+davidcalgary29 Posted November 23, 2002 Share Posted November 23, 2002 Can anyone comment on the best hard-drive package for the 8-bits? I'm thinking about upgrading my own system. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Jefferson Posted November 23, 2002 Share Posted November 23, 2002 "Best" would be hard to say. There are some commercial ones: ICD/FTe Multi-I/O (SCSI hard drive interface, extra memory, RS232 ports, Printer port? not in production any longer) Black Box (SCSI interface, floppy interface available, RS232, Printer) Still available from CSS/Bob Puff. Pretty expensive. Homebrew ones: SmartIDE (Bob Woolley) allows connection of an IDE interface inside your computer, with a battery-backuped RAM Operating system. Pretty difficult to build yourself and you will have to change your PS in your system to run the hard drive if you want to mount it internally. I like the concept of this setup, and have started building one and written a partition manager for it. MyIDE is a much simpler interface that only worries about giving you a IDE drive. Put it in your computer, or run it through a cartridge. The guy who designed this is selling some PCBs. This is probably the easiest way to get a hard drive to your 8-bit. The handler for MyIDE copies the OS to RAM and patches it, so if you want to run your hard drive with SpartaDOS or Turbo Basic you will need to buy or burn yourself a new OS ROM. SIO2IDE is an interesting project that allows you to have a hard drive interfaced to your computer via the SIO port, access the hard drive from your PC (all partitions on the drive are actually ATR files.) Upcoming versions supposedly have a USB interface on them as well. I've looked at this project's website and I don't think I would use it. It doesn't appeal to me. There are a few other ones that have been available at one time or another, but I haven't seen much information about them around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hulsie Posted November 24, 2002 Share Posted November 24, 2002 They made commercial ones??!? I had no idea! I thought the only 8-bit hard drives were ones that the hardware-hackers cooked up themselves. Does anybody know how common the commercial ones were , when were they made, and about what prices they ranged when they were introduced? I guess I learn something new everyday... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro Rogue Posted November 29, 2002 Share Posted November 29, 2002 They made commercial ones??!? I had no idea! I thought the only 8-bit hard drives were ones that the hardware-hackers cooked up themselves. Does anybody know how common the commercial ones were , when were they made, and about what prices they ranged when they were introduced? I guess I learn something new everyday... I think you're missunderstanding. These are modern commercial ones built by hardware-hackers trying to sell them as a side business. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mos6507 Posted November 30, 2002 Share Posted November 30, 2002 The first hard drive solution was for the Atari 800 by Corvus. They offered a 10MB drive that hooked up to the joystick ports. This was of course a specialty item, as hard drives back then in the early 80s were exotically expensive, but it was available. There was also a bare-bones interface made by Supra. I think that was the first interface for the XLs. Then the ICD MIO, and lastly the CSS Black Box. I consider all of these "commercial" although I guess if the units appeared after the official end of support from Atari Corp (like the Black Box) you could consider them hacks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt Vendel Posted December 5, 2002 Share Posted December 5, 2002 The 2 best and simplest Hard Drive solutions are MyIDE which is a great device developed by my friend Sijmen: http://home.wanadoo.nl/mr.atari/hardware-want.htm Its a cartridge with an IDE header on it, just buy an external enclosure, a cheap IDE drive and a ribbon cable and your ready to go, he has really commercialized it and turned it into a great product. I have a protoversion that I developed with him and Dr Clu of a replacement Atari 800 OS board with a Disk On Chip Flash Module with 64mb's and the 800 autoboots right from the OS board and stores everything internally. I will be running off PCB's and will make them available in Jan or Feb. The 2nd best 8bit HD solution is SIO2IDE by Marka Mikołajewskiego which is a little bit more flexible and powerful system, its an external interface that connects right to the SIO port and looks and acts like an Atari D: drive with no drivers needed. However this is a DIY (Do it yourself) project, Marka made PCB's and such, but you've gotta do a bit of work on your own, you'll need an ISP Atmel programmer, source the parts and build it yourself and then doing the same thing as above, get an external enclosure with an IDE drive and place the board inside and wire it all up, still a fantastic product nonetheless: http://www.atari.cuprum.com.pl/sio2ide.htm You can't go wrong with either interface and if you really want to get fancy and save a lot of room, by an IDE to CF adapter and then you can use Compact Flash cards and store all your data on matchbook sized modules! Curt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+davidcalgary29 Posted December 5, 2002 Author Share Posted December 5, 2002 Thanks for all your help, guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goochman Posted December 5, 2002 Share Posted December 5, 2002 I just ordered the last Special Edition MyIDE - Now, anyone got leads on where I get a HD for this puppy(the whole enchilada not just the drive). