Re: RamFAST crashing

[rder@pro-palmtree.cts.com (Richard Der)]

crownmi@zot.io.org (Myles Fudge) wrote:
>It is okay to use 2 SCSI cards (they act independently).  I had no
>option but to use two because of the newness of my 1.08gb hard drive
>-- it uses the SCSI-2 technology that requires the host adapter to
>provide an ID number.  The RamFAST card does not do this.  However,
>the Apple Rev C card does (good 'ole Apple).  At the time, I purchased
>the best SCSI controller and hard drive that I could get my hands on,
>not knowing that they would be incompatible.  Check out the thread
>on Quantum Fireball and Empire drives that have the same problem.
>Since I forked out the bucks for the best RamFAST card, I figured
>it only made sense to utilize it's speed, so I put my Zip drive on it.
 
 
I too had an Apple High Speed SCSI and a RamFast card both in the
same system for some time. In my case, I had a CD-ROM drive connected
to the Apple card because the RamFast refused to mount volumes while
the computer is on (you have to eject one volume, turn off the computer,
stick in the new volume, and turn it back on). The RamFast was kept
in service driving a large hard disk drive.
 
That is when strange things started happening. Once in a while, the
hard disk drive's light would turn on and stay on and the system would
freeze. Other symptons included trashed volumes, blinking light, etc.
To make a long story short, after Sequential couldn't solve the
problem, the RamFast was sold and the hard disk added to the Apple
HS SCSI's chain. Now things work fine and no more trashed volumes
or strange behavior. The new owner of the RamFast also reported no
problems. It seems that there is an undocumented conflict when
Apple and RamFast cards reside in the same system.
 
The Apple High Speed card is as fast as a RamFast under GS/OS, but
it is noticeably slower under ProDOS 8. One solution: sell the
RamFast and Apple rev. C cards and get an Apple High Speed SCSI
card to consolidate the drives.


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