Seagate MEDALIST 1270 User manual

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Medalist 1270
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ATA Interface Drive
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Installation Guide
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© 1995 Seagate Technology, Inc. All rights reserved
Publication Number: 36315-001, Rev. A, July 1995
Seagate, Seagate Technology and the Seagate logo are
registered trademarks of Seagate Technology, Inc. Medalist,
SeaFAX, SeaFONE, SeaBOARD and SeaTDD are trademarks
of Seagate Technology, Inc. EZ-Drive and Maximum Overdrive
are trademarks of Micro House International,Inc. Other product
names are registeredtrademarks or trademarks of their owners.
Seagate reserves the right to change, without notice, product
offerings or specifications. No part of this publication may be
reproduced in any form without written permission from Seagate
Technology, Inc.
Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Before you begin... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Configuring the drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Attaching the cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Mounting the drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Transferring the software from the drive . . . . . . . . . 11
Determining if your BIOS accepts more than
528 Mbytes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Solutions for surpassingthe 528-Mbyte barrier . . . . . . 13
Configuring the computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Using the installation software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Standard setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Dual-drive emulation installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Partitioning and formatting the drive . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Windows 32-bit disk access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Basic troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Advanced troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Technical support services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Introduction
Thank you for choosing a Seagate® drive. The purpose of this
guide is to assist you with installing your new hard drive. Its
organization outlinesthecomplete installation process from han-
dling the drive and drive application in Before you begin... to
offering troubleshooting suggestions andtechnical support infor-
mation. The topics discusses are:
•Handling your drive (see Before you begin...)
•Configuring the drive
•Attaching cables to the drive
•Mounting the drive
•Configuring the computer
•Troubleshooting
•Where to call for Seagate technical support
Seagate provides installation software, EZ-Drive, and a 32-bit
disk access driver for Windows, SEG32BIT.386, that allows the
computer to surpass the 528-Mbyte barrier when it is imposed.
The software is stored on the drive and must be transferred to a
diskette in Drive A before you partition and format the drive. A
program called Seamove is provided to make the transfer easy.
We hope your installation goes smoothly, but if complications
arise,alistofcommon symptomsandsolutionsisprovidedinthe
troubleshooting section. If the problem persists, contact your
dealerfirst.Your dealerisfamiliarwith systemintegrationandthe
conflicts that arise. If you need additional help or information
about Seagate products, Seagate technical supportnumbers are
provided.
Medalist 1270 Installation Guide, July 1995 1

Drive features
Feature ST31270A
Formatted Capacity 1,282.8 Mbytes
Cylinders 2,485
Heads 16
Sectors 63
Average seek time 12 msec
Cache (segmented) 256 Kbytes
Spindle speed 4,500 RPM
Internal transfer rate (Mbits per sec max.) 29.6 to 57.2
External transfer rate1
(Mbytes per sec max.) 16.6
LBA Supported
Multiple block read/write Supported
PIO modes 0, 1, 2, 3, 4
Multiword DMA modes 0, 1, 2
Power-management Supported
1. To achieve the maximum transfer rate, your computer must have
hardware that supports PIO mode 4 or multiword DMA mode 2. If the
native hardware does not support these modes, you can upgrade your
system with a host adapter. See your computer reseller for details.
2 Medalist 1270 Installation Guide, July 1995

