8-bit IDE

From: allisonp_at_world.std.com <(allisonp_at_world.std.com)>
Date: Tue Apr 18 08:44:42 2000

> > I think this is a good cross section
>
> Whoa, good cross section, and missed the ST351A/X? This is one
> of rare drives that can be jumpered for either physical 16bit or 8bit
> mode.

I have two of them, acient and SLOW. Being slow on the media was only part
of slow as writing/reading them from a 8mhz z80 was not possible due to
the on board logic being slow too, they would be fine with 4mhz z80. Also
they talk a dialect of IDE that is not completely compatable with later
drives. I never tried them nor the two odball 8bit wide drives (one is on
a XT hardcard and the other out of a PS2/30). Why? if they ever died I'd
have to go through the whole mess again with the 16bit IDE.

Since part of the effort in my case was lower power, higher performance
the later drives were more appealing. For example later drives with 64k
cache (quantums) made CP/M perform better as seeks were masked and 64k
was a generous cache for that.

Allison
Received on Tue Apr 18 2000 - 08:44:42 BST