DC-SWAT Forum

Hi,

I'd like to buy 2,5" HDD for my Dreamcast. Could you share your tested and confirmed DC compatible HDDs? Maybe we could make some list for the community.

Post everything you have, but preferable IDE 2,5'' bacuse they don't need external power source.

(22.06.2016 22:13)DCF писал(а): [ -> ]Hi,

I'd like to buy 2,5" HDD for my Dreamcast. Could you share your tested and confirmed DC compatible HDDs? Maybe we could make some list for the community.

Post everything you have, but preferable IDE 2,5'' bacuse they don't need external power source.

@aldair, thanks for posting this videos. Could you help with giving HDD 2.5 model numbers? I can't read it from the videos.

HDD 3.5
WD Green WD5000AADS 500GB

HDD 2.5
Samsung 120GB? - Model?
WD 320 GB? - Model?

Most IDE HDD will work , I've already tried several brands and models , 3,5" and 2,5" sizes, without problems (I don't have their model numbers though, because I sold them with modded Dreamcasts). The only HDD I have which didn't work along with Dreamshell was a pretty old 10GB Quantumm unit. I don't think you have to worry about compatibility problems if using IDE HDD types.

@Gillbert, thanks thats a good news. I'll buy some random HDD
Last thing, do I need to buy HDD with low amp value? For example below 0.55A, or it doesnt matter?

(23.06.2016 11:46)DCF писал(а): [ -> ]Last thing, do I need to buy HDD with low amp value? For example below 0.55A, or it doesnt matter?

It doesn't matter because the average amperage requirement for a 2,5" HDD is 500mA (0.5A) and the Dreamcast is able to delivery at least 1.5A from its 5 volts rail. So it's not really a problem.

Hi,

I have a problem. I don't know whats wrong. Dreamshell don't recognize my HDD. It show me this screen



After that error screen it show only this



Now some info about my stuff. I have WD Scorpio Blue 80 GB hard drive.
I've made Primary Partition and formated to FAT32 with cluster size 64 KB. It's set to SLAVE mode. I've used this free program - https://www.partitionwizard.com/free-par...nager.html

I've got bios - Bootloader Retail NoGDROM.


When I insert to my Dreamcast external SD Card reader (together with HDD connected) it shows me this screen.



If I remove HDD and boot Dreamcast with SD Card only everything works fine. Please help me resolve this problem.

By first screen I think you create logical partition instead of primary.
By second screen (bootloader), seems it bad solders or HDD...
Or maybe you skip boot animation? Sometimes HDD doesn't have time to startup if you skip boot animation immediately.

(02.07.2016 15:20)SWAT писал(а): [ -> ]By first screen I think you create logical partition instead of primary.

I've created primary partition, it's shows me in HDD properties that it is primary.

What software do you use to format HDD for Dreamcast?

(02.07.2016 15:20)SWAT писал(а): [ -> ]By second screen (bootloader), seems it bad solders or HDD...
Or maybe you skip boot animation? Sometimes HDD doesn't have time to startup if you skip boot animation immediately.

I don't think it is bad solders. I have 2 XCKDIY HDD Boards, and both should work fine. The LED blinks and I can hear HDD is spinning.

People have reported that WD Scorpio Blue works fine with Dreamcast.
I tried with skipping boot animation and no skip, it's the same result. It gives me Unknown filesystem 0x07

filesystem 0x07 - is NTFS , DreamShell don't support NTFS, format your HDD to FAT32

(02.07.2016 16:07)megavolt85 писал(а): [ -> ]filesystem 0x07 - is NTFS , DreamShell don't support NTFS, format your HDD to FAT32

That's weird because I have FAT32



I will format the HDD again. What software do you use megavolt85?

in windows: Acronis Disk Director Advanced 11
in linux: Gparted

Remove partation and create new

I've tried with Gparted Live CD, but it don't recognize my HDD. Maybe it's because I connect my drive with this thing



I'll give a try to format with Acronis and let you know if it works with Dreamcast.

EDIT: Thank you megavolt85, it works! It was the fault of this shit program that I used to earlier. Don't use - MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition 9.1

Easus partition master works too