RLL drive controller on 386-16-80

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2 total messages Started by bchs1b Mon, 01 Oct 1990 21:23

#316

Author: bchs1b
Date: Mon, 01 Oct 1990 21:23

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I have a  Zenith 386-16 with drive type 39 (CDC #94155-86, an 80 Mb ST506
type drive, which I assume is MFM. Does any one know if I can replace the
controller with an RLL controller and would that give me more disk space
and faster access. This certainly works with a number of drives but I do
not know about this specific one. Any comments?

Mike Benedik
Biochemical Sciences
University of Houston
Benedik@UH.EDU

Re: RLL drive controller on 386-16-80

#318

Author: Jim Dibb
Date: Wed, 03 Oct 1990 19:32

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1665 bytes

In article <7071.27076d96@jetson.uh.edu> bchs1b@jetson.uh.edu writes:

>Path: clarkson!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!lavaca.uh.edu!jetson.uh.edu!bchs1b
>From: bchs1b@jetson.uh.edu
>Newsgroups: comp.sys.zenith
>Date: 1 Oct 90 16:23:48 CDT
>Organization: University of Houston
>Lines: 11

>I have a  Zenith 386-16 with drive type 39 (CDC #94155-86, an 80 Mb ST506
>type drive, which I assume is MFM. Does any one know if I can replace the
>controller with an RLL controller and would that give me more disk space
>and faster access. This certainly works with a number of drives but I do
>not know about this specific one. Any comments?

>Mike Benedik
>Biochemical Sciences
>University of Houston
>Benedik@UH.EDU

It might work, but it is certainly NOT!! recommended.  With Seagate drives
an R suffix (ex. ST277-R) denotes an RLL type drive.  MFM drives generally
are manufactured to lower specifications with regards to maximum bit 
density which is approx. 50% higher on RLL (26 vs. 17 sectors per track).

BTW: MFM controllers with RLL drives are OK,a waste of the higher cap.

Jim

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