Connor CP2024 connection, testing, recovery

[mrmills]

Hello - I've just got an Olivetti Quaderno 20 with a Connor CP2024 HDD fitted. The machine is completely dead so I have no way of confirming whether the drive works or not.
It appears to have a 48 pin SCSI2 connector (from research on the web). How do I connect this to my modern PC to test?

Attachments

[fzabkar]

The interface controller is a Cirrus Logic CL-SH260 Enhanced PC XT/AT Disk Controller:

https://datasheetