Hard Disks & SCSI Interfaces
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..
...
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also see CD-ROM and Zip Drives
Hard
Disks & SCSI Interfaces
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......
.
also see CD-ROM and Zip
Drives
001- How difficult is it to add a hard drive to
my IIgs?
002- What kinds of hard drive systems are available?
003- What do SCSI ID numbers mean?
004- What is "SCSI-2" and how is it different
from SCSI-1?
005- Will a SCSI-2 hard drive work with an Apple
II system?
006- Will my Rev. C SCSI Card work with a SCSI-2
drive?
007- What is SCSI "termination power"?
008- Can I avoid the "RamFAST/SCSI is searching
SCSI bus" delay?
009- What is the pinout for the standard 50-pin
SCSI cable?
010- What's the SCSIHD.DRIVER patch to ignore
DRIVER43 partitions?
011- What is the "bad bug" in the ROM 3.01e RamFAST?
012- What are correct HS SCSI settings, etc. for
a Bernoulli drive?
013- What are the settings for a CMS hard drive
controller card?
014- Does it matter when I power-ON my SCSI hard
disk?
015- Can I leave SCSI devices I'm not using turned
OFF?
016- Is there a generic SCSI tutorial available
for downloading?
017- What is the correct time-out setting for
a Focus hard drive?
018- How do I modify my Apple SCSI card to supply
Termination Power?
019- Can I get a Focus drive bigger than a couple
hundred MB?
020- My hard disk is on a CMS SCSI. How do I install
System 6.0.1?
021- How is DMA set for SCSI cards with 8MB RAM
cards on the GS?
022- My 20MB Focus bombs and there's some goo
on the card. A fix?
023- Where can I find the RamFAST manual on the
net?
024- How can I tell which Apple SCSI card I have?
025- Where can I find Profile maintenance and
formatting info?
001- How difficult is it to add a hard drive to my IIGS?
Adding a hard drive is not much of a problem. Usually, you will need
to insert
an interface card, possibly connect a cable or two, and change a Slot
setting
in the Control Panel Desk Accessory.
002- What kinds of hard drive systems are available
for Apple II
users?
The most versatile and most common hard drive
set-up is an internal SCSI
interface card and an external SCSI drive. Hard drives, cd-rom
drives,
removable media (SyQuest, Iomega), flopticals, and scanners all can
be added to
the SCSI chain. Insert the card in a slot, connect a cable or
two, and change
a slot setting.
The preferred SCSI card is the RamFAST Rev.
D SCSI card from Sequential
Systems. The next best card is the Apple Hi-Speed SCSI card.
Here are some RamFAST notes:
- faster than Apple Hi-Speed, especially in ProDOS
- provides termination power to the SCSI chain
- allows partitions to be mapped in ProDOS
- device drivers come on the card in the upgradeable ROM chip
(3.01f)
- allows up to 8 devices to be added to the chain
- allows up to 12 partitions to be active at any one time
(switchable)
- allows up to 12 partitions per drive
- about $130 new
Here are some Apple High Speed notes:
- no longer produced or supported by Apple
- does not provide termination power to the SCSI chain (can be
modified to provide termination power)
- does not allow partitions to be mapped in ProDOS
- device drivers are software
- allows up to 7 devices to be added to the chain
- allows over 100 partitions to be active at any one time
- allows up to 20 (?) partitions per drive
- about $110 new (if still available)
For the hard drive itself, look for a SCSI drive in an external
enclosure with the following features:
- 30 day money-back guarantee
- external SCSI ID switching
- dual 50 pin SCSI connectors
- no or switchable termination (use an external terminator at
end of SCSI chain)
- switchable termination power (on/off) is a plus for users of
SCSI interface cards which do not supply termination power
From: Rubywand
Another way to go is a 2.5" IDE drive mounted
on an IDE interface card.
This "hard card" plugs into a Slot-- usually Slot 7. Alltech sells
the Focus
Hard Card in varying sizes (e.g. 60MB for $99) with system software
installed.