Before you begin...
Note. Throughout this manualtheMedalist 1270is referred to by
its model number, ST31270A.
Drive handling. Your drive is vulnerable to damage from rough
handling and static discharge. Do not drop your drive. Do not
remove the seals and labels on the drive. The drive warranty is
voided if the seals and labels are removed.
Static discharge. Your drive contains components that can be
damaged by static discharge. Static damage can be cumulative
and may not manifest immediately. Observe the following pre-
cautions:
•Ground yourself before handling the drive. Wear a ground
strap that is properly connected to earth ground, or touch the
metal of a powersupply that is plugged into a walloutlet while
handling the drive.
•Keep the drivein its antistaticbag until you are ready to install
it. Do not attach any cables to the drive while it is in its bag.
•Handle the drive gently and only by its edges or frame. Place
it on an antistatic surface until you are ready to install it.
•Donottouchthedrive’sconnectorpinsorprintedcircuitboard.
Inspection. Usethehandlingprecautionslistedabove whenyou
inspectthedrive.If itappearstobedamaged,call yourdistributor
or dealer immediately.
Warranty. The drive comes with a three-year limited warranty.
Note. WithregardstotheEZ-DriveandSEG32BIT.386software,
there are no warranties, express or implied, including, but
not implied, warranties of merchantablity or fitness for a
particular purpose. All such warranties are expressly and
specifically disclaimed.
Maintenance and repair. Seagate drives do notrequire mainte-
nance. The head/disc assembly is sealed; a broken seal voids
the warranty. Seagate customer service centers are the only
Medalist 1270 Installation Guide, July 1995 3

facilities authorized to repair Seagate drives. Seagate does not
sanction any third-party repair facilities.
Application. Your Seagate drive is designed for IBM AT and
compatible personal computers. It uses the ATA interface. It is
intended for use with UL-listed computers or similarproducts.
Sicherheitsanleitung
1. Das Gerrät ist ein Einbaugerät, das für eine maximale Umge-
bungstemperatur von 55°C vorgesehen ist.
2. Zur Befestigung des Laufwerks werden 4 Schrauben 6-32
UNC-2Abenötigt.BeiseitlicherBefestigungdarfdiemaximale
Länge der Schrauben im Chassis nicht mehr als 3,3 mm und
bei Befestigung an der Unterseite nicht mehr als 5,08 mm
betragen.
3. Als Versorgungsspannugen werden benötigt:
+5V æ 5% 0,6A
+12V æ 5% 0,8A (1,9A fur ca. 30 Sek. fur æ 10%)
4. Die Versorgungsspannung mub SELV entsprechen.
5. Alle Arbeiten auf dem Festplatte dürfen nur von Ausgebilde-
tem Servicepersonal durchgeführt werden. Bitte schaffen Sie
Festplatteetiketten nicht weg.
6. Der Einbaudes Drives mub den Anforderungen gemäb DIN
IEC 950V DC 0805/05.90 entsprechen.
4 Medalist 1270 Installation Guide, July 1995

Warning. Turn off the computer before you remove its cover.
Turn off the power before you install or remove any
adapter card or the drive.
Caution. Special training or tools may be required to service
laptop computers. Removing the cover may void your
warranty. Review the terms and conditions of your
warranty before removing the cover.
Configuring the drive
Required materials:
•0.100-inch jumper connectors (supplied as spare jumpers)
Your Seagate drive is configured using the optionsjumper block
shown in Figure 1 on page 6. You can configure the drive:
•For one- or two-drive operation
•To be the master or slave drive
•For dual-drive emulation
•To operate as the master with drives that use a different
master/slave timing protocol
•For computers that use cable-select
•To use a remote drive-activity LED
To configure the drive, attach a jumperto the pinson the options
jumper block as shown in Figure 2 on page 7 for the desired
option. The configuration options are:
Spare jumper. Use the spare jumpers on pins 1 and 3 and
pins5and7toconfigurethedrive.Thesesettingsarenotused
for drive operation.
One-drive only. Use this configuration if there are no other
drives attached to the hard disc controller.
Master with slave present. Use this configuration if thedrive
is the first of two drives in your system. The master drive is
drive 0 in the System Setup record.
Medalist 1270 Installation Guide, July 1995 5

pin 1
J8 pin 1
J8. Options
jumper block
J1. Interface
connector
J3. Standard
power connector
1234
Circuit
board
+5V
+5V return
+12V return
+12V
Figure 1. Drive connectors
6 Medalist 1270 Installation Guide, July 1995

