Amiga Video Toaster / Flyer FAQs
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      Does the Flyer Work With Current SCSI Drives?

Product: Flyer

Platforms: 2000 3000 3000T 4000 4000T

Yes, the Flyer will work with most current SCSI drives. The Flyer's minimum requirement is for SCSI-2 Fast hard drives, since the Flyer uses SCSI-2 Fast controllers. Current generation drives will negotiate with the host controller to which they are attached, to discover what mode the controller itself uses. The drive will then adjust to operate as though it were just a SCSI-2 Fast hard drive.

Proper cabling will be an issue. The Flyer uses 50-pin SCSI headers, and everything will need to be adapted to that, or be able to connect properly to the 50-pin port type on the Octopus cable, if you are using that cable to connect to external drive bays. You should be sure that if you are using 50-pin ribbon cable/headers in the drive bay into which you intend to install the new drive, that you get the appropriate connector adapter for the drive.

Also important is to deal properly with termination issues. Most modern SCSI drives do not have onboard terminators, though they will provide termination power to the SCSI bus. If you are adding new drives to an existing system, and your older drives are still operable, then you can place the new drives on the SCSI chain ahead of the older drives, and use the older drive's onboard termination. If your older drives have failed, then you will need to purchase a terminator to place on the chain, and the appropriate adapter. You may need to set one of the drives on the chain to provide termination power.

Another issue will be setting up the SCSI ID address of the new drives. Modern drives have a range from 0-15; the Flyer will only recognize drives 0-6. Make sure you set the new drives for an address within that range.