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What HDD are supported on the Seagate st11r card?

A

aaron7

Experienced Member
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Aug 24, 2003
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456
Picked up a clone that lost its HDD along the way.

Has a Seagate st11r card inside.

What drives that are somewhat findable would work with this?

Thanks guys!

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Looks like the ROM is older than this document discusses, but here's some documentation for that card: ftp://ftp.seagate.com/techsuppt/controllers/st11m-r.txt

Do not run a MFM drive on this controller, RLL only. (If you had an ST11M, you could run either an MFM or RLL drive, albeit at reduced capacity for the RLL drive.)

Based on that doc, looks like it supports at least 1024 cylinders and 9 heads. Mind you, if you don't already have a drive, you may want to go the XTIDE route instead.
 
I've got an 3.5" 80MB drive that uses one of those as part of a "hardcard" assembly. Runs fine in an AT&T 6300. The discoloration near the rear mounting holes seems to say yours was used in a similar configuration.

In my experience, if you've got one, it's worth trying an MFM drive and formatting it as RLL. I did that with numerous non-RLL-labeled drives and got very good results. There should be a low-level format routine in the (P)ROM--and I believe that you're allowed to enter the basic drive parameters.
 
This card does allow entry of the drive parameters, but the surface scan is not optional, and it is VERY fussy. If a drive has very many bad sectors, it's nearly impossible to successfully finish the low level format.
 
Chuck(G) said:
In my experience, if you've got one, it's worth trying an MFM drive and formatting it as RLL. I did that with numerous non-RLL-labeled drives and got very good results.
Click to expand...
I agree and have had similar experiences as Chuck. All the Maxtor and Seagate MFM drives that I formatted RLL performed flawlessly for all the years I used them in that configuration.

I've still got some 8-bit and 16-bit Western Digital RLL controllers, both NIB and used, if there's any interest in them.
 
modem7 said:
Although, I have an old version of the card like the OP's, and it only gives me a choice of seven pre-defined Seagate drive models.

View attachment 1004857
Click to expand...

Do you still have this card?
Would you be willing to sell it ?
I have a ST-251R drive but the controller card I have seems to be the ST11M and only presents MFM drives on its very very short list
Mine does support the ST-225 if you want we could swap cards too

Best regards

Nuno
 
modem7 said:
Probably. I don't remember selling any RLL controllers. I am far away from home presently, and will look when I get back next week.


Yes. I have no use for it.

When I get back home, I will DM you about this subject.
Click to expand...

WOW!
Talk about reaching out over space and time !
This thread is from 2015... it was a long shot :)

Anyway thank you very much for replying
Yes I would love to hear from you when you get back home
I have an ST11M even though the format bios program reports it as 11R the list of 7 compatible devices is only MFM drives, including the mythical M-225
At the time I had little knowledge about this cards and bought it

It happens that some time ago I got an ST-250R and it seems that this particular drive requires a special format with 31 sectors or so and this is one of the only controllers that does it
I have formatted it with 20mb and the drive works fine, only it just has 20mb :)

Thank you and hope to hear from you

Best regards

Nuno
 
nunoalex said:
I have an ST11M even though the format bios program reports it as 11R the list of 7 compatible devices is only MFM drives, including the mythical M-225
Click to expand...
Probably like the ST11M card shown at [here]. It has "ST11M/ST11R" on its BIOS chip, but the card is stamped "ST11M", and "ST11M" is printed on the circuit board. Presumably, the card's BIOS detects whether it is on an ST11M or ST11R, and then acts accordingly (MFM controller or RLL controller).

nunoalex said:
Thank you and hope to hear from you
Click to expand...
Just in case: I am in Australia.

I expect that some of the RLL controllers listed at [here] will support the ST-250R.
 
modem7 said:
Probably like the ST11M card shown at [here]. It has "ST11M/ST11R" on its BIOS chip, but the card is stamped "ST11M", and "ST11M" is printed on the circuit board. Presumably, the card's BIOS detects whether it is on an ST11M or ST11R, and then acts accordingly (MFM controller or RLL controller).


Just in case: I am in Australia.

I expect that some of the RLL controllers listed at [here] will support the ST-250R.
Click to expand...

Yes I had help before on this forum.. https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threads/help-with-st-11r-disk-controller.1244651/#post-1337633
the controller card I have seems to lack some circuitry like a 15khz oscilator to be able to work with RLL protocol
seems seagate used the same PCB for both models

Thank you -0º :)

Nuno
 
modem7 said:
Probably like the ST11M card shown at [here]. It has "ST11M/ST11R" on its BIOS chip, but the card is stamped "ST11M", and "ST11M" is printed on the circuit board. Presumably, the card's BIOS detects whether it is on an ST11M or ST11R, and then acts accordingly (MFM controller or RLL controller).


Just in case: I am in Australia.

I expect that some of the RLL controllers listed at [here] will support the ST-250R.
Click to expand...

You think that changing the BIOS address location can make it run in RLL mode ?
I have seen nothing on the card manual that I fond somewhere on the internet

I thought changing the BIOS Address location with the jumpers is only meant to avoid conflicts with other ROM devices connected
My card has 2 ROM chips.. one clearly says "11R BIOS"
But when I boot the computer or run the debug command it only shows MFM drive options

Thank you for the help my friend!

Nuno
 
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