ST Storage Tower

[+SoulBuster]

With all this time at home, I started the slow process of building a storage tower for my ST's, since I have one for my 8-bit, you can read about it here.  Now, before you get in a twist about using such ancient storage vs the device that Lotharek sells, keep in mind I am retro-computing they way I like to retro, and you can retro anyway you like and it won't bother me.

 

It all began when I got my first Megafile 44 2 or 3 years ago.  I added 2nd drives to them and later changed that second drive to a SCSI2SD, you can read about it here.  I then got larger capacity drives that are supposed to be backward compatible.  They are, for the most part. I soon discovered that I cannot format a 44mb disk in an 88mb drive or a 200mb drive.  Same goes for an 88mb disk in a 200mb drive.  They read, write and partition just fine, but fail when you try to format, at least with HDDRIVER 11.0. So I built an ST Storage tower to help alleviate the problem with one of each of the drives.

 

The case was brand new and cost about $100.  All drives are connected to the rear drive unit selectors, except for the EZ135 as the drive select pins are on the bottom and the SCSI2SD as you set the SCSI number in the firmware of the device.  I set all the SCSI2SD partitions to be TOS 1.04 compatible as I have STs, an STE, a TT and 2 Falcon computers this could be used on.  The SCSI2SD device's activity light is connected to the next space down that is closed off so I can see activity on it.  I tested the audio out on the cd and it works just fine.  Take a look:

 

 

[Goochman]

Nice rig!

[djglish]

Good looking rig. That's a lot of Syquest drives.

 

I did something similar but made the mistake of mounting a Mega4 ST motherboard in the case.  I had an internal HD, Syquest 105mb drive, CDRom drive and tape backup.

 

The motherboard didn't like being mounted vertically.  After a short time the socketed chips started working loose and causing crashes.  I'd have to push the chips back in to make it work.  Eventually even that wouldn't work.  I still it down in the basement.  Maybe I'll give it another try and see if it will start up.  The last time I had it running I had it laid on its side so the motherboard was flat.  

[djglish]

You made me curios.  I pulled out my old Tower Mega and tried to fire it up (I kept it on it's side).  It does start up again.  It seems like the floppy drive is a little flaky but I was able to get it to boot the hard drive.

 

Now I have something else to take up my time again.

 

[+DarkLord]

So....do the lights dim in your neighborhood when you turn that thing on?   

 

(Seriously, nice setup)

 

[MasterMotorola]

SoulBuster, that is what I call a "Tower of Power."  Or, in this case, a "Tower of Power without the Price."

 

Any plans to add a 5-1/4" floppy drive, 1.44Mb 3-1/2" floppy, or Gotek?

[Clint Thompson]

That's so awesome! =D

[+SoulBuster]

Thanks for the comments everyone! 

@MasterMotorola No plans to add any of those.  Each computer that I will attach it too (there are many) has its own floppy.  The TT and Falcons have 1.44.  I believe my STE does too and 720k for the STs is just fine.  I have 1 Original ComosEX and 2 of the 3.0s so I probably will never get a Gotek or similar.

[Xebec]

This is awesome!  How are you connecting these towers to the STs exactly?  can you attach it to a regular 'wedge' ST via ACSI port or similar?  

[+SoulBuster]

 

On 10/15/2020 at 8:10 AM, Xebec said:

This is awesome!  How are you connecting these towers to the STs exactly?  can you attach it to a regular 'wedge' ST via ACSI port or similar?  

for the Falcon and the TT it is a direct SCSI Cable. For other STs (including the 'wedge') I use an ICD Link 2 (SCSI to ACSI) on the same SCSI cable I use for the TT.  The Falcon uses a different cable.