SHH Systeme offers the FileCard (about $170 + cost of drive) as well
as a
series of IDE controller cards to which you can add a 2.5" IDE drive
(about
$120-$170 including mounting kit).
The IDE hard card approach offers speed and
capacity comparable to SCSI,
very easy installation, and, it eliminates hassles with external boxes
and
cables. Of course, you will still need to add a SCSI interface card
if you want
to connect a SCSI CD-ROM and/or Zip Drive.
Note: If you want your system to include a SCSI CD-ROM drive, it is
best to
have a SCSI Zip Drive or SCSI hard disk connected to the SCSI interface,
too.
This provides a write-able medium for saving SCSI interface card setup
parms.
003- What do the SCSI ID numbers mean?
SCSI ID numbers identify devices on the SCSI
chain. Each device should
have its own, unique ID number in the range 0-7. (If two devices on
the SCSI
chain have the same ID number, there will be a conflict and your system
will
not function correctly.) Higher numbered devices have higher priority--
get
'looked for' first-- so, it is standard practice to set the device
you boot
from to 6 or 7.
Most external SCSI devices have a thumbwheel
switch, slide switch, or
jumper block on the back to set ID number. Some, like the Creative
x2 CD-ROM
drive let you click through 0-7. The Zip Drive lets you pick 5 or 6.
(By the
way, SCSI ID numbers have nothing to do with which Slot the SCSI interface
card
is in.)
From: David Empson
SCSI ID 7 is usually special because the Apple
SCSI and Hi-Speed SCSI
cards count as a device set to ID 7 by default (and every Macintosh
has a
hard-wired SCSI ID of 7). The only thing that is special about
ID 0 is that it
is the standard ID used for an internal drive on a Macintosh.
There is no problem using SCSI ID 0 on an Apple
II. On a RamFAST SCSI
card, it is also safe to use SCSI ID 7 for a drive. The RamFAST doesn't
have a
SCSI ID, but every other SCSI card does.
004- What is "SCSI-2" and how is it different from SCSI-1?
For hard drives, "SCSI-2" basically means that the drive supports a
stricter
command set. The physical interface is usually identical.
For other device types, "SCSI-2" means a lot more, because the original
SCSI
standard didn't define much in the way of device types and command
sets, so
most devices use proprietary command sets. SCSI-2 standardises the
command sets
for most types of devices.
There are three special types of interface that you might see mentioned:
"Fast SCSI" supports data transfer at twice the speed of the
original SCSI
standard (10 MB per second vs 5 MB per second). This will
not be a
compatibility issue, as it is just the maximum transfer speed
supported by the
drive. The Apple II cannot transfer more than one megabyte
per second.
"Wide SCSI" uses a different cable arrangement to double the width
of the
data path (16 bits instead of 8 bits). A wide SCSI drive cannot
be used with
an Apple II, unless it can also operated in "narrow" mode with
the original
50-pin connector. (There is also "Fast Wide SCSI", which
doubles the data
rate and the width of the bus.)
"Differential SCSI" involves a different type of interface to
the computer,
where every data signal has a balanced positive and negative
pair of wires,
rather than a single wire and a ground line. I believe it has
a different type
of connector. Differential SCSI drives cannot be used with
an Apple II."
Some drives use a proprietary connector, but the standard (narrow,
non-differential) SCSI bus uses the same 50-pin connector for SCSI-1
and
SCSI-2.
The only significant problem you might run into is termination, and
supply of
termination power. SCSI-2 devices tend to be fussier about termination
than
older devices.
------------------------------
005- Will a SCSI-2 hard drive work with an Apple 2 system?
Usually, yes. I'm on my second Quantum drive
that is described as
"SCSI-2".
There is a major caveat to this answer.
Some newer drives require a host
which implements the arbitration phase of the SCSI communication dialogue.
The
RamFAST doesn't do this, and as a result there are some drives that
cannot be
used with a RamFAST SCSI card. A notable example is the Quantum Fireball
series. However; the Trailblazer and all older Quantum models work
fine.
