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COASTER-INTERRUPTUS

Generic [MIRAI Retail kit] SANYO CRD-BP4-M 16/10/40 "burnproof" SCSI-3 

Test System: 

OS: MS Windows 2000 SP1 & MS Windows 98SE: ASPI-layer 4.60 [1021]

SCSI: [Windows 98SE in HD#0, partition#0]

0=10k rpm U2W 9Gb Compaq ADO09322B9 [Boot HD]

2=Generic CRD-BP4 f/w 4.31

3=Plextor PX-40TSi f/w 1.12

4=5.4k rpm UW 2.1Gb IBM DCAS-32160W [CD-burning image file HD]

7=Initio INI-A100U2W PCI Host [auto terminated +active LVD terminator]

RAID: [W2K OS in partition#1, paging-file in #0: both 8k clusters]

Onboard Promise PDC 20265: FastTrak100 130b12 BIOS: 130b33 drivers.

2 x 7.2k rpm UDMA5 IBM DTLA-307030 in 57Gb RAID0-array [16k stripe]

SYSTEM HARDWARE: 

MSI 694D Pro-A BIOS 3.30; 2 x Celeron 366 at 550MHz & 2.0vcore; 2 x 128 Mb Mushkin 150 HSDRAM at 2-3-2-[5], 4-way interleave & 133MHz.

Matrox G200 Millennium SGRAM AGP & Eizo F77 21" at 1600x1200x75Hz

Domex PCI Ultra-SCSI host [supplied in Mirai BP4 kit]: 

We didn't use this supplied SCSI-host during our review; but tested it separately: the Domex 3194U appears to be an OEM version of the Initio 9100U, & has a very similar [Initio] BIOS to the excellent Initio INI-A100U2W used longterm in our test system.

The 3194U is a bootable PCI busmaster host with both internal [50-way] & external [50-way compact] connectors. It allows full control of device, card-termination, & boot parameters in its onboard BIOS; device transfer rates can be set individually to a maximum of 20Mb/s & it will support up to 7 devices. 

In our experience these Initio BIOS' have good support for the El Torito standard [ie you can boot from multi-boot CD's]; & Initio hosts are quite tolerant of an overclocked PCI-bus.

The sole hassle with Initio hosts is the lack of inbuilt driver-support in all versions of Windows. This requires making up driver-install floppies - from the included CD - for whichever MS OS you wish to install: those using W9x will also need to edit their install/boot-floppy to include the relevant real-mode [DOS] drivers - there are instructions for this in the Domex CD, along with drivers for a wide range of operating systems.

For those without experience of setting-up a modern SCSI-host: SCSI-3 CD-devices like the CRD-BP4 should be set up with these parameters:

asynchronous=no; transfer-rate=20 [or less]; DOS greater than 2=no; spinup=no; disconnect=yes

The SCSI-card's BIOS should also be set up to allow boot from CD.

The provision of this decent-quality SCSI-host in the Mirai kit is an outstanding bargain: if you can find a cheap U/ UW [ie not LVD; U2W, or U3W] SCSI HD with a 50-way socket - or if fitted with a 68-pin socket get a HP 50 D Male > HP 68 D Female adaptor - you can simply plug it in the SCSI-chain & have a dedicated image-file HD: this arrangement gives optimal stability in a burning-oriented multi-tasking system.

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Copyright © April 2001 Stephen Hoar for Burning Issues - all rights reserved