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What IDE drives work on Acorn machines?

Here is a list of IDE drives known to either work or not work with Acorn hardware. If the drive appears with no notes then it will work fine with the machine specified. Many thanks to those who have contributed their info.

The IDE Drives & Interfaces What Works With What list (19th October 1996)

Manufacturer Part Number  Size  Interface     Notes   
Quantum      Sirocco      2560  Std/RiscPC    New Filecore
Seagate                   2150  Std/RiscPC    
IBM          Aquarius     2148  Std/RiscPC
WstnDigtl    Caviar       2148  Std/RiscPC    [6]
Samsung	WA32163A     2062  Simtec IDE
IBM          DJAA-31700   1740  Std/RiscPC
Quantum      SR1700AT     1740  Std/RiscPC    
NEC          DSE1700A     1700  Std/RiscPC    M-CDU76E S-CFS210A
WestDig      WD31600      1638  ICS (FS 3.13) (Partition on old filecore)
Quantum      FB1280AT     1310  Std/RiscPC    M-ToshibaXM5302B CDROM S-CFS420A
Conner       CFS1275A     1275  Std/RiscPC    M-CFS425     S-CFS420A     S-CFS210A
Seagate      ST51270A     1223  Std/RiscPC    M-CFS425 M-SonyCDU6ECDR
Fujitsu      M160TAU      1089  Std/RiscPC    Wont master.
Quantum      Fireball     1080  ICS/RiscPC
Quantum      Fireball     1024  Std/RiscPC
Seagate      31220A       1024  ICS/RiscPC    Master only
Seagate      ST580A        850  Std/RiscPC
Conner       CFS850A       850  ICS (FS 3.12) M-M2684TAM [1]
Samsung      SHD-30560A    560  Std/RiscPC    M-CP3204F S-QMav540A
WstrnDigtl   Caviar 2540   540  Std/RiscPC    <DOESN'T WORK> E-IDE
WstrnDigtl   WD2540H       540  Std/RiscPC
Conner       CFA540A       540      [4]
Quantum                    540  DT Soft       Format to 512M
Fujitsu      1603T         540  Std/A5000 RPC Format 1023cyls = 503Mb space
Quantum      Maverick 540A 540  Std/RiscPC    M-CP3204F M-SHD30560A
Conner       CFS540A       540  Std/RiscPC    Formats to 512M
Conner       CFS541A       540  Std/A5000     M-CP30104H EIDE (512M = 1039 cyls)
Fujitsu      M2684TAM      528  ICS           Real 504M S-H3171-A2 [3]
IBM          DSAA-3540     528  Std/RiscPC    Odd noises! [3]
Seagate      ST5660A       528  Std/RiscPC    Format to 512M (1039 Cycls)
Quantum      LPS540A       504  Std/RiscPC
Fujitsu      M2684TAM      504  ICS (FS 3.13) S-ST9145AG
Conner       CFS425A       425  Std/AnyAcorn  Doesn't link to CFS210A and CFS425A
WstrnDigtl   Caviar        420  Std/RiscPC    [6]
Conner       CFS420A       420  Std/Acorn Evolution # M-CP3044 M-CFS210A M-FB1280AT
Seagate                    420  ICS
Maxtor       7420AV        420  ICS
Conner       CP30424 (?)   420  ICS    
Seagate      ST3491A       408                [2]
Maxtor       7345A         340  Std/RiscPC    S-CFS210. Wont work alone
Fujitsu      M286T         340  Watford       M-S-NEC D3756
Seagate      ST3389A       335  Std/RPC Evolution/A5000
Quantum      Prodrive      270  HCCS/A440 RPC    
Seagate      ST9300AG      260  Watford       S-CFS420A  2.5 drive
Conner       CP30254       250  ICS           M-CP3044 S-CFS420A
WstrnDigtl                 250  ICS
Seagate      ST3290A       250  A310
Conner       CFN250A       240  HCCSUltimate/A3010    
Conner       CFS210A       210  Std/RiscPC    # S-CFS420A
Conner       CP3204F       210  Std/RiscPC    S-QMav540A
Conner       CP3204F       210  Evolution
WstrnDigtl   Caviar        200  Std/AnyAcorn  WILL NOT WORK (poss [6])
IBM          H3171-A2      171  ICS           M-M2984TAM Real 163MB
Conner       CP30174E      170  Std/A5000    
SyQuest      EX135i        135  Std/RiscPC700    
Maxtor       7120          130  ICS           Disable on-disc cache. (ICS util)
Seagate      ST3144A       120  A310
Quantum      LPS127A       120  ICS    
Castle                     120  Castle/A3000
Conner       CP30104H      116  Std/A5000     S-CP540A
SyQuest      SQ3105 AT     105  Std/A5000     M-CP3044 S-CFS420A
NEC          D3756         100  Watford       M-S-M286T
Rodime       RO3139AP      100  Watford       Works alone wont co-exist.
Maxtor       7080           85  ICS           Disable on-disc cache. (ICS util)
Conner       CP3085 (?)     85  ICS           Running off computer's PSU too!
Conner       CF3008E        80  Std/A5000 A4000    #
Maxtor                      80  ICS (FS 2.03)
Conner       CP30084E       80  Std/A5000     M-S-CP3044 Use links on base
                                              not drive face.
Seagate      ST51A/X        40  Std/RiscPC    S-CFS420A
Seagate      ST351A/X       40  Watford IDE    
Conner       CP3044         40  Std/A5000     # S-SQ3105 AT
PrairieTek                  20  ICS (FS 2.01)    
NEC          CDR-273      CDROM Std/RiscPC600
Aztech                    CDROM Std/RiscPC700
NEC          CDR-273 4x   CDROM Std/RiscPC
NEC          CDR-1300A 6x CDROM Std/RiscPC
NEC          CDR1400A 8x  CDROM Std/RiscPC
BTC          BCD 739 8X   CDROM Std/RiscPC    Wont in Risc OS, will on PC-Card...
Phillips     PCA53 5x     CDROM Std/RiscPC    Wont in Risc OS, will on PC-Card...
Creatv Labs  Hex-Speed    CDROM Std/RiscPC

