========================================================================== (C) 1993 by Atari Corporation, GEnie, and the Atari Roundtables. May be reprinted only with this notice intact. The Atari Roundtables on GEnie are *official* information services of Atari Corporation. To sign up for GEnie service, call (with modem) 800-638-8369. Upon connection type HHH (RETURN after that). Wait for the U#= prompt. Type XJM11877,GEnie and hit RETURN. The system will prompt you for your information. ========================================================================== Category 4, Topic 55 Message 1 Sun Jun 28, 1992 R.MARTIN22 [NETWORK 23] at 14:39 EDT OK, I'm confused. I have a single Syquest 44meg and ICD's latest Host Adapter Software. I just got my second cart and don't know how to access it. My first cart is partitions C: and D:. I would like this second cart to be F: and G: (E: is my RAM drive), but I don't know how to set that up. If that can't be done, how does one go about copying files from one cart to another via the desktop or UIS or MaxiFile? Live And Direct [1:11 PM-28/Jun/92], Rod Martin, Network 23/ST Connection ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 2 Sun Jun 28, 1992 D.D.MARTIN [Swampy] at 17:46 EDT NETWORK -- You have no internal (fixed) hard drive? It that is the case, then about all you can do is copy from cart #1 to your ramdisk remove cart#1, insert cart #2 and copy from ramdisk to cartridge. If you value your data, don't use the MOVE option or you will lose it should the power fail and you lose your ramdisk. If I were you, I'd look around the for sale messages and find a used megafile 30 or something to use for an internal drive. Hugs...Swampy ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 3 Sun Jun 28, 1992 JEFF.W [ST Sysop] at 18:12 EDT Rod, D.D. pegged it. If your Syquest is acting as your boot drive (C:, D:, etc.), whatever cart you have in it will be C:, D:, etc. You'll have to copy to another storage media as a staging area when copying from cart to cart. That will be a hard disk, floppy disk(s), or as D.D. suggested, a RAM disk. - Jeff ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 4 Sun Jun 28, 1992 LEOTAYLOR [LEO] at 21:12 EDT >>>PLACE THEM IN THE SAME ORDER as ID's My two SEAGATE 277R are drives 0,0 and 0,1 are on the end of a 5 foot cable (with OMTI controller) and my SyQuest drive (1,0) is only a foot down that cable, works fine for years. SCSI shouldn't be order sensitive, after all it's a buss (eg all connections are parallel). P.S. the noisy Seagates are in the basement under my feet! Leo Taylor ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 5 Mon Jun 29, 1992 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 00:03 EDT Rod, I think I understand what you are asking; you would like to take out the cart that holds C: and D: and push in the second cart and have it show up as F: and G: (with E: being your ramdisk) ... right? But TOS will see the second cart's partitions as C: and D: no matter what you may want to refer to them as, unless you find some way to load an alternate desktop in which C: and D: are assigned to non-existent drives whenever you use the second cart. I'm not sure if you can fool Father TOS that way (not having a real C:), and for sure you could not use C: to boot from in that case. Maybe you need to explain what you are trying to accomplish. Al ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 6 Wed Jul 01, 1992 R.MARTIN22 [NETWORK 23] at 00:06 EDT SWAMPY and JEFF: Thanks for the info. I pretty much figured out I'd have to use a ramdisk. I was just hoping there was an easier way. I just got a new job with a lot more money, so I just might be able to afford a fixed drive soon. Live And Direct [8:52 PM-28/Jun/92], Rod Martin, Network 23/ST Connection ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 7 Sat Jul 04, 1992 R.MARTIN22 [NETWORK 23] at 02:12 EDT AL: You pretty much understand what I was wanting to do. Perhaps I could create, on my second Syquest, four partitions. The first two would be one sector long and the last two would be the rest of my cart. That way, C: and D: would still exist, It's just that nothing could be written to them. Whaddaya think? Live And Direct [12:00 AM-1/Jul/92], Rod Martin, Network 23/ST Connection ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 8 Sat Jul 04, 1992 JEFF.W [ST Sysop] at 11:28 EDT Rod, If I understand correctly, you would like to be able to drag files from one Syquest cartridge's paritions (C: or D:) to desktop icons for E: or F: which would be on your second Syquest cartridge. You'd like for the ST to prompt you to change cartridges, just as it does when you drag files from the A: floppy icon to the B: floppy icon when you only have one floppy drive attached to your system. Am I correct so far? If I am correct, then the answer is no. You can't do that, even if you set up minimally-sized C: and D: paritions on your second cartridge in attempts to "fool" the system. The problem is that as soon as you try to do anything with paritions E: or F: while you have the first cartridge in your Syquest drive, you'll be notified that devices E: and F: don't exist (I'm guessing you only have two partitions set up on your first cartridge). You will not get a prompt to insert a new cartridge. That only works for the A: and B: floppy drives when you only have one physical floppy drive attached. For the ST to recognize that there are now new partitions available, it has to do a media detect to sense they are there...which means you first have to remove your original cartridge and insert the second cartridge. In short, you can't get there from here. If I guessed wrong about what you are trying to do, ignore this message. - Jeff ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 9 Sat Jul 04, 1992 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 17:27 EDT Rod, The smallest partition you can make is (I think) 1 meg. If that would work out, you could do it that way. Or You might just try assigning C: and D: to non-existent drives (just do it from the desktop and save the .inf file), and that way they'd be accounted for. Al PS, If Jeff is reading your intentions correctly, I missed the boat, and of course Jeff is right. There is no single-disk copy for hard disks like there is for floppies. ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 10 Mon Jul 06, 1992 R.MARTIN22 [NETWORK 23] at 00:43 EDT JEFF: No, you hit the nail on the head...bummer. Oh well. Guess I'll just have to find a fixed drive to attach to my host adapter. Where's the best place to find used drives (no cases or adapters) for sale? I usually only see whole drives for sale here in the ST For Sale Topic. Live And Direct [2:43 PM-4/Jul/92], Rod Martin, Network 23/ST Connection ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 11 Mon Jul 06, 1992 JEFF.W [ST Sysop] at 12:53 EDT Rod, Keep an eye on the relevant topics in Category 27, sale notices in Software Library #26, and check out the GEnie Classified Ads (type ADS at any page prompt to get there). - Jeff ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 12 Sun Jul 19, 1992 J.KUDRON [Jim~ST Sysop] at 16:44 EDT Messages #1-188 have been archived and are in the library-File #24959 Jim Kudron 19Jul92 ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 13 Tue Jul 21, 1992 W.DEMIAN [Demian] at 03:07 EDT I have a few questions about the SyQuest 44 removable HD mechinisms.... I currently have a double shoebox case with a ST296N in it.... Does the removable have a imbeded controler like the 296N, or will I have to get a controller if I want to add the 44 removable? If so, what controler do I need... Oh, It's on a ICD+ Host Adapter. Thanks, Demian ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 14 Tue Jul 21, 1992 T.ZENTHOEFE1 [Tom Z.] at 03:49 EDT Both the 44 and 88 megabyte SyQuest drives are SCSI drives and will hook up to the cable from your Host adapter. ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 15 Sat Aug 08, 1992 N.WALKER3 [N.WALKER3] at 22:12 EDT The Advantage series from ICD shouldn't have a problem with the Syquest drives - the older series may need a chip replaced on the host adapter. I've also heard it mentioned more than once that the older Seagates with embedded controllers (ST277N abd ST296N) prefer EVEN SCSI ID numbers (0,2,4,6) when combined with Syquest drives. ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 16 Sat Aug 15, 1992 P.LOUIE1 at 17:56 EDT I was wondering if it's safe to change cartridges with different partition sizes without rebooting. Is it safe? On a different matter now, I have a problem with my ST recognizing my Syquest on the first boot. This problem has just started recently too. Does anyone know what's happening? I have a MegaST4 w/TOS 1.2, mono monitor and a 44 meg Syquest. Thanks/ ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 17 Sat Aug 15, 1992 WAYNED. [Wayne] at 23:54 EDT P.LOUIE1, different partition sizes yes, it's ok. Different numbers of partitions isn't quite so black and white. Say the cart you boot with has 5 partitions, and then you change to one with only 3 partitions. The computer still thinks you have 5 partitions in my experience, so you can end up with some problems (lockups, warning dialogs, etc, but no trashing data that I've seen). If you're using the ICD software you can go into the HDUTIL (I think that's the one) program and "RELOG HD'S" which will relog the HD's and the system will then know how many partitions you have online. All in all it's really not a problem in my 2+ years with my SyQuest removeable. Wayne ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 18 Sun Aug 16, 1992 D.D.MARTIN [Swampy] at 09:39 EDT P.LOUIE -- I use ICD's CPX modual to relog the hard drives on my Syquest. Like Wayne said, if you have 5 icons on the desk top representing the 5 partitions on one cartridge and then you insert and relog a cartridge with only three partitions, obviously the first 3 of those icons will represent the current 3 partitions on the new cartridge. Personally, rather than clutter up my desktop with a lot of extra drive icons, I only use one partition on my Syquest cartridges then tuck everything neatly into folders representing "partitions". For example, on the cartridge I use for backing up my enternal hard drive (which has 6 partitions) I have corresponding folders labeld "C", "D", "E", "F", "G" and "H". As for your computer not "seeing" the Syquest on boot up... Perhaps you are not turning your Squest on and letting it come up to speed _before_ booting up your computer. I use 2 electric switch boxes. On controls power to printers, monitor, modem and Syquest, and when those are all up to speed, I use the other to turn on my MSTE. Hugs...Swampy ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 19 Sun Aug 16, 1992 R.MARTIN22 [NETWORK 23] at 23:57 EDT RE: Syquest needing two boots. There's a great little program available here on GEnie called (I think) SCSIWAIT. Run this program and it will install a bootsector on your floppy that will run when you boot your computer. It will wait for the hard drive to come up to speed before proceeding. Live And Direct [10:11 PM-16/Aug/92], Rod Martin, Network 23/ST Connection ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 20 Mon Aug 17, 1992 SFRT-ASST [Kene @ SFRT] at 02:08 EDT There's also a program called Boottyme. ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 21 Mon Aug 17, 1992 ICDINC at 03:56 EDT The Syquest carts with newer SQ drives also require either BOOTFIX.PRG be run on them or that they are formatted with our newer software (which does BOOTFIX automatically). So if you are using someone elses software, that may be your autobooting problem. - TOM - ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 22 Wed Aug 26, 1992 P.NEREO [Philip] at 23:43 EDT Info to those trying to find a way to backup Syquest cart to cart with only one mechanism. I have had pretty good luck using Cheetah, the fast copy program. I have 4 megs of ram, and use a boot manager type program (Mouseboot), to set up a bare bones configuration with a CodeRam ram disk of ~3400K. Then I copy from cart 1 to the ram disk, change cartridges, and then copy from the ram disk to cart 2. Cheetah is very fast - like 15-20 megs per minute! It also helps that I have my hard disk set up to store the data from all programs that allow configuration of data paths, to one partition of the disk. It seems to work pretty good, so far. ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 23 Thu Aug 27, 1992 D.D.MARTIN [Swampy] at 20:28 EDT Philip - I quit using Cheetah some time ago because it was trashing my hard drive. You have to be very careful with it since it does strange things to the memory or BIOS calls or some techy thing like that. Just be sure that you always REBOOT after using it! I find Maxifile to be almost as fast and much more reliable. Hugs...Swampy ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 24 Sat Aug 29, 1992 P.NEREO [Philip] at 14:13 EDT Swampy - I've had no problems so far. I'm using the latest version of Cheetah; no more than 4 -5 months old; maybe the problems have been fixed. I'll try Maxifile - trashing my HD is one of my less favorite things - but Cheetah is soooo fast! ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 25 Sat Aug 29, 1992 D.D.MARTIN [Swampy] at 22:07 EDT PHILIP - Yeah, Cheetah _is_ fast. But since it does strange things in memory handling or whatever, I don't "trust" it. It's been a long time since I've used it, but I remember the documentation _strongly_ recommending that you do a complete cold boot after using it in order to set everything back to normal. I didn't know there was a new version, but still wouldn't feel comfortable handling valuable information with it. Hugs...Swampy ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 26 Fri Sep 04, 1992 J.SAFFER [JASON SAFFER] at 02:03 EDT I just got a spanking new Syquest 88 meg drive and, much to my dismay, am running into problems. I would really appreciate any input on the following. First, here's my set-up: I have a Mega 4 with TOS 2.06 installed. My fixed hard drive is an external 50 meg Seagate which is ID 0. The Seagate is partitioned in 4 equal sections of about 12 megs each. The Syquest has 2 platters, one partitioned into 4 equal partitions of 22 megs each, the other partitioned into 2 sections of 44 megs each. I am testing out the new Syquest in two ways: 1) daisychaining the Syquest though the Seagate's DMA port and having the ID # for the Syquest be 1, and 2) taking the Seagate off line and making the Syquest the main drive, plugging it directly in the Mega's DMA port and changing the ID # to 0. When I set it up in #2 above, all works fine. I am able to access the four partitions on platter #1 and I am able to run programs from the Syquest. *BUT* when I have it all set up as #1 above (daisychained), I have access to the four partitions (now being G-J versus C-F), I can transfer files, *EXCEPT* I can't run a program, any program. I try to run WordPerfect, Interlink, and Aladdin but it bombs out and returns to desktop. This same platter works ok (I can run these same programs) when the Syquest is plugged directly into the Mega, but it won't run programs when daisy chained into the Seagate. What's happening???!?!? One thought I have is that perhaps the extra DMA port on the Seagate case is bad, although I am able to access partitions and also transfer files, I just can't run programs. The dealer who I bought this from wondered if the fact that the Syquest partitions were bigger than the Seagates might be causing a problem. He talked about "older programs" not running well on larger Syquest drives. But, like I said, these same programs run fine on the same platter when plugged into the Mega directly. One other question. I'm used to using Bootyme with my 2.06 TOS to bootup efficiently and I know about the fact that the Syquest (at least the 88 meg version) has to have a reboot when first powering up or else the partitions won't be recognized. I put ICD'S Coldboot.prg into an auto folder on floppy A but it didn't seem to make a difference. Any thoughts or wonderous ways to handle this reboot need? HELP!!........JASON ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 27 Fri Sep 04, 1992 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 07:03 EDT Jason, Ae you using an ICD HA? Do you have the sector size set properly? Al ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 28 Fri Sep 04, 1992 M.FARMER2 [Mark Farmer] at 18:18 EDT To: J.SAFFER Can't ICD help you and your setup? To: A.FASOLDT What are you thinking Jason is using BGM partioned and not GEM? ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 29 Fri Sep 04, 1992 D.D.MARTIN [Swampy] at 20:10 EDT JASON -- Sounds like it could be something in your NEWDESK.INF file on the Syquest. At the desktop, select a program (don't run it) and then check the way you have it configured in the OPTIONS/SET APPLICATIONS menu. Make sure that the path is NOT set for TOP WINDOW but on APPLICATION. Hugs...Swampy ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 30 Sat Sep 05, 1992 D.WALTER7 [Doug Walter] at 01:12 EDT Jason, Perhaps you are changing the drive (partition) names when adding or deleting physical drives. The programs that you mentioned all use pathnames for supporting files. If you have moved programs to another logical drive, perhaps the programs are not finding those files on startup. The size of the partitions does not matter. I have 2 hard drives (C,D,E & D,E,F) followed by a Syquest 44 (H,I) on my DMA chain. Sometimes when the moon is just right ;-) my ICD host adapter won't recognize the 2nd drive and the system sees the Syquest as D & E. Programs will transfer just fine, but of course, few will work because the partition names are wrong for the file locations. Hope you solve it! Doug ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 31 Sat Sep 05, 1992 J.SAFFER [JASON SAFFER] at 01:46 EDT Well, with the help of the Wizard at ICD, Howard, I have figured out the problem I was having the other day that was causing such distress. The problem was that I couldn't run programs on my new Syquest after I had copied files from the Seagate onto the Syquest drives. Also, when I ran CleanUp I got a bunch of bad clusters, defects, etc. Howard suggested changing the ways I had the two drives daisy chained, making the Syquest plug directly into the Mega 4 and having the Seagate plug into the Syquest, versus the other way around. The probable cause of the problem was that the OUT port on my Seagate is flakey and there was all kinds of trouble caused by that. After I re-did my cable set up, zeroed the partitions, moved the data back onto the Syquest, all worked well. I still have one glitch however and I would appreciate help on this. It's a mystery to me. I got the Syquest with two platters, formatted and partitioned by the dealer to my specs. The first 88 has 4 partitions of 22 megs each and I can make it ID 0 and boot up just fine. But the second platter, which was originally set up as 2 44 meg partitions (which I later made into the same 22 megs each, realizing that it couldn't boot with that size C drive)...this second platter doesn't boot even though I've copied the same stuff onto its C drive as the first platter has. When I try to boot from the second platter, it only gives me the A and B icon and doesn't recognize any of the Syquest partitions. I'm stumped. I ran the ICD Format program to check on the ID number and such, and both the first platter and the second platter show the same statistical info. Do I need to reformat the second platter. CleanUP doesn't show any defects or problems. Ideas, anyone?? - Jason Saffer Hercules, California Friday, September 4, 1992 10:43 pm ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 32 Sat Sep 05, 1992 DOUG.W [ICD RT] at 12:14 EDT Jason, Did you set up each cartridge for autobooting with HDUTIL? Also, there should be no problem booting from a 44 Meg partition with the ICD software (Atari's and Supra's can't do this). --Doug @ ICD ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 33 Sat Sep 05, 1992 K.CAVAGHAN2 [OakSprings] at 13:31 EDT Jason, Did you install a boot sector on the second cart.? Kent ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 34 Sat Sep 05, 1992 J.SAFFER [JASON SAFFER] at 13:50 EDT You know, the problem with getting new hardware is that, when you run into a glitch, your mind keeps you awake half the night trying to figure out what could be wrong. Case in point: not being able to boot up from my second Syquest platter and not knowing what the heck could be the problem. I think I even dreamed about it....at any rate, up at the crack of dawn to try out new things, like reading the ICD manual to come up with clues. The solution: the autoboot option on the hard disk utilities program had to be renewed -- apparently it hadn't been set up at the dealer's or perhaps it gets erased when I re-did the partitions down from 2 44 meg partitions to 4 22's. So, finally, I had the opportunity to use Diamond Back II using the Syquest and my fixed hard drive.....pure bliss. Thanks all for all your great help on my questions. (I think I take all this computer stuff too seriously.....when my system doesn't run right, I don't sleep good!!) - Jason Saffer Hercules, California Saturday, September 5, 1992 8:09 am ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 35 Sat Sep 05, 1992 J.SAFFER [JASON SAFFER] at 16:05 EDT Doug and Kent, thanks for your replies. I did discover that I hadn't set up the second cart for autobooting. Doug, here's a question, though. I'm using an 88 meg Syquest -- if I want to set up maybe one large 88 meg partition for backup purposes but also have the option to boot from that cart, what settings should I use on the utility set up program in terms of sector size, etc. Maybe I should set up a small root partition with the bootup info and make it easier. What do you think? - Jason Saffer Hercules, California Saturday, September 5, 1992 12:01 pm ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 36 Fri Sep 18, 1992 LEOTAYLOR [LEO] at 21:08 EDT Just to add to the data base... I too had problems using BGM partitions on a SyQuest 44. I formatted a full platter using ICD 5.6, my first use of a >32 Meg sections (I have 9 SyQuest platters). I wanted to backup/organize some archival floppies. I created over 2 dozen directories, then filled them up with no errors. Fortunately, the data didn't fit on one 44 MEG platter, forcing me to distribute the files over 2 platters. When I went to read the files I had numerous error boxes. I noticed only the files written near the end of the session (but in any of the directories) were unrecoverable. I suspect (but lacked time to verify) that only the files past 32 Meg were unreachable. No I didn't get any ICD read errors in the upper right corner and yes I reconfigured ICDBOOT.SYS for 1024 block size. I went back to "old reliable" 16 Meg partitions and my problem went away. Also I can use my favorite TUNEUP.PRG with the smaller sections. Leo Taylor ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 37 Sat Sep 19, 1992 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 14:03 EDT Leo, Must be something amiss there. My Syquests are 44 megs, one partition, 1024- byte sectors, and nothing has gone wrong. I am using ICD's latest software. Al ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 38 Sat Sep 19, 1992 K.CAVAGHAN2 [OakSprings] at 16:40 EDT Hi Leo, Strange about your problem with BGM partitions. I have 11 (or 12) platters all formatted to 44 megs. In 2 years, the only problem I've had is 2 bad sectors on any of them. Just curious but how many files did you have in your folders. I have had problems when I stuffed too many files in a folder (I try to limit it to ~150 files now). Kent OakSprings Software ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 39 Sat Sep 19, 1992 D.D.MARTIN [Swampy] at 17:50 EDT Me too Al. I have all 13 of my 44 meg cartridges partitioned at 44mgs. Also using ICD's latest software. Only problem I've ever had was write errors on disks that had been formatted as MAC partitions under Spectre. Problems occur if I try to reformat them a second time (to quickly erase them) then go back to MAC mode and try to write to them again. All kinds of bad clusters and the disk can not be reformatted as Atari again either. I've had to send 2 carts back for this reason. No problems if I _first_ reformat and repartition using ICD _then_ go to Spectre and reformat as MAC. Hugs...Swampy ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 40 Sun Sep 20, 1992 J.SAFFER [JASON SAFFER] at 22:02 EDT I've got an 88 meg Syquest and need to know this: does the ICD software automatically set up the correct number of byte sectors when I format and partition the drive to be either 44 meg or 