atari st Atari Megafile44

[PandLantis]

Recently became the owner of an Atari 1040STF and also unknowingly the owner of this Atari Megafile 44. I did some digging on eBay and found the 44 MB drives available for $200 a pop! Needless to say I was a bit surprised. What surprised me more is that I cannot find any information on this guy, does anyone have anything more on these? The serial number looks ridiculously low, (A19B1000020). Besides being the middle sibling of the Megafile 30 and 60, do I have a really rare piece of ST hardware?

[ParanoidLittleMan]

I'm sure that it is rare. In those years hard disks were pretty much expensive, so sales were low. And that's reason for high prices, + that most of it is broken now. In any case, my opinion is that such things now belong rather in museum, collections. Not really useful with those low capacities. And surely should not expect that will last long.

 

[+SoulBuster]

I own 3 of these (and 6 unbranded that are SCSI, not ACSI) and about 60-75 of the disks that go into them.  I use a NetUSB to transfer files via network to an Atari with one and then I use the Megafile 44 disks to transfer files between multiple systems.  I also use them for backups.  In fact I have one disk that I have setup with all the common programs that I want on all 8 of my ST line computers.  Makes for setting up a new C Hard Drive easy.

Included items on the image
Terradesk
HDDriver 10.16
UIP278

ST Zip

Warp 9

Various drivers for specific machines

Various CPXs and accessories.

Desktop.inf in medium mode

I get the hard drive to boot, copy all the files onto the hard drive and then install the Terradesk application to load at boot.

One last item: you can add an additional Hard Drive to that Mega file 44.  I documented it here.  All three of my Megafile 44s and 2 unbranded ones have additional hard drives.

Edited October 28, 2019 by SoulBuster

[PandLantis]

Thanks for the replies and sorry for being MIA so long on this thread, work and projects (not only this one) had me neck deep.  I've been doing some research and it's great to get to learn history through using real historical gear. Another question, are the MegaFile disks compatible between themselves? As in a 30MB disk will work in a MF44 or a MF60?

[+SoulBuster]

The Mega File 30 and 60 used Winchester Drives (ST506, 2 connectors) and the bridge board inside is basically an Adaptec 4070.  They are not removeable.  The Mega File 44 is SCSI (1 connector).  These are removeable.  Interchanging disks between the Megafile 36/60 and the Megafile 44 is impossible without replacing everything but the power supply inside the case.

 

I am currently converting a Mega File 30 from using an actual hard drive to using a Drem.  I have had it operational with two 110 meg virtual hard drives running, but I want to push the limits and am trying configurations to get the maximum megs out of it.

Edited November 4, 2019 by SoulBuster

[+slx]

I don't think they were particularly rare in Europe, the idea was that it would be cheaper to swap the media than to have multiple large hard drives. I had a combination SCSI hard drive / Syquest and later swapped the 44 for an 88. No idea what I did with the 44MB drive and media, maybe gave them to a friend. The 88MB is in the basement with backups of ST stuff but I really wonder if the media are still readable after 20+ years.

 

[atarian1]

All I remember about the Megafile 44 was that it was way more expensive than third party hard drives at the time. I think it retailed for around $1,200 but an Atari dealer can make one for around $700-$800 depending on the case and host adapter. I remember buying mine for $900 in a neat little compact case with an ICD AdSCSI+ host adapter. If you bought it in an ugly PC tower or ugly ass PC external hard drive case, you could save some money. Just look back at some old magazines and you will see this difference.

 

The one cool thing about the Megafile 44 is that it fits neatly under the MegaST case. I actually found a dealer who had an extra Megafile 44 case because the original owner wanted to use it on his Falcon. I bought it and put my Syquest drive in there so that would stack neatly under my MegaST. Only problem was that it had a black faceplate versus the Atari gray.

[+SoulBuster]

On 11/9/2019 at 4:00 PM, slx said:

... but I really wonder if the media are still readable after 20+ years.

 

I find them to be reliable, one you get a clean format on them.  I have 75 of the disks that I bought used over time.  I format them and ignore the bad sector table so it can recreate it.  Sometimes they have to be formatted more than once.  Out of receiving 75 used over the years, I have only tossed 3 out.  These three were bad not because of use, but rather I could not format them no matter how many times I tried.  I have not yet seen one go bad due to everyday use.

[+SoulBuster]

I have three of them.  2 are set up with a "Second Hard Drive".  The second hard drive is actually a SCSI to SD adapter.

 

I detailed them here.  I plan to do the same for the 3rd one.