The Corvus Hard Drive System
        Every computer users dream was to be able to have to enormous and powerful hard drive system.   In the early 80's a 10MB hard drive system was something that made computer users heads spin with glee.    Add to this the fact that with up to 8 multiplexers with 8 ports each they could connect up to 64 Atari 800's up to a single 10 or even 20 megabyte Atari system, well you can imagine how incredible that would have sounded back then.  (Note:    Still in use Today at the Fordham Prepatory School in the Bronx, NY is a 64 Atari 800 computer network hooked up to a single Corvus Hard drive system!)
 
 

  The Corvus Hard Drive system exploited a little used ability of the powerful interface ports on the Atari 800 computer system.   While almost everyone else was using the interface ports for plugging joysticks into and playing games.    Corvus Systems used a very simple interface using about a dozen gate-chips to communicate with the PIA interface through joystick ports 3&4 of the Atari 800.   Using a specially modified version of Atari DOS 2.0d (most users only had access to DOS 2.0s) or using an OS replacement board by David Small (Creator of MagicSac Mac emulator for the Atari ST's) called "The Integrator" an Atari 800 computer could access and use the Corvus hard drive as 8 DS/DD disk drives.   If "The Integrator" was used, the OS board could be set to boot off of the Corvus hard drive and no 810 disk drive would be necessary.
 
 
 

 
 

The Corvus hard disk system also sported a unique and innovative back-up system called "The Corvus Mirror" which was a VCR interface system that allowed you to plug a standard Video Cassette Recorder (VCR) up to the Corvus Hard Drive System to save back-ups of the hard disk onto actual Video Tapes!!!
 

Note:   Atari listed a Corvus interface as one of the many proposed future interface cards it had planned for its Atari 1090: XL Expansion System, so Corvus was obviously a noticed an important company to Atari if they had planned to support the hard drive with its future XL products.   However since Atari never got the 1090XL out to market and soon after was sold to the Trameils, Corvus discontinued the Atari 800 interface and all support of the Atari systems.