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IBM PS/2 Onboard and MCA SCSI Controllers HDD Specific?

H

Hal9000

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Mar 15, 2010
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Tucson, AZ
Hi,
I have been trying to do some research on this but I thought why not ask here as well. Do the IBM PS/2 SCSI on-board and MCA controller cards only allowed to support certain models of SCSI drives determined by IBM or can you use any brand or type? I am upgrading a 50Z and wouldn't mind replacing the 30MB HDD with a SCSI Controller and HDD without it having to be a special IBM model type.
 
The IBM MCA SCSI controller I had worked with a wide range of SCSI drives; I had Micropolis, Seagate and IBM drives attached plus a Plextor CD-ROM.

http://www.walshcomptech.com/ohlandl/index.htm includes links to information on a number of SCSI controllers and related ADF files so you can install the card. It may help you choose the better controller for your planned usage.
 
krebizfan said:
The IBM MCA SCSI controller I had worked with a wide range of SCSI drives; I had Micropolis, Seagate and IBM drives attached plus a Plextor CD-ROM.

http://www.walshcomptech.com/ohlandl/index.htm includes links to information on a number of SCSI controllers and related ADF files so you can install the card. It may help you choose the better controller for your planned usage.
Click to expand...

Very Cool, Thanks for the reply! :)
 
IBM had some quirks as to how big a partition you can boot from on early PS/2 models and some models didn't use SCSI onboard (ESDI drives I think were used with special connectors).
 
Normal ESDI with the regular cables could be used with non-IBM drives though sometimes slight modifications were needed. http://www.mcamafia.de/mcapage0/esdi4ps2.htm
IBM's oddball direct plug-in drive mountings including for ESDI were close to drive specific though sometimes a range of drives could be installed. Good news was in many cases the drive adapter could be removed in order to make cabling easier. I think some used a slot that could be reused by a better controller.
ESDI disappeared from the market quickly as it provided IDE performance at SCSI prices.
 
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