ST Hard drive project complete!

[Gunstar]

Well, I've finally upgraded my ST with and HD. I searched E-bay and dealers for a ready-made, plug&play HD but the prices were far too steep for me, like the E-bay auction for a Supra 20meg drive that ended at over $350!!! That's ridiculous. So when I saw the Berkley Microsystems BMS-100 interface and Adaptec ADC-4000 adapter auction, I decided to build my own. I got the above setup for about $25 with shipping. I still needed a hard drive though, MFM style. So after some research and a lot of learning about HD's, I bid on a Seagate ST-238R 33meg drive which I won and also came too about $25 with shipping. Next, I had to get a power supply and case for it all. Well, I've had this old 486 PS/1 computer in my closet for years now, I may be behind in the latest PC's, but I do at least have a 200mhz Pentium, so the old 486 got no use. Well, I gutted it. Leaving only the power supply and LEDS in the case. then I installed the BMS/ADC boards and mounted the ST-238R where the old 5.25 floppy drive used to be. Still having a case far too large really for just one HD, I decided to gut my SF314 external floppy and install it into the case as well. The 3/4 height Epson mechanism wouldn't fit into the 1/2 height slot, but luckily I had a Sony 1/2 height 720k mechanism from the PS/1 that I replaced it with. So, all in all, after spending about $50, I have a very nice HD&floppy setup to go with my 1040ST and I am now ready to upgrade TOS&memory and then get MINT, CAB and STing installed and get this puppy on the net! I wouldn't recommend this for everyone, and your chances of finding another BMS/ADC adapter&interface or another for cheap may be slim. But if you know what your doing computer hacking/electronics wise, then it's a lot of fun and cheap to do projects like this one.

[Inky]

Sweet! I wish Ihad the knowledge to do this sort of thing!