VOGONS

How to set up an LS-120 drive on MS-DOS

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First post, by popcalent

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Hi, all.

I have a 386DX using MS-DOS 6.22 and I would like to use an LS-120 super disk drive with it. I downloaded the drivers from the Vogons library, and I installed them. The drivers create a directory with some .SYS files and change my AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS. However, when I boot the computer. The drivers say that the device wasn't found and that the manager is not installed. Has anyone done this before?

By the way, right now, I have a disk controller ISA Card (Floppy + IDE) and a TexElec CF Adapter IDE card. I have no hard drive, I have a CF-to-IDE adapter connected to the TexElec card, and nothing on the IDE connector of the regular controller card. I'm not sure if I can add the LS-120 as a secondary device to the TexElec IDE card, or if I need to connect it to the regular IDE connector on the floppy disk controller. I think the TexElec is limited to CF-to-IDE adapters. I tried both configurations, though.

Thanks!

Reply 1 of 3, by wierd_w

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This question needs to clarify if this is an ATA LS-120, or an ATAPI one.

(The ATA one reports itself as an ide hard disk with a fixed geometry, with the 'removable' bit set, if memory serves. The ATAPI one needs a DOS .sys driver to operate. At least, that's what my increasingly old age addled memory tells me. It's entirely possible I am confabulating iomega zip100 here.)

Generally speaking, on systems that properly support it, it needs no driver, and just works with bios int13 interfaces natively, like a hard disk or floppy.

Dos 'figures it out' the same way it handles switching between 720k and 1.44, or 1.72 diskettes. The media is queried for capabilities and density, then calls the correct bios routines.

A number of laptops with advertized 'superdisk' drive and capability are like this, and many contemporary bioses for desktops can query, identify, then properly service an ata ls120 this way.

(An example of such a contemporary desktop bios with baked in identification and support)

https://imgur.com/811vMsl

Atapi versions came later after everyone stopped caring about dos, but as an afterthought, .sys drivers were offered.

A 386 almost certainly does not know what an ls-120 is without help. (Xtide XUB, .sys driver, etc.)

It very likely wont see 120mb disks until that functionality is serviced with such a handler, and will be restricted to floppy diskettes until such a handler is present.

Last edited by wierd_w on 2025-10-07, 03:34. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 2 of 3, by popcalent

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wierd_w wrote on 2025-10-07, 03:12:

This question needs to clarify if this is an ATA LS-120, or an ATAPI one.

I think it's ATAPI. The drive was manufactured in 1997. I'm not sure if there ever was an ATA LS-120 drive. The driver I installed tries to find an ATAPI device.

Reply 3 of 3, by wierd_w

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popcalent wrote on 2025-10-07, 03:34:
wierd_w wrote on 2025-10-07, 03:12:

This question needs to clarify if this is an ATA LS-120, or an ATAPI one.

I think it's ATAPI. The drive was manufactured in 1997. I'm not sure if there ever was an ATA LS-120 drive. The driver I installed tries to find an ATAPI device.

Some drives shipped with a special card that had a bios service routine, like the Promise Technologies controllers.

https://theretroweb.com/expansioncards/s/prom … -120-controller

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