Adaptec 2372 RLL with Seagate ST-4096 MFM

[Karl Denninger]

In article <227 at holmes.home.nwu.edu> matt at holmes.home.nwu.edu (Matthew Larson) writes:
>I'm running SCO 386 XENIX 2.3.2 with a Seagate ST-4096 80 megabyte hard disk
>and I'm considering trying to run it RLL with an Adaptec 2372 controller.
>Is it bad news to try to run MFM drives RLL, or does it depend on the
>particular drive?  Has anyone tried the 4096?  Does anyone have an RLL
>that they like better than the 2372?  And, finally, are there any
>XENIX repercussions of using an RLL controller that I should know about?

Most of them work fine.  But not all.  Check CAREFULLY with some disk
analysis software (if you have it available) before you put important things
on the drive, and even then keep good backups.

We have done this, and had it work.  We've also seen it fail.

I prefer the WD1006-V/SR2 controller over the ACB2372A.  The WD is track
buffered -- the ACB is not.  That is the biggest difference, and it is quite
noticable from the performance standpoint; the WD is some 3 times faster than 
the ACB board!

(then again, we sell the WD boards... :-)

--
Karl Denninger (karl at ddsw1.MCS.COM, <well-connected>!ddsw1!karl)
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