UltraSatan and SD4ST Atari ST HDD Adapters Compared

▶Please consider today's video sponsor, PCBWay: www.pcbway.com/setinvite.aspx?inviteid=545120
▶Part 2: Performance tests: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iKWviYOmaNOpbqc
▶UltraSatan Cased (RetroLemon): retrolemon.co.uk/ultrasatan/15-ultrasatan-cased.html
▶UltraSatan Cased (Lotharek): lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=48
▶UltraSatan home page (Jookie): joo.kie.sk/?page_id=192
▶SD4ST home page: sd4st.uk.to/
▶PPHDR home page: atari.8bitchip.info/pphdr.php
▶ICD Pro download/guide: joo.kie.sk/?page_id=306
▶Donations: www.paypal.me/flashjazzcat
▶Tip or donate: ko-fi.com/flashjazzcat
▶Patreon: www.patreon.com/flashjazzcat
▶Website: www.atari8.co.uk
▶Odysee channel: odysee.com/@flashjazzcat
▶Facebook: atari8/
Soldering and test equipment:
● Hakko FX-951 T12 soldering station: uk.farnell.com/hakko/fx951-64/soldering-station-75w-230vac/dp/3367978
● Best BST-863 hot air rework station: www.banggood.com/BEST-BST-863-1200W-220V-or-110V-Intelligent-LCD-Touch-Screen-Heat-Air-SMD-Rework-Station-p-1431173.html
● Anesty (Duratool) ZD-915 thru-hole desoldering station: cpc.farnell.com/duratool/d00672/desoldering-station-uk-eu-plug/dp/SD01384
● Hanmatek DOS1102 dual-channel oscilloscope: www.amazon.co.uk/DOS1102-oscilloscope-Professional-Oscilloscope-Bandwidth/dp/B0833X3RFK
● Amtech NC-559 Tacky Flux: store.rossmanngroup.com/index.php/amtech-nc-559-v2-30-cc-16160.html
● Goot Wick Desoldering Braid: store.rossmanngroup.com/index.php/ab20-gootwick-1-5.html
● Cynel Sn60Pb38Cu2 Tin/Lead Solder Wire: www.tme.eu/gb/details/lc60m2-0.7_1.0/solders-wires/cynel/
● SysCheck v.2.2 by tf_hh: www.abbuc.de/component/jshopping/hardware/syc
Equipment and software used for video production:
● Open Broadcaster Studio: obsproject.com/
● 2x Logitech Brio webcams: www.amazon.co.uk/Logitech-Gaming-Webcam-Streaming-Compatible/dp/B0748NCPN5
● USB AV/s-video capture dongle: www.amazon.co.uk/Ex-Pro-Grabber-Editor-capture-Windows/dp/B001HB9C1O
● 135W Photography Studio Softbox Light: www.ebay.co.uk/itm/135W-Photography-Studio-Softbox-Continuous-Lighting-Soft-Box-Light-Stand-Kit-Set-/142645098730?hash=item21364f78ea
● Final Cut Pro
● Apple Motion
● 15" mid-2015 Apple Retina MacBook Pro
00:00 Introduction
00:26 Sponsor message
01:16 UltraSatan product page
02:56 PPHDR product page
03:35 Jookie's ICD Pro page
04:03 SD4ST on eBay
04:36 SD4ST product page
05:02 Ultrasatan overview and teardown
07:13 SD4ST overview and teardown
09:29 UltraSatan ICD Pro setup (with ISO, fail)
16:30 UltraSatan ICD Pro setup (with floppy image/Gotek)
23:11 SD4ST ICD Pro setup (with floppy image/Gotek)
30:34 SD4ST PPHDR setup (with ISO)
33:49 Transferring files from the PC with PPHDR partitions
34:35 Setting the date/time on the SD4ST
36:12 PPHDR on the UltraSatan
36:59 Setting the date/time on the UltraSatan
37:33 Initial summary
37:50 More on the SD4ST RTC
39:05 Conclusion and Patrons
#atari
#retrocomputing

[@flashjazzcat]

Stand by for a follow-up video with the performance tests I completely forgot to conduct here... very revealing!

