Re: Question about Focus Hard Drives

[nobody@REPLAY.COM (Anonymous)]

itsme <quantum@telis.org> wrote:
>jbcole@ix.netcom.com (JB) wrote:
>>itsme <quantum@telis.org> wrote:
>>
>>> I read somewhere that focus hard drives use IDE drive mechs.
>>>
>>> These must be from notebook computers.  They're tiny.
>>>
>>>
>>> Can I just go buy a couple more drive mechanisms and stick them on
>>> the card when I fill up the one that came on it?
>>>
>>> If so,  is the card limited to the size of drive that came on it? 
>>> Or can I put a higher or lower capacity mech. on it?
>>
>>
>>Well, you are right about the drives, but it will only take one at a time.
>>You can replace the one they give you with a larger one if need be.
>
>Ok.  Where can I find more drives for the focus card?
>
>What is the maximum capacity that the Focus drive will handle?

The Focus controller card is an Enhanced IDE controller with (in PC
terminology) an autoconfiguring BIOS.  It will basically take any
of the 2.5" IDE or EIDE notebook hard disk drives for PC portable
computers.  You can find these drives cheap (500MB models for a
hundred and a half and 800MB and 1GB models for not much more).  Not
quite as cheap as 3.5" drives, but the prices are coming down.  Look
for mechanisms in Computer Shopper magazine.

Unlike the Turbo IDE card, the Focus does not seem to be limited to
a small size mechanism.  I upgraded a 20MB Focus card for someone and
the Focus saw the new (800MB, if I recall) drive automatically.  The
autoconfiguring BIOS correctly reads the size of the drive and all you
have to do to use it is to format it with the Focus formatter.

In general, if an IDE controller can recognize greater than 512MB, it
should have no problem recognizing greater capacity drives in the GB
range.

Remember, however, that while the Focus controller is physically
capable of using these high capacity drives, you will almost certainly
have to use the HFS file system on some partitions.  The HFS file
system can make partitions of up to 4GB in size, I believe.  The
ProDOS file system is limited to 32MB per partition.  There is nothing
wrong with HFS if you use the patch or keep volume size under 96MB.
However, there are no HFS volume repair utilities available for the
GS.  This means you will want to keep good backups (worthwhile in
any situation also).  Still, with a large Focus, you'll be able to
set aside part of the drive as backup partitions to mirror all your
HFS volumes and thus have a quick and easy backup system.

As JB wrote, you can only stick one mechanism at a time on the Focus.
You'll have to back up your files to floppy using Archiver or ProSEL
or whatever and restore them to the new, larger drive when you've
finished installing, partitioning, and formatting it.

-Scott G.

(I apologize for posting this way, my newsfeed is down.)