------------------------------
006- I have a plain ol' Rev. C SCSI Card, will
this work with a
SCSI-2 drive?
My Quantum LPS240 is working fine on an original Apple SCSI card.
Note: With the original Apple SCSI card, the card itself is not terminated,
so
if you are connecting more than one device, you need to add a second
terminator
between the computer and the first drive (using a "pass-through" external
SCSI
terminator, or internal termination on the first drive).
------------------------------
007- What is SCSI "termination power"?
At least one device (SCSI card or any SCSI
drive) must provide power for
the SCSI terminators by feeding 5 volts onto the TERMPWR line on the
SCSI bus.
Usually, termination power is fed through a
diode to prevent backfeeding
from a higher voltage source in case some other device is also supplying
termination power. A good implementation will have a fuse to protect
against
shorts and a capacitor to cope with a sudden rise in termination power
drain.
The Apple SCSI cards do not provide termination
power (though some recent
Apple Hi-speed SCSI cards were modified by Apple to provide termination
power). The RamFAST SCSI card can supply termination power.
If a drive can supply termination power, I
recommend letting it do so. The
TERMPWR line can, in some cases, represent a significant load on the
+5V rail
going to the Slots. Both of my Quantum drive mechanisms provide termination
power to the SCSI bus, avoiding the need to supply it from anywhere
else.
From: Rubywand
On the RamFAST SCSI RevC card, DIP switch #1
is set to ON to supply
termination power. On other RamFAST SCSI cards, a jumper is placed
at JP1 to
supply termination power.
According to RamFAST documentation, it is okay
to have the card set to
supply termination power whether or not another device does with a
few notable
exceptions. If a connected hard disk (e.g. a Sider drive) has a sticker
saying
that the drive supplies termination power and that the interface must
not, then
the RamFAST must be set to _not_ supply termination power.
008- I just reinstalled System 6.01. Now every time I cold boot
I get this message 'RamFAST/SCSI is searching
the SCSI bus
for devices..etc.' and have to wait several
seconds. WEIRD?!
When you reinstalled the software, the RamFAST
set itself for a long
search. This is an option that you can change using the RamFAST utility.
What
it is doing is giving your scsi devices a chance to spin up. If you
want a fast
check, go to the options menu on the utilities and reset the Short
Timeout
option there to "YES".
009- I would like to make my own SCSI cable. Does anyone on csa2
know the pinout for the standard 50-pin
SCSI cable?
The cable pinout is documented in the technical
reference manual for the
Apple High-Speed SCSI card (and the original one as well).
This pinout is not a simple mapping from one end to the other.
I repeat that it is NOT easy to make one of these yourself. Apart
from any
issues of wiring errors, you also need a properly shielded cable to
minimise
noise being picked up or radiated. You should definitely not
use a ribbon
cable.
Here is the pinout, assuming I haven't made any typos (I can't see any).
DB-25 50-pin Function
1 49
-REQ
2 46
-MSG
3 50
-I/O
4 45
-RST
5 44
-ACK
6 43
-BSY
7 16,18,19 Ground
lines
8 26
-DB0
9 20,21,22 Ground
lines
10 29
-DB3
11 31
-DB5
12 32
-DB6
13 33
-DB7
14 1,2,3
Ground lines
15 48
-C/D
16 4,5,6
Ground lines
17 41
-ATN
18 7,8,9,11 Ground lines
19 47
-SEL
20 34
-DBP
21 27
-DB1
22 28
-DB2
23 30
-DB4
24 23,24,25 Ground lines
25 38
TERMPWR
The unlisted pins in the 50-pin connector (10, 12, 13, 14, 15,
17, 35, 36, 37, 39, 40, 42) are ground.
Note: the numbers for the 50-pin connector are counted along each
row, like a DB-25. They are NOT the wire numbers in a ribbon
cable.
010- Is there some patch for SCSIHD.DRIVER to make it ignore
APPLE_DRIVER43 driver partitions?
