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-=-=-=-=-=-=-
- *********************************************************************
- ** ***
- ** My experience with building a ***
- ** ***
- ** generic SCSI hard drive ***
- ** ***
- ** By : Harley Ficke ***
- ** ***
- *********************************************************************
Here I am, looking around the Classified advertisements on America
Online, and I come across one for SCSI hard drives. I notice that the
prices are way lower than I have seen anywhere else. Since I am always
out of room on my 5 MEG hard drive. I call the number in the ad and
find out that what I get is just the raw hard drive, nothing else. The
drives are SCSI embedded, though. Doing a rough estimate in my head, I
should save about $400 to $600, if I can find the rest of the parts
used. That did not work out and so I did not save as much money as I
had thought. The person that I purchased the hard drive from said that
he thought that he had an extra case and power supply around, no luck
on that one. In the mean time, I had been watching the ad's on America
Online. There were several ad's for SCSI controller cards. The CMS
cards were going for about $35. The RamFast cards (I only saw 2 ad's
in 4 months) went for $150 and $180. The Apple high speed DMA cards
went for $60 to $85. I saw one ad for a CMS hard drive and 2 CMS
controller cards. I asked him if he would sell me one of the
controller cards for $35. He said he would. I then contacted Tulin
Corporation about their A-HIVE hard drive cases. I wanted room in the
case for a second drive if I ever added one to my system. The total
cost of a case and cable came to $170. Here is a breakdown.
30 Watt power supply and case ........................... $119
Hardware kit for mounting 2 drives and internal cables ... $25
SCSI 50 pin to 25 pin cable (computer to case) ........... $18
Shipping and Handling ..................................... $8
------
Total for case with COD delivered to my door ............ $170
Hardware description Price Vender
======================================================================
90 Meg SCSI 3.5" hard drive .............. $305.00 new overstock
CMS SCSI controller card (used) ........... $37.00 America Online user
A-HIVE case, power supply, cable ......... $170.00 Tulin Corporation
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Total for 90 Meg SCSI hard drive w/card .. $512.00
I looked through the February 1991 issue of inCider/A+ magazine. Here is
a list of the hard drive suppliers that I found. These drives come
with case, drive, and power supply. They are ready to format and use.
This is not a complete list as some sold drives at about the same
price and so was not included in this listing. Some prices have been
rounded to the nearest $5 or $10. Note: the AE Vulcan drives are
internal hard drives. They replace the original power supply and come
with their own controller card. I think that RamFast makes a
controller for the Vulcan drives also, but I am not sure. If so, you
can be sure that it is a lot faster that the AE controller card.
"Apple SCSI" refers to the Apple High Speed DMA SCSI card.
Quality Computers page 2-5
NAME MEG PRICE
=================================================
Q-Drive w/Apple SCSI 80 800
100 1000
CMS w/Apple SCSI 60 700
AE Vulcan 40 650
100 1290
Programs Plus page 22-27
NAME MEG PRICE
=================================================
AMR 60 665
AE Vulcan 40 650
100 1280
CMS w/Apple SCSI 60 570
GOLEM Computers page 30
NAME MEG PRICE
=================================================
AE Vulcan 40 650
CMS w/Apple SCSI 40 575
60 680
Applied Engineering page 51
NAME MEG PRICE
=================================================
Vulcan 40 900
100 1800
Tulin Corporation page 65
NAME MEG PRICE
=================================================
A-Hive w/Apple SCSI 48 580
w/system software 85 620
case can hold another drive 100 815
or tape backup
Chinook page 77
NAME MEG PRICE
=================================================
Chinook 100 800
comes with system software
and utilities
TMS Peripherals page 92
NAME MEG PRICE
=================================================
TMS 80 540
105 595
210 955
This last company seems to have the lowest prices on hard drives and
interface cards. (RamFast SCSI DMA $179 w/drive $169). I have not
contacted this company and so don't know anything about them or their
reliability.
- *********************************************************************
- ** ***
- ** ***
- ** Assembling the hard drive ***
- ** ***
- ** ***
- *********************************************************************
Following the instructions that came with the A-HIVE power supply and
case made the job a lot easier. It went like this.
Open the case.
Disconnect the LED from your hard drive.
Connect the wire from the LED on the case to your hard drive.
Connect the power connector to your hard drive.
Connect the SCSI internal cable to your hard drive.
Put 4 screws through the bottom of the case into your hard drive.
Put the case back together.
Connect the case to your hard drive with a SCSI cable.
Format, partition, and use your new hard drive!
Everything went just fine except formating. After trying every hard
drive that the CMS formater knew how to format. I was running out of
options. A user of America Online, Herr Fixit, suggested that I check
my SCSI ID settings again. I checked carefully my switch settings and
was embarrassed at what I found. On the back of the A-HIVE case are
two sets of switches. One for each drive that the case can hold. I
was using the wrong one. After I set the correct switches to the
correct ID number, the drive formatted correctly. I now have two 30
Meg volumes that I did not have before. When you are used to only
having 5 Meg, 60 Meg is like having an unlimited amount of storage.
The drive is not as fast as I had hoped for. Maybe I had my hopes up
to high. When I get the money saved up, I will buy the RamFast SCSI
controller card. I will then have and even faster drive. The RamFast
SCSI card will allow me to use the full 85 to 90 Meg of my drive
instead of the 60 to 64 Meg limit the CMS card uses.
Harley Ficke
Addresses for companies mentioned in this article.
Quality Computers Programs Plus
20200 E. Nine Mile Road 75 Research Drive
Box 665 Stratford, CT 06497
St. Clair Shores, MI 48080
Golem Computers Applied Engineering
1111 Rancho Conejo Blvd., #407 P.O. Box 5100
Newbury Park, CA 91320 Carrollton, TX 75011
Tulin Corporation Chinook Technology
2156H O'Toole Avenue 615 Main St., #635
San Jose, CA 95131 Longmont, CO 80501
TMS Peripherals
23123 SW 58th Ave.
Boca Raton, FL 33428
The ad that I saw for the raw SCSI hard drives was placed by Jay Kimmey.
Jay finds over stocks and liquidations and then sells them at very low
prices through Chris Reagor. Chris also sells from other sources and
such has a lot of hardware available. Jay is currently serving in
OPERATION DESERT STORM.
Labaron Engineering Texas Discount Computers
%Chris Reagor %Jay Kimmey
Tyler, TX 2825 Valley View
(903) 561-4207 Tyler, TX 75701
(214) 566-9148