Drives on PDP-11

From: CLASSICCMP_at_trailing-edge.com <(CLASSICCMP_at_trailing-edge.com)>
Date: Sat Mar 25 21:00:34 2000

>I have a full backup of the drive via COPY.

Onto....? Is your backup bootable?

> I would like to graft a
>different hard disk onto this machine.
>
>I have available in ST506-type is a fujitsu 40mb and a seagate st4096.
>How do connect the second drive?

The official way is with a 6-button front panel for your box... but
you've got a bigger question to ask yourself first: is your
disk controller a RQDX1 (M8639-YA), a RQDX2 (M8639-YB), or a RQDX3 (M7555)?
The answer will determine what sort of drives you can hook up.

>How would I configure drive geometry to match the drive I am installing?

You have to format the "new" drive with the appropriate XXDP formatting
program, ZRQB?? for a RQDX1/2, or ZRQC?? for a RQDX3.

>How difficult is it to substitute a standard double-sided floppy mech for
>the wierd but nifty-looking floppy drives that are in it now?

You're asking a lot of really basic questions about this sort of stuff,
enough to indicate to me that you haven't read the definitive FAQ
about the small DEC drive systems of this era. I highly recommend
that you read "third-party-disks.txt" available from ftp.spc.edu
and other places, it will answer a *lot* of your questions like this.

But, the short of it is, if you have a RQDX1 or 2 you can't put the
same drives on it as if you had a RQDX3, and we can't make any specific
recommendations until you tell us which you have.

-- 
 Tim Shoppa                        Email: shoppa_at_trailing-edge.com
 Trailing Edge Technology          WWW:   http://www.trailing-edge.com/
 7328 Bradley Blvd		   Voice: 301-767-5917
 Bethesda, MD, USA 20817           Fax:   301-767-5927
Received on Sat Mar 25 2000 - 21:00:34 GMT

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