Yes; you can change the counter in the string
comparison routine that
checks for the "Apple_Driver" partition type string so that it only
checks the
first 12 characters. This counter is at byte $3574 in the System
6.0.1
SCSIHD.DRIVER file and is originally $1F. Change this to $0B
and the driver
will then ignore "Apple_Driver43" partitions.
If you make this or any other patch to the
driver, I also you recommend
you bump up the version number. Change byte $01FF from $10 to
$2E (for version
6.02 experimental).
011- Someone told me there's supposed to be a bad bug in the
ROM 3.01e RamFAST. What is it?
Don't use the built in backup/restore in 3.01e!!!
The restore opeation
will nuke the partition map on the drive being restored to, as well
as all
existing partitions on that drive!
012- What are correct HS SCSI settings, etc. for a Bernoulli drive?
My system is as follows:
ROM 1 Apple //gs
4mb AE RAM card
8mhz ZIP GS
Apple High-Speed SCSI card
90 mb Bernoulli hard drive
System 6.0.1
Three things I can think of to check:
One possibility is DMA compatibility. If your memory card is not
DMA
compatible, then switch 1 on the Apple HS SCSI card should be open
(up).
Another possibility I guess is a SCSI ID conflict. The Apple HS
SCSI card's ID
at the factory is set to 7. Here are the Apple HS SCSI card switch
combinations:
note1: Switch 1 controls DMA; open (up)
turns DMA off
note2: Switches 2-4 control SCSI card
ID
note3: 'U' means open (up), 'D' means
closed (down),
'z' means Set for correct DMA (see note1)
SWITCH: 1234
1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234 1234
SETTING: zUUU
zUUD zUDU zUDD zDUU zDUD zDDU zDDD
CARD ID:
0 1 2
3 4 5
6 7
Third, the scsi chain needs termination power to work properly.
This is
different from termination. Both are required for a properly
functioning scsi
chain. It is possible that neither the Bernoulli drive nor the
Apple HS SCSI
card is supplying termination power. If this is the case, and
there is no
other device on the scsi chain to supply said power, it probably won't
work.
There is a modification (requires soldering skills) to the Apple HS
SCSI card
to make it supply termination power.
013- I want to configure a CMS hard drive controller card to run
a
20 meg drive for a //e. Could someone supply
info on settings?
According to the CMS manual for the 1990 ROM,
the six sets of eight pairs of
jumpers (u1....u6) are for the following purposes.
Note: This description of the jumpers is only true for the 1990 ROM.
On the
1987 ROM the jumpers have a different usage.
_______________________________________________________________
/
|
/ u 1
u 2 u
3 u 4
j2 |
/
|
/
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| u 5
u 6
|
|___________________________________________
j1 |
|
|
|______________________|
u 1: Boot Scan delay....manual shows no jumpers here in default
configuration
u 2: first (left) jumper is 'Enable I.C.P. (Yes/No)', middle 6 not
used, last (right) is 'multiple initiators
(Yes/No)'...manual
shows no jumpers in default configuration
u 3: Selection phase time out delay....I believe this sets how long
the card waits for the drive to come up
to speed(?)...manual
shows the default as having 4, 5, and
7 with jumpers installed
u 4: Arbitration phase time out delay....manual shows default as
no
jumpers installed
u 5: Bus Free phase time out delay...manual shows default as jumper
on number 1
u 6: Interrupt recovery delay....manual shows jumpers on 3, 4,
and 5
J1 and J2 are single sets of pins. The manual says J2 is not used,
but J1 is to be jumpered.
The card I have here, came out of a IIGS where
it was hooked to first a
twenty meg CMS drive, and later a forty meg CMS drive. It has
the following
jumpers set (for use with 1990 ROM only):
u1: jumper on 7
u2: no jumpers
u3: jumpers on 4, 5, and 7
u4: no jumpers
u5: jumper on 1
u6: jumpers on 3, 4, and 5
j2: no jumper
j1: jumper
As I recall, this setup yeilded a rather long
pause for the hard disk to
come up to speed (about 40 to 45 seconds) that we found necessary at
the time
to avoid boot problems.
