|>Hello, I just found out about your product for making IDE drives connect to
|>the SCSI bus. I own a Mac and was wondering if it will work on it? Also will
|>it do Master/Slave setups? Older Macs like my PowerMac 6400 cannot do
|>master/slave so only one drive can be on the IDE bus.
|>
|>Also I live in Chandler, Arizona (zip=85224) and would need to know the total
|>price to recieve this.
|>
|>Thanks in advance, Thomas Koons

Hi Thomas:

The IDE -> SCSI Card is a small card (there is a picture of it on our Web
site http:www.blackfire.com.au) with a 40 Pin Connector (that plugs into the back of an ATA device
(like a CD-ROM, Hard Disk Drive, CD-ROM Burner etc). It  has a 50 Pin SCSI
connector that you plug your 50 Pin SCSI ribbon cable into. It also
requires its own 4 Pin Power Lead. With the Card, an ATA device becomes a
SCSI device.

That said, there are a number of issues to keep in mind:-

1/. Size ... The IDE -> SCSI Converter Card has been designed for a 5.25"
device (like a CD-ROM). It's size is 126.31 mm (W) & 34.75mm (D) & 22.49mm
(H). On a 3.5" device (like a Hard Disk Drive), part of the card sticks out
about an inch to the side. This makes it impossible to fit a "converted
device" into a standard 3.5" External SCSI case, and can also cause
problems inside some computer models.
2/. Power ... The IDE -> SCSI Converter Card requires its own internal 4
Pin +5VDC Power Lead, in addition to the 4 Pin Power Lead the IDE device
connects to. So you need an another Internal Power lead spare for it to
work.
3/. Drivers ... Devices like CD-ROM require you to either have a Driver for
it, or use something else like Silverlining, or use a "Hacked" version of
Apple's CD/DVD drivers.
I'm currently using a Pioneer 36X Slot IDE CD-ROM Drive with the Card
(mounted internally in a PowerCenter 150 Desktop in the CD-ROM bay).
4/. Hard Disk Drives ... For reasons unknown, "Converted" IDE devices don't
always format to their full IDE size.

eg. I've got an IBM DTTA-371010 10.1 Gb 7200 rpm IDE drive working on my
PowerCentre 150. I formatted it successfully with 3 formatters:-

FWB's Hard Disk Toolkit V2.5.3 formatted it to 7.87 Gb
Apple's Drive SetUp V1.6.2 formatted it to 8.064 Gb
La Cie's Silverlining V5.8.3 formatted it to 8.24 Gb

Note: All formatters correctly identified the Drive Make & Model !

I 've also got an old Maxtor (IBM) 129Mb IDE drive running as a 129Mb SCSI !

The Card only ways 35g, so Insured AirMail to the USA will only cost you
AUD$10.75. Ie Total cost would be AUD$109.75 (AUD$99 + AUD$10.75)

I hope the above answers your queries.

Regards ...

Peter KORTGE - Principal
Black*Fire Technology
46 Sandalwood Court
Flagstone  QLD  4280
AUSTRALIA

Voice:  (07) 5547-8213 ... Int'l +61 7 5547-8213
Fax:  (07) 5547-8215 ... Int'l +61 7 5547-8215
ICQ #: 8838268
Business E-Mail:  info@blackfire.com.au
Personal E-Mail:  pkortge@ozemail.com.au
Main Web Site (in Melbourne, VIC):  www.blackfire.com.au
Alternate Web Site (in Sydney, NSW):  www.ozemail.com.au/~pkortge
-----------------------------------------------------------------


|>Thanks for the reply. It did help answer quit a few questions but I still
|have
|>a few more.
|>
|>I still want to know if you can setup a master/slave situation like on PC's?
|>PC's can have 2 IDE drives on the same IDE bus. Can this card allow 2 IDE
|>drives per interface card?

The Card allows one IDE device to be converted to SCSI (The IDE device is
set to Master first).

|>also to get the full benefit of Ultra DMA would I have to have a SCSI
|>accelerator card capable of Ultra Wide SCSI?

The speed is limited by the IDE Bus: PIO Mode 4 to 16MB/S max. Ultra Wide
is 68 pin (the SCSI Converter Card is 40 pin ATA to 50 pin SCSI).

Normally, the Mac's with onboard SCSI will do data transfer at 10MB/sec. To
get faster you need a PCI SCSI Card with a 50 pin connector as well as 68
pin connectors (like the Adaptec AHA-2940UW Mac)

|>also do you know what AUD $109.75 is in US dollars?

About USD$68.00 at current Exchange Rates.

|>Thanks, Tom


Regards ...

Peter KORTGE - Principal
Black*Fire Technology
46 Sandalwood Court
Flagstone  QLD  4280
AUSTRALIA

Voice:  (07) 5547-8213 ... Int'l +61 7 5547-8213
Fax:  (07) 5547-8215 ... Int'l +61 7 5547-8215
ICQ #: 8838268
Business E-Mail:  info@blackfire.com.au
Personal E-Mail:  pkortge@ozemail.com.au
Main Web Site (in Melbourne, VIC):  www.blackfire.com.au
Alternate Web Site (in Sydney, NSW):  www.ozemail.com.au/~pkortge