Date : Sat, 06 Jan 2007 12:31:22 -0000
From : BBCMailingList@... (Ian Wolstenholme)
Subject: Technomatic hard disk units
Yes, I suspected as much from the encoding point of
view but you can't change the density on the ACB4070,
it just does 47 sectors per track by default.
I try not to leave it running too long in case it overheats,
where it lives isn't exactly ventilated. These Technomatic
drives are very compact, they've fitted a host adapter,
bridge board and 5.25" Winchester drive and PSU all
into the space of a double floppy-drive case. It's half
the size of the Acorn Winchester and as I remember,
there's no fan in it either.
By contrast the Acorn Winchester stays cool after
several hours, the fan at the back seems to do the
trick nicely.
I've got the Technomatic backed up onto my MDFS
and a backup of that backup on a Syquest cartridge
so if it ever goes pop, it's not the end of the world
in terms of still being able to get at the data.
Best wishes,
Ian
----- Original Message -----
From: Mike Tomlinson [mailto:mike@...]
To: bbc-micro@...
Sent: Sat, 6 Jan 2007 09:46:16 +0000
Subject: Re: [BBC-Micro] Technomatic hard disk units
In article <14ED7E9C5ABD43ED8F4CD9FA84154E11.MAI@...>, Ian
Wolstenholme <BBCMailingList@...> writes
>According to the Adaptec manual, the ACB4070 is an RLL
>controller and not an MFM-and-RLL controller (that's my
>understanding of it anyway, but I could be wrong since
>it does appear to run contrary to popular belief) so I'm not
>sure how wise is it to run it with an MFM drive.
It's not. The ST225 is unsuitable for RLL encoding. That's why you get
errors verifying the drive; you're storing 50% more data on it than it
was designed for.
Looking at your photos, that little lot must get awfully hot crammed
into the box like that. If I were you, I'd be looking for an RLL-
capable 3.5" drive in a 3.5"-to-5.25" adapter (one with ventilation
grilles on the front) to replace the ST225.
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