Conference 7.286::atarist

    
    Armin, isn't the VORTEX a SCSI-drive? So it would be nearly impossible
    to add a Seagate (ST506-bus) to the SCSI hostadapter without using a
    second controller. Not sure, though.
    
    Bernd
    

ST225 and ST251 drives are plug compatible, there should be no
ELECTRICAL problem doing this upgrade.

What software came with the hard drive?  Did you get only the driver? 
You should have some sort of "format" or "utility" program that will do
the job.

    Bernd,
    the newer VORTEX Drives have SCSI-HD's inside mine is
    st506/MFM.
    
    Jeff,
    you are right, 
    I installed the HD-driver (not atari comp) and it works fine with the
    20MB/st225.
    there is also a utility-sw (called HDplus) and it is possible to do a
    format and a so called factory-init.
    
    If I do F-init, it works only for a 20MB-setup (defined in a setupfile)
    If I define the setupfile for the 40MB st251 (max. cyl. sec/track...)
    the sw answers with "f-init not available".
    
    After a F-init with the 20MB-setup the Drive works and has 20MB avail.
    
    Thereafter I formated the drive to 40MB (format works on all combinations
    of the setupfile). 
    The drive has now 40MB avail. partitioning is possible but TOS lets
    me open only 2 Icons (C,D) with max. 16MB each.
    
    So, for me it seems to be a Problem with the Format,F-init utility or
    with the ROM-BIOS rev. of the Hostadapter, there are also a lot of jum
    pers in the controler !!??
    
    I assume the problem is VORTEX-specific
    
    regards
             Armin
     
                                       

Only being able to open drives C and D, would be a limitation in the HD driver
you are using, not a TOS limitation.  Sounds like maybe you need to try 
different HD format and driver software, like Atari, Supra, older ICD, etc..

	Ray

Most of the HD controllers over here are compatible with each other. 
I have used the Atari HDX software with ICD, Supra, and Atari
controllers, the Supra software with all three controllers, and the ICD
software with all three.  If "Vortex" is the same, then you can go ahead
and use the Supra or Atari software with it.  (You can't use the more
recent ICD software, because it requires at least ONE of the controllers
in your system to be ICD.  I'm not sure how they check.)

    Last night I used an Atari-compatible Driver, but when I try to acces
    the disk (by utilities like Format, Badblock....) the utility hangs.
    It seems that the hostadapter is seen by the system but the driver
    can't do anything with the disk-konfiguration sent by the controller.
    
    The same problem exists with the original(working st225) when using
    the Ataricomp. driver.
    
    So assuming that VORTEX uses a specific configuration-sector on the
    Disk and the fact that I am able to f-init to 20MB only I think its
    necessary to get in contact with VORTEX anyway.
    
    Thanks for your Info's, will keep you up to date
                                                     Armin

    
    Armin, what Seagate 251 is it? There are some of them:
    
    - ST251-0 and ST251-1, both MFM and ST506-standard
    - ST251N and ST251N-1, both SCSI and RLL
    - ST251R which is a ST506-standard RLL drive
    
    all of them have a formatted capacity of 43 MB.
    If you could find out the drive, I will provide you with more detailed
    datas for it which might help you set up the driver manually.
    
    Cheers,
    Bernd
    

    Bernd,
    it's a DEC RD32 (st251-0??)
    

    
    Hi The ST251-0  AKA RD32 has:-
    
     820 cylinders, 
     six heads, for the MFM drive. (Four heads for the RLL version)
     in MFM 17 sectors per track. (In RLL 26 sectors per track.)
     Park zone track 0
     No write precomp track switch, (set it to >820)
     No write precom value, set to 65535
    
     Bernd is Correct regarding sizes.
    
    By the way. I have an ST251-0 which I have used with my C'T/OMTI
    5520B MFM controller. This gave me 40 odd MBytes. I have just got an
    OMTI 5527 RLL controller. This WORKS with the MFM drive!!!!, I now have
    65 Mbytes from this drive!. (I am keeping my fingers crossed to see how
    long it will work correctly)
    
    PJK.

    The st251 is running on the VORTEX-Hostadapter !!!!!!
    
    some details:
    A local Atari dealer gave me the info that the Vortex-Hostadapter uses
    Jumpersettings to determine the raw "Physical Design" of the HD
    
    There are 8 Jumpers. 
    J6 is used to do a F-init without Hostconnection on power up.
    J5 is used if a second Drive is installed (has to be of the same type!)
                                              MIXING OF ST225 AN ST251 IS
                                              NOT POSSIBLE.
    
    J1-J4 is the HD-Type matrix. (dont know more abaut it but I am shure
    that the st251 is not included in my Rev. of the Hostadapter.
    The newer Rev's have 8 Jumper for the Drivetype.)
    
    I found out that if I do a F-init with J1+J4 in place (and J6 at power
    on) the Drive starts a F-format and goes in a loop after 20 minutes.
    I switched the Drive off (removed J6) an back on again).
    At that point the Drive was known by the utility program as "HD39"
    It was possible to format the drive without giving any additional
    parameters.
    The drive is formated to 39.7Mb and all utilities
    (Badblock..Partitionig...) are running without problems.
    
    Following wat I found out about the Drivetype-Matrix
    
    In the most combinations of J1 to J4 I got an Error-condition
    
    J4..........it sees the st251 as 38Mb-Drive
    J3..........                     45Mb       no partitioning possible
    J2..........                     30Mb
    J1..........                     20Mb       this is for the st225
    J1+J4.......                     39Mb       works with st251
    J1+J2.......                     45Mb       no partitionig possible
    
    My Hostadapter has Rev.b
    
    The controller is a WD1002A-WXI (looks like a PC-type controller)
    There are also a lot of Jumpers on it, does somebody have any
    Information aboutthe controller and the Jumpers????
    
    Hope this Information has any value for all who tryed to help me, and
    for people who will run into the same problems.
    
    regards
             Armin