Enlargements to notes:

[1] Formatted to 3 partitions 248M 248M & 316M (to get small LFAU)

[2] Seagate ST3491A Wont S/M to CFS240A (High end A5000). Will slave to CFS420A (Risc PC)

[3] This drive recalibrates for thermal adjustments every 10mins, making a click.

[4] CFA drives will work with RISC OS 3.60 (new Risc PCs, A7000) but not with older versions of the Acorn IDE interface. They will work on ICS interfaces though. (Badly defined part of IDE spec aparently)

[5] The HCCS interface apparently doesn't like podule slot 0, but is happy in others.

[6] WD Caviars often have initialisation problems - there is a fix elsewhere in the FAQ for this.

Understanding the list:

1. Interface = 'Std/****' indicates the IDE interface provided with the specified machine as part of the standard purchase package.
2. M-XXXXXX -Fitted as Master to drive (slave drive part number given) S-XXXXXX -Fitted as Slave to drive (Master drive part number given)
3. A '#' in the notes section indicates a drive provided as standard in an Acorn machine (at some point in history)
4. Sizes quoted are the 'manufacturer' sizes (for purchasing reference) remember that manufacturer Megabytes are 1000k, whereas formatted megabytes are 1024K... to get the 'real' size; multiply the number given by 1000, then divide by 1024.
5. Drives over 1Gigabyte are quoted in terms of megabytes (hence a 1G drive will be listed as 1024M) This is so that the list sorts nicely - divide the number by 1024 to get the size in gigabytes...
6. Master / Slave information usually refers to other drives in the list!

Disclaimer: This list reports the reported experiences of others. Neither the maintainer, nor the contributors are definitely saying that these combinations will work - just that they have for them. So don't sue us!

What are the master/slave link settings for my IDE Drive?

DRIVE           AS SOLE               AS MASTER               AS SLAVE
           HSP  C/D  DSP  ACT     HSP  C/D  DSP  ACT     HSP  C/D  DSP  ACT
CP3044      -    y    -    y       -    y    y    y       -    -    -    y
CP3008E     -    y    -    -       -    y    -    -       -    -    -    -
CP30126     -    y    -    -       -    y    y    -       -    -    -    -
CP30174E    -    y    -    -       -    y    -    -       -    -    -    -
CFS210A     -    y    -    -       -    y    -    -       -    -    -    -
CFS420A     -    y    -    -       -    y    -    -       -    -    -    -

Link connectors are on the front of the drive, the narrower end that doesn't have the cables coming in, next to the activity light connector (which is missing on Risc PC Drives - it's on the motherboard)

It should also be noted that if you need an extra linker don't expect it to have been provided (notably on the CF3008E, the 80M drive in the A4000 & A5000.)

(Details translated from table by Dave Walker, as published in Acorn User Sept 95. Not all permutations have been tested)

Extra submissions welcome!

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