Specifications
Page 10 Installation Instructions: Roadrunner 030 & 040 AM-1000 / AM-1200 Upgrade
5.4SCSI Hard Disk Drives
Depending on your order, your new SCSI drive may already be loaded with a
Roadrunner compatible AMOS operating system. If this is the case, the drive will be
clearly labeled indicating how it was configured.
In most cases, you will be attaching your SCSI disk drive to the high performance port
on the Roadrunner board. The Roadrunner hardware also supports a SCSI drive
connected to the SASI port on the AM-167 or AM-177 board. However, if your
configuration includes a Tandberg tape drive, make sure the bootable hard disk and the
tape drive are attached to the same bus. The configuration will not be functional if the
tape drive is connected to the SASI port on the AM-167 or AM-177 board and the
bootable disk drive is attached to the Roadrunner board’s SCSI port.
For the temporary purpose of transferring software, you may want to attach your
existing SCSI or ST-506 drive to the SASI port so you can copy software on to your new
SCSI drive attached to the Roadrunner board’s SCSI port. Your power supply may not
have enough power to support two disk drives, in which case you may damage your
power supply if you overload it. If you plan to do a disk to disk file transfer operation, we
highly recommend that the second disk drive be powered by an external power supply.
An AM-1001 subsystem would be ideal for this operation.
If you are booting from the Roadrunner board’s SCSI port and want to copy software
from a drive connected to your computer’s SASI port, the SCSI or ST-506 drive
connected to the SASI port must be addressed to SCSI ID 1, 2, or 3. If the drive
attached to the SASI port is addressed as 0, one of two things will happen; the
computer will hang during the boot cycle; or if the SCSI drive connected to the SASI port
has a properly configured bootable copy of AMOS, the computer will boot from the SASI
port instead of the Roadrunner board’s SCSI port. (The boot PROMS on the
Roadrunner do not support booting from an ST-506 drive from the SASI port or the
SCSI port.) Also, you will need to create the appropriate driver using FIXLOG for the
drive you are accessing as a subsystem device.
Maxtor LXT, MXT, and 7200 series SCSI disk drives supplied by Alpha Micro are
supported for use on the Roadrunner board’s SCSI port. However, for use on your
computer’s SASI port, Maxtor MXT SCSI drives must have revision 1.5 firmware or
later. Some earlier SCSI disk drives sold by Alpha Micro may also be supported on the
Roadrunner board’s SCSI port, but they must be fully compatible with SCSI-1 protocol.
Some SCSI drives, like the older Micropolis full-height 5-1/4" SCSI drives, are not
compatible with SCSI-1 or SCSI-2 protocol. These drives are not supported for use on
the Roadrunner board’s SCSI port, but they can remain on the SASI port and still
function with the Roadrunner upgrade. If you are not sure what SCSI protocol your drive
supports, contact Alpha Micro’s Technical Support Group for assistance. Quantum LPS
and Empire SCSI disk drives sold by Alpha Micro are also supported on the
Roadrunner’s SCSI port.
PDI-00172-10, Rev. A03