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted December 5, 2002 Share Posted December 5, 2002 I just ordered the last Special Edition MyIDE - Now, anyone got leads on where I get a HD for this puppy(the whole enchilada not just the drive). Cool. I have one as well. Haven't had any time to play with it yet. As far as a drive goes, any computer with a IDE drive in it will work. I'm actually using an old Mac Performa 630 right now. A more eligant solution is to get an external IDE drive unit that has the drive,power supply, fan, etc. all in an inclosed unit. A even cooler idea is to get one of these units and transfer everything into a dead 1050 drive case and just make a plate to close off the disk slot. Then you can stack 2 1050 on top of the your new 1050 harddrive. It will look like Atari made it. Allan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt Vendel Posted December 5, 2002 Share Posted December 5, 2002 JDR, MCM, Jameco all sell HD enclosures, but your best beat will be to do a search on EBAY for them: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=2078240767 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=2078220879 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=2078208819 This one would need a little work due to the SCA connector: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=2078138521 This one would be great for use with the SIO2IDE since it has 3 drive bays and SIO2IDE supports CD-ROM's, so you could have it all in 1 box: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=2078645405 As for hard drives, just go to ebay and do a such for IDE and find something like a 200mb-850mb HD and it'll probably cost you $10-$15, maybe less. If you're going to go the Compact Flash route, then search for Compact Flash adapter and you'll find the adapters (usually about $20 or so) and then buy some CF cards and rig up a way to mount it and cust a slot in the front plastic of the drive enclosure and you'll have a nice Compact Flash drive, if you do go that route, probably a better method will be to buy something like an Atari XM301 modem or an XEP80 or SX212 modem and put the IDE hard drive or Compact flash inside, use an SF354 or Atari XL or XE power supply and cut off the connect, solder on a PC power connector, then you'll have an Atari enclosure, lots of options, you just have to be creative and have some fun. Curt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goochman Posted December 5, 2002 Share Posted December 5, 2002 Thanks - I can handle that! But, the compact flash thing is much more interesting........... That I dont know much about - any websites you can dig up for that one? Seems like for $50 I'll have my HD setup as well - schwing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Civilan Posted January 14, 2003 Share Posted January 14, 2003 Hi, The following got me very confused. What's and OS board and do I need it for a MyIDE? I have a protoversion that I developed with him and Dr Clu of a replacement Atari 800 OS board with a Disk On Chip Flash Module with 64mb's and the 800 autoboots right from the OS board and stores everything internally.Curt I found this thread while trying to figure out what IDE interface was the best. I understood most of the discussion thus far but I one further question regarding the following. The handler for MyIDE copies the OS to RAM and patches it, so if you want to run your hard drive with SpartaDOS or Turbo Basic you will need to buy or burn yourself a new OS ROM. How difficult is it to replace an OS ROM and how to I do that? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Civilan Posted January 14, 2003 Share Posted January 14, 2003 Do'h! Double post sorry! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goochman Posted January 14, 2003 Share Posted January 14, 2003 You can fnd all the info you need here: http://home.wanadoo.nl/mr.atari/hardware-info.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TXG/MNX Posted January 14, 2003 Share Posted January 14, 2003 Hi, As an owner of several different harddisk systems I can say: Black-box: SCSI, is very good and easy to use. The only system that has a nice menu system on ROM and is a real good PBI device. Suports 256 and 512bytes/sec harddisks MIO: SCSI, also good but it supports only 256bytes/sec KMK IDE: Is fast, I even think it's the fastest IDE around and plugs into the XE ECI&cartridge. selecting partitions with software but this is very hard to use. MSC IDE: Is also nice, the only interface that supports CD-ROM drives and can read ISO9660 cd's. But the disadvantage is also the software control for partitions. SIO2IDE: Works by emulating a SIO connection. Is nice and can handle CD-rom. No menu software on rom and slow compared to PBI MYIDE I still don't have it, but looks nice, but it's NO PBI device, and I love PBI devices because of there menu and the Black-box and MIO also have a RS232 port and printer port. My tip is: want to have a nice cheap IDE choose MYIDE or SIO2IDE. Want to have the best around go for the Black-box it's really worth the money I have 2 of them and would like to have another one.... TXG/MNX Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lbaeza Posted August 3, 2004 Share Posted August 3, 2004 Its a cartridge with an IDE header on it, just buy an external enclosure, a cheap IDE drive and a ribbon cable and your ready to go, he has really commercialized it and turned it into a great product. Hi Any idea where I can get one of these HD external enclosures *WITH* the IDE male connector (not the USB version) and its own PSU? Regards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dely Posted August 3, 2004 Share Posted August 3, 2004 As an owner of SIO2IDE I can say some about features of latest SIO2IDE (v4.2) : - 100% compatible with existing file as well as fulldisk software. Even with demos using his own nonstandard loaders. - support CD-ROM with full ISO 9660 - unlimited ATR files on standard FAT / FAT32 IDE drive. You can organize your ATR`s into subdirectories. - ULTRASPEED transmission as well as NORMAL transmission. - Low power consumption (my setup includes 320 KB CS, 