AmigaLove

Morning lads,

Old time Amiga user (born in 1975, Germany). Just setup my old Amiga 500 again and used an OSSC to connect to my TV. All works great. Still have over 2000 old Amiga games (original packaging etc.) from my active trading time back in the late 80s. I bought/sold them to boost my pocket money, hah, good times. Anyway, just wanted to say hello and will be back later.

Quick question: Any recommendation on a solid Amiga 500 Hard Drive? Doesn't need to be gigantic and/or the highest end version ever but simply a solid Hard Drive.

By the way, never knew the Amiga scene was so active in the US too. I thought this was mainly a European thing. Great to see the Amiga spirit still being alive!

Cheers
Ole

Hi Occi,

welcome! Or, rather: herzlich willkommen .

I actually would recommend this internal accelerator:
https://sordan.ie/product/583/turbo-car ... amiga-500/

You could then use a CF-card or SD-car via adpater and also get a nice -configurable- spped boost.

Cheers,
McT

Thanks (Danke), McT

Regarding the hard drive - I had a look at the link you provided (it seems the item there requires me to do some (basic) dabbling with the Motherboard). To my shame I have to admit that my technical knowledge is almost zero so I am a little hesitant opening the Amiga and modifying the Motherboard. If I remember correctly from back in the 90s you could get an external hard drive for the Amiga, correct? So basically it would be connected like you would connect the secondary disk drive via the port socket at the back of the Amiga. I know this might be more old school and slower than your suggested solution but I would feel more comfortable that way. So, any recommendation on a reliable external hard drive for Amiga 500?

Thanks again
Ole

If I remember correctly from back in the 90s you could get an external hard drive for the Amiga, correct?

Yes, there were a few excellent options which - if you look hard enough - you might find.

One would be the GVP Impact A500 HD8+ Series II. GVP did a very nice job of making it match the 500's case, too. I've not done it myself, but I've read it's possible to even swap out the internal (large, heavy, loud, but cool) mechanical SCSI HDD with a SCSI2SD card, and just add a 2-4gb sd micro (which is a massive ton of space). It can also hold up to 8MB Fast RAM. Really nice device. There are various versions of the internal ROM chip, which are worth keeping in mind.

There's also the Amiga A590 external drive option. It can also hold 2MB Fast RAM.

There are probably a lot more than this, but these are the 2 that immediately come to mind for me as "classic" external attachments.

A new external device you might want to research, however, is the ACA500+, which is brand new and remarkable indeed.

Thanks man, I will research all those options you mentioned. I assume once a hard drive is installed you can set it up in a way that Workbench will boot from it when you turn on the Amiga, right?

I assume once a hard drive is installed you can set it up in a way that Workbench will boot from it when you turn on the Amiga, right?

Yep!

Overall the ACA 500+ is the best you can get. Simply an awesome device.

My approach was a bit more minimalistic. Some FastRAM, a bit speed bump and an (internal) HDD replacement. Wasn’t sure if you would welcome an external solution that would require more desk space.

If external is o.k. for you - then indeed you should get an ACA500+.

McTrinsic wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 26, 2020 2:12 pm

Overall the ACA 500+ is the best you can get. Simply an awesome device.

My approach was a bit more minimalistic. Some FastRAM, a bit speed bump and an (internal) HDD replacement. Wasn’t sure if you would welcome an external solution that would require more desk space.

If external is o.k. for you - then indeed you should get an ACA500+.

100% ok with the external one and desk space. I actually prefer to see all the parts. Feels more retro to me personally. And if it's easy to install and use, all the better. Will check the ACA 500+, thanks man!