ReActiveMicro MicroDrive Turbo User manual

Owner’s Manual
MicroDrive
TURBO
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DMA!

MicroDrive
TURBO

Customer Satisfaction
The MicroDrive Turbo Expansion Card comes with a lifetime warranty to
you the original purchaser.
Limitation on Warranties and Liability
Even though ReActiveMicro.com has tested the hardware described in this
manual and reviewed its contents, neither ReActiveMicro.com nor its
afliates make any warranty or representation, either express or implied,
with respect to this manual or to the hardware described in this manual,
their quality, performance, merchantability, or tness for any particular
purpose. As a result, this hardware and manual are sold “as is”, and you
the purchaser are assuming the entire risk as to their quality and
performance. In no event will ReActiveMicro.com or its suppliers be liable
for direct, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages resulting from
any defect in the hardware or manual, even if they have been advised of
the possibility of such damages.
In particular, they shall have no liability for any programs or data stored
in or used with ReActiveMicro.com products, including the costs of
recovering or reproducing these programs or data. Some states do not
allow the exclusion or limitation of implied warranties or liability for
incidental or consequential damages, so the above limitation or exclusion
may not apply to you.
ReActiveMicro
Ofce Toll Free: (800) REACTIVE (732-2848)
Ofce/Mobile Direct: [phone]
[e-mail]
www.reactivemicro.com
https://m.facebook.com/reactivemicrousa
@reactivemicro
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Contents
MicroDrive Turbo ......................................................... 1
Technical Specifications..........................................1
Advanced Features..................................................2
Setup Utility .................................................................. 4
Make a Backup Copy ..............................................4
Installation ................................................................... 5
Apple IIGS..............................................................5
Apple IIe Enhanced ................................................7
CF Backup & Restore................................................... 8
Using the Setup Utility............................................8
CiderPress — Backup & Restore ...........................14
Backing-up the CF Card .............................................14
Restoring the CF Card.................................................15
Raw Disk Copier.........................................................16
CiderPress — Copying Files..................................17
Copy a File to the ⇒CF Card ....................................17
Copy a File from the ⇐CF Card ...............................18
Technical Support ..................................................... 19
Uthernet/ADTPro with MicroDrive Turbo .............19
Copy Protected Software ......................................19
Self-Powered IDE to CF Adapters..........................20
IDE Pin 20 Power Mods .............................................20
The HFS File System.................................................... 21
HFS (MAC) File System .........................................21
Firmware .................................................................... 22
ROM Chip Removal...............................................22
Step by Step Instructions............................................22
Mechanical Hard Disk Drive Setup ........................... 24
Setup ....................................................................24
Install a IDE Connector Cable ....................................24
IDE 40-Pin Interface Connector .................................25
IDE Cable Colors.........................................................25
Powering the Hard Disk Drives ............................26
Typical IDE Hard Drive Connectors ..........................27
Preparing Your Hard Disk Drive ...........................27
Starting from Scratch ..................................................27

Changing Hard Drive Configuration .....................29
Modifying Partitions .............................................30
Another Look at the MicroDrive Installer..............30
New Hard Disk Setup ...........................................31
Installing the GS/OS Driver ..................................32
Using Two Hard Disk Drives................................. 33
Setting the Hard Drives' Jumpers..........................33
In a One-Drive Configuration.....................................33
In a Two-Drive Configuration ....................................33
Booting from a Different Volume..........................34
AE Vulcan Upgrade................................................... 35
Hard Disk Back Up...............................................35
Setting Up the Hard Drive ....................................35
Error Messages at Boot Time ................................36
Drive 1 Error ...............................................................36
Missing configuration data .........................................36
Error reading boot sector ...........................................36
Volume not formatted.................................................37
Unable to load ProDOS ..............................................37
Problematic Hard Disk Drives.................................... 38
WD Caviar Series ..................................................38
HD Installation............................................................39
IDE Interface Overview .............................................. 41
Introduction .........................................................41
The IDE Interface .................................................41
IDE Origins ..........................................................42
The Evolution of IDE (ATA):......................................43
Compact Flash Overview.......................................... 44
What is a CF Storage Card? ...................................44
CF Card Internal Diagram ..........................................44
MicroDrive Turbo Revision History............................. 45
First DMA IDE Controller......................................45
Card Revisions ............................................................45
Online Review.............................................................45

