Amiga 1200 HDD

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Hi There,

With my folks needing the space, after 10 years I had to go home and recover a load of stuff, including an Amiga 1200 and loads of games (in their original huge boxes).

It has a 64Gb 64Mb Hard Drive fitted but for some reason it's not being detected and I just get the purple screen with the animated Workbench disk.

If I insert a disk, everything seems to work fine and the nostalgia duly starts kicking in(!) However, Workbench doesn't detect the HDD.

Is there any way I can bring the HDD back to life or is it dead, as is to be expected after 10 years in a loft?

Cheers for any advice.

[Homer]

I would start by taking off the ribbon cable and reseating it. Have a good look at connections generally while you are in there. Also have a listen to see if you can hear the drive start rotating when you power up. Oh, and have a :pint:

[Homer]

I suppose there is the possibility that the drive has seized up after that length of time :-(

[rkauer]

Try to run "hdtoolbox". If the HD is detected, means you lost the HD RDB only. In this case you need a hd utility like disksalv or QuarterbackTools.

Also check if the HD's cable is well fitted in the IDE pins. Remove the cable and reinsert it could helps. :-D

[Amiduffer]

Get a new HD. The price for 1 or 2 gig harddrives are rediculously low.

[Banners]

Well whaddya know...

First, I unscrewed the case - do you think I voided my warranty? - and reatached the ribbon cable to the HDD. This then had the effect of allowing the HDD drive to start whirring. However, it was making this awful clicking sound and was still not booting.

Then, I found a disk from GVP (Great Valley Products) called FaaastPrep and using it's Expert mode, it seemed to access the HDD for ages until eventually the clicking stopped, and then it detected DH0 and DH1...!

Now it boots into the glorious brown, grey and blue of Magic Workbench and everything is there just as I remember it(!)

Anyone for a quick blast on Chaos Engine AGA :-)

Cheers, fellas!

[InTheSand]

Congrats on getting access to your drive! However, given its age, I strongly suggest you back it up if you want to retain its contents for any length of time!

As Amiduffer says, low capacity 2.5" drives are as cheap as chips these days!

- Ali

[rkauer]

I've got a 4.3 Gb 2.5" IDE for my 1200 for U$5.00. Good room and reability. :-D

[InTheSand]

US$5??!

OK, I'll revise my statement: low capacity drives are cheaper than chips! :-)

- Ali

[Mucker]

Sorry to say butty, good chance the drive is stuffed, my a600 had done the same thing last week, when i had doug it out. :violin: :lotsacoffee:

[Homer]

Banners: Be aware that there are size limitations to the HD you can use as a replacement - we need to know more about your A1200 to advise. Also note that any HD that clicks is probably going to fail soon, so it really is time for a new HD before you lose everything :-D
Other options include Cloanto's 'Amiga Forever' Amiga emulator for the pc, and copying the drive...

[Mucker]

Ahh very astute of you, using the pc to back up to and using an emmulator.

Would then only cost him 30bucks for the emmulator any way, not much diff to the value of an a1200 with no hd :boohoo:

[InTheSand]

You'd probably also need to buy an adaptor to allow the Amiga's 2.5" drive to be connected...

But you could use WinUAE and a copy of your real Amiga's ROM, at a cost of $0.00!

- Ali

[Banners]

Heh, I think the world can survive happily without my crappy Octamed tracks and sixth-form poetry which have been in sat on the hard drive untouched for a decade(!)

I used to love my 500, and then the 1200, and without the Amiga opening up a whole world of creativity in graphics and music I probably wouldn't be doing what I'm doing now - which is running a design and internet company.

The 1200 is on eBay now and I hope whoever buys it has a lot of fun.

Thanks again.

[Mucker]

If you fancy getting back in to things, give amigakit.com a look. Got everything to get you bang up to date in the miggy world :-D