Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!ulowell!redsox!campbell From: campbell@redsox.UUCP (Larry Campbell) Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec.micro Subject: Re: Help with ST506 drive Message-ID: <563@redsox.UUCP> Date: 28 Nov 88 01:02:15 GMT References:<2594@rti.UUCP> Reply-To: campbell@redsox.UUCP (Larry Campbell) Organization: The Boston Software Works, Inc. Lines: 19 In article <2594@rti.UUCP> bcw@rti.UUCP (Bruce Wright) writes: } }Finally, be aware that the 506 is a much slower drive than the more recent }drives (something like a 95 ms average seek time). Some controllers/BIOSs }may not like that - and time out on a perfectly valid (and successful) }operation! It really is critical to know what the controller and BIOS }version are to know if this might be a problem. No, it's even worse than that. The ST506 has a 170ms average access time!! Almost as slow as a floppy! What's worse, it does not buffer step pulses. Since nearly all drives today buffer step pulses, it could be that the controller you have doesn't work with unbuffered drives. I think your best bet is to trash the ST506 and cough up $200 for an ST225 or similar drive. -- Larry Campbell The Boston Software Works, Inc. campbell@bsw.com 120 Fulton Street wjh12!redsox!campbell Boston, MA 02146