9
10
7
8
5
6
3
4
1
2
One drive only
Drive is master;
slave is present
Drive is slave when
another drive is present;
Cable select
Remote LED
connection
pin 13 (–), pin 14 (+)
Spares
12
11
Master/slave timing protocol.
Makes the drive compat-
ible with some drives as 
the slave.
14
13
Dual-drive emulation
Cannot be used with 
cable select.
Cannot be used with a
second, physical drive.
Circuit board
side up
Options jumper block (J8)
Figure 2. Options jumper block settings
Medalist 1270 Installation Guide, July 1995 7

Slave.Use this configuration if thedriveis theseconddrivein
the system. The slave is drive 1 in the System Setup record.
Master/slave timing protocol. This protocol involves the
communication between the computer and the disc drives
during the power-on cycle only. The computer queries the
master drive for the status of both drives. The slave must
report its status to the master within a certain time period. If it
does not respond in time or if it uses a response signal that
the master does not acknowledge, the master tells the host
that the slave has timed out, and the computer does not
recognize the slave. The Seagate driveis shipped configured
to work with other drives that comply with the ATA-standard
master/slave timing protocol.
This setting allows the Seagate drive in the slave position to
respond tosome drivesthat usea differentprotocol. Try using
this setting if the slave is not identified after power-on.
Dual-drive emulation. This feature allows you to make the
most of the BIOS limitation by making the drive two logical
drives for the computer. Eachlogicaldrive is assigned a drive
type in SystemSetup using the maximum translation geome-
try values the BIOS allows. Each logical drive must be parti-
tioned and formatted. A second, physical drive cannot be
attached totheharddisccontroller.Youcannotusedual-drive
emulation with cable select.
Cable-select. Use this configuration if your computer uses
cable-select.
Remote LED. If your computer uses a remote drive-activity
LED, place the ground wire side of the connector, usually the
black wire, on pin13 (–) and the other sideon pin14 (+) ofthe
options jumper block. The LED can be damaged if the cable
is attached incorrectly.
The options jumper block accepts a 0.100-inch connector. It
maybenecessarytoreplacethecurrentconnectorontheLED
cable with a 0.100-inch connector.
8 Medalist 1270 Installation Guide, July 1995

Attaching the cables
Required materials:
•A 40-conductor interface cable with a 40-pin, femaleinterface
connector for each drive you want to attach.
•A four-conductor power-supply cable.
Note. To ensure the integrity of your data, use a nonshielded
cable with a maximum length of 18 inches (46
centimeters).
This section refers to Figure 1 on page 6.
1. Attach the interface cable. Pin 1 onthe drive must alignwith
pin1ofthehard-disccontrollerconnector.Usetheedge-stripe
on thecable to denote pin 1. Pin1 on thedrive is located next
to the four-pin power connector.
Caution. The cable and connector bond is delicate. Pulling the
cable toremove theconnectormaydamagethecable.
Attach an interface connector to the drive. If your interface con-
nector has a key, it can onlyplug into the drive one way. Be sure
that you do not bend the pins when you attach the cable.
Attach an interface-connector to the hard-disc controller connec-
tor on the motherboard or host adapter. Be sure that pin 1 (see
your system user’s guide or host adapter user’s guide to deter-
mine the location of pin 1) is aligned with pin 1 on the drive.
Cable-select installation: If your computer uses cable-select,
refer to its user’s guideto determine whichinterface connector is
used for the master and which is used for the slave.
2. Attach a power-supply cable to the drive.
Caution. The cable and connector are designed to mate. Donot
force a connection. Improper alignment can damage
your drive.
Medalist 1270 Installation Guide, July 1995 9

Mounting the drive
Required materials:
•Four 6-32 UNC-2A screws (not included)
The drive fits in the standard 3.5-inch bay and can be mounted
inanyorientation.Secure thedrivewithfourmountingscrewsnot
more than 6 full turns (0.20 inches) into the drive frame (see
Figure 3). Position thedrive so that the cables are not strainedor
crimped.
Caution. To prevent drive mounting-hole damage, use only the
type of screws specified.
This completes the hardware installation.
Figure 3. Mounting holes
10 Medalist 1270 Installation Guide, July 1995