A Word About This Manual
Congratulations on your purchase of the MicroDrive Turbo from ReActiveMicro.com
This manual is designed to assist you in every phase of integrating the MicroDrive
Turbo Expansion Card into your Apple® IIGS™ and Apple® IIe™ Enhanced Personal
Computer.
The manual covers everything from the hardware installation, software configuration,
and much more. The hardware is the most sensitive part; an improperly-performed
hardware installation could damage the MicroDrive Turbo and the Apple Computer.
The MicroDrive Turbo is an Apple II Expansion Card that gives the Apple IIGS and
the Apple IIe Enhanced Personal Computer a complete Solid State Storage Solution.
Everything is included to get you up and running right out of the box.
There are two categories of Apple II owners: those who have installed peripheral
cards into their computers, and those who haven't.
Those of you who have ventured under the hood of their computer probably need
little explanation of the process. You will see that the MicroDrive Turbo’s installation
is not much more difficult than any other card in your system.
Those of you who have never explored the insides of your computer the installation
is not difficult if you follow the detailed steps in the Installation section.
Nevertheless, you may decide that this process is not for you; in this case, arrange for
a qualified computer technician to install the MicroDrive Turbo Expansion Card for
you.
No matter what your level of experience, do not attempt to install MicroDrive Turbo
until you have read the manual and understand all of the steps completely.
Static Precaution
Avoid any and all electrostatic discharges to the MicroDrive Turbo Expansion Board.
Like all electronics devices, a static discharge can destroy or shorten the life span of
the delicate components on the Expansion Card.
This risk is highest in areas where there is carpet, and especially during dry weather.
You can momentarily discharge any buildup by coming into contact with a grounded
piece of metal, the most convenient method is touching the metal case of the Apple
II’s internal power supply, the computer must be plugged in for this procedure to
work, the power cable has the grounded connection.

MicroDrive Turbo
1
ReActiveMicro
MicroDrive Turbo
Technical Specifications
Requires an Apple IIGS or Apple IIe Enhanced
Fully ProDOS and GS/OS compatible.
Compatible with all known Apple II hardware.
DMA Capable.
Compatible with memory up to 8 MB on the Apple IIGS.
GS/OS driver with GS/OS caching support included.
Can boot a minimum GS/OS System in 12 seconds.
With an Accelerator installed 9 seconds.
Allows to boot any partition.
Up to 8 partitions on one CF Card, 16 partitions on two CF Cards.
Fully compatible with all hardware such as:
TransWarp GS, ZIP GSX, PC Transporter, RAM Cards from Apple,
Applied Engineering, CV-Tech, Harris, Q-Labs, Sequential Systems etc.
MicroDrive Turbo Expansion Card 1

MicroDrive Turbo
2
ReActiveMicro
Advanced Features
The MicroDrive Turbo uses CompactFlash Cards. Solid State, readily available,
inexpensive, low power, noise free, high degree of durability with a very long
lifespan, superb quality.
For more information on CF Cards see Compact Flash Overview at the end of this
manual.
CF Storage - Benefits
Moving software downloaded from the Internet to your Apple II Personal
Computer has never been quicker or easier. Just remove the CF Card
from your MicroDrive Turbo, insert it in to your PC Card
Reader, start CiderPress. You can read and write directly to
the CF Card. Using your PC for transferring files and
backing everything up, taking care of your Apple II files has
never been so quick and painless!
Standard IDE Interface
The 40 Pin IDE interface on the MicroDrive Turbo is a standard 16-bit IDE port. It is
capable of addressing Primary and Secondary (Master/Slave) IDE storage.
IDE to Dual CF Adapter
The MicroDrive Turbo comes standard with a 40 Pin IDE to Dual CF Adapter. Users
can control which of the Two CF Slots is Primary and Secondary using a Jumper on
the Adapter.
Note: The Dual mode feature is only available on Apple IIGS Personal Computer.
DMA
As the name implies, the MicroDrive Turbo performs Direct Memory Access which
bypasses the CPU and allows for an incredible 40% faster read and write speeds
when compared to conventional controllers.
With an accelerator installed in your IIGS you can boot GS/OS in as fast as 7 seconds!
The DMA option can be turned on or off using the Setup Utility.

MicroDrive Turbo
3
ReActiveMicro
ProDOS 8 and 16
The MicroDrive Turbo is ProDOS compatible. It's recognized as a Standard Mass
Storage Device just like any Hard Disk Drive on your Apple II. Large Volume DOS
3.3 support is provided through the use of a program called DOS.MASTER
(preloaded on CF Card).
Boot Options
By default, Volume 1 is set to boot. However, when setting up a New CF Card the
user sets which Volume they desire to boot. Or on an existing CF Card the Setup
utility can modify the default boot Volume. The MicroDrive Turbo also offers a
temporary option to boot to ANY volume.
When powering on the Apple II the user will press and hold the key. This will
pause the MicroDrive Turbo's splash screen.
The user then presses the corresponding Volume's number key, and the MicroDrive
Turbo will boot to that Volume.
Apple IIGS and Apple IIe Enhanced Operation
The MicroDrive Turbo comes standard with the Apple IIGS Firmware. You can
however order one with Apple IIe Firmware, or buy an upgrade ROM to convert a
IIGS MicroDrive Turbo for use in an Apple IIe Enhanced.