witchy Posted September 8, 2019 Share Posted September 8, 2019 Hi folks, As part of a Retro exhibition going on this weekend I'm showing my Mega ST4 DTP system with SLM804 Laser printer etc. The machine needs a good 30-40 mins to warm up and boot but the HD checker reported 26 bad sectors in various files. Today I left it running and noticed it had crashed just before we wound down for the day. I rebooted it and it all worked! I could access all the apps that previously had reported bad sectors. This gives me hope that I can successfully back it up to...something. Question is, how can I take an image copy of the drive? Searching doesn't reveal much but I can't believe nobody's done this before. Cheers! Witchy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParanoidLittleMan Posted September 8, 2019 Share Posted September 8, 2019 Usually people make images with some new(er) computer and large storage. I made images of my IDE and SCSI drives with PC in past. But doing image of some Megafile, even if take out drive self is problem - no adapter for it - MFM, RLL type, only in some prehistoric PC. Then, I don't know about SW for making hard disk image files for Atari ST family. But that is not problem to write such - making image of whole drive is not something complicated. What you need is another hard disk, or better some Flash card adapter like UltraSatan, Satandisk - where can save image, or just simply copy all folders with their content - and I think that it should be OK, and even better for further usage. So, what you need is such device, and setting it so, that can work together with Megafile - what means setting different ACSI target # . Possible problem, not much likely is that it will not work reliable. And if there is ACSI pass through, so ACSI connector in Megafile then can attach via it. If no such, or it works not, then need splitter, so can attach 2 devices parallel. By my experiences that works better with Satans . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witchy Posted September 9, 2019 Author Share Posted September 9, 2019 I read somewhere that the Megafile has space internally for a SCSI drive so I'll look into that before going down the UltraSATAN route, those things are a bit expensive for a one-off job. Maybe I can make my own... Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParanoidLittleMan Posted September 9, 2019 Share Posted September 9, 2019 As I know Megafile is with RLL drive. Quote from this thread: https://atariage.com/forums/topic/286300-atari-megafile-30-hard-drive-assistance-needed/ " The Megafile 30 has a Seagate ST238 RLL 5 1/4" half height drive. It's basically the ST225 MFM drive with an RLL controller on it instead. I ran a BBS on a bunch of 225's, I can still hear them start up and their whir in my head today - and I can remember banging the case to get them to start. They suffered from an ailment called "sticktion". " And as said there, PSU of it will not be able to serve 2 drives at once. If money is problem, you can try to copy all files on floppies. That should no take to much time with 30 MB capacity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tillek Posted September 9, 2019 Share Posted September 9, 2019 9 hours ago, witchy said: I read somewhere that the Megafile has space internally for a SCSI drive so I'll look into that before going down the UltraSATAN route, those things are a bit expensive for a one-off job. Maybe I can make my own... Cheers! Be careful... sometimes getting a drive like that which is guaranteed to work with any kind of warranty (like a DOA or a 30 day) from a refurbisher.... can be pricey. They know you need it and they can set the price. A dirt cheap one ... you're rolling the dice that it even works and will survive shipping... even if it worked when pulled. And shipping isn't always cheap given the size/weight. Mind you, I prefer real hard drives myself, but I'm a lot less critical of the "card" solutions than I used to be, just from all the headaches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witchy Posted September 9, 2019 Author Share Posted September 9, 2019 Hi Tillek, I should've said originally, SCSI drives aren't a thing I'm short of thanks to working in DEC/Compaq/HP Field Service for the last 30 years, neither is an RLL drive. Looks like my best bet is to try and track down a SatanDisk rather than UltraSatan though. Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SoulBuster Posted September 9, 2019 Share Posted September 9, 2019 Not sure why you would need a version 1 Satan rather than Ultra Satan The Ultra can be found here: https://lotharek.pl/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anzac Posted September 10, 2019 Share Posted September 10, 2019 If I understand you just want to make sure your data is backed up, right? you can back it up to another system using PARCP-USB and if and when the drive fails, since you appear to have easy access to RLL drives, you can just restore the data using the same cable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witchy Posted September 10, 2019 Author Share Posted September 10, 2019 13 hours ago, SoulBuster said: Not sure why you would need a version 1 Satan rather than Ultra Satan Cost. I'm not bothered about speed and a SatanDisk is much cheaper than UltraSatan. I'm not a hardcore Atari user, just someone who needs to preserve disk contents. 2 hours ago, anzac said: you can back it up to another system using PARCP-USB That's ideal, thanks! Half the price (and functionality) of an Ultrasatan+cable but will do what I need. Having said I just need to preserve disk contents I'm looking at Lotharek's site now and have just noticed an UltraSatan Mini at £72 that I can use on any of my machines at exhibitions so now I have a quandary Thanks folks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SoulBuster Posted September 10, 2019 Share Posted September 10, 2019 They are nice devices! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nezgar Posted September 28, 2019 Share Posted September 28, 2019 Always use the park utility on megafiles with stiction... you don't want it 'sticking' on the data area when you shut it down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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