exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

There seem to be a number of options for larger storage addons for the ST.

1) SH based - ACSI2HD
2) ACSI2SCSI + SCSI ctrl -> SCSI drive or emulation
3) ACSI2STM + SD card
4) ACSI2SD SATAN, UltraSatan, & German ACSI2SD card.
5) Modify mother board to add IDE i/f & use either CF2IDE or real IDE drive.

I have seen some write ups of various options but not a review article comparing the features, benefits, and problems with the 'large' storage options.

Does such a review exist?

What are members' experiences / opinions on the options?

Thanks

Peter

Storage would appear to divide into:

1) Old rotating magnetic media physical drives like ST225 ... with SCSI, IDE, or ST506/412 MFM/RLL

2) Modern drive options in IDE / SCSI eg SSD.

3) via an emulation board to: CF (IDE2CF), SD (ACSI2SD, ACSI2STM..) Udisk USB storage (some sort of CH375/376 based Udisk USB adapter).

Are there any others in common use?

Thanks

Peter

Given the relatively small audience for these devices, reviews are really usually posted by individuals in the form of 'I got one of these and it's great/terrible/Just OK".

I have used the following:

1. CosmosEx - basically Ultrasatan with a single SD slot but a host of other features such as drive mapping, wireless networking, wired networking, USB stick, keyboard and mouse usage and floppy emulation. These work just great, but they are a bit expensive and take a while to arrive in the post!! I love it to bits though. It comes with comprehensive config software and will even allow for remote desktop if you're using HDDRIVER.
2. Ultrasatan - I like this, it does exactly what I need of it, though personally I only use a single SD slot (It has 2) and I generally don't use the RTC, but perhaps I should :)
3. Internal IDE - This can be problematic in ST/F/M models, it's a case of having space to fit it, and generally they require some sort of fitting, for example a socket installing on top of the existing CPU, or possibly a socket in place of the CPU so the IDE board can plug into that, then the CPU goes into the IDE board. This isn't always the case, but they are probably the most difficult to install. Unless you have a Mega ST, when they can plug into the Megabus socket :)

I can't speak for the rest as I have never used them. In terms of IDE I use both CF and real drives just fine.

You can't really discuss drives without drivers. Personally I only recommend two if you're buying:

1. HDDRIVER - Expensive if you only need it for a single machine, but it does support a lot of devices and is still in development. Works with IDE or ACSI drives. If you can justify the cost, this is the one I'd recommend.
2. PPeras driver - A good price and excellent driver, however at the time I bought it, it would work for ACSI or IDE, not both, and you had to specify at purchase your needs. If you are on a budget, get this one.

Of course there are drivers like ICD pro and the older Atari drivers out there, however the two above both allow you to pop your SD card into a PC or Mac and see all the files, making file transfers a breeze, which makes a big difference.

Hope that helps.

Nice summation(s)...

Just wanted to add that you can get internal versions of the Ultrasatan from Lotharek
that work in the Mega ST, Mega STe, and STacy. He also sells the adapters needed for
each machine.

Oh, one other thing...to the best of my knowledge, unless there's been a new/recent
development, the CosmosEx is unavailable at this time? Might want to check on that.

HTH's.

rubber_jonnie wrote: 19 Feb 2022 16:29 You can't really discuss drives without drivers. Personally I only recommend two if you're buying:

1. HDDRIVER - Expensive if you only need it for a single machine, but it does support a lot of devices and is still in development. Works with IDE or ACSI drives. If you can justify the cost, this is the one I'd recommend.
2. PPeras driver - A good price and excellent driver, however at the time I bought it, it would work for ACSI or IDE, not both, and you had to specify at purchase your needs. If you are on a budget, get this one.

With the 3.0 version of ACSI2STM there is a new driver, and it is built in into the firmware, so no need to install anything on the SD card itself. Just use a regular FAT-16 formatted SD card, and here you go. The driver is injected into the datastream during boot by the firmware. Firmware supports both - RAW media access, and disk images.

I still can't wait until someone will do a similar adapter using RP2040 (Raspberry Pi Pico), with its ingenious PIO state-machines, DMA, and dual-core CPU.

tzok wrote: 08 Jul 2022 10:15

rubber_jonnie wrote: 19 Feb 2022 16:29 You can't really discuss drives without drivers. Personally I only recommend two if you're buying:

1. HDDRIVER - Expensive if you only need it for a single machine, but it does support a lot of devices and is still in development. Works with IDE or ACSI drives. If you can justify the cost, this is the one I'd recommend.
2. PPeras driver - A good price and excellent driver, however at the time I bought it, it would work for ACSI or IDE, not both, and you had to specify at purchase your needs. If you are on a budget, get this one.

With the 3.0 version of ACSI2STM there is a new driver, and it is built in into the firmware, so no need to install anything on the SD card itself. Just use a regular FAT-16 formatted SD card, and here you go. The driver is injected into the datastream during boot by the firmware. Firmware supports both - RAW media access, and disk images.

I still can't wait until someone will do a similar adapter using RP2040 (Raspberry Pi Pico), with its ingenious PIO state-machines, DMA, and dual-core CPU.

That's good to know

Can a regular ST do SSD's?

Just curious... Thanks.

Darklord wrote: 09 Jul 2022 17:13 Can a regular ST do SSD's?

Just curious... Thanks.

Yes it is possible, via the IDE route for example (IDE > SSD of choice), bearing in mind TOS and Driver limitations.

Atari74user wrote: 09 Jul 2022 19:41 Yes it is possible, via the IDE route for example (IDE > SSD of choice), bearing in mind TOS and Driver limitations.

Thanks.

So current, popular interfaces wouldn't apply here.

Nothing ACSI, SCSI, etc, etc,...is that right?

Darklord wrote: 09 Jul 2022 21:07

Atari74user wrote: 09 Jul 2022 19:41 Yes it is possible, via the IDE route for example (IDE > SSD of choice), bearing in mind TOS and Driver limitations.

Thanks.

So current, popular interfaces wouldn't apply here.

Nothing ACSI, SCSI, etc, etc,...is that right?

No worries, and yes kind of right, there were older IDE interfaces for the ST with actual IDE in mind, but now with IDE bridges to other SSDs it opens those routes up, whether CF, SD or actual SSD. The MonSTer board by Alan Hourihane springs to mind, so it is another option on top of older HDs, SatanDisk, UltraSatan, GigaFile, ACSI2STM, and now RaSCSI and the like...