[@MCNOISE666]

Really appreciate this video. I've just got the SD4ST & really can't remember all the old ST HDD chops. It's amazing how much you can forget in 25 yrs 🤣.

[@CRTdrone]

Great video, great advertisement by Christopher Walken.

[@GadgetUK164]

Great video! I use the UltraSatan with PP's HDD Driver - works really well!

[@sideburn]

My sd card came with that onto I beleive but it’s not mounting by itself. I have to use a floppy with AHD on it. How can i make it autoboot?

[@EvilFranky]

Nice video mate! Well done navigating the convoluted world of Atari hard disk drivers :)

[@flashjazzcat]

Thank you!

[@technickuk]

Thanks for doing this comparison, I recently got my STE out for a long time and was looking to see what HDD options there were. I'm currently just using a Gotek.

[@flashjazzcat]

Do hang on the for follow-up video with speed tests. They're quite revealing and I forgot to analyse performance in this video.

[@ContractCAD]

You have the patience of a saint sir! Whichever of these devices has the option to ship with a pre-prepared sd-card will get my money 😄

[@flashjazzcat]

Wait for the follow-up video which will cover IO performance, which I neglected to test here. I think the SD4ST is much slower than the UltraSatan.

[@vertitis]

Why have so small partitions? TOS 1.0-1.02 supports up to 256MB and TOS 1.04+ supports up to 511MB.

[@matthiasmuller4702]

At first: thanks a lot for all your work for the 8bit Ataris! Happy to hear, that you got a sponsorship. Sadly buying from the uk is a hurdle here in germany, so I like lotharek and that he offers versions of the ultimate where money goes directly to you

[@flashjazzcat]

Well, half of the fee charged for my firmware goes to me. But your support for myself and Lotharek is appreciated!

[@TzOk]

@@flashjazzcat There is a 90 PLN (20€) difference in a retail price between original firmware (299 PLN / 65€) and FJC (389 PLN / 85€). Just for a comparison - in Poland 389 PLN is about 16% of a minimal monthly salary or 45 l of premium unleaded gasoline.

[@flashjazzcat]

@@TzOk 50 PLN comes here (regardless of whether the device eventually goes to a reseller, etc); apparently the rest is for taxes, overheads, and such. In the UK (RetroLemon), U1MB (stock) costs £71.95, and the FJC version is £90.95 (both including shipping).

[@ivmup2232]

No hurdle..

[@JohnSmith-bh4zx]

Thanks for your video, was thinking of purchasing one of these. After seeing how complicated they are to use, I'm glad I haven't wasted the best part of a £100 on something I can't use.

[@flashjazzcat]

Don't forget that the SD4ST commonly comes with an SD card with Peter's driver pre-installed, so it's pretty much plug and play. The reason for the complexity shown in the video is that I was attempting to test multiple adapters with multiple drivers.

[@TzOk]

The SD4ST probably is based on an Open-Source project called ACSI2STM. Current beta firmware versions of ACSI2STM have RTC without any additional chips (the "Blue Pill" STM32 board has integrated RTC, and it is enough to connect a 3V lithium battery). Another unique thing they have is the integrated hard disk driver, which is "injected" into the data stream during boot (you can disable this, and use any compatible driver of your choice).

[@flashjazzcat]

This is most interesting information - thank you! I was really doing a lot of guesswork when inspecting the board. The 'injection' feature sounds intriguing.

[@flashjazzcat]

I've conducted some performance comparison tests and they are indeed quite surprising. The UltraSatan appears to beat the other device up when it comes to transfer rates. I'll publish a short second video shortly.

[@TzOk]

@@flashjazzcat SD2ST probably is based on a stable 2.x ACSI2STM firmware, current beta 3.x firmware is slightly faster, and more stable, but requires changes in connections on PCB or changing some "flags" in code, and compiling own version.

[@flashjazzcat]

@@TzOk I see. I will draw attention to this in the video. Thanks!

[@sebastianabreu1243]

tengo exactamente ese mismo destornillador, JAjajJA! Saludos!

