Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!pacbell!sactoh0!hrlaser
From: hrlaser@sactoh0.UUCP (Harv R. Laser)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Got an old SupraDrive? Put a fan in it!
Message-ID: <1737@sactoh0.UUCP>
Date: 19 Aug 89 17:18:19 GMT
Organization: Sacramento Public Access, Ca. USA
Lines: 39

I've had a 20 Meg SupraDrive hooked (thru their 4x4 interface) to
my A1000 for a couple years.  It has, from time to time, developed
read/write errors and if you have a hard drive you know what a pain
in the ass that is. At any rate, I moved earlier this year to a
part of California that is typically hotter in the summer than
where I used to live and it's topped 90 here every day for the last
month straight.  Even though my home has air conditioning the
nearest a/c vent is a good 20 feet from where my hard drive sits so
the drive was always very warm when running. 

The frequency of r/w errors began to increase to the point where it
made the drive virtually useless.  After reformatting for the 3rd
time in 3 days I decided enough was enough.  I had purchased a
muffin fan from Supra last year but had never installed it.  I got
the fan out of the drawer, invited over a friend who knows how to
solder (I'm not yer basic hardware hacker... would probably have
rendered a few of my fingers useless trying to solder the
connections myself) and we installed the fan. 

My SupraDrive contains a MiniScribe 8425 and the external case was
already pre-drilled for the fan's 4 mounting screwes, and inside
the case we found two taped wires to connect the fan's two wires
to. The installation took all of 10 minutes.  The drive now runs
COOL to the touch and I haven't seen a r/w error in days.  The
difference is amazing.  

Sexton bought a 30Meg external SupraDrive last year and his was a
Seagate which already had a fan in it so I suspect Supra shifted
gears somewhere along the line and started including installed
fans. 

So IF you have an older SupraDrive with no fan and IF you get r/w
errors THEN call Supra in Oregon, buy a fan from them and put it
in. Worked for me. 

-- 
| Harv Laser                  |  SAC-UNIX, Sacramento, Ca.  |  
| Plink: CBM*HARV             |  UUCP=...pacbell!sactoh0    |
|   "The human brain is the only computer made of meat"     |