From: Andrew Roughan
The CMS SCSI card has three ROM revisions.
The 1987 ROM uses jumpers on the card to define the
partitions on the drive. These partitions cannot be
greater than 32MB and only two partitions are
supported. The manual should be considered a MUST
HAVE.
The 1989 ROM is similar to the 1987 ROM in
functionality, but it has an annoying habit of
shutting down the drive after a period of inactivity.
It needs an access attempt to start it up again, but
this access will return a failure error code (ok when
you can redo the action but not too good otherwise :).
A plus in its favour is that the jumper settings are
available from the utility software. Because of this,
the manual is not a necessity.
The 1990 ROM gets around the problem of jumper based
partitions by assuming that each partition on the
drive will be 32MB (or as much as is left less than
32MB). This ROM will therefore support > 60MB of
storage on multiple drives. The drawback is that only
two partitions can be accessed at a time. The ROM
supports switching them in and out at boot time (hold
down the Open Apple key). The jumper settings are once
again available in the utility software.
For the sake of compatibility with the Apple Partition
Map, (do you wish to use the same drive on a RamFAST
or Apple SCSI card? or on a Macintosh?) the CMS SCSI
card should not be considered.
However if you just wish to access one 60MB SCSI hard
drive from an Apple II, then the CMS card will do the
job well.
The CMS SCSI card has one advantage over the RamFAST
and Apple SCSI cards. It can be used to share a hard
drive between computers. For example it is possible to
use two 1989 ROM cards (in an Apple //e and a //gs) to
share a 60MB drive with a second //gs which has a 1990
ROM card.
The CMS utilities disks for all ROM versions are
available on the following mirror of the ground
archive:
http://www.apple2.org.za/mirrors/ground.icaen.uiowa.edu/apple8/Utils/
CMS.NOV87.SHK
CMS.OCT89.SHK
CMS.APR90.SHK
I also scanned in the manual for the 87 ROM and currently host it here:
http://home.datacodsl.com/kalandi/apple/CMS88_OwnersManual.pdf
The manual is also available on GSWV at
http://apple2.org.za/gswv/a2zine/Docs/
.
____________________________
014- Does it matter when I power-ON my SCSI hard disk?
From the Apple IIgs Owner's Reference, page 267:
"In order for the Finder to recognize a hard disk, the hard disk must
be
switched on and up to speed before you start up (or restart) the computer.
Switch on the hard disk, wait about 10 seconds for it to come up to
speed, and
then restart the computer."
From the Macintosh User's Guide for desktop Macs, page 216:
"IMPORTANT: Always turn on any external SCSI devices connected
to your
Macintosh before turning on the computer itself. Otherwise, your
computer
cannot recognize the SCSI devices."
015- Can I leave SCSI devices I'm not using OFF when I
turn ON my GS?
If it were not okay, I would have fried plenty
of hardware. I do this all
the time. I have seen no problems with having some devices off. As
I have
mentioned, I keep my magneto optical off most of the time; and, my
buddy who
uses my 700 now has a flatbed scanner and leaves it off most of the
time. Both
work fine.
Related FAQs Resources: R008SCSITUT.TXT (text)
016- Is there a generic SCSI tutorial available for downloading?
Yes. Bus signals, commands, etc. for the Small
Computer Serial Interface
are described in the text resource file R008SCSITUT.TXT
.
017- What is the correct time-out setting for a Focus hard drive?
Supposedly, the purpose of having the Focus
spin down and stop
after 2, 10, or whatever minutes of idleness is to prevent over-heating
and unnecessary wear. After a few days of trying various TO settings,
I
set my "Time Out" to "Never" and have had no problems with over-heating
or crashes even after many all-day sessions.
From: Harold Hislop, Dan Brown, Rubywand
Related FAQs Resources: R009SCSIMOD.GIF (GIF pic)
018- How do I modify my Apple Computer High-Speed or Rev C SCSI
card to supply Termination Power?
