Technical questions for the MPC2000xl and the MPC2000
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By jb_the_sloth Tue Mar 06, 2018 5:35 pm
So, I am relatively familiar with MPCs, but never until now have I begun to mess with swapping out drives for newer tech. I am about to install a CF reader vs the old Zip Drive and was wondering... Is it possible to just put an old hard drive in there if it's got 40 pin connections on it?
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By Lampdog Tue Mar 06, 2018 7:15 pm
There is no 40 pin ide connection on the 2k classic motherboard.

Your card reader is gonna have to be scsi.

This is one of the reason many switched to 2kxl.
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By richie Tue Mar 06, 2018 7:18 pm
It is possible but you'd have to do a bunch of modifications and quite frankly, it would be retarded to put a hard drive in the 2000.

The hard drive will heat up the insides, draw more power and is subject to issues from movement. Your best route to take is by using strictly flash memory.
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By jb_the_sloth Tue Mar 06, 2018 7:29 pm
Lampdog wrote:There is no 40 pin ide connection on the 2k classic motherboard.

Your card reader is gonna have to be scsi.

This is one of the reason many switched to 2kxl.


Hey man, I do have 2000XL just mis-typed the post subject.

Just curious about different options for memory. I bought a StarTech CF drive and went to hook it up when I realized that I needed a 40 pin cable. Haven't done this yet, but is it right that all I have to do is connect the 40 pin cable and 4 pin power cable to the CF reader and that should be it?
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By jb_the_sloth Tue Mar 06, 2018 8:02 pm
richie wrote:It is possible but you'd have to do a bunch of modifications and quite frankly, it would be retarded to put a hard drive in the 2000.

The hard drive will heat up the insides, draw more power and is subject to issues from movement. Your best route to take is by using strictly flash memory.



Thanks, that all makes a lot of sense. I'll stick with a CF drive.
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By Lampdog Tue Mar 06, 2018 8:52 pm
jb_the_sloth wrote: Just curious about different options for memory. I bought a StarTech CF drive and went to hook it up when I realized that I needed a 40 pin cable. Haven't done this yet, but is it right that all I have to do is connect the 40 pin cable and 4 pin power cable to the CF reader and that should be it?


Yep. I went from floppy, to 250zip to ATAPI MCD reader. Same moves your about to make, many of us did it and it's THEE BEST thing ever for your 2kxl.
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By jb_the_sloth Mon Mar 12, 2018 2:55 am
Lampdog wrote:Yep. I went from floppy, to 250zip to ATAPI MCD reader. Same moves your about to make, many of us did it and it's THEE BEST thing ever for your 2kxl.


Went to hook my ZIP Drive back up after disconnecting it and now for some reason is not being recognized by my MPC. Before I disconnected, it would register as SCSI 5, now all I see is options for F-ROM and Floppy Drive. Why is this? Any suggestions?
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By Lampdog Mon Mar 12, 2018 10:48 pm
Did you change the scsi id somehow and not know it?

Chapter 13: Appendix
Page 190
SCSI ID
Make sure the SCSI ID number of the device connected to a SCSI bus is unique. For example, the
ID of the MPC2000XL is 6 and the ID of the other devices connected must be set to any number
other than 6. To set the ID of external SCSI devices, check the manual of the device.

Also, turn on scsi drive before MPC if possible, external right?