old western digital hard-card: extracting the data

[iacragg]

hello all

I've got a very old olivetti pc that i used when a student (from around 1990). I'd like to get the data of its hard-card but i'm struggling a little. Have extracted the hard-card from the (knackered) pc and powered it up externally. it spins fine but i don't have any appropriate connectors to get to the data.

the hard-disk itself has two ribbon cables to ide type connectors. one is 20 pin and one is 34.

is there a connector i can buy (i can't find one!) that will allow me to connect these to a usb port on my laptop to get the data off or am i needing to send this to an expert?

many thanks and best wishes

[iacragg]

for clarity - i've added a couple of pics:

Attachments

[BlackST]

You need the attached controller or another ST506 MFM / RLL interface. They were XT 8 bit or ISA AT 16 bit cards. The PC likely is a M24 or Mxxx series.

[Eleg]

Hardcards... that's a long time ago. Disk, controller, and host adapter on an ISA card. First versions being 10 and 20MB. Those were the days

Interfaces and protocols weren't much standardized back then. I reckon your best chance to get your data off the hardcard is to put it into an ISA slot in a PC running DOS. You will probably also need a DOS driver for the card to make it work.

[iacragg]

indeed! a long long time ago....

this one's 32mb if i remember correctly. Sadly, the pc it came from is banjoed and is now on its way to the big crusher.

i really just want an image of this disk so i can create a virtual machine from it but would settle for being able to get at the data on it.

nothing particularly valuable just a load of memories of my time as a student

[iacragg]

thanks BlackST - found a wikipedia page that explained your post and the function of the two cables (34 pin cable = head positioning and 20 pin cable = data).

so looking at it i actually need to be able to connect via the PCI slot... gah this is harder than i'd hoped!

send it off to a pro? any ideas?!

[BlackST]

Hardcards... that's a long time ago. Disk, controller, and host adapter on an ISA card. First versions being 10 and 20MB. Those were the days

Interfaces and protocols weren't much standardized back then. I reckon your best chance to get your data off the hardcard is to put it into an ISA slot in a PC running DOS. You will probably also need a DOS driver for the card to make it work.

Almost all those controllers had external BIOS extension so all you needed was to set the disk type, on many Olivetti PCs you needed also a proprietary SW to setup CMOS .

Would be no problem to me to get data or even repair the HDD itself or the controller (still have them !)

Edit : haven't seen interfaces for old ST506 / ESDI that run on actual PCI slot AND in any case it would be a problem to make everything work on "MODERN" PCs - maybe they do exist but didn't see in real life. I always like the shorter and simpler way to do things...

[iacragg]

thanks again - if you're able to take a further moment, i'd welcome a p/message with details of costs and timescales to get the data back. if it's possible to create a bootable iso from this disk (as it was the main boot disk running dos 5 if i remember).

ta
Ian C.

[BlackST]

It's OK

Note : if it was a 286 or later series it may be possible that DOS version was 5 , if older maybe it was 3.xx up.

[iacragg]

it was an 8086 thing, not a 286. but i'm pretty sure i had dos 5 on it.

no matter either way

[fzabkar]

I can't see all the gold fingers, but the controller looks like an 8-bit card. I have never tried to install an XT HDD controller in an AT-class machine, so I wouldn't know what to expect. In any case, you may find it easier to procure an AT-class machine (286, 386, 486) and a 16-bit RLL/MFM card. Then remove the HDD from the hardcard and plug the drive into your 16-bit controller. You would need to go into your BIOS setup and choose an appropriate CHS combination for your model.

If you end up with a 486 board that has an onboard IDE controller, then you will need to disable the IDE ports in the BIOS.

The whole exercise shouldn't cost you more than a McDonalds Happy Meal.
In fact you may even be able to procure the hardware for free.

[iacragg]

sorry for the delay - many thanks fzabkar; much appreciated.