The Termination Power modification for Apple
SCSI cards consists of adding
a diode. The mod for each card is shown in resource file R009SCSIMOD.GIF.
The High-Speed card pic shows a simple sketch of the back of the Apple
High
Speed SCSI card near connectors 26-33. The directions say that you
connect a
1N914 diode between two points:
The anode (non-banded end) of the diode goes to the *top* of L1. The
cathode
(banded/striped end) of the diode goes to the >bottom< of RP2
The pic shows the *top* of L1 to be a solder pad (just a solder pad
with no trace
showing) a little ways up from a point between connectors 32 and 33.
The >bottom< of RP2 is just a bit up and to the left of the *top*
of L1. It is
the lowest of several points (the pic shows 8) arranged in a vertical
column
and should have a trace going off to the left.
The other pic shows where to connect the diode on an Apple Rev C SCSI card.
019- Can I get a Focus drive bigger than a couple hundred MB?
Get a 40MB Focus Hard Card from Alltech. Get an 800MB
IDE 2.5" Quantum
GO-drive from Computer Shopper sources for pennies. Replace the
original drive
on the Focus Hard Card with the big one (VERY easy and self-explanatory,
just
use a screw driver). Low level format, partition, and high level
format.
That's it!
020- On my ROM-03 GS the hard disk is connected to a CMS SCSI card.
How do I install System 6.0.1?
It turns out that the SCSI drivers that come
on the Sys 6.0.1 Install Disk
downloaded from ftp.apple.com are incompatible with CMS ver 3.0 (and
probably
earlier) SCSI cards.
What I did was to replace scsi.manager and
scsihd.driver in the System
6.0.1 Install disk SYSTEM/DRIVERS folder with scsi.manager, scsihd.driver,
AND
CMS.driver from the CMS Utility disk.
With the replacement scsi drivers installed,
the Install disk recognizes
the hard drive and installation went smoothly from that point. (The
CMS files
are dated 1989 and 1990, so they are a bit older than the 6.01 files,
which are
dated 1993. But, they work!)
021- How is DMA set for SCSI cards with 8MB RAM cards on the GS?
DMA needs to be turned off with the Apple HS
SCSI card or the RamFAST
revision C card. It does not need to be turned off with the RamFAST
revision D
card (differentiated by being half sized). The latest RamFAST
cards are revision D
as are late model CV Tech cards. It is the RamFAST revision D
that is designed
to DMA into any RAM card, even 8MB models. It was made around the time
of
the CV RAM 8MB model that turned into Sequential's RAM GS Plus, but
functions just as well with the Sirius card.
022- My 20MB Focus bombs and there's some goo on the card. A fix?
The goo is leaking from the drive due to a
failed seal which seems to
plague some of the older Conner drive modules. The fix is to check
with the
seller of the drive for a replacement. At Alltech, a good Apple II
person to
contact is Tony Diaz.
023- Where can I find the RamFAST manual on the net?
You can find the RamFAST manual at ...
http://apple2.org.za/gswv/a2zine/Docs/RamFASTManual.txt
(Text file)
Ground:
/Docs/(.BSQ binscii file)
ftp://apple2.tffenterprises.com/pub/apple2/miscinfo/(.BXY
ShrinkIt file)
024- How can I tell which Apple SCSI card I have?
The Apple High Speed SCSI card has a set of
Dip Switches on it; the Rev C
doesn't, and the ROM chip date is older than 1989, if it shows at all.
The Apple SCSI cards older than REV C don't work in my IIe or IIgs......
From: Supertimer
The Apple High Speed SCSI card has a printed
label on one of the chips
showing the name "Sandwich II" on it.
From: David Empson
The ROMs for the three (non "High Speed) Apple SCSI card firmware
revisions are ...
341-0112A revision A firmware
341-0112B revision B firmware
341-0437-A revision C firmware
There is only one firwmare revision for the high-speed card
From: Patrick Schaefer and Dakin Williams
025- Where can I find Profile maintenance and formatting info?
See the ProfileHardDriveMaintenance.txt file on Ground.