88 meg (ie: one or two big partitions). Also, how exactly do I format a brand new cartridge? What ICD program do I run and are there any specific settings that I should be using in formatting on an 88 meg cart? - Jason Saffer Hercules, California Sunday, September 20, 1992 10:27 am ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 41 Mon Sep 21, 1992 T.MCCOMB [=Tom=] at 19:40 EDT Howdy folks- I've had a used Syquest sytem for a few weeks now. I just noticed something- today while the syquest is stiitng there doing nothing, all of a sudden the amber (busy) light comes on for a half second (and the drive makes a characteristic access noise). Is this normal? I havn't noticed it before. This wil happen every few minutes now. I'm sure I would have noticed it before. The system has been on and loaded for a few days straight now. Is it getting ready to go to the great drive mech in the sky? Please tell me it ain't so. -Tom McComb ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 42 Mon Sep 21, 1992 D.D.MARTIN [Swampy] at 23:16 EDT JASON -- Use the ICD Utility.Prg to set the logical sector size to 1024. You'll find the place to set this in the Configuration screen of the utility. Save this info to your boot sector (ICDBOOT.SYS). Use the ICD Format.Prg to format your Syquest platter. Just select your Syquest device at the opening screen and follow the screens to format. When the cartridge is formatted, you will be presented with the partitioning screen. Set up for the partitions you want on that cartridge and click on Partion. Numbers will click off as ICD does it wonderful thing. Wa-la... formatted cartridge. TOM -- What version of TOS are ya using? I've heard that 2.06 polls the drives more frequently than 1.6 or 1.4. I use 2.05 and have never noticed a problem Hugs...Swampy ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 43 Mon Sep 21, 1992 T.ZENTHOEFE1 [Tom Z.] at 23:29 EDT Jason, with ICD software and the 88meg Syquest drives just run ICDFMT.PRG and it will automatically read the Syquest drive and know that it is an 88meg Syquest and input the settings needed. As for the number and sizes of partitions, you'll go into the Partition section of the program and set those and have the program do its thing. ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 44 Tue Sep 22, 1992 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 04:18 EDT Yes, Jason, the ICD program takes care of creating the right size sectors. It's all so self-explanatory when you run the formatter (ICDFMT) that you'll have no problem. Al ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 45 Tue Sep 22, 1992 M.FARMER2 [Mark Farmer] at 04:38 EDT To: D.D.Martin I think that ICDFMT.Prg not format.prg ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 46 Tue Sep 22, 1992 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 07:58 EDT Tom, Sounds like the sort of thing my Seagate does; it shifts the head around every now and then to prevent sticktion. (Sticky friction of the head if it it stays in one place for too long.) My Syquest doesn't do that, but perhaps your setup includes a DC utility that shifts the drive head around. DD, I'm finally convinced that what the ICD manual says is true: the software doesn't care *what* you set for the sector size in the ICDBOOT.SYS as far as the operation of the system is concerned, since it picks up the sector size on bootup anyway. It's in the configuration just in case you have an odd setup in which all the drives that are present at one bootup have, say, 512-byte sectors, and you have a Syquest cart that you might insert later that has 1024- byte sectors. In such a case, having 1024 in the boot sys will make sure the system won't hiccup when that cart is inserted. Al ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 47 Tue Sep 22, 1992 ICDINC at 18:17 EDT Leo, Sounds like your Syq disk was used in a machine running an old version of TOS (older than 1.4) or a utility was used on the disk that couldn't handle the larger partitions. (Defrag utility or other direct sector reading and writing type). In any case, I would suggest that you keep the size at 16 Meg/partition or less. - TOM - PS ICD has a RT at 1220 for ICD specific questions. ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 48 Wed Sep 23, 1992 DOUG.W [ICD RT] at 07:47 EDT Al & DD, ICDBOOT only picks up the sector size when you first boot the computer. If you boot with only drives having 512 byte sectors, then insert a SyQuest cartridge with 1024 byte (or larger) sectors, you will not be able to use that cartridge until you reboot. HOWEVER, if you set the sector size with HDUTIL to a larger number, ICDBOOT will use that when starting, so you won't have to reboot when inserting the larger cartridge. --Doug @ ICD ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 49 Wed Sep 23, 1992 D.D.MARTIN [Swampy] at 21:49 EDT DOUG W. Setting the sector size to 1024 with HDUTIL was the _first_ thing I was told to do when I originally purchased my Syquest. The second thing I was told to do was reboot. I guess the folks at ABCO know what they doeth. :-) Hugs...Swampy ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 50 Sat Sep 26, 1992 LEOTAYLOR [LEO] at 14:31 EDT To all those nice people who replied, As I said in my message, I didn't have time to investigate the 44MEG partition thoroughly. No, I didn't run any "defrag programs" since I had just filled the disk from floppies. I had from 0-30 files per folder (the folders were named A, B, C, etc.) I was using TOS 2.06 on a SST-30, then when the problem appeared I dropped down to TOS 1.4 on my vintage ST (circa 1986). I later discovered that you need not set the 1024 block size if you only occasionally use a SyQuest for backup and boot with the BGM disk inserted. Saves a lot of RAM to leave the default at 512! Leo Taylor ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 51 Sun Sep 27, 1992 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 08:25 EDT Thanks, Doug. Your documentation should have been so clear! :) Al ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 52 Tue Sep 29, 1992 E.MATHESON [ERIC] at 20:50 EDT I am a fairly recent Syquest 44 owner. It has the ICD host adaptor and software. I glean from some of the recent messages here that it is better to configure the driver (ICDBOOT.SYS?) for 1024 bytes per sector. Why do I want to do this? Also, since my disks are formatted for 512 bytes per sector and I don't recall this having been an option, how would I change the format to 1024 bytes/sector or am I missing the point here? Thanks for any replies. Eric Matheson. ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 53 Wed Sep 30, 1992 K.CAVAGHAN2 [OakSprings] at 07:41 EDT Eric, It all depends on how you wish to partition your drive. If, like me, you want just one partition then you have to format as a BGM partition and will require 1024 bytes to access the entire drive. If you wish 2 or more partitions of <=32K, then I believe you can get away with 512 bytes per sector. Its been a long day and I'm too tired to try to remember the technical reasons so I'll leave that for someone else . Kent Cavaghan OakSprings Software ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 54 Wed Sep 30, 1992 DOUG.W [ICD RT] at 07:45 EDT Eric, It's only necessary to set the sector size to a larger value if you have a removable drive (i.e. Syquest) with logical sectors larger than 512 bytes. I don't think this applies to you. --Doug ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 55 Wed Sep 30, 1992 E.MATHESON [ERIC] at 20:31 EDT Thank you for the replies. I'll just leave everything at 512 bytes, I guess. ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 56 Thu Oct 01, 1992 J.SAFFER [JASON SAFFER] at 03:05 EDT Kent and Eric, I do believe you'll need to have 2048 bytes rather than 1024 if you're using the Syquest 88 meg version. That's what ICD's software told me to set up when I made one big partition on the 88 meg size. - Jason Saffer Hercules, California Wednesday, September 30, 1992 11:43 pm ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 57 Tue Oct 13, 1992 C.OINES1 [Chazz] at 19:26 EDT I just acquired a used SyQuest 44meg drive for a steal, and was wondering (since I didn't get a manual with it) about the care and feeding of these machines. Any special habits I should get into regarding the carts? Should I eject it before turning it off, or anything else like that? So far, I love it... but I'm not sure how much care it needs. --Chazz ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 58 Wed Oct 14, 1992 D.D.MARTIN [Swampy] at 19:38 EDT CHAZZ -- Keep your cartridges in their cases when not in use. I usually do not boot with a cart in the Syquest but insert them only as I need them. I _do_ leave my Syquest "on" all the time though. Use the ICD "AdSCSI Options" CPX to log in your Syquest after you boot. I've had my 44 meg removable for about a year and had no problems with carts formatted under ICD utilities as 44 meg partitions. I've had to send 2 carts back that developed write error problems after being formatted as MAC under Spectre. Both of these carts were damaged after I tried to _re_format them under Spectre (to Zero them out). I've found the safest way to zero a mac formatted cart is to fully format and repartition it using ICD format before reformatting them with Spectre. Hugs...Swampy ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 59 Wed Oct 14, 1992 M.TROUPE [Helium] at 21:25 EDT Chazz, Each one is different. One person here mentioned that it is recommended that the cartridge remain in the unit when turned off. My experience with mine shows that I have to eject the cartridge when I power it back up or the drive will not come up to speed and indicates an error. Blinking green light. Turning it off and on clears it if the cartridge is not in the drive. I may just have a weak drive. ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 60 Thu Oct 15, 1992 D.LIVINGST11 [ErnestBovine] at 03:42 EDT Another way to "log on" the Syquest after you boot with no cart in the drive is to run ICD's HDUTIL.PRG, and don't do anything with it. That is: when the main dialog box comes up, just quit right away. At least this works for me. ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 61 Fri Oct 16, 1992 R.MARTIN22 [NETWORK 23] at 00:11 EDT CHAZZ: I should have predicted it, as this question comes up every six months or so. Recently, John Stanley spoke to a chief techie-type at Syquest who said to LEAVE THE CART IN THE DRIVE if you will not be changing it to another cart. This saves wear and tear on the drive system and reduces the chance of allowing dust into the drive. Live And Direct [10:13 PM-15/Oct/92], Rod Martin, Network 23/ST Connection ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 62 Fri Oct 16, 1992 POTECHIN [ Nathan] at 19:16 EDT I always leave the cart in the drive and have never had a problem. Nathan @ DMC Publishing ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 63 Sun Oct 25, 1992 N.WALKER3 at 10:23 EST Any rich Atari user's who use the 128 Meg optical drive made by PLI - besides Bill Rehbock that is? ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 64 Sat Oct 31, 1992 D.ALFONSO1 [D.ALFONSO] at 19:42 EST HELP!!! All of a sudden, my ST can't seem to recognize one of my 44meg cartridges. Is there any way I can rescue any of the data on the drive. I'm using an ICD host adapter and I've tried to using Cleanup, but it just doesn't see the cartridge at all. If I try to re-partition the drive, will that help or will that kill anything that's currently on there? Any help would be greatly appreciated. thanx......David ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 65 Sat Oct 31, 1992 ST.LOU [Lou Rocha] at 21:29 EST David, when you boot your system does the ICD driver shown on screen? It may be corrupted in which case you could run the ICDBOOT.PRG from your floppy first to access the HD. If you DO see the ICDBOOT run, does it show you which devices it is recognizing? ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 66 Sun Nov 01, 1992 D.ALFONSO1 [D.ALFONSO] at 00:23 EST Lou, Thanks for replying so quickly... I guess I needed to give more detail in my post. I'm running the Syquest drive as a second hard drive. When I use one of my other cartridges everything runs fine, so I think the problem is specific to the cartridge. If I boot with a good cartridge, the Syquest is recognized as usual until I swap to the damaged (suspected) cartridge. Then, I get "Disk does not exist" messages when I try to open a window or access a file from it. I swap the carts frequently and I suspect I may have yanked it out while it was still spinning, or something like that. I've tried to access it via various hard drive utilities, but have had no luck. Any ideas?? Thanx again ..David ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 67 Sun Nov 01, 1992 M.CHOO1 at 08:35 EST Hi A.Kashi I use a 128 Meg Turbo model with the TT, and what a baby it is. This is a must for any serious user. Also have from time to time a 600 meg optical from Ricoh connected for archiving purposes. ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 68 Sun Nov 01, 1992 ST.LOU [Lou Rocha] at 09:47 EST David, let me take a guess here and suggest you may have damaged the boot sector which contains all drive ID information as well as pointers to the FAT. At this point I would suggest you email to Bob Luneski at ORA.TECH or post a message in CATegory 2 TOPic 42. I am sure you will get more help there. Lou Rocha RTC Sysop ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 69 Sun Nov 01, 1992 DOUG.W [ICD RT] at 11:54 EST David Alfonso, It sounds like the partition table on your SyQuest cartridge got wiped out. Give us a call and Howard will be able to help you rebuild the partition table with minimal (or no) data loss. --Doug @ ICD ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 70 Sun Nov 01, 1992 D.D.MARTIN [Swampy] at 20:02 EST Doug -- Thanks for the hug. I got my 'relog hard drive' problem all squared away. Hugs...Swampy ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 71 Mon Nov 02, 1992 ICDINC at 10:00 EST Howards number at ICD is 815-968-2228 ext. 235. He can be reached from 10-2pm CST. - TOM - ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 72 Tue Nov 03, 1992 D.ALFONSO1 [D.ALFONSO] at 23:07 EST LOU & DOUG Thanks for your interest......The problem has been solved. I talked to Howard at ICD and he directed me to the FIX option in Cleanup (funny, it wasn't in the manual). It restored the partitions and everything seems fine. Guess it's time to backup the drive. I'm really glad I bought Cleanup, it's saved my buns a number of times. Thanks again David ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 73 Wed Nov 04, 1992 ST.LOU [Lou Rocha] at 09:45 EST Hey David... solutions are good but SUPPORT is fantastic. Perhaps you would like to summarize the problem and the solution for future users? ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 74 Fri Nov 06, 1992 D.ALFONSO1 [D.ALFONSO] at 02:15 EST Lou, Yeah. I don't know what caused the problem, but apparently, my partition table had been erased ( I really don't know how) rendering my 44meg cartridge unreadable. Believe me, I'd like to know what caused it so that I don't repeat my mistake. I asked Howard at ICD what might have caused it and he said it's hard to tell. Anyway, the FIX option (after hitting the HARD DISK button) in CleanUp did the trick. I might suggest that if you have this software you should save the partition information in case you run into a similar problem someday. David ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 75 Fri Nov 06, 1992 ST.LOU [Lou Rocha] at 08:09 EST Thanks for the whole story David. You made a good suggestion that users should save their partition info.... this is easily done with Diamond Edge from ORA TECH. Further information on this incredible program is being discussed daily in the new category 33. ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 76 Mon Nov 09, 1992 T.MCCOMB [=Tom=] at 16:45 EST Howdy- My brother just picked up an 88Meg SyQuest. Is it possible for the 88 to Format, Read/Write 44M Carts? He has successfully formatted an 88M platter, but gets Sense Code $24 when he tries to format a 44M Platter. What's the deal? -Tom McComb {4:41 pm} Monday, November 9, 1992 ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 78 Mon Nov 09, 1992 G.ANDERSON at 21:47 EST Tom; The new SyQuest 88s CAN read the old 44Meg platters but can not format or write to them. I'm not sure why they did it that way but that's what I read in a DOS magazine when the new unit first came out. I'm afraid you're stuck with buying new 88meg platters for it.. wish I had that problem , but it will be a while before I can afford to upgrade to an 88 (got to upgrade the old SeaGate first). Gregg ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 79 Mon Nov 09, 1992 EXPLORER at 21:47 EST Tom, A Syquest 88 can read 44 meg cartridges but you can not write to 44's from the larger capacity drive. Ron @ Atari Explorer ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 80 Mon Nov 09, 1992 T.MCCOMB [=Tom=] at 23:07 EST Thanks, Greg & Ron. That's not what we wanted to hear. Arrrgh. We were goign to use SyQuest Platters to swap PD Fonts/Clip Art cross country, I have a 44. He only got the 88, 'cause of a really good sale. Now we can't swap platters. Arrrgh. -Tom McComb {10:53 pm} Monday, November 9, 1992 ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 81 Wed Nov 11, 1992 F.BELL1 [Frank @ Home] at 16:26 EST I remember when the Syquest 88 came out. We tried everything to get it to write to a 44MB disk, including moving the 44 MB disk to a 88MB cartridge just in case it had a 'write protect' mechanism we couldn't see either in/on the cartridge or in the drive (which we also took apart). Nothing worked. :-( Frank... ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 82 Mon Nov 23, 1992 P.NEREO [Philip] at 02:32 EST I'm just sending off two more cartridges to Syquest for warranty replacement, (numbers 3 & 4, I think). I love this drive, but boy, when the carts start to go flakey...grrrr. Anyway, a new (to me) piece of info I picked up from the phone support tech. Yes, it's ok to leave the carts in the mechanism, and best to push the button before powering down, but (this is the new part) it's also best to slide the eject lever over to the right. This retracts the heads (he said), so that they can't inadvertantly touch the disk, or magnetically, over time, corrupt data. Sounds good to me! I'll sprinkle holy water on the darn thing if it'll keep the disks from messing up! ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 83 Mon Nov 23, 1992 WAYNED. [Wayne] at 19:30 EST Philip, How long have you had your SyQuest? I've had mine about 2 years and I just lost my first cartridge. I leave a cart in the thing all the time, and put major hours on my machine. On average I'd bet I put 40-50 hours a week on the machine. What's the process for sending back a cart? I've been meaning to look into it since the cart went bad (about 2 months ago). Wayne ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 84 Wed Nov 25, 1992 R.THUROW [Rich] at 01:57 EST Hi all, One of my Syquest carts makes a grinding noise during spin down. Occassionaly it wont spin up when the machine is cold. It works fine after a second boot. I'm using it in a Toadfile case as a second drive with a Maxtor 120 as the boot drive. Any thoughts? Thanks! Rich ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 85 Wed Nov 25, 1992 P.NEREO [Philip] at 10:51 EST Hi Wayne - I've had the Syquest for 3 years or so. I've sent back 3-4 cartridges for replacement, and replaced the whole mechanism once. I just call Syquest and they want to know the serial number on the disk. This tells them the date of manufacture, and if it's less than one year old, they give you an MRA number that authorizes the return. Do you slide the lever over to the right before you power down? ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 86 Wed Nov 25, 1992 M.TROUPE [Helium] at 19:15 EST Rich, You might want to clean the spinning silver disk on the bottom of the cartridge. I had something in there and it squealed on spin-up and spin-down. After cleaning between the disk and the cartridge, the noise went away. ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 87 Wed Nov 25, 1992 WAYNED. [Wayne] at 19:32 EST Philip, Bummer, mine is well over a year old. Oh well, I'll give them a call anyways and see what happens. No I do NOTHING special. I leave the lever engaged all the time. Once in a while I have to disengage the cart and then re-engage it to get it to spin up on the first cold boot of the day. That happens maybe a couple times a month and I boot up anywhere from once to 10 times a day depending on what I'm doing. The only time I disengage (other than for changing carts) is if I want to boot up without the SyQuest partitions. Wayne ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 88 Wed Nov 25, 1992 D.CHARTER at 19:39 EST Does anybody know the proper technique to using a SyQuest? Is it alright to leave the cartridge in all the time? Should it be removed for shutdown? I received NO documentation with mine. Duane ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 89 Thu Nov 26, 1992 F-D-PERCIVAL [Fred P.] at 07:04 EST Summarized from the SyQuest SQ555 Users Manual: HANDLING INSTRUCTIONS * Never leave the cartridge partially inserted in the drive * If you turn off the unit, be certain that the cartridge has stopped spinning before removing it (30 second wait recommended). SyQuest recommends that all cartridge insertion and removal be done with the drive power ON. * Always store idle cartidges in their protective cases (dust). * Always remove the cartridge before moving the drive * Do not apply lubricants of any kind to the drive or the cartridge * (There are several others, but they are common sense things). To remove a cartridge, push the square button. Wait until both front panel lights are out before touching the eject lever. The manual makes it very clear in more than one place that popping out a spinning cartridge is the very worst thing you can do! CLEANING REQUIREMENT The spindle motor hub should be cleaned when the orange LED flashes intermittantly when the drive is not being accessed. This indicates an alignment problem, possibly caused by a dirty hub. NOTE: This is the only cleaning required. SyQuest sells a cleaning cartridge for this operation. SHOULD I LEAVE A CARTRIDGE IN THE DRIVE? The manual gives no advice one way or the other on the question of leaving a cartridge in the unit during power cycling. ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 90 Thu Nov 26, 1992 T.MCCOMB [=Tom=] at 12:53 EST Fred- the intermittant red/amber was soewmthing I was exp[eriencing a while back. Have you ever seen on e of those cleaning Carts? Anyone know who sells them and how much they are? -Tom McComb {12:04 pm} Thursday, November 26, 1992 ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 91 Thu Nov 26, 1992 R.AVERYT2 [Mr. Ron] at 19:59 EST Philip - > Yes, it's ok to leave the carts in the mechanism, and best to push > the button before powering down, but (this is the new part) it's also > best to slide the eject lever over to the right. Ummm, how does one both leave the cart in and slide the eject lever to the right? My cart pops right out when I do that. [That's probably why it's called an eject lever. :) ] - Mr. Ron ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 92 Fri Nov 27, 1992 R.THUROW [Rich] at 01:34 EST Helium, Thanks for the reply! What did you clean the little silver disk with? Thanks! Rich ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 93 Fri Nov 27, 1992 R.MARTIN22 [NETWORK 23] at 02:01 EST RICH: To clean that metal disk, you need to buy a special Syquest cleaning kit for it. I don't remember what was said, but I've heard that you can do a lot of damage to your cart if you try to clean the hub any other way. > I got this from one of the chief tech-support people at SyQuest.... > > - - - - - > > When you power down a Syquest -DON'T- eject the cartridge (or press >the eject button) if you aren't planning on exchanging the cartridge >for another one. > > Just leave the cartridge in the drive. The heads auto-retract when >the drive loses power and as long as the disk is inside the drive it's >safer than in it's case. Ejecting the disk -causes- ware on the >drive, and on the disk, and is TOTALY un-necessary. > > Half-ejecting the disk (pushing the eject button, but not removing >the cartridge from the drive) doesn't accomplish anything useful and >it may allow room dust to get into the drive. > > The ONLY time you need to touch the eject button or lever is when >you are going to swap cartridges or move the drive. > > - - end of (paraphrased) quote - - > > I've been following these instructions since I bought my Syquest >almost two years ago and haven't had any problems thus far. > > Good luck, > ... JLS Reprinted from a posting from JLS several months ago. Second time it's come in handy... Live And Direct [10:40 PM-25/Nov/92], Rod Martin, Network 23/ST Connection ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 94 Sat Nov 28, 1992 F-D-PERCIVAL [Fred P.] at 16:05 EST Tom, The SyQuest manual has a picture of the cleaning cartridge. It's a dummy shell with a sponge in the bottom hub area. Some cleaning fluid is squirted onto the sponge, then the shell gets popped into the drive for hub cleaning. I assume you find the cleaning carts where you find regular data cartridges. ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 95 Sat Nov 28, 1992 P.NEREO [Philip] at 17:53 EST Ha Ha Ha Mr. Ron - You are indeed technically correct. I used to just push the power down button, and leave the cart inserted. The Syquest tech suggested, since I was having problems with cartridges becoming corrupted, that I also slide the eject lever over. If you hold a hand over the opening, the cart pops out about 1" and stops. I thought I understood him to say that this retracted the heads and would eliminate one possible source of problems. But I think from now on I'll go back to carefully putting the cart away when I power down. The slight inconvenience is more than outweighed by the sickening feeling of a cart messing up. ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 96 Sat Nov 28, 1992 M.TROUPE [Helium] at 18:57 EST Rich, I just used a cotton swab plain. I got the advice from Carter Graphics when I needed to find out a few other answers. ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 97 Mon Dec 07, 1992 J.LEBLANC3 [Jeff] at 23:39 EST Here we go again :> ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 98 Wed Dec 09, 1992 E.MATHESON [ERIC] at 09:36 EST What have people experienced in the way of flakey behavior from their Syquest drives? I'm just wondering if my experience has been isolated or what. I bought my Syquest 44 last summer from Carter Graphics and from time to time it would fail to recognize a formatted cartridge but after I would try a second or third disk it would recognize it and then be able to recogize the first disk(s) too. On occassion it would lose the partioning information on a disk but fortunately I could "recover" the data by rewriting exactly the same partitioning scheme to it. Most recently, the drive wouldn't recognize any disk and only the orange light would come on. The green light never did. This would happen even if the unit was disconnected from the computer and even if the host adapter (ICD) was disconnected. So it is evidently the Syquest mechanism itself. I mailed it back to Carter yesterday. He said it wouldn't cost anything to fix since it was under warrantee (good thing!). I'm trusting that my experience is the exception and that mostly people have had good experience with their Syquests, but I'm just wondering if other people have had this happen. I especially hope this is the case since I told Carter to install a second SQ555 in the case and make it a dual unit. Also, I'm wondering if this could have been caused or aggravated by my turning the power on and off from an outlet strip and leaving the Syquest switch on all the time. I wouldn't think so, but the drive's recent total malfunction corresponds approximately with the time that I arranged my system to be switched on from the outlet. Previously, I turned everything on individually. Eric Matheson ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 99 Wed Dec 09, 1992 D.D.MARTIN [Swampy] at 22:12 EST Eric -- I've never had a problem with my Syquest. It does sound like a problem with the mechanism. I power up with a switch box that handles the monitor, Syquest, printer and modem. When all those are up to speed I have a second switch that turns on the computer. I always have the power to my Syquest "ON", but I don't keep a cartridge in it all the time. Hugs...Swampy ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 100 Thu Dec 10, 1992 D.WALTER7 [Doug Walter] at 00:58 EST Eric, Something to think about. Your mechanism may have problems, but please - for future security - check the amp rating on your power controller or 'strip'. If you are exceeding the rated capacity, you could be jeapordising your equipment. Total up the amp ratings on everything plugged in and compare to the controller's rating. Don't go by the number on the fuse or circuit breaker - they are often cheap and will not protect you against the kind of overloading that wipes out delicate electronics, just dead shorts. Are you running the a laser off the same power strip as your computer system and peripherals? The Atari laser draws nearly 8 amps when printing. Too many items through the same power controller/strip could cause lowered voltage, putting a lot of strain on your external box's power supply and the drives. I just went through this problem myself :-) BTW, although my Syquest has been abused and generally ignored, it has been a champ. Gets a little noisy from time-to-time, but I just smack it and it quiets down (just kidding). Doug7 ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 101 Thu Dec 10, 1992 K.HOUSER [Kevin MQ Def] at 14:49 EST Anyone know if I can use the SCSI Floptical with an older ICD Host Adaptor? The HA was purchased new in early 1990. I'm using ICD's software 5.6.1 (I think). Is this sufficient to operate the 21Meg Floptical? --Kevin ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 102 Thu Dec 10, 1992 SFRT-ASST [Kenne@SFRT] at 16:58 EST I want to know if I can use my ICD adapter with my Mac. ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 103 Thu Dec 10, 1992 WAYNED. [Wayne] at 19:34 EST Ken, You shouldn't need the ICD adapter with the Mac. Most Mac's already speak SCSI and all the ICD adapter does is translate ASCSI (Atari Scsi) to standard SCSI. Wayne ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 104 Thu Dec 10, 1992 SFRT-ASST [Kenne@SFRT] at 22:40 EST Hmmmmmmmm When I get the money it's off to the tech guys. ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 105 Fri Dec 11, 1992 DOUG.W [ICD RT] at 22:18 EST Kevin, You'll need to get our SCSI Professional Software to use a Floptical drive with your host adapter. --Doug @ ICD ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 106 Fri Dec 11, 1992 G.ANDERSON at 22:20 EST HELP!!!! I had a cartridge die on me and sent it to SyQuest to see if they could find out what happened to it. I sent it to the address 47923 Warm Springs Blvd, Freemont CA. The blasted thing came back today with NO ONE THERE & NO FORWARDING ADDRESS on it!!!! $3 down the tubes (shipping from Japan). I didn't call for an RMA as the call would have cost half what a new cart would have. I mainly wanted to find out what happened to it. PLEASE.... has SyQuest changed it's address? Does anyone have the new one? If so then please post it here asap.... Many thanks in advance; Gregg ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 107 Fri Dec 11, 1992 T.MCCOMB [=Tom=] at 23:51 EST How about 47071 Bayside Parkway, Fremont, CA 94538 415-226-4000 fax 415-226- 4100. This is from a cart case with a Feb '91 printing. The newest carts I have (from last month!), just say Fremont CA 94538, no street, no phone numbers -Tom McComb {11:09 pm} Friday, December 11, 1992 ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 108 Sat Dec 12, 1992 P.NEREO [Philip] at 12:10 EST Gregg - Syquest address as posted by Tom is correct. New area code is 510. I also have a repair/warranty number of (510)226-4154. I think you need to have an MRA number, though. I've called and given them the number off the cart, from which they can determine the date of manufacture, and then gotten the MRA. I just got two carts replaced by them - nice folks. ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 109 Sat Dec 12, 1992 D.CHARTER at 15:58 EST Greg, Just to make things easier on you from Japan, I called the number just listed. The area code has been changed to 510; making the new number 510-226- 4000. I called the number. They were closed, but the answer machine did say SYquest. Hope it helps. Duane ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 110 Sat Dec 12, 1992 G.ANDERSON at 21:26 EST Thanks Guys... I guess I'll just have to spend the $$$ and get the RMA then. From here that's at least a $25 call... ARG!!!! Many thanks for the updated address.. my old one was from the lit that came with the original drive mech (replaced about a year ago). Gregg ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 111 Sun Dec 13, 1992 K.HOUSER [Kevin MQ Def] at 14:01 EST Doug, Will the SCSI pro software work with a pre ADSCSI host adaptor? If so, how much is the software upgrade? I wanna get the bare Floptical, some 21Meg disks, and the software at one time. :) Or at least the software 1st... Will the SCSI pro software allow use of tapwe drives, & other SCSI peripherals? --Kevin ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 112 Sun Dec 13, 1992 R.MARTIN22 [NETWORK 23] at 16:23 EST GREGG: I don't know, but maybe someone here can get an RMA number for you and post it in an EMail if GEnie's cheaper than the phone call (which I assume it is.) Live And Direct [3:06 PM-13/Dec/92], Rod Martin, Network 23/ST Connection ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 113 Sun Dec 13, 1992 D.D.MARTIN [Swampy] at 21:38 EST P.NEREO -- I just purchased 3 cartridges and note that Syquest has removed their address and phone number from the outside lable. I also note the new "fatter" cases that take up more space in my limited book shelf :( You're right the area code is now 510 :) GREG -- Would sending a FAX cost $25.00? Hugs...Swampy ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 114 Mon Dec 14, 1992 DOUG.W [ICD RT] at 20:59 EST Kevin, The SCSI Pro software offers the same features as our Link software except that it doesn't require an ICD host adapter. Keep in mind, though, that even though the SCSI Pro software will work with the ICD, Atari, Supra, and BMS (as well as other) host adapters, an ICD host adapter is still required if you want to send 8-bit SCSI commands (like for a CD-ROM drive). This is a hardware limitation that can't be overcome by software. --Doug @ ICD ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 115 Mon Dec 14, 1992 K.HOUSER [Kevin MQ Def] at 22:20 EST Doug, I *have* an ICD host adapter. :) It is labeled "ST Host Adapter BC, (C) 1987 ICD, Inc." :) You still didn't tell me how much the SCSI pro software cost. :) Can I do the SCSI commands with my version of the ICD HA? I've been toying with writing some SCSI software to xfer samples to/from my Ensoniq EPS16+ (w/ SCSI). Thanks, --Kevin ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 116 Tue Dec 15, 1992 G.ANDERSON at 05:19 EST If someone IN THEIR AREA could call SyQuest for me and get me an RMA I'd be thankful.. However, I don't want anyone to spend their own money on phone calls for me... I'd have to find out the serial number of the disk and right now it's not handy. Ah well, I'll be Stateside in another month or so and may be able to do it then. Thanks anyway though........ Greg ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 117 Tue Dec 15, 1992 ICDINC at 08:46 EST KEvin, The Pro software is $50. Your version is the "Classic" STHA and can only do 6 bit commands. ALL, ICD does have its own RT. Type m1220;1 or ICD from a main menu prompt. - TOM - ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 118 Tue Dec 15, 1992 K.HOUSER [Kevin MQ Def] at 11:30 EST Tom, Yeah, but the ICD section cost me $6/hr . Ok, how much is the Link? Maybe I'd be better off just getting it if my ST HA *won't* work with the floptical 21 meg. But my Classic HA will work with the floptical and the pro-SCSI software, right? :) ie. I order bare floptical, blank 21meg disk, AND pro-SCSI software, install it all... and I have a working floptical setup, I hope. --Kevin ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 119 Tue Dec 15, 1992 DOUG.W [ICD RT] at 20:14 EST Kevin, The SCSI Pro software is $49.95. Your host adapter does not support 8-bit SCSI commands only the newer Advantage, AdSCSI, and Link host adapters do. --Doug @ ICD ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 120 Tue Dec 15, 1992 K.HOUSER [Kevin MQ Def] at 22:17 EST But Doug... does the floptical require 8bit SCSI cmds, or will 6bit SCSI do? I just want a y/n/idunno answer or example setup that will let *me* get a working floptical setup for mnimal $$$. :) See, I could either get a newer HA or the SCSI pro software. Either way you're gonna make me another sale. :) I just want a minimal way to a usable floptical. Also, what is the ICD phone # for orders? --Kevin ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 121 Tue Dec 15, 1992 DOUG.W [ICD RT] at 22:58 EST Kevin, The floptical does not require any 8-bit SCSI commands. You should be fine with the SCSI Pro software. The sales department can be reached directly at (815) 968-8550. --Doug @ ICD ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 122 Tue Dec 15, 1992 G.SETTER1 [Gar] at 23:52 EST Hi, I have two SyQuest removable hard drives, which I'm very happy with. I'm not so happy with my backup program. I'm using the Good Backup Utility from from Titbit. It's designed for a backup to multi flopies. I want to backup one Hard Disk to the other. I want to give one command to do the complete job. I want it to copy everything new or changed to the backup disk. I only want it to delete from the backup disk when it is nearly full, and then start with the stuff that was first deleted from the original. It should be fast and positively reliable. Who likes their backup program? Please tell! Gar ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 123 Wed Dec 16, 1992 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 07:13 EST Gar, No, Good Backup is NOT just designed for backup to floppies! I use it to back up to my Syquests daily. It does this exceptionally well. Have you tried it with your Syquests? Just run Good and you're all set. The only caution: Use "ACCEPT" instead of "READY" in the menu choice. Al ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 124 Wed Dec 16, 1992 D.D.MARTIN [Swampy] at 20:50 EST GAR -- Check out Diamond Back from Oregon Research. Great backup program and very user friendly (GEM driven). Excellent support and service from Bob Luneski. B.LUNESKI1 is his Email. Phone 503-620-4919. Hugs...Swampy ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 125 Thu Dec 17, 1992 G.ANDERSON at 21:59 EST I agree, DiamondBack II is an outstanding program in all respects. It costs more than the PD programs of course but works about as well, and faster, than anything else I've tried to date. The compression mode is really handy too. Gregg ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 126 Sat Dec 19, 1992 J.THAYNE [J.G. Thayne] at 12:15 EST Is there any way to get a listing of SENSE ERRORS for a specific drive? I have a Seagate 1096n, SCSI 85 meg 3.5 w/ICD HA w/clock, and do get a lot of sense errors while I am running my bbs, but if I dump out to the desktop (read Hotwire-Maxifile-MultiDesk-Deluxe) and I try to do the same thing that the BBS was trying to do, I _usually_ do not get these errors. I still get them occasionally, even with Maxifile. I have formatted the HD recently, Oct 92, and installed all the new software that I bought at the WAACE show. (BTW, had the same probs before the WAACE show, but was not running the bbs on an st at that time.) After a week or two of the BBS running, I had a lot of sense 2 errors, and an occasional sense 1 error, with a very seldom sense 3 error. I looked in my ICD manual, and I know that they are different for each drive...so that is why I am asking where I can get this info. I also get WRITE ERROR (0,0), or something like that, on the top of the screen. Is this related to the cache? This also shows up more often when I am in the shell of the BBS or in the bbs proper. I do believe that I have read and write cache set up, the default for the newest ICD utils, I think 6.0.5(?). Even with all these errors, I have not found too many files that have been corrupt. The only ones that I could find were my menu files for the BBS, and they were all chopped to 512 bytes, roughly, and some of them that were the same size, when you looked at them with a sector editor or EdHack, it was really the first 200 bytes or so repeated to the proper end of the original byte count. This was right after I had a lot of run ins with Sense and write errors. I have not had this problem since...knock wood ... but I am still trying to figure out what I did that caused this, or _if_ it was my fault at all. Side Note: A friend also runs the same software for a BBS, and he also has the same drive as I do. He gets the same errors as I do, just a bit more frequently. His HD has been dedicated to the BBS since it was purchaced in 90 or 91. I bought mine from the same place a few months later, but mine has only been used for the bbs since October. Well, I think that I have given all the info that I have, and probably a bit too much (g), but can anyone help? JG ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 127 Sat Dec 19, 1992 D.D.MARTIN [Swampy] at 13:26 EST THAYNE -- The ICD.CPX has a list of SENSE ERRORS in it. That might help. Hugs...Swampy ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 128 Sun Dec 20, 1992 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 11:12 EST JG, The ICD adaptor is reporting that it found a problem and corrected it. You should reformat your drive and have ICD's software check it for flaws. Al ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 129 Sun Dec 20, 1992 J.SAFFER [JASON SAFFER] at 16:36 EST >Personally, rather than clutter up my desktop with a lot of extra drive icons, >I only use one partition on my Syquest cartridges then tuck everything neatly >into folders representing "partitions". For example, on the cartridge I use >for backing up my enternal hard drive (which has 6 partitions) I have >corresponding folders labeld "C", "D", "E", "F", "G" and "H". Swampy, regarding the system you use on your Syquest described above: I'm wondering what would happen if you had to use your Syquest as your main hard drive -- say, due to a crash on your regular hard drive, or if you took your one partition cart to another locale and used it as your sole hard drive to boot from. In other words, can you boot from a Syquest that has one large partition? Is there any problem with that? Is all you have to do is install a auto boot driver onto the one big partition. I've had my Syquest partitioned into smaller sized partitions so that I could use the cart as a boot up cart at work if necessary. Any thoughts on this? - Jason Saffer Hercules, California Sunday, December 20, 1992 11:08 am By the way, when I logged on today and did an autopass, I got a bunch of old messages, months old, in this topic. Anybody else experience this symptom? ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 130 Sun Dec 20, 1992 J.THAYNE [J.G. Thayne] at 21:38 EST Al I did reformat the drives back in Oct of this year. I had just bought a new 130 meg Toadfile, and used that to back up my other hard drive. I then formatted it, changed around the partitions, and then had it test for bad sectors. Then I ran the utils, ICD, and had it check for bad sectors. Then ran Cleanup and had it map via SCSI and check each sector 5 times. After all this was done...and that took a long time to do that, I then copied back all the files. I would guess that it is just that the drive is getting old, and that some of the sectors are starting to be questionable. Once I get the BBS in order, I will do another backup, then reformat. Thanks for the info. JG ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 131 Mon Dec 21, 1992 D.D.MARTIN [Swampy] at 20:25 EST JASON -- Hm... good question, Jason. I guess instead of making a folder for the "C" partition I could just put it on the root directory of the cartridge and have the folders "D"-"E"-"F"-"G" available as the other "partitions". I'd be able to boot from an arrangement like that. An alternative would be to format with a small (say 5 meg) "C" partition and put all the necessary configuration stuff there then make the balance of the cartridge one big partition and use the folders for "D-E-F-G drives". I treat my MAC/GCR backup cartridge about the same way, but the MAC SYSTEM folder keeps all the necessary configuration and .SYS information neatly tucked away. Since we have redundant systems around here, if I _really_ got in a bind, I have the option of taking my backup to John's computer and setting up the Syquest cartridge as a bootable system at any time. Hugs...Swampy ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 132 Wed Dec 23, 1992 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 03:42 EST Jason, You can boot from a Syquest, any partition size. Al ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 133 Sat Dec 26, 1992 PMC.INC at 04:18 EST Kevin Houser: Check the PMC Freedom Floptical drive topic, it might be worth your while to get a Freedom Drive (you'll get a Link with the Drive)... oscar ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 136 Tue Dec 29, 1992 K.HOUSER [Kevin MQ Def] at 11:55 EST Oscar @ PMC.INC, I was *heavily* considering the floptical but when my system died Sunday Dec 20th early in the morning I couldn't wait to get a working hard drive. So I broke down and bought a SyQuest 88meg with case, ps, & cart for $499 at CompUSA before church (it is nearby). :) Also, the SyQuest works fine with ICD5.6.1 and an old Classic ST HA. So a floptical may have to wait. Until the wallet recuperates. :) I'll keep you guys in mind tho'. --Kevin ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 137 Sun Jan 03, 1993 J.THAYNE [J.G. Thayne] at 00:07 EST Kevin; I assume that you bought a Pumma system? (88meg removable) If so, does it have a scsi port to hook to a Link or the newer ADSCSI host adapters? The only thing that I could find mentioned on the box of the Pumma Drive, also at my local CompUSA, was the mention of a parralel cable included. Would not mind that for use on my Messy Dos laptop, but want the dma speed on the atari. JG ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 138 Sun Jan 03, 1993 K.HOUSER [Kevin MQ Def] at 13:04 EST J.G. Thayne, *ALL* SyQuest drive mechanisms are SCSI. You are right that the Puma came with a SCSI to Parallel Printer Port adapter. I just plugged the 50pin ribbon cable from my ICD host adapter directly to the SyQuest drive mechanism. I then took the adapter cable and cut it and changed it to a Mac style 25 pin SCSI cable so I could use my old hard drive with my Ensoniq EPS16+Turbo sampling keyboard. It beat paying $100+ extra bux just for a 50pin centronics connector and a Mac 25 to 50 adapter cable which I could buy cheaper or build myslef (which I did). Or you could alternately take the SyQuest for your ST and plug the included printer port to SCSI adapter cable into your old hard drive, and then use that off of the PC's printer port with the included SyDOS software on the IBM compatible. It amazes me how different the prices can be in the same store for essentially the EXACT same thing by the same manufacturer with the main difference being one small cable/adapter (the adapter is nothing but about 6 or so common 74 series TTL chips) and the name on the box. --Kevin ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 139 Tue Jan 05, 1993 G.FUHRMAN [gnox] at 06:46 EST I haven't read this topic before so bear with me if it's an old question - I have a Syquest 44 and the (Canadian) company my dealer got it from has gone out of business, and my dealer is having a hard time finding a supplier for cartridges. He's wondering whether Bernoulli (sp?) cartridges will work in the Syquest 44 - seems those are much easier to get. Does anybody know? Or does anyone know of a Canadian supplier for Syquest carts? Thanks for any info. gnox [from a crater on the m()()n] ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 140 Tue Jan 05, 1993 ICDINC at 08:37 EST No, "Bernoulli cartridges" are from Iomega Corp. and use a totally different technology. The carts use floppy type media. Syquest carts use rigid hard drive type media. Any distributor that handles Macintosh third party hardware probably sells Syquest carts as well. They are very popular on the Mac. - TOM - ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 141 Tue Jan 05, 1993 POTECHIN [RT~Sysop] at 10:15 EST What Tom said. :-) Whereabouts are you gnox? I go across the street from my office routinely and pick up Syquest cartridges from the local wholesaler. There should not be any problem obtaining them. Nathan @ DMC ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 142 Tue Jan 05, 1993 D.FLORY [ALERTsys*Cop] at 10:24 EDT Nope, Bernoulli carts are a different physical type that Syquest, should _not_ work, even if it will go into the Syquest, drive, which I doubt. I've actually never seen a Bernoulli cart or drive, but have read about them and they're not physically the same, so I don't see how a Syquest could possible handle them. Dave Flory, ALERTsys*Cop 07:02 PST - 01/05/93 ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 143 Tue Jan 05, 1993 D.D.MARTIN [Swampy] at 19:13 EST GNOX -- The best mail order source for Syquest cartridges that I have found is MacLand. I just bought 3 for Christmas and they were $64.00 each plus shipping (red label was $9.80 from Arizona to Florida). I called one morning and received the carts the _next_ day. These folks have consistantly given this kind of great service. They take credit cards. MacLand 4685 South Ash Ave. Suite H-5 Tempe, Arizona 85282 602-820-5802 Hugs...Swampy ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 144 Tue Jan 05, 1993 K.CAVAGHAN2 [OakSprings] at 23:05 EST Hi gnox, Don't know about distributors back east but there is Micro-Drives, here in Vancouver, as well as Messy-soggy . There is a distributor here but I haven't been able to track him down yet. Micro Drives sells the carts for (approx.) $99 and I believe they advertise in Computer Paper. Kent ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 145 Wed Jan 06, 1993 D.FLORY [ALERTsys*Cop] at 00:00 EDT We buy Syquest carts for less than $50 all the time. The shouldn't cost much more than that from any Mac or IBM dealer. Certainly they're available for a lot less from MacNet and other mac mail order outlets. Dave Flory, ALERTsys*Cop 18:12 PST - 01/05/93 ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 146 Wed Jan 06, 1993 SFRT-ASST [Kenne@SFRT] at 01:41 EST Dave>>> I think that was $90.00 Canadian. I pay about $69 for mine. U.$. ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 147 Wed Jan 06, 1993 D.D.MARTIN [Swampy] at 20:26 EST In the past 2 days I've been experiencing problems with ICD 6.0.7 and ver 5.5 recognizing my Syquest drive. I don't always boot up my computer with a cart inserted. ICD does 'see' the Syquest although no device is designated since no cart is there. That's fine. But lately, when I insert a cart after booting and use the ICD.CPX to relog drives, the light on the Syquest flashes but when I return to the desk top I can _not_ open a directory on the drive (device I). Some times I will shut the entire system down, wait a few minutes then boot with a cart inserted and when I reach the desktop the device is still not there. Double click and nothing happens, not even the "device not available" warning. Most all my cartridges are formated under ICD with one 44 meg partition. The ICD HDUTIL is configured for 1024 logical sectors. The cartridges are readable on John's Syquest running on his TT. Seems the only way I can get to my cartridges is to run the HDUTIL and resave a new ICD.SYS file. Next time I boot the Syquest is accessable. System is Mega4 STe, TOS 2.05, Quantum 105 internal drive, Syquest with host adaptor. Any ideas? It's driving me bonkers. Hugs...Swampy ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 148 Wed Jan 06, 1993 D.FLORY [ALERTsys*Cop] at 23:24 EDT I found ads in the back of the latest MacWorld which went down to $62 ea. for a 10 Pack, $64 for 5 and and $65 for one. I guess I was dreaming when I thought I'd seen them for less than $50. (The above were 44M Syquest carts.) Dave Flory, ALERTsys*Cop 20:00 PST - 01/06/93 ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 149 Thu Jan 07, 1993 G.FUHRMAN [gnox] at 05:55 EST Wow, a bumper crop of good information! Thanks to all!! Nathan, the crater which I inhabit is also known as Sudbury, and the only Atari dealer in town works out of a hole in the wall of the crater on the moon. :) gnox ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 150 Thu Jan 07, 1993 ICDINC at 08:18 EST Swampy, Sounds like your Quantum 105 (which I assume has the C: partition) does not have the correct ICDBOOT.SYS file saved to it. Make sure when you are reading it with HDUTIL, that you are actually reading in the ICDBOOT.SYS from C: and it does have the 1024 sector size. - TOM - PS DOn't forget about the ICD RT and Howard at ICD for help. ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 151 Thu Jan 07, 1993 POTECHIN [RT~Sysop] at 10:56 EST Sudbury!! Oh my. ;-) If I can help get you something from Toronto please ask. Nathan ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 152 Thu Jan 07, 1993 K.HOUSER [Kevin MQ Def] at 13:19 EST So what is the best known price for SyQuest 88Meg carts? --Kevin ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 153 Fri Jan 08, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 03:42 EST D.D., I have had the same exact problem with my Syquests and the ICD software, with the same partition sizes. Versions over 6.x.x have behaved worse int hat regard than earlier ones. This is on a TT. I wish I knew what was causing it. As you know, if the drive that drops out is not at the end of the partition list, all the others move up one letter, and this unfortunate happenstance caused His Sleepiness (me!) to erase an entire 44-meg partition full of backups a few months ago. Al ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 154 Fri Jan 08, 1993 G.FUHRMAN [gnox] at 06:42 EST Nathan, > If I can help get you something from Toronto please ask. Thanks for the offer! So far I have an 800 number for MicroDrives in Brampton that should get me a Syquest cart for $99. If the wholesaler across the street can do much better, you could send me their name & number. (For you folks south of the border, $99 Cdn = about $1.99 US. :) gnox ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 155 Sat Jan 09, 1993 D.D.MARTIN [Swampy] at 10:14 EST AL & TOM I have about zeroed in on the problem of my Syquest not being recognized. I eliminated the Syquest, DMA cable, and cartridges as being the problem by checking them out on John's System. We attached my mechanism to his TT and everything operated perfectly. We narrowed it down to the ICD software by process of elimination. I reformatted my internal Quantum with ICD, ran the ICDBOOT.PRG and installed all devices. The Syquest was both working and available at this point. Ran the HDUTIL.PRG and set drive C as the boot partition and turned everything off and let it sit for 5 minutes. Powered back up and things were still fine except that the clock/calendar were messed up. I expected this since I have an internal clock on my MSTE-4 and on the host adaptor in the Syquest. Ran HDUTIL again and turned the clock off. Powered down and rebooted and again all was well and the Syquest was available. I use ZOOMRACKS and it is _very_ picky about AUTO.PRGs and ACCs _and_ with the newer machines the CACHEs. I have a SUPBOOT FK set up for minimal "extras" (only things installed are Mouse Accelerator and the 'old' style control panel from Atari). ZOOMRACKS would not run with the defalut ICD config settings so I turned _off_ both the DATA and FAT buffers (0 for both) and saved this ICD.SYS file. Guess what! When I rebooted the Syquest was 'logged in' and recognized on the ICD boot up screen, but _not_ accessible from the desk top! A double click in its icon did _nothing_. Selecting it and using OPEN from the FILE menu only caused the icon to be deselected! AH HA! I was able to reproduce the problem by restoring the DATA/FAT buffers so that the Syquest was accessable, then removing them again and it was 'gone'! Apparently ICD wants to have buffers and gets flakey if _no_ DATA/FAT buffers are installed! At least that's the case on my system. The solution to _my_ problem seems to be to configure ICD with only _1_ DATA buffer and the default 10 FAT buffers. Zoomracks runs fine with only 1 Data buffer, with 2 or more I get bombs. And with 1 DATA buffer installed the Syquest is fully available. It was a _long_ (3 day) process, but I'm back up and running and things seem back to normal. Tom, please thank Howard for his help on the phone earlier in the week. Special thanks too to BOB LUNESKI (the Diamond Edge guru %^) who gave me some excellent hints and tips via phone on ways to eliminate the Syquest mechanism, DMA cable, cartridge etc. I was lucky to have a backup computer/Syquest in John's system, but I really pitty the poor soul who doesn't have duplicate systems to help trouble shoot when problems occur. GNOX!!! You can get a Syquest cartridge for $1.99 (US)???????? Hey! I'll take a truck load at that price!!! %^) Hugs...Swampy ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 156 Sun Jan 10, 1993 G.FUHRMAN [gnox] at 07:17 EST D.D., Well, I was exaggerating a little about the price. :) Glad to see you got your problem sorted out. I seem to be hearing a lot about ICD software conflicts lately; I gave up trying to get the ICD software working with my TT months ago. Evidently when it works, it works much better than anything else, but not enough better to be worth risking problems trying to `improve' a system that works well enough, as HDX5 does for me. I turned on my Syquest this morning and it sounded like a helicopter taking off! Maybe the fan got a bit misaligned. It might have happened because our power was off for 3 hours early yesterday morning and it got a bit cold in here (it was -25 Celsius outside). gnox ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 157 Sun Jan 10, 1993 WAYNED. [Wayne] at 14:35 EST Gnox, That (helicopter sound) happens sometimes. It's kind of a wump-wump sound that speeds up as the drive comes up to speed right? Usually when that happens I release the cart, and re-install it in the SyQuest. Then it's fine for quite a few power cycles again. Wayne ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 158 Sun Jan 10, 1993 DOUG.W [ICD RT] at 23:16 EST gnox, The only problems we've been hearing about are with the TT. Unfortunately, the software works fine with our TT here as ICD. So far, no one has volunteered to send us their TT for us to debug with. Until we can reproduce the problems, we can only guess at what might be causing problems for some users. --Doug @ ICD ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 159 Mon Jan 11, 1993 G.FUHRMAN [gnox] at 06:24 EST Wayne, What I'm getting is more of a buzz than a wump , and I hadn't changed carts. It's either getting quieter or I'm getting used to it. Doug, Yes, I know everything works fine on the ICD TT, but it's understandable that not many TT owners are going to send you their machine for testing. I know I couldn't survive very long without mine. :) Swampy's problem was not on a TT - a Mega STe, I think. gnox ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 160 Mon Jan 11, 1993 D.D.MARTIN [Swampy] at 18:38 EST GNOX -- Yup, my problem was with a MSTE-4 under TOS 2.0.5. Just wouldn't access my Syquest with the DATA buffer set to 0. From what I've heard, ICD recent versions of their Booter software incorporate coding designed with the Falcon in mind and may cause some quirks with other model computers. Something about IDE, but I'm not a techie and understand very little about some of these buzz words. %^) Version 6.0.7 seems pretty stable (except for my particular problem visa vi Zoomracks's quirks. I don't have to worry about cold as much as the Florida humidity. It's been so beautiful down here the last couple months I've had the a/c off and the house open, but the nights are cool and _damp_. We get a lot of convection fog (ground fog) in the early mornings. The kind that is so thick you can't see more than 50 yards. DOUG W. Version 6.0.7 works great on John's TT under TOS 3.0.6. He's had no problems since you released this version. %^) Hugs...Swampy ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 161 Mon Jan 11, 1993 WAYNED. [Wayne] at 19:18 EST Gnox, I don't recall ever hearing a "buzz", but we might just be coming up with different descriptions for a sound we are hearing. There are a few different sounds that a SyQuest can make that don't necessarily mean anything. Usually the sounds are at power up as the platter spins up to speed. They can come when you change a cart, or sometimes even if you haven't changed the cart. I have one cart that is in mine 99% of the time and sometimes it will make noises at powerup even though I haven't