Transferring the software from the drive
Required materials:
•Diskette Drive A
•A blank diskette that can be used in Drive A
•A bootable diskette with the Format command
Recent developments in drive technology have pushed drive
capacitiesbeyondthelimitthatmanyoldercomputersusingDOS
can address. Seagate providessoftware solutions that can allow
your computer to surpass the address limit and access the full
capacity of your drive. The software is stored on the drive at the
factory and must be transferred to a diskette in Drive A before
you partition and format the drive. The files stored on the drive
include:
•EZ-Drive. This is drive installation software that enables com-
puters with BIOSs that restrict the hard disc capacity to 528
Mbytes to surpass the 528-Mbyte barrier.
•SEG32BIT.386.Thisreplacement32-bitdiskaccessdriverfor
Windows supports drive capacities above 528 Mbytes, multi-
pleblockread/write,PIOmodes3and4 andLBAaddressing.
•Seamove. This is a program that automatically copies the
software files stored on the drive at the factory to a bootable
diskette in Drive A. It removes the factory-installed partition
and format when the files are copied.
•README. This file contains information about the Seamove
transfer program.
You must create a diskette with the software that Seagate pro-
vides.Totransferthesoftware, puta bootable,blankdisketteinto
Drive A. To create a bootable diskette:
1. Insert your DOS diskette into DriveA.
2. Type format a: /s.
The drive reads the DOS diskette and prompts you to insert
the diskette you want to format into Drive A.
Medalist 1270 Installation Guide, July 1995 11

3. Insert the blank diskette. Press ENTER. When the format is
complete, you can transfertheinstallation software filesto the
diskette.
To transfer the software files:
1. Boot the computer with the diskette to which you want to
transfer the software files.
2. EntertheSystemSetup.(Refertoyourcomputeruser’sguide.
System Setup may be called Setup, BIOS Setup or CMOS
Setup.) If your computer uses an automatic setup system, go
to step 5.
3. Find the hard disc configuration in the System Setup screen.
4. Select drive type 2 for your new Seagate drive. If your com-
puterdoes not offer drive type2, usethe following values: 615
cylinders, 4 heads and 17 sectors.
Note. These are interim drive-type values that allow you to
access the drive for extracting the installation files.
5. Activate the prompt for the Seagate drive.
6. Type seamove and press ENTER.
Thiscommandtransfers thefiles fromthedriveto thediskette
in Drive A. When the transfer is complete, the seamove
program erases the files and the drive partition and reboots
the computer. The computer returns an invalid drive-specifi-
cation error if you try to access the drive.
Caution. Donotwrite-protecttheSeagatesoftwarediskettewith
EZ-Drive. The EZ-Drive program writes important in-
formation back to the diskette during the installation.
12 Medalist 1270 Installation Guide, July 1995

Determining if your BIOS accepts more
than 528 Mbytes
The following suggestions can help you to determine whether
your BIOS limits the drive capacity to 528 Mbytes.
•If you are usinga 286 or 386 computer, the native BIOS does
not recognize more than 528 Mbytes.
•If the copyright date of the BIOS is earlier than 1994, it
probably willnot recognizemore than 528 Mbytes. The BIOS
copyright date, manufacturer and version number appear on
your screen at the beginning of power-on or reboot.
•Install the drive using the Standard setup described on page
18.(Transferthefreesoftwarestoredonthedrivetoadiskette
before you start the installation. See page 11 for transfer
instructions.)Whenthe installationis complete,type dir
d :for
thenewdriveandcheckthenumberofbytesfree.Thenumber
should be close to the formatted capacity of your drive. If the
number is less than 528 Mbytes, you need to consider alter-
natives for surpassing the 528-Mbyte barrier. Some alterna-
tives are listed below.
Solutions for surpassing the 528-Mbyte barrier
•UpgradetheBIOStoonethatsupportsmorethan528Mbytes.
Such BIOSs incorporate logical block addressing (LBA) and
extended cylinder-head-sector (ECHS) addressing.
•Use a host adapter that supports more than 528 Mbytes.
•Use the free installation software, EZ-Drive, that is stored on
the drive at the factory or an equivalent. (See page 11 for
instructions on transferring the software to a diskette. See
page 16 for instructions on using EZ-Drive.)
•Use dual-drive emulation. Dual-drive emulation makes the
drivetwo logical drives for the computer. Each logical drive is
assigned a drive type in System Setup and is partitioned and
formatted. However, you can only use the translation geome-
Medalist 1270 Installation Guide, July 1995 13

