Re: Question about Focus Hard Drives

[nobody@REPLAY.COM (Anonymous)]

spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector) wrote:
>In article itsme <quantum@telis.org> writes...
>
>>I read somewhere that focus hard drives use IDE drive mechs.
>>
>>These must be from notebook computers.  They're tiny.
>
>    Yep, the Focus uses a 2.5" IDE hardrive mechanism, obviously 
>refurbished drives pulled from dead/upgraded laptops and notebooks.

Mitchell, that's pure conjecture.  They could be surplus drives or
otherwise new.  :)

>
>>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?
>
>    Judging from the photographs I've seen of the card, probably not
>since there seems to be just a single connector. In order to upgrade
>it's size you would have to remove the old drive and replace it with
>a larger one (it looks like it slides off a set of pins).

Yes.  The card and the drives are mounted together by two bars, one
that goes over the top of the card and the other that goes over the
bottom.  The header from the mech meshes with the pins from the card.

>
>>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 Alltech sells the Focus card with sizes ranging from 20 MB up
>to 800 MB, so it should be able be to use drives in that size range at
>least. I would guess it is limited by the ROM firmware on-board, but
>you would have to ask Alltech to find out.

I upgraded a 20MB unit to 800MB for someone, so the controller for the
different sizes is the same.  It is an Enhanced IDE drive with an
autoconfiguring BIOS, so it should be able to read even GB sized drives.

>
>    On an Apple IIe, 20 MB would be quite acceptable and while some
>may require more, I would not go beyond 60 or 80 MB. If your getting
>a Focus on an Apple IIgs, the 120 MB size should be minimum with the
>200 size being just about right (of course I wouldn't really be so
>quick to recommend a Focus for a IIgs since it does not do DMA. For
>the same cost as the 120 model <US$159>, you could easily pick up a
>used RamFAST SCSI and 300+ MB drive). The only benefit is it's an
>internal device (less clutter outside case and makes the GS more
>portable) and is extremely plug'n'play. :)

The entire card plus mech probably sucks less power than a RamFAST
with 1MB of cache.  The drive (with an 800MB mech) runs about as
fast as my SCSI drive connected to an Apple HS SCSI card (which boots
in 12 seconds flat with DMA off and 11 seconds with DMA on) with
the CPU at 13.75MHz.  Not as fast as a RamFAST, but still respectable.

On another issue, I think I know why David Empson's Trailblazer HD
with Apple HS SCSI was slower than my HD with the same card.  David,
how many partitions/devices do you have on your SCSI chain?  GS/OS
scans each volume on boot-up, significantly slowing the boot.  I
probably have far less partitions than you (three on the drive, to
be exact)!

-Scott G.