How hard is this Promise 66 controler mod?

[sunofwolf]

I have a DFI motherboard with 66 controler and two hard drives . Maxtox 13.6 gigs and made for 66mbs 7200 drive , the seagate is a 6.4 gigs and a 33mb drive. will these work as one when I modidfy promise controler to raid card? Is this modification easy and worth the time and money? HOW MUCH EXTRA power will hard drives have?

[daveleau]

If you have a soldering iron and a 100 ohm resistor (less than $5 from Radio Shack) then it is very simple.

First remember to flash the BIOS of the card first with PITFLASH. I have heard that the newer Promise BIOSes are set up so this mod is not possible so get version 1.08 or 1.14 of the Fasttrakk BIOS (several around here have it, email me if you need it).

Then after you flash the BIOS, remove the card and solder the resistor on. I didn't actually do the soldering b/c I have never done it before, but after seeing how easy it was, I could do it next time.

You don't have to solder the resistor on both ends. The free end can be wrapped around the screw next to the BIOS chip to act as the ground.

My system does run much faster. I have 2 WD ATA66 7200 rpm 20GB hdds on one system and it made file access and applications significantly faster. It cuts the seek time down greatly. I would highly recommend it if you have the chance to set one up.
Good luck
Dave

[This message has been edited by daveleau (edited 07-03-2000).]

[Ygor]

Ummm, when I've seen RAID discussed here it was implied that both drives should be the same size/speed for it to work best.
Been wondering the same thing?

My guess would be that if they aren't the same, you'd get errors.

Does anyone know for sure or have a reference link?

[sunofwolf]

I guess the seagate would not work right with the maxtox/ one is a 33 mb driver other one a 66mb I am using seagate as a slave it doesnt seem to work right with the faster drive i guess maxtrox has really outclassed the seagate but it is a fine backup not a cheap drive at all goes for about 120$ the maxtrox bought at staples for 130$. The change was instant about 200 to 300% faster on the conservative side . I am going to skip this idea because i need another maxtrox drive only using 3 gigs right now. but a very interesting card this promise. Without modification would promise card sp up the maxtox drive?