Re: Does Apple IIGS come with a harddisk?

[Mitchell Spector <mitch2gs@hotmail.com>]

"Alex Ngai" <alex.theprogrammer@gmail.com> wrote:

>Does Apple IIGS come with a harddisk?

    No, and there is no built-in expansion port or internal connector to add
a hardisk. Any mass storage device, including hardisks, required plugging
an optional slot based expansion card.

    If you choose SCSI the disadvantages are the controller cards are rare
and expensive, and the hardisk will be external (the Econ Pegasus was the 
exception; you changed your powersupply with one that had a hollowed
space to install the hardisk internally). Yet, on the other hand, SCSI is the
fastest option and most flexible, allowing for Zip drives, CD-ROM, tape, etc.

    There were a handful of internal options. Some, like the Pegasus concept
(e.g. AE Vulcan, AI InnerDrive) housed the drive inside the powersupply but
used slow or proprietary IDE controllers. More popular in later years were
the HardCard options (plug-n-play hardisk mounted on a slot card) such as 
the Focus drive and MicroDrive/Turbo card.

    These days, as mention in this thread, the cheapest and most available
option would probably be the CompactFlash controller card. You can plug in
widely used CF memory cards popular with digital cameras and Pocket PC's,
and work with them just as you would a hardisk (64, 128 and 256 MB cards
are very inexpensive, and in the case of the latter, suitable for the IIgs).
The card also sports a standard 40-pin IDE connector for connecting a
standard hardisk. CF is probably be the slowest option of all I'd imagine,
but better than floppies or Zip disks.

Mitchell Spector