try values allowed by the BIOS, which limits the capacity of
each logical drive to 528 Mbytes.
Configuring the computer
Configuring the computer involves updating the computer’s Sys-
tem Setup records with the new drive’s translation geometry
(cylinder, head and sector information) and partitioning and for-
matting the drive. The translation geometryiskept on the CMOS
chip and is used by the BIOS to assign locations for the data on
the drive. Many older BIOSs place limits on the translation
geometryparametervaluesthatdonotallowittoassignlocations
beyond 528 Mbytes when DOS is used. If your computer uses
such a BIOS, it cannot access the full capacity of your new drive.
In this section we describe three methods you can use to config-
ureyourcomputerforDOS:EZ-Driveinstallationsoftware,stand-
ard setup and dual-drive emulation setup.
Using the installation software
Note. The EZ-Drive software is authorized for installation only
with the drive on which it is shipped.
The EZ-Drive installation software allows your computer to ac-
cess your Seagate drive’s full format capacity. It bypasses the
BIOS during the boot sequence and uses the information it
creates on Drive C to identify the drive before DOS is loaded.
During the installation, EZ-Drive:
•Determines how many drives are installed
•Enters a drive type in System Setup for the new drive
•Modifies the Drive Cboot record with thenew drive’s transla-
tion geometry
•Partitions and formats the new drive
•Copies the boot files to the new drive if it is Drive C
•Enables Maximum Overdrive, which enables read/write mul-
tiple in drives that have this feature. The Change Installed
14 Medalist 1270 Installation Guide, July 1995

Featuresoptionthatappearsinthedialogboxwhentheformat
is complete allows you to disableMaximum Overdrive.
EZ-Drive is easy and safe to use. You can choose a fully-auto-
matic installation,whichputsasinglepartitiononthedrive,oryou
can install the drive with multiple partitions and other custom
features. Online help is provided for selected topics when you
press F1. Online help is also available in the main menu as
Information Help.
If you already have a drive installed, EZ-Drive cannot harm your
data unless you instruct it to override that drive’s partition and
format. EZ-Drive automatically arranges the drive-type position
in System Setup to reflect how you have physically configured
the drives.
Note. EZ-Drive is designed for DOS installations. To use EZ-
Drive, you must have:
•Microsoft MS-DOS Version 3.0 or later
•IBM PC-DOS Version 3.1 or later
•Digital Research DR-DOS Version 6.0 or later
•Novell DOS Version 7.0 or later
•Compaq DOS Version 3.1 or later
EZ-Drive allows you to have full access to your drive in
DOS when other operating systems are loaded on the
drive. You must install the drive with EZ-Drive and DOS
before loading the other operating system. (See the Infor-
mation Help optionin the softwarefor more information on
installing other operating systems.)
EZ-Drive does not support:
•Toshiba laptops, XT or Micro Channel computers
•Non-ATA hard drives (SCSI, ESDI, MFM and RLL)
Caution. Because EZ-Drive uses about 4 Kbytes of conven-
tional memory, some older virus-detection programs
may misidentify EZ-Drive as a virus. If all 640 Kbytes
Medalist 1270 Installation Guide, July 1995 15

