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MIND: Long IDE Cables Can Result In Data Loss

Gunnar von Boehn
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 6207
19 Jan 2021 11:19


We strongly appreciate that people try to take part in our Amiga revival by e.g. selling components for Vampires.
We respect all the Amiga fans out there who do their best to keep our favorite platform alive and kicking.
Yet we believe such a revival and support requires discussion about verifying technical aspects and feasibilities, so that the customers get the highest quality Amiga is well-known for and they deserve.
 
We recommend to consult us before pursuing solutions that might diminish user-experience.
For us reliability and stability of the Amiga is very important.
The IDE specification clearly limits the cable length for modern  IDE modes and in some situations connecting only one device per cable is advised.
 
It came to our attention that some proposed solutions e.g. for CD cables not confirm to the requirement of the IDE specification
and might result in data loss. We do not recommend to ignore compliance with the ATAPI/IDE specs.

We want to make sure you know the risk of selling components for Amiga without considering the above. The risk of creating an unstable system and data loss for customers. '

The Vampire-4 is a complete system designed for performance and data stability. We advice all our customers to consult us before putting the V4 into another case and before changing cables.


Peter Heginbotham

Posts 214
19 Jan 2021 12:53


Parallel ATA cables have a maximum allowable length of 18 in (457 mm).[2][3] Because of this limit, the technology normally appears as an internal computer storage interface. For many years, ATA provided the most common and the least expensive interface for this application. It has largely been replaced by SATA in newer systems.

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Gunnar von Boehn
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 6207
19 Jan 2021 13:18


Peter Heginbotham wrote:

Parallel ATA cables have a maximum allowable length of 18 in (457 mm).[2][3]

 
16 inch was true in the age of dinosauers and slow, stone age IDE speeds. 4 inch (10cm) is what we can recommend as maximum length today.
 
As the IDE transfer modes improved, higher quality cable were required and shorter length recommended.
Especially for faster IDE speeds (as supported by the Vampire)
and for usage of COMPACT Flash devices much shorter cables are recommended and even required by the ATAPI specification.
 
We can not recommend to use cables over 10cm length.
 

 
 


Tryggve Knutsson

Posts 15
29 Jan 2021 07:09


Thanks for pointing this out. I'm currently using 20cm cables to my Vampire V2 in A500 (max idespeed set from vcontrol) and 10cm in A1200 and A600. So far no problems with the A500 CF-card, but I have been wondering if it could cause errors. I'll do some testing in the future and keep an eye out for this.

posts 4