Internal Hard Disk - replacement types

[dvdborn]

The last couple of years I blogged about my EIII at http://dvdborn.blogspot.com. I'll now post these blog posts here on the forum so that other users can contribute to them.

Some time ago the internal Hard Drive decided it was time to meet its maker. It was still the original 40MB from 1987. The EIII needs its internal HD to operate. You can boot the machine with a OS floppy disk but the OS still requires a HD to be present on the internal SCSI cable.

Googling for a replacement drive only the Seagate ST51080N is mentioned on EIII related pages and forums. A 1GB SCSI drive that is still being sold for $225.

So I started going through all my spare SCSI drives and here's a list of EIII compatible HD's:

Quantum Trailblazer
IBM WDS-L80 (80MB) - As found in the Apple II si
Quantum ProDrive LT 700MB SCSI - As found in the PowerMac PPC6100
Quantum Maverick ProDrive - As found in PowerMac PPC8500

To format the HD I used the standard interleave setting of 2:1.

It took about 2 hours to get the Quantum Maverick HD formatted and verified. It is essential that you don't abort the verification process (like I did at first). When you do so, you won't be able to copy the OS onto the HD. If you try so, you'll get the Error: "Bank does not exists!".

I also tried more recent SCSI Hard Disk models but they don't get recognized by the EIII. If anyone knows why please let me know.


Attached is a picture of the internal HD.

[chris raw]

Hi


I just wanted to notify that www.gebrauchtpc.de has Seagate ST51080N Drives on Stock.


http://www.gebrauchtpc.de/ItemSearch.aspx?se=ST51080N


They are just 3 Euro a piece 



Greets

[Escobar]

Hi dvdborn and Chris Raw,
I know I've told you that I have installed a compact flash card (1GB) internally in my EIII rack on your bloggsite, but I guess I can repeat it here too. the solution is valid with all samplers/synthesizers/computers that use old SCSI I type of harddrives.

Here's some pictures about the solution and parts you need:

[Escobar]

I couldn't attach the last picture to my last message (too big) but here it is (the most important piece of it all SCSI->IDE adapter):

[dvdborn]

Hi Escobar,

That's a brilliant solution!
I'm definitely going to try it out.

Can you tell us where you bought the CF card adapter? Is there any specific type/model that we should buy?

Did you have to use a special interleave setting to format the Flash card or did everything work without a problem?

Many thanks for the info.
David

[Escobar]

Go to www.ebay.com and type 'CF adapter' in the 'search' box. I just saw an adapter for $0.29 US from San Francisco by L&S-INC Store. you will find several seller there. I bought mine from Hong Kong. It cost more to ship it than the adapter it self. You can find the SCSI->IDE adapter at www.acard.com or at www.vesalia.de, or on eBay too.

Addendum: You need the 40-pin version and NOT the 44-pin that's used by laptops.
Addendum2: The SCSI to IDE bridge adapter is model: AEC-7720U if anyone is wondering. Forgot to tell.


Good luck,

Marko

[Escobar]

I forgot to tell you:
First time you boot everything up it might be that EIII won't find the CF card, if that's the case you need to turn the power off and remove the jumpers from the SCSI->IDE adapter, boot EIII again, and then turn the power off. Replace the jumpers and turn on the power again. I had to do this before EIII could find the card but it eventually did.

I don't remember exactly which jumper I had to pull out, but there's only two of them so just try it out.

Addendum:
There are some CF card adapters that can handle two CF cards, but that solution doesn't work with the SCSI -> IDE adapter (I tried) so you can only use single CF card adapters. If you need more units you have to install another SCSI->IDE adapter and you need a 50-pin flatribbon SCSI cable with three or more connection sockets.
I've tried this solution on the Kurzweil K2000 keyboard and it found it instantly without any problems.

[buchla]

Thanks Escobar for the info. I'll look for that also.

The drive in my keyboard is a 240mb Quantum ProDrive LPS.

[dvdborn]

Here's some extra info for anyone who is going to replace his hard drive with a CF-card.

Don't use fast (>9MB/s) CF-cards like the SanDisk Ultra II. They are not compatible with this solution.

I tried it and they don't work. I had no problem using older, first generation CF-cards.

David

[midi.mad]

Hi
I can confirm that this works with the E3XP.  I have a 1gb cf card in mine using the same set up.  It works beautifully, boots quietly and quickly and loads new banks in no time.
Recommended.
Midi.mad

[dvdborn]

Can anyone point me to an online store (preferably in Europe) where I can buy the Twinmos 1GB Ultra-X CF card?

I've tried 6 different CF cards and only one of them (a 64MB card) works with the CF-card solution. I want to be sure that the next 1GB CF card that I buy will work with the EIII.

David

[Escobar]

I bought mine from www.komplett.se (swedish web-store). You can go to www.komplett.com or www.komplett.be (since you're from Belgium chose the last one  ). Write TwinMOS in the search box and voíla you got it! Hmm... I just noticed that they got the 1GB version out of stock (Belgium site). But there are the 2GB version. On the swedish website they will receive new stock TwinMOS X140 1GB on april 18th at €10.

Hope it helps,

Escobar


Addendum: If you can't find the card I do have one I can spare. Let me know David.

[karlscott]

Hello Escobar

Can you confirm that the TwinMos 2gb card works, will the EIII even allow you to use 2gb's?

I am also looking for this card, found them in the US but the guy won't deliver to UK, if you know anywhere else let me know cheers, Karl....

[Escobar]

Hello Karlscott,

I haven't test the 2GB version so I can't tell if it works or not but the 1GB does. EIII OS system can only handle drives up to 1GB so best case senario for 2GB cards would be that you can only use half of it's memeory capacity.
The only card that I can confirm working with EIII are TwinMOS X140 Ultra-X 1GB card.

The swedish site www.komplett.se sells 1GB cards, but the site is in swedish so it can be hard to order and/or understand.

[karlscott]

Update:

Spoke to TwinMos trade supplier in UK and was informed that 1GB cards have now been discontinued.

Found this guy in the US who has them (link below) but will not deliver to UK unless order is over $100 so got a friend over there to buy me one and post it, the guys  got 19 left if any one wants to get there hands on one:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEBTOX:IT&item=130187158075&_trksid=p3984.cTODAY.m238.lVI

what we should also do is if anyone has success with any other cards then they should state it here so we can compile a list.

Anyway hope this helps, Karl....