CMD HD Series

• Fastest, most affordable, easy-to-use form of mass storage for the Commodore 64 and 128 
• Standard capacities range from 40 MegaBytes up to 2 GigaBytes ­ house up to 12,048 floppy disks 
• Up to 100 times faster than a 1541 disk drive 
• Connects and operates just like a standard disk drive 
• Reliable and compact (not much larger than a 1581) 
• Compatible with more hardware and software than any other hard drive ever made for the C64/128 

Hard Drive Performance

CMD Hard Drives are the fastest disk-based storage devices available for the C-64 and C-128. Connected via the serial bus to a completely stock computer, HD Series hard drives outperform all other serial drives (including the 1581). If your computer is equipped with JiffyDOS, the HD delivers unbelievable speed, in most instances outperforming even older parallel interfaced systems. When connected to the parallel port on CMD's RAMLink, HD Series drives become even faster, transferring data at up to 100 Kbytes/second in 128 'fast' mode and over 50 Kbytes/second in 64 mode, under certain conditions. 

 

Compatibility

Our specially designed operating system (HD DOS) gives HD series drives the ability to work with nearly all commercial software. This proprietary DOS fully supports all Commodore DOS commands, including block reads and writes, memory access commands, fast serial and burst commands. Complete compatibility with GEOS and CP/M coupled with the HD's ability to use partitions which emulate the popular 1541, 1571, and 1581 disk drives, result in a level of compatibility unparalleled in any other hard drive system available for C-64 and C-128 computers. Additionally, the operating system is stored on the hard drive itself - not in ROM. This allows DOS upgrades to be installed quickly and easily without opening your drive. 

 

Ease Of Use

From the moment you begin using the HD, the simplicity of design and operation become apparent. We provide you with the tools to easily organize and access the large amounts of data you will be storing. Partitioning and system defaults are handled effortlessly through our HD-TOOLS software. GEOS compatibility is accomplished easily by installing a new CONFIGURE file on your GEOS boot disk. Utilities have been provided to automatically set the GEOS clock from the HD's Real-Time Clock and to quickly navigate through and copy files between the HD's partitions. Easy-to-remember commands allow MS-DOS style subdirectories to be created within native mode partitions and within other subdirectories, and enable easy movement to other areas within the drive. 

 

Future Expandability

Another important feature of CMD hard drives is that they are designed to be part of your future computer system. HD Series drives are based on SCSI and are equipped with an external SCSI port which allows you to add additional SCSI devices such as add-on hard drives, CD-ROM drives, etc.

 

Support

One of the most important benefits you'll receive as an owner of a CMD product is support. Prompt and courteous phone and telecommunications service support are part of what makes CMD products unique in the Commodore marketplace. We'll also support you by continuing to improve and upgrade our products, and by providing new hardware and software solutions. 

 

Benefits

Partitions and Subdirectories - Keep your programs and data organized with up to 254 separate partitions and an unlimited number of subdirectories. A full set of DOS commands make it easy to move between partitions and subdirectories, and to find and view files anywhere on the drive. 

 

CMD Native Partitions - Give your programs the ability to store more data than ever before with the extended storage capacity provided by CMD Native partitions, which can be up to 16 Megabytes each! 

 

Emulation Modes - Use more software on your CMD HD with the increased level of compatibility provided by partitions which mimic the track and sector layout of standard Commodore disk drives (1541, 1571 and 1581), and which accept the commands specific to those devices. 

 

BBS Capabilities - Perfect for BBS use! With up to 254 partitions you can expand your system with up to 4.4 Gigabytes of storage space, making the CMD HD the drive you'll never outgrow. Compatible with all BBS programs, many of which have special support such as automatic setting of time and date. With JiffyDOS, it's the fastest BBS HD around, and with RAMLink it moves you into a whole new realm of performance. 

 

Device Swapping - Our unique SWAP feature allows you to easily exchange device numbers with your current floppy disk drives using device numbers 8 or 9. This allows you easy access to the HD when using programs which have limited device number support. 

 

JiffyDOS Compatible - In addition to being fully compatible with standard serial and fast serial protocols, HD Series drives have built-in JiffyDOS compatibility to provide additional speed on JiffyDOS-equipped computers. 

 

Time and Date Stamping - Keep track of when files were last changed and make incremental backups easily! The HD uses a built-in Real-Time Clock chip to place a date and time stamp on each file as it is created or modified, and you can make use of the time and date when viewing and copying files.