Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!nbires!hao!noao!mcdsun!fnf From: fnf@mcdsun.UUCP (Fred Fish) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Mini-review of CLtd 20M disk Message-ID: <220@mcdsun.UUCP> Date: Tue, 30-Dec-86 19:09:24 EST Article-I.D.: mcdsun.220 Posted: Tue Dec 30 19:09:24 1986 Date-Received: Wed, 31-Dec-86 18:44:37 EST Organization: Motorola Microcomputer Division, Tempe, Az. Lines: 84 Keywords: disks expansion Shortly before Christmas I acquired (at long last) a hard disk for my Amiga. I ran across a good deal on a CLtd 20M SCSI system, that was available and scarfed it up. Thought I would let you all know some details... HARDWARE -------- The CLtd system comes in two pieces. The first is a general purpose SCSI controller that snaps onto the expansion connector on the side of the Amiga, and passes the bus. The case is 11" deep by 5" high by 1" wide, and contains a PC card which is only 2 1/2" by 7", containing the following components: o AM5380DC (SCSI chip?) o 74LS374 o 74F521 o 74LS32 o 74LS00 o 74LS74 13 Resistors 2 Caps CPN 2222A 3 Sips (resistor paks? at bus) That's it. Not a lot in there. The board and component quality appears good, but the enclosing metal box and ribbon cable connection between the two boxes is about "prototype" quality. My understanding is that CLtd wanted to get them out before Christmas and will be upgrading the mechanical quality soon. The second box is an off-the-shelf Rodime S-20+ hard disk box. The label on the back says "S-20+ Rodime Ser #F00005898". Inside the box is a power supply (marked NP5020B CMKS-115X Made in Sigapore) and a 3 1/2" 20M hard disk with built in SCSI controller (marked Rodime R0652 Type 0A). The two boxes are connected by about 3 ft of ribbon cable. PERFORMANCE ----------- Subjective performance, compared to floppies, is great. Using Workbench (tolerable now), icons come up significantly faster. Compiles and such also run much faster. However, performance as measured by Rick Spanbauer's disk benchmark is not exactly blazing. Read speed is not quite twice as fast as a floppy and write speed is not quite three times as fast as a floppy. For full details, see my mini-review of the ASDG Minirack in another posting. OTHER ----- Yet, despite the lack of blazing speed increases, I am quite happy with the box. To me, having 20M of immediately available storage space is more important than speed. For that, I can load stuff into my 4Mb of ASDG ram... I also like the idea of having a proven SCSI controller (since it works with an off the shelf, independently manufactured SCSI drive), since I now have a fair amount of confidence that I can replace it with a larger drive, or daisy chain additional drives, and expect it to work properly. And, since the only Amiga specific part is the relatively cheap SCSI controller box, if I jump ship to some other system (like the new MacIntosh in 87), or acquire a Zorro SCSI card for use in an expansion box, I can reuse the drive. Oh yes, I paid $900 for mine... DISCLAIMER ---------- Neither I nor my employer have any financial interest in ASDG. -Fred -- =========================================================================== Fred Fish Motorola Computer Division, 3013 S 52nd St, Tempe, Az 85282 USA {seismo!noao!mcdsun,hplabs!well}!fnf (602) 438-5976 ===========================================================================