Re: Vulcan HD: Info Needed

[gdr@myrias.ab.ca (Devin Reade)]

In article <qemFuc2w165w@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca> denisf@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (Denis Fafard) writes:

>Can anyone tell me the difference between the old Vulcan HDs and the 
>Vulcan Gold HDs??  I'm looking to get an old 100 Meg Vulcan for my GS.

The difference was a rewritten ROM and software.  The upgrade
consisted of a chip and a new floppy.  You had to reformat your hard
drive to use it, as the interleave was changed.  (If I remember correctly,
it went from 7:1 to 4:1.)  You cannot mix the Vulcan/Vulcan Gold ROM
and software (consisting of the partition manager and driver).

>I've heard that some of the early Vulcan's had some problems with them 
>and the drivers.  Are there any Vulcan owners out there that can give me
>some info/opinions on their HD??

The only problems I've experienced are bad blocks, but that's not
unreasonable considering that the drive is six years old.  I understand
from others, however, that the Vulcan controller will only work
with certain sizes/brands/models of hard drives (it is an IDE mechanism).
I tend to believe this given that there is a different ROM for each
of the 20/40/100Meg Vulcans.

Be sure you see the thing in operation.  If you have ProSEL-16, do
a "bad block scan" of all partitions.  (If you don't have ProSEL, get
it; you'll want it anyway, it's an invaluable utility.)  Check the
partition table (using the Vulcan's partition manager) and see if any
of the partitions have been disabled; I have a 4Meg disabled partition
at the beginning of my Vulcan due to a bad 0-4 block, among others.
(Bad block lockout doesn't work with certain critical blocks.)

You may want to consider the TurboIDE card as a replacement for the
Vulcan controller.  It's reputed to be the fasted card around and can
handle two hard drives, any model up to ~250Meg.  The only feature
the TurboIDE is missing that the Vulcan has is the "pseudo-slot-7"
feature, where you can have the card sit in any slot and the IIgs
still sees it in slot 7.

>What kind of price should I be looking 
>at to purchase this used 100 Meg HD?? (please remember to state the 
>currency as this echo is worldwide; ie: US$, Cdn$, .....)

The planning figure for new (bare) drives of that capacity (if you can find
any; drives <250Meg are getting rare) is US$1.00 to US$1.50 per Meg.
For CDN$, you can figure on multiplying that by 1.4 or 1.5 by the time
you consider exchange, GST, customs fees, etc.  Enclosure prices vary
a lot depending on what you buy.

--
	Devin Reade		gdr@myrias.ab.ca

	Please note the new address above.  Do not forward mail to
	<glyn@cs.ualberta.ca> as that account will at some point be disabled.