I finally got a HD in my XT NEC V20 equipped clone but have a few questions.
The HD controller is an 8 bit Adaptec ST-11M (MFM controller)
Got the correct cables from a member here
Snagged a Seagate ST-238R (RLL) drive from a local recycler who had no idea what it was for a couple dollars as is.
So I hooked it all up expecting nothing to work and booted. The controller found C: drive as a ST-225 20MB HD and it booted to DOS 3.3 (lucky I guess it all worked).
From my understanding the only difference between a RLL and MFM drive is the formatting, RLL tended to cram more sectors (26 in the 238's case) then MFM (17 was standard?). So my 33MB RLL drive shows up as a 20MB MFM drive. RLL drives tended to be the same as MFM but were certified to work ok with a 50% higher format?
My question is can I format the drive to 33MB using my current setup? If so how? If not do I need to modify my card to a ST-11R (RLL roms I asume the rest is the same?)?
The HD controller is an 8 bit Adaptec ST-11M (MFM controller)
Got the correct cables from a member here
Snagged a Seagate ST-238R (RLL) drive from a local recycler who had no idea what it was for a couple dollars as is.
So I hooked it all up expecting nothing to work and booted. The controller found C: drive as a ST-225 20MB HD and it booted to DOS 3.3 (lucky I guess it all worked).
From my understanding the only difference between a RLL and MFM drive is the formatting, RLL tended to cram more sectors (26 in the 238's case) then MFM (17 was standard?). So my 33MB RLL drive shows up as a 20MB MFM drive. RLL drives tended to be the same as MFM but were certified to work ok with a 50% higher format?
My question is can I format the drive to 33MB using my current setup? If so how? If not do I need to modify my card to a ST-11R (RLL roms I asume the rest is the same?)?