Subject: Re: Wanted: Info's on Applied Ingenuity's Internal HD's !
From: be946@freenet.carleton.ca (Simon C.Hall)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1999 10:43:03 -0500
Organization: The Apple IIgs User's Group
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Sender: be946@freenet.carleton.ca (Simon C.Hall)
Message-ID: <1dwd7kk.gvk3m215ocpz4N@p1t4.web.dialup.ncf.carleton.ca>
References: <1dwbsmz.1pt5fg1fjowlmN@p8t4.web.dialup.ncf.carleton.ca> 
<7oq5ci$2gq$1@cantuc.canterbury.ac.nz> 
<nobody-1008992248500001@pm-4-092.dynam.wavetech.net>


From Nibble Magazine Vol.11/No.1              
by Loren Wright 

(Just the InnerDrive section of the article)

INNERDRIVE, APPLIED  INGENUITY

        Applied Ingenuity supplied a 20-MB drive with a version 1.5 ROM
in the controller card, version 5.3 utility disk, and a manual without a
version number.

Setup:

        The setup for the InnerDrive is similar to that for the Vulcan,
but the manual's treatment of it is quite different. There aren't as
many pictures and line drawings substitute for photos. The description,
however, is much more detailed. You are told to remove the cards from
all IIGS slots (except memory expansion) and re-install them one by one
after the InnerDrive is installed. There is no provision for
pseudoslotting, so the card would normally go in slot 6 or 7, according
to the type of floppy drive you use. (It will work in any slot expect
3.) Like the Vulcan, the InnerDrive comes with an insulator card that
protects your slot 1 card from damage. All the necessary precautions are
described, including unplugging the computer before opening the case and
plugging the controller cable into the card before plugging the card
into the IIGS.

        I tried to shorten this procedure by not removing all my cards
first. My reward was several beeps and a hang during the boot process.
After consulting AI's technical support, I found that the problem was my
SCSI card. (I later found the same information in a CLICK.ME file on the
InnerDrive.) The driver program for the InnerDrive and the SCSI drivers
under OS/OS 5.0 and later cannot be active at the same time. However,
you can make the InnerDrive driver inactive (use Get Info in the
Finder). Also, the SCSI drivers can handle both SCSI devices and the
InnerDrive (albeit more slowly). If you want to use the InnerDrive
driver. you have to deactivate the SCSI card using the Control Panel or
remove it entirely. At press time, AI had plans to remedy this conflict
by Dec. 1. Not many people will routinely want to use a SCSI drive and
the InnerDrive on their IIGS computers, but a SCSI CD ROM drive isn't
out of the question.

Software:

        AI's ID.FORMATTER is a desktop program with five basic
functions: low-level formatting of the drive, adjusting the ProDOS
partitions, parking the drive heads, verifying the disk, and
self-testing. In an ideal world you would never need to use the
formatting part of the program, but on rare occasions, the drive may get
confused. This low-level formatting totally destroys the data on disk
and takes more than an hour.

        The partitioning part of the program will probably get more use.
You can set up as many as eight partitions by simply checking a box next
to each. Then you adjust their size by clicking on plus or minus signs
next to the block count for the partition. The user interface here is
much more intuitive than AE's PART.MANAGER, but the program doesn't do
as much. Unlike PART.MANAGER, you don't have a last-minute bailout
opportunity; once you elect to change the partitions, you're committed.
Also, the contents of the entire drive is lost, even if you change only
one or two partitions. With ID.FORMATTER, it's possible to leave some
blocks unallocated to any partition. Most hard drive users like to have
access to the entire drive, so AE's mechanism, which forces you to
allocate all blocks, probably is an advantage.

You should park the heads whenever you want to move the system or remove
the InnerDrive. The ShutDown System command from the Finder or ProSel
also parks hard drive heads, as well as ejecting any 3.5-inch disks.

The verify disk function confirms the hard disk in a similar manner to
the Finder.

Self test is a more exhaustive test of drive and controller card
operations.

The backup application bundled with the InnerDrive is Apple's Backup II
program, which performs file-oriented full and incremental backups, and
restores.

There is a CDA for the InnerDrive, but it displays only configuration
information and does not allow you to change anything.

Finally, AI provides a program called Disk Doctor, which performs disk
diagnoses, repairs, and recovery tasks. It works only with the
InnerDrive, not other ProDOS volumes.

InnerDrive  and  DOS 3.3:

While the unit I reviewed provided no DOS 3.3 capability, AI now
includes DOS Master by Glen Bredon with their drives. This program lets
you use a portion of your hard drive for DOS 3.3 programs.

Extras

While the drive is reading and writing data a small block flashes on and
off in the menu bar. External drives have a drive activity light that
accomplishes the same thing, but with an internal drive there is no such
light. Also, it's difficult to hear drive activity over the sound of the
fans. This feature makes it easier to tell when the drive is active
without running extra wires inside your IIGS.

        InnerDrive also comes with several folders of freeware and
shareware utilities, games, fonts, and sounds.


SPEED COMPARISON:
=================
Test             AI 20MB AE 20MB  100MB   SCSI   Apple 3.5 
====             ======= =======  =====   ====   ========= 
Boot to Finder     23.2    24.2    17.3   42.3     49.3
AppleWorks 3.0     13.9    13.6    6.2    19.8     39.5
AppleWorks GS-all  71.2    72.0    54.3   100.1    216.3 
AppleWorks GS none 13.6    14.1    11.8   21.4     -----
Verify             233     192     324    120      49
Disktimer -read    51      54      13     62 
          -seek    168     167     52     90 
          -adapter 25      26      7      51

Results for the first four tests are in seconds. The verify test lists
the number of blocks verified per second. DiskTimer results are seconds.
And reflect the time required to complete benchmark number of tasks.

Feature              Vulcan         InnerDrive
=======              ======         ==========
Pseudo-slotting       Y                 N
Activity indicator    optional          Y
Auto parking          N*                N
ProDOS & OS/OS        N                 N
DOS 3.3               Y                 Y
Apple Pascal          Y                 N
CP/M                  Y                 N
Max. partitions       16                8
SCSI card tolerant    Y                 Y
Desk accessory        Y              info only 
Change boot partition Y                 N 
Power supply (watts)  70                40 
External fuse         Y                 N

*The Vulcan 100-MB  has auto-parking heads.

---

   "Does anyone have/know where I can get the software for this drive ?"

I'll also upload to comp.binaries.apple2 a small binhex gif of the
card/powersupply.

Thnaks to all contributors.

regards

Jim AKA Simon
 
-- 0010 GS/OS: device not found