of conventional memory are not free when these virus
programs inspect conventional memory, they assume
a virus is present and clean and restore the memory.
If this happens, information about the EZ-Drive in-
stalled drive is destroyed, and the drive cannot be
identifiedbythecomputer.Donotusetheseprograms.
Note. TheSeagateversionof EZ-Drivecannotinstallanon-Sea-
gate drive without a Seagate drive present.
1. Boot your computer with the Seagate software diskette with
EZ-Drive. This is a precaution to ensure that the EZ-Drive
installation does not conflict with any terminate-and-stay resi-
dent (TSR) programs that may be in memory.
2. Type ez and press ENTER.
3. Disregard the Notice dialog box. The EZ-Drive software is
authorized for installation only with the drive on which it is
shipped. Press ENTER to continue.
4. Locate the bottom box on the screen. The model number of
eachdriveEZ-Driveidentifiesislistedinthisbox.Ifadriveyou
have installed is not listed or the drive order (Drive 0 is the
master, Drive 1 is the slave) is incorrect or there is a drive not
identified message, make sure themaster andslave jumpers
are set correctly on the drives and the I/O and power cables
are properly connected.
Note. Other troubleshooting tipsare available in the Information
Help menu.
Caution. Turn off yourcomputer before resetting the jumpers or
removing the cables.
5. If the drives are correctly identified, select Fully Automatic
Installation in the Main menu dialog box above. This creates
a single partition and formats the drive.
If you are installing the drive as Drive C, EZ-Drive automat-
ically writes the system files to the drive to make it bootable.
16 Medalist 1270 Installation Guide, July 1995

6. Whentheformat is complete,theOptions dialogbox appears.
Wewanttocallyourattentiontotwooftheoptionsinparticular:
Create Recovery Disk and Change Install Features.
CreateRecovery Diskallowsyoutosavethebootinformation
EZ-Drive uses to load your drive. You can use this diskette to
restore the EZ-Drive boot information on Drive C if it is cor-
rupted and you cannot access the drive. Use a blank diskette
to create the recovery disk. We recommend that you use this
feature.
Change Install Features allows you to change the status of
some EZ-Drive features. You can:
•Disable Maximum overdrive.
•Disable the EZ-Drive banner that appears during boot up.
•Disable Floppy Boot Protection. This allows you to use the
EZ-Drive installeddrive with other operating systems.
Caution. You can corruptthe data on your driveif you boot
from a diskette improperly while in this mode.
Always follow the “Booting with a diskette after
EZ-Driveis installed”instructiononpage18orthe
Floppy Boot Instruction in EZ-Drive when booting
with a diskette in this mode.
•Set the time periodthe computer allows you topress CTRL if
you want to boot to a floppy.
•Remove the EZ-Drive boot code from Drive C.
7. Select Reboot to reboot the computer and save the installa-
tion. Remove the diskette.
Towardtheendofthebootsequence,yourscreenshoulddisplay
a prompt forbootingwith a diskette followedquicklyby the Micro
House banner and the C: prompt. If the boot prompt and the
banner fail to appear and you have not disabled Floppy Boot
Protection in the Change Install Features menu, your computer
has not recognized the EZ-Drive installed drive.
Medalist 1270 Installation Guide, July 1995 17

Booting with a diskette after EZ-Drive is installed
To boot your computer with a diskette:
1. Boot the computer with the diskette-drive door open.
2. PresstheCTRL keywhenthefollowingmessageappears near
the end of the boot sequence:
Hold the CTRL key down to boot from a floppy
3. Insert the boot diskette. The computer boots to the diskette
drive.
Standard setup
1. Turn the computer on.
2. Enter System Setup. (Refer to your computer’s user’s guide.
System Setup may be called Setup, BIOS Setup or CMOS
Setup.)
3. Find the hard disc configuration in the System Setup screen.
4. Selectadrivetypethatmatchesthedrivetranslationgeometry
for your drive as shown in the table.
Model CHKDSK
Mbytes2
Translation geometry CMOS
(Setup)
Mbytes3
Cyl Heads Sectors
per track
ST31270A 1,282.8 2,485 16 63 1221
Note. CHKDSK and CMOS capacities are approximations.
Thecapacitiesyourcomputerreportsmayvary slightly.
If none of the standard drive types offered in System Setup
match the translation geometry of your Seagate drive, select
the
user-defined or custom drive type, if available, and enter
your drive’s translation geometry.
2. One Mbyte equals 1,000,000 bytes.
3. One Mbyte equals 1,048,576 bytes.
18 Medalist 1270 Installation Guide, July 1995