changed it in weeks. I also do not disengage the platter during periods when the computer and HD's are turned off. I leave it just as it was while running when I shut down. I say that merely to illustrate that I can sometimes get the noises even if the cart hasn't been touched at all in weeks. The two most common out of the ordinary sounds at powerup are the Wump-Wump as the platter spins up, and then a very high pitched metallic screeching noise, again as the platter spins up. When I get either of those two sounds I usually remove the cart and re-insert it and the noise goes away. The other noise is similiar to the sound that the SyQuest makes just before it's ready (as it reads the partition info), only very aggravated. This happens randomly, but always after the drive hasn't been accessed for a long period of time. It's very rare, and my hunch is that you are asking for access either just as it begins it's idle shuffling of the heads, or during that process. (if there is no access of the cart after x timeout the heads "shuffle" either to a random location, or specific parking zone so that they don't sit in one place continuously) Wayne ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 162 Mon Jan 11, 1993 DOUG.W [ICD RT] at 20:26 EST D.D., The IDE code in ICDBOOT is only used on the Falcon and shouldn't have any effect on other ST/TTs. --Doug @ ICD ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 163 Tue Jan 12, 1993 M.TROUPE [Helium] at 01:32 EST Gnox, I have had a buzzing from my Syquest on occasion and it has been the fan. The fan moves slightly and the fan cover contacts the shoebox. Scared me to death the first time I heard it. I thought I had just had $500 go down the drain. I tapped the side (back right corner facing it) and it went away. Happens occasionally when I install a cart with too much force. Try a light tap and see if it goes away. ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 164 Tue Jan 12, 1993 J.SAFFER [JASON SAFFER] at 02:39 EST Doug, I can appreciate the frustration of not having one of the TT's that doesn't like ICD software on hand to actually work on to discover the problem. But, please understand that the thought of parting with my TT for any length of time makes me break out into a cold sweat!! It's a lot of trouble to undo my setup and ship it out to you guys. Maybe if the Atari bootup software wasn't available and working ok on my system, I would take such a step but...thanks though for the offer. If I get more desperate, I'll let you know. - Jason Saffer Hercules, California Monday, January 11, 1993 8:12 pm ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 165 Tue Jan 12, 1993 G.FUHRMAN [gnox] at 06:46 EST Wayne & Helium, Thanks for the responses. My noise is clearly from the fan, as it is unaffected by stopping and ejecting the cartridge. I'll give it a little kick next time I turn it on. gnox ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 166 Tue Jan 12, 1993 D.D.MARTIN [Swampy] at 18:46 EST DOUG -- Maybe you can answer my question about why my Syquest (at the end of the DMA chain) 'drops out' and is not accessable when I configure ICD with 0 DATA buffers? I've got my problem solved (install at least _one_ Data buffer) so I'm just curious more than anything. Educate me. %^) Hugs...Swampy ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 167 Tue Jan 12, 1993 WAYNED. [Wayne] at 20:12 EST Gnox, Glad to hear it's just the fan, and not the SyQuest mech itself. Fans are MUCH cheaper! :-) My fault. Since my computer/hd/Icd/floppies are all in a tower I didn't even think of it being the fan. Now that Helium brings up the fan, I slapped myself up side the head saying "Why didn't I think of that" since I had a noisy fan in an old HD case at one time. :-) Open up the case and see if the fan is just loose which is allowing it to vibrate, or if something is rubbing on the fan making the noise. If not you might end up replacing the fan, but they are pretty easy to come by at Radio Shack, or most electronics stores. Just make sure you get one that runs on the same voltage with relatively similiar power draw, and also that it puts out the same or more air flow per minute. Wayne ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 168 Tue Jan 12, 1993 DOUG.W [ICD RT] at 20:38 EST D.D., Actually, Howard and I have no idea what the problem is you are having. The TOS buffers are not used by ICDBOOT at all. They are simply supplied for TOS's use in the same manner as Atari's CACHEnn.PRG. If TOS needs at least one buffer on your machine, I'd suspect some sort of software problem, like a TSR or ACC. --Doug @ ICD ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 169 Wed Jan 13, 1993 D.D.MARTIN [Swampy] at 04:27 EST DOUG -- Can't be a software problem when I boot with only the XCONTROL panel and Mouse Accelerator. Or at least it shouldn't be cause I'm sure you've made the software compatable with the Atari "system" stuff. I'm running a MSTE-4 with no upgrades, but absolutly can not get to my Syquest if the data buffer is set at 0. The odd thing is, I don't even get the "drive is not available" dialog box when I double click the icon or use OPEN from the file menu. Hugs...Swampy ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 170 Wed Jan 13, 1993 DOUG.W [ICD RT] at 07:57 EST DD, What version of TOS is in your MSTE? --Doug @ ICD ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 171 Fri Jan 15, 1993 D.D.MARTIN [Swampy] at 18:34 EST DOUG W. I have version 2.0.5 of TOS in this here MSTE. Hugs...Swampy ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 172 Sat Jan 16, 1993 K.SCHAFER4 [Necromancer] at 11:02 EST Just a thought, but TOS probably needs *SOME* buffer space, setting the ICD software to zero could pose a problem (unless these are additional buffers.) ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 173 Sun Jan 17, 1993 JEFF [Jeff W.] at 12:39 EST D.D. -- I still have my TOS 2.05 ROMs from when I installed 2.06 in my MSTE so I can try to duplicate your setup and see what happens with my Syquest (the last device on my DMA chain). Before I start tearing apart my computer setup to install the old ROMs, please tell me what devices you have hooked up to the DMA and what address each is using so I can try to duplicate your setup more precisely. BTW, I can't duplicate the problem under TOS 2.06. - Jeff Williams ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 174 Mon Jan 18, 1993 D.D.MARTIN [Swampy] at 19:34 EST JEFF!! Hugs, hon.. how ya been? Gee... that's a lot of trouble, but if you want to try to duplicate it here's my set up. Internal 105 Quantum Device 0,0 Syquest (44mg) Device 1,0 My ICD host adaptor is on the Syquest. The Syquest was unavailable when I set the DATA buffers to 0, 1024 logical sectors, clock off. Everything else was at the default settings. Let me know what you find out. Good to see ya round here again! Hugs...Swampy ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 175 Tue Jan 19, 1993 PMC.INC at 00:01 EST If anyone's in the market for Removable Hard Drives, put your purchase off a few days until the end of this week, we'll be issuing a press release... you won't regret it ;-) oscar ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 176 Tue Jan 19, 1993 JEFF [Jeff W.] at 22:30 EST D.D. -- Hugs back atcha, girl! I'm doing tons better these days. Thanks for asking. I'll give it a try in the next few days ... this weekend at the very latest ... and let you know what I find. I'd love to be able to duplicate it. - Jeff ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 177 Thu Jan 21, 1993 DARLAH [RT~SYSOP] at 22:43 EST Hey Jeff, great to read you online.:-) Miss you! ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 178 Sun Jan 24, 1993 S.BULTMAN [Scott] at 15:42 EST I've only seen a few slight mentions of Iomega's Bernoulli disks. I use one at work on my 486 and would like to get the portable SCSI version to use with my STe and my new 486. I believe I can connect a SCSI device to my Toadfile's SCSI port in the back. So I'll be able to use the Bernoulli as a backup device for both systems (I think the 486 will require an adaptor tp connect with the parallel port). Anyway, should I start a new topic? I love the Bernoulli technology. It's incredibly reliable and I believe inherently safer than the SyQuest technology. I've seen this portable drive w/ cart for $500 from Hard Drives International and even though I have a free drive bay in my Toadfile (for a cheap SyQuest bare drive) I'm seriously considering the Bernoulli. Comments? ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 179 Sun Jan 24, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 21:40 EST We use Bernoulli drives for backup and archiving purposes on our Chyron Infinit! video character generators at work. We've had no problems yet with the drives or the media. I've been thinking of upgrading my TT storage too. At first I was going to upgrade the internal HD to a larger unit, like 330 megs. But the more I think about it, the I think I may want to keep the internal storage as is, and just hook up either a Syquest unit or Bernoulli unit (if they become available). I'm seriously considering the 88 meg Syquest at the moment... John T. ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 180 Sun Jan 24, 1993 SFRT-ASST [Kenne@SFRT] at 23:21 EST Chyron??? Wow do I have a file for you.... ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 181 Mon Jan 25, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 09:01 EST Scott, Iomega has a new Bernoulli coming my way for testing, so I'll write up a report for GEnie when it arrives and I try it out. The only caution I can made right now is that the carts are much more expensive than the ones for Syquests. You can get five Syquest carts for the price of two Bernoulli carts. Al ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 182 Mon Jan 25, 1993 SFRT-ASST [Kenne@SFRT] at 14:43 EST But what's the price per megabyte? ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 183 Mon Jan 25, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 20:39 EST >>> Chyron??? Wow do I have a file for you.... Kenne... Uh, well, uh, ok, I'm game! :-) John T. ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 184 Tue Jan 26, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 03:42 EST The price mer megabyte of Syquests, using typical discount prices all around, and using 88- to 90-meg examples, is $1.08 or less. Of Bernoullis, $1.45. Al ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 185 Sun Jan 31, 1993 K.FARRELL [Kevin] at 22:43 EST Scott, I've been using Bernoulli's with my 1040ST and 486 for a long time. I have a dual 44 Meg and a transportable 90 meg. They all work very nicely with a SCSI interface or within a SCSI chain. I'm using ICD's ADSCSI Plus H/A on the ST. Be aware that the latest model due out from Iomega will read/write 150 Meg cartridges, read/write 90 Meg cartridges, and read 44 Meg cartridges. I've yet to have a problem with this format. - Kevin - ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 186 Fri Feb 05, 1993 J.DINGA at 06:38 EST I have a 20 meg 5.25" Bernoulli drive I am thinking of adding to the ADSCI+ in my drive chain. Is there anybody who has done this already?? Any suggestions, as this is supposed to be a 256 bytes/sector drive vs 512 on the Atari ST. I use a MeagSTE 4/ 50+50, TOS 2,05. Thanks ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 187 Fri Feb 05, 1993 ICDINC at 07:29 EST J.Dinga, It won't work. We don't support sector sizes other than 512 bytes (physical not logical). I am not aware of any others that do. - TOM - ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 188 Sun Feb 07, 1993 S.BULTMAN [Scott] at 17:44 EST K.Farrell -- It's nice to know there's someone out there using Iomega drives on both DOS and TOS systems. Thanks for the tip on the new drive. As far as cost per meg, $300 buys 180 meg of Bernoulli disks or 220 meg of SyQuest carts, but 2 disks versus 5 SyQuest. Bernoulli technology is safer because head crashes are nearly impossible. Plus I really like the design of the Bernoulli cartridge. But the main reason why it appeals to me is that I uses them at work and can transport my work easier as well as backup both my 486 and STe harddrives. ------------ Category 4, Topic 55 Message 189 Sat Feb 20, 1993 K.FARRELL [Kevin] at 08:52 EST Scott, That's precisely why _I_ use the Bernoulli's. - Kevin - ------------