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| Thread ID: 67711 | 2006-04-03 23:21:00 | 286 Dilemma | B.M. (505) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 443607 | 2006-04-03 23:21:00 | I’ve got an old 40meg HDD here off my old PC Direct 286AT . (What a machine) :D Anyway, it’s got some stuff on it I’d like to recover (if it still spins) . However, I can’t work out how to go about it . I’ve purchased an old PC Direct Pentium thinking it might have provision to install such a relic but I can’t see an obvious way . I also have the riser board that the floppy and HDD connected to if that is needed . It looks like it plugs into an ISA Slot? :confused: The actual HDD has two cables, one going to “Drive0” on the board and the other to “Winchester” . (plus of course the socket for the power cable) I wonder if it’s still under warranty? I still have my invoices! 1 computer $4495:02, 1 24 pin printer $480, 1 serial mouse $95, 1 2400 baud internal Modem $395, total $5465 . 02 . Love the 02 cents . :rolleyes: Anyway, I just wondered if any of our senior members have been down this path? :) |
B.M. (505) | ||
| 443608 | 2006-04-04 04:44:00 | What you have there is an MFM drive, with the "ST506 interface. That interface card will plug into an ISA slot. Any MS OS which will run on a box with ISA slots will read it ... even XP probably. ;) | Graham L (2) | ||
| 443609 | 2006-04-04 09:22:00 | Thanks Graham, I'll keep you posted. ;) | B.M. (505) | ||
| 443610 | 2006-04-08 00:46:00 | Well, I’ve installed the controller into a spare ISA Slot and I’ve fiddled with the bios to see if I can get the bios to recognise the HDD but no luck . I’m just wondering if there is any way to see what’s on these old HDD’s if the BIOS isn’t interested? :cool: The BIOS is a Award manufactured 1995 and updated 05/31/97 The HDD is a Seagate ST251-1 6 R/W heads, 820 Cylinders, 42meg . :rolleyes: It really is a challenge and I’m real short of ideas . Any would be appreciated . :help: |
B.M. (505) | ||
| 443611 | 2006-04-08 02:25:00 | Don't rely on the BIOS to autodetect the drive. :D MFM drives don't talk back like IDE ones do: IDE have the controller on the drive; with MFM all the intelligence is on the card. Try setting the cylinders/heads/sectors information in the bios. It's best to say there is one cylinder fewer than the label says ... DOS is probably best. (DEBUG might even see the contents, but not as files ;) ) Linux would not bother about the BIOS, and it used to handle MFM drives. I suspect you'd have to find an old version to have that capability. I'll have a bit of a browse. |
Graham L (2) | ||
| 443612 | 2006-04-08 02:56:00 | Graham, I’ve set the BIOS as follows. I don’t think some of the options apply to these types of drives?? Primary Master: Type = User; Size 0 (not adjustable), Cylinders = 820 (tried 819), Head = 6, Precomp = 0, Landz = 0, Sectors = 0, Mode = Normal. The BIOS couldn’t see the HDD (or Controller) with these settings. Cant think what to do next???? Cheers Bob |
B.M. (505) | ||
| 443613 | 2006-04-08 03:08:00 | The "sectors" value is the number of sectors per track . Sectors=0 gives a zero capacity . ;) Capacity = cylinders * heads * sectors * 512 (bytes/sector) . That's why it gave you size=0 . It calculates the size from what you enter . I think the normal value would be 17 sectors/track . (You often see 63 in modern IDE drives, but all the IDE values are fakes, especially when they say they have 256 heads . :cool: ) "Landing zone" is mostly not used, but should be the last track (820) rather than 0 . You don't want the heads landing on track 0 when the power goes off if you have a choice . "Precomp" is the track number at which the frequency compensation of the read amplifier is changed . You might be able to find a specification for the drive which gives the proper value, but 0 will do to start with . |
Graham L (2) | ||
| 443614 | 2006-04-08 22:04:00 | No luck Graham . I changed the sectors to 17 and as you said and that brought the drive size up to 42 meg which is correct . Reading the handbook the precomp should be set to 0 and it appears it has a built in landing zone although it doesn’t say how that is achieved . I’ve tried it as Primary Master, Primary Slave, Secondary Master, and Secondary slave but no luck . :badpc: I’ve tried looking in the Control Panel/System/Device Manager thinking it might show up as unknown device but nothing . No ? or ! marks etc . So, I’m wondering if something needs to be done to the disk controller? It’s a Western Digital WD1006V-MM1 . The HDD is definitely spinning and the whole thing was working perfectly until the CMOS battery decided to leak and eat away the printed circuits in the surrounding area, which incidentally was nowhere near the controller of HDD . ;) Anybody got an old PC Direct 286AT I can buy? :) |
B.M. (505) | ||
| 443615 | 2006-04-09 01:22:00 | You could always try here www.hcc.gen.nz there will probably be someone close to you with an old dunger that you can use (there was actually a pcdirect 286 at our local charity store, but Invers is a bit far away from you) |
Morgenmuffel (187) | ||
| 443616 | 2006-04-09 03:16:00 | The primary/secondary/master/slave are only IDE things, though I suppose it would appear as Primary Master since it's drive 0 . I think the BIOS code which supplies the routines which enable booting doesn't care whether you've got MFM or IDE drives . But I don't know . One of the other varieties of that drive, the ST251-R, had 26 sectors/track because it used RLL encoding rather than MFM, and that needed a different BIOS (on one computer I used when the disk was changed) , so perhaps a computer intended for IDE does have a different BIOS . I might have to dig out some of the old books . Can you boot a Linux live CD? That might see it . |
Graham L (2) | ||
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