65816, Stereo, QMEG, 2 laser LEDs illuminating inside on standard Atari Power Supply) - USB 1.1 for easy uploading ATR`s on hardrive (Atari is visible as standard Mass Storaging Device in Windows - for 2000/XP You do not need any drivers) - You can boot directly from Harddisk with standard DOS. - Very easy partitions setup on SDX with brilliant S2I.SYS driver. - Easy setup on any DOS with FD42. All software, photos can be found here. Of course any questions will be welcome Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krupkaj Posted August 4, 2004 Share Posted August 4, 2004 I have SIO2IDE v 3.3 and it works nice for me. At this moment I have it inside old SF314 case. Do you tried use Compat Flash card together with SIO2IDE? I have tried a couple of them but no one work for me. It is not problem to write it on PC but even checkfs have not found the atr files I am curious how the version 4 works. Version 3 need defragmented atr files, is it the same situation with version 4? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krupkaj Posted August 4, 2004 Share Posted August 4, 2004 SmartIDE (Bob Woolley) allows connection of an IDE interface inside your computer, with a battery-backuped RAM Operating system. Pretty difficult to build yourself and you will have to change your PS in your system to run the hard drive if you want to mount it internally. I like the concept of this setup, and have started building one and written a partition manager for it. Is somewhere on internet documentation how to build it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Jefferson Posted August 4, 2004 Share Posted August 4, 2004 Yep, here: http://www.geocities.com/atarimods/atari.html In the meantime, I bought a MyIDE interface from Sijmen when he had them on sale. It's great. So I took the partition manager that I wrote for the SmartIDE (but never actually built the hardware) and changed it to work with the MyIDE image space. I have an almost 100% working image manager for the MyIDE interface now. This program only works with the image space, it doesn't do anything with partitions, and Sijmen's image boot routine (accessed by pressing START) still works fine. My program is just if you want to be able to view (and search) your image by name (30 characters) instead of just by image slot number. I'm also working on a defrag and sort program too that will work alongside the image manager. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt Vendel Posted August 4, 2004 Share Posted August 4, 2004 "Best" would be hard to say. There are some commercial ones: ICD/FTe Multi-I/O (SCSI hard drive interface, extra memory, RS232 ports, Printer port? not in production any longer) Black Box (SCSI interface, floppy interface available, RS232, Printer) Still available from CSS/Bob Puff. Pretty expensive. Homebrew ones: SmartIDE (Bob Woolley) allows connection of an IDE interface inside your computer, with a battery-backuped RAM Operating system. Pretty difficult to build yourself and you will have to change your PS in your system to run the hard drive if you want to mount it internally. I like the concept of this setup, and have started building one and written a partition manager for it. MyIDE is a much simpler interface that only worries about giving you a IDE drive. Put it in your computer, or run it through a cartridge. The guy who designed this is selling some PCBs. This is probably the easiest way to get a hard drive to your 8-bit. The handler for MyIDE copies the OS to RAM and patches it, so if you want to run your hard drive with SpartaDOS or Turbo Basic you will need to buy or burn yourself a new OS ROM. SIO2IDE is an interesting project that allows you to have a hard drive interfaced to your computer via the SIO port, access the hard drive from your PC (all partitions on the drive are actually ATR files.) Upcoming versions supposedly have a USB interface on them as well. I've looked at this project's website and I don't think I would use it. It doesn't appeal to me. There are a few other ones that have been available at one time or another, but I haven't seen much information about them around. Corvus also made an interface that allowed its Corvus Constellation hard drives to connect to an Atari 800 through front controller ports 3 & 4. The really nice things about the Corvus HD's was you could hook them up to 8 port multiplexers (think network switch) and then plug up with 8 more multiplexers into that 8 port multiplexer and you could have up to a total of 64 Atari 800's hooked together to a single HD system. David Small made an OS board called The Integrator which allowed you to autoset what device to boot from when an 800 was turned out and you could boot right from the Corvus with no disk drive attached, you could boot from a ramdisk and you could set what drives and ramdisks are set to what drive # settings you wanted, it was a nice device. Fordham Prep in the Bronx, NY used to have a history class with 64 800's hooked to a Corvus and was in operation until about 1997 or so, unfortunately they threw the whole thing out, 800's, integrators and corvus Hd's... what a shame :-( Curt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deathtrappomegranate Posted August 4, 2004 Share Posted August 4, 2004 Thanks Curt! That would have been a sight to see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
voy Posted August 16, 2004 Share Posted August 16, 2004 Curt: not "Marka Mikołajewskiego" but "Marek Mikolajewski" . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
voy Posted August 16, 2004 Share Posted August 16, 2004 Curt: not "Marka Mikołajewskiego" but "Marek Mikolajewski" . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zybex Posted August 20, 2004 Share Posted August 20, 2004 Some IC is not available in my country. Nobody knows how to make an IDE intreface for Atari using PICS?.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.