MiniScribe 3438 --- HELLLP!!!!

From: Eric Smith <eric_at_brouhaha.com>
Date: Wed Mar 17 16:50:54 1999

"Jason Willgruber" <roblwill_at_usaor.net> wrote:
> O.K. I found that. There's still the conflict of wether it is RLL or MFM,
> though. I guess I'll try it with the RLL controller that I have...

It should be usable with RLL or MFM, as indicated by the specs you quote:
> > DATA ENCODING METHOD 2,7 RLL
> > DATA TRANSFER RATE (Mbit/Sec) 7.5

It should also work with MFM. Although it would be possible to engineer
an ST-506-interface drive to work with RLL only, in practice it would be
extra work, so I don't think it was ever done.

Note that many drives that are only rated for MFM actually work OK for
RLL, but there is no guarantee. Rumor has it that Seagate actually put
electronics in their later models to prevent the use of RLL on their
MFM-rated drives, eg., the only difference between the ST-225 and ST-238
is that the latter is rated for RLL.
Received on Wed Mar 17 1999 - 16:50:54 GMT