Re: Max Size

[dempson@swell.actrix.gen.nz (David Empson)]

In article <mark-121093094105@128.157.9.145>
mark@trillian.jsc.nasa.gov (Mark Manning) writes:
> 
> Well, mainly I am just trying to decide how large of a hard drive I
> can fit into the thing to replace the 40meg drive I have right now. :)
> 
> I've seen some 150meg drives going for around $100.00.  They are SCSI.
> Will they work with my Apple SCSI card?

Almost certainly.  I have yet to find a SCSI hard drive that doesn't
work with my Apple High-Speed SCSI card.  I would expect any new drive
to work (provided it doesn't require Fast and/or Wide SCSI II).

I have used Seagate, SyQuest, Rodime and Quantum drives.

Be wary of older second-hand drives.  Certain SCSI drives for the
Macintosh used non-standard techniques such as getting the computer to
specify a SCSI ID for the drive.  The Apple II cannot support these
drives.

> Or does the Apple SCSI card require an Apple hard drive?

No.  Apple doesn't make hard drives - they take drives from other
manufacturers and patch the ID string in the ROM so that it says "APPLE".

> I know some manufacturers require certain status' to be returned when
> they poll the device and this might be one of those things.

That only applies to Macintosh device drivers.  Each manufacturer
supplies a device driver which only supports their own drive (by
looking for the ID string).

This does not apply to the Apple II.  The Apple SCSI cards will return
the ID string, but don't expect it to contain any specific text.  As
long as the SCSI drive supports the standard command set (and any
"SCSI II" drive will do so), there should be no problem.

Some drives may be fussy about SCSI termination, but it is usually
possible to get around this.
-- 
David Empson                                                               
dempson@swell.actrix.gen.nz                                                
Snail mail: P.O. Box 27-103, Wellington, New Zealand