Adding a CD-ROM Drive to an Amiga 2000

[Tempest 2084]

I want to add a CD-ROM drive to my Amiga 2000 so I can transfer WHDLoad games over to the system (It would literally take weeks using Amiga Explorer). What kind of CD-ROM drive do I need to look for? Will any old 50 pin SCSI drive work? What's the best place to find one?

BTW if there's an easier way to get massive amounts of data to my hard drive I'm all ears.

[Franchute13]

Hi.
What type of scsi controller you have?

[Tempest 2084]

I believe it's a GVP 8MB + Hard Drive style one. The disk that came with it says GVP Impact Series II.

[ptyerman]

Depends on what interface card is in the 2000, IDE or SCSI. If it's a SCSI card any 50 pin CD/DVD drive will work. You can usually find these on eBay or Amibay.
As for getting massive amounts of data on to it, IF you can find one and are prepared to pay the asking price for them, you can't do better than a SCSI card reader like the SCM PCD 50B or PCD 60B. I have one of each, 1 on the A1200 and 1 on the A2000 and I don't regret getting them one bit, they are fantastic.
Your other option is to kit the Amiga up with a USB solution, but again this will be expensive.

[Tempest 2084]

Yeah I think a simple SCSI CD-ROM drive is probably the way to go for me since I don't want to spend hundreds of dollars. I assume my GVP Impact II will support both a HD and CD-ROM drive if I use a cable that supports two devices (my current one only has one plug)?

What about an external drive? I have some that I use with my Macs...

I assume once I get the CD-ROM drive in I can write CD's on my PC (either Windows or Linux) that can be read by the Amiga as long as I use the correct extension?

[ptyerman]

You can add 6 devices to your SCSI card including your hard drive and a CD-ROM. Once the CD-ROM is plugged in and set up you will have to install a CD filesystem in Workbench in order to use it, I usually use AmiCDROM as it is easy to set up and stays out the way.
Your existing external drives would be fine, just plug in to the external DB25 connector on the SCSI card.

[Tempest 2084]

Where do you get an external DB25 connector? I think the drives I have all have Centronics style connectors on them. I'd also need a terminator then. An internal one might be easier.

[ptyerman]

You can get SCSI cables with different connectors on them, or you can go through adaptors. They can be found on eBay and Amazon and several retailers, Google will find you some of these.
One of the online shops I use is Cable Depot, never had a problem with them and delivery has been quite prompt. Their SCSI selection can be found here: https://www.cabledepot.co.uk/advance...x=0&search.y=0.
I always use external active terminators, it makes things much easier, especially when using external enclosures. You can find them at the mentioned places also.
The alternative is to open your external drive and fit the terminator jumper on the CD-ROM. That is a pain though when it has to be changed between systems, and the reason I use external terminators.

[TjLaZer]

ASIM CDFS with a SCSI CD-ROM will do nicely! Get a 50 pin SCSI model and you should be good to go.

[idrougge]

Any 50-pin drive should work.

You could also get a SCSI2SD. They're quite inexpensive.

[Tempest 2084]

Originally Posted by idrougge

Any 50-pin drive should work.

You could also get a SCSI2SD. They're quite inexpensive.

Yeah I don't wan't to spend too much on this so I think I'll stick with the CD-ROM. I just wanted to make sure there wasn't any pitfalls to watch out for.

If I get really desperate I can always hook the hard drive up directly to my PC and run WinUAE to transfer stuff.

[Tempest 2084]

Anyone know if Apple SCSI CD-ROMs work well with the Amiga? I have an external CD-150 that I was thinking about trying (1x CD-ROM drive still beats 19200 baud serial), and on ebay all the internal SCSI CD-ROM drives seem to be old Apple ones.

The reason I ask is that sometimes Apple did odd stuff with their hardware and I don't want to risk damaging my SCSI card.

[TjLaZer]

As long as it's SCSI it will work. I recall seeing others using these drives on the Amiga just fine.

[SkulleateR]

Even if it´s an Apple Drive it will work, sometimes they also use non-modified hardware

[fgh]

Another option is to get a PCI SCSI card and access the drive in a PC with WinUAE. (Added bonus: You can make a backup image while you're at it)

[Sandro]

the easy option is using Amiga explorer
I passed the game "wasted dreams" from CD to my A1200 in about 8 hours (about 500 mb data) at 115.200 , this is about 9 or 10k per second

if op want to transfer whdload games to the Amiga is better first add a big zip file with the games you want to install in the A2000

[SkulleateR]

If he allready got a SCSI controller, CDRom is the easiest and fastest option he got .... even for WHDLoad games

[Tempest 2084]

Originally Posted by Sandro

the easy option is using Amiga explorer
I passed the game "wasted dreams" from CD to my A1200 in about 8 hours (about 500 mb data) at 115.200 , this is about 9 or 10k per second

if op want to transfer whdload games to the Amiga is better first add a big zip file with the games you want to install in the A2000

Yeah that's what I was going to do, but using an external SCSI CD-ROM drive is easier. If that fails then I'll use AE and hope that nothing goes wrong in those 8+ hours. Eventually I'll get an internal SCSI drive for my system, but I'll probably wait until I can find a cheap one in nice shape.

BTW what CD format do I need to use so the Amiga can read it?

[SkulleateR]

Just burn a normal Data CD on PC and of you go