23 March 2008 at 16:53.

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24 November 2007, 20:52	#2
Zetr0 Ya' like it Retr0? Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: United Kingdom Age: 49 Posts: 9,768	@GF_Workman Hello there, welcome to the EAB, i am sure you will like it here, there plenty of mischief to get up to. now the size of the disk drive will depend on two things, infact two roms. the Kickstart rom of the A500 and the SCSI rom that drives the scsi device(s) would you have info on the version of ROMS (both kick and scsi) ?

24 November 2007, 21:07	#3
Toni Wilen WinUAE developer Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Hämeenlinna/Finland Age: 49 Posts: 26,518	Buy SCSI-IDE bridge and Compact Flash card. Old harddrives are too noisy

24 November 2007, 21:16	#4
StrategyGamer Total Chaos AGA is fun! Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: USA Posts: 873	Can compact flash card be formatted with FFS?

24 November 2007, 21:19	#5
alexh Thalion Webshrine Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Oxford Posts: 14,354	They are a block device they can be formatted with anything.

24 November 2007, 21:53	#7
Zetr0 Ya' like it Retr0? Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: United Kingdom Age: 49 Posts: 9,768	@thomas thanks for clearing that up. I thought there was a limmit of size and or file systems for kickstarts under 2.2. now i know

24 November 2007, 22:51	#8
GF_Workman Posts: n/a	Thanks for the welcome. I missed the Amiga the first time around (went C64 to Tandy 1000) so I'm enjoying getting caught up now. Well, it seems the no-longer-relevant question is the only one I can answer: I have kickstart 1.3. I'm not seeing what the SCSI ROM version is. Any idea where I could look for that? I do know it is a DataFlyer 500 that could be installed in an A2000 as well and I know that it does have the 8MB DataFlyer RAm expansion included. I also found the "buy a SCSI-IDE bridge and Compact Flash card" response interesting. I have some old CF cards lying around from the Rio mp3 player days - where would I get the SCSI-IDE bridge to use them? Thanks, George

24 November 2007, 23:11	#9
Zetr0 Ya' like it Retr0? Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: United Kingdom Age: 49 Posts: 9,768	i think http://ww.vesalia.de might have them for around £40 "a-card" it is called you might be able to find it on ebay too... i will try and post some lucious linkies soon

25 November 2007, 01:36	#11
Zetr0 Ya' like it Retr0? Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: United Kingdom Age: 49 Posts: 9,768	@thomas If i am ever on "who wants to be a millionaire" can i have you as "phone a friend" ... please please please please please.... yeah i know ... its demeaning to beg.... but my wife says i am good at it...

25 November 2007, 08:44	#12
thomas Registered User Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Germany Posts: 7,001	There are not so many Amiga-related questions in this programme, are there ?

26 November 2007, 19:11	#14
StrategyGamer Total Chaos AGA is fun! Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: USA Posts: 873	I used a hard drive on my A500 with KS 1.2 back in 1989. It worked just fine. The catch is that you cannot boot from a HD under KS 1.2 but you can use a HD okely dokely.

01 April 2008, 20:37	#20
Tuffy Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Copenhagen / Denmark Posts: 17	Hi all. I've now bought AEC-7720U and an IDE-to-CF adapter, and it seems to be working GREAT (copying files from HD to CF card right now). But I think I have one more question right now, and that is: Can AEC-7720U card "only" controll ONE IDE-to-CF adapter??? means, if I want to install 2 CF cards, do I then need 2 x AEC-7720U and 2 x IDE-to-CF adapter, or just 1 x AEC-7720U + 2 x IDE-to-CF adapter????

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