[@sideburn]

I just got one of these but I have questions. Does the sd card have to be in the right slot? When I put it in the left slot it doesn’t mount. I can’t mount my included sd card unless I boot from a floppy with AHD driver in auto folder. Not sure how to get it to autoboot. Can i have both the ultrasatan AND my internal physical hard drive mounted at the same time on my Stacy 2?

[@Lachlant1984]

Does the ST usually display a greed background on the desktop? Is your ST running in monochrome mode?

[@111RLotusElise]

Nice comparison video. After about 25 years I decided to fix my Atari STe (upped to 4160), looks great through Scart on LG TV but forgot how slow it is, think I need to attach an HDD so I'm not wasting hours load waiting time, going to get an SD4ST Mini... hopefuly I'll be able to partition SD's from PC? Thanks for sharing 👍

[@flashjazzcat]

Thanks! The only way I know of partitioning on the PC would be via an emulator; this is how I partitioned and set up the CF adapter on my A500, at least. The (free) partitioning tools for setting up the media on the ST itself are pretty good, though, and allow PC compatibility (so you can just dump files into the partition).

[@111RLotusElise]

@@flashjazzcat The SD4ST worked straight out of the box as it came with an imaged micro SD card, Putnik's 1Gb demo image so PC compatible too, I've played with the free ICD partitioning tool on Atari on a spare micro SD which works great but isn't PC compatible, also flashed the Putnik demo image to another micro SD which also works fine but limited to 1GB, also the two SD's (ICD or Putnik) when connected in SD4ST together don't seem to recognise each other correctly. Still really pleased with 'HDD' - work in progress

[@boelwerkr]

About the Drivers. ICD: Good support for older and "normal" hardware. Hard-disks and CD-ROMs work fine. Things like IDE or ACIS Hardware that don't follow the Guides from Atari will make problems. Really fast Hardware may not work reliably. The Software can be a little bit unusual. HDDriver: Supports everything. Reliability is more important than speed. It's fast with re right Setup. The Control and Installation Software is nearly perfect. The driver from Pera supports his own "hacky" Hardware. it's fast but can be buggy with Hardware he hasn't tested it with. The Software itself can be unusual at places.

[@flashjazzcat]

HHDriver apparently doesn't support everything, since it specifically (according to the website) doesn't support ASCI2STM or SD4ST. Putnik's partitioning software is certainly a bit idiosyncratic, but it was possible to figure out the setup with minimal recourse to documentation, and I liked the fact it's very easy to switch between both cards on the fly when partitioning.

[@boelwerkr]

@@flashjazzcat These both don't follow the ACSI Protocoll and will collide with other ACSI-Harware. They can squeeze some higher transfer rate out of it because of that. And that's the main reason i normally don't use it. So you are right HDDriver don't support everything but everything "real" ACSI. ;-)

[@flashjazzcat]

@@boelwerkr I didn't see any noticeable performance advantage with SD4ST, so I wonder if hogging the bus accomplishes anything useful at all.

[@mwaawm]

I was under the impression the hd4st card came with the metal slug demo preloaded, did you get a chance to run it?

[@flashjazzcat]

I did not, no. I will look for it next time I have the machine set up.

[@gphone9619]

Can I run these on my TOS 1.02 STf ?

[@rhayadercomputers6468]

How did you get Christopher Walken in on it?

[@flashjazzcat]

He's a personal friend and owed me a favour. ;)

[@MCNOISE666]

@@flashjazzcat 🤣👌🏻

[@cathrynm]

Hmm, maybe it's a DSP in UltraSatan -- says DSP right on the chip.

[@flashjazzcat]

Helpful.

[@FXGreggan.]

Wish I could afford one of those... btw I have 8 SOJ chips totalling 4MB if someone else than me also have this (odd?) revision of board, all other ones I see are DIP or SIMM based but if you have an SOJ version and got soldering skills I'm willing to donate these, free of charge.. just drop me a line.

[@transilvanischervampir666]

Besorg dir mal ne neue Maus...15 mal drücken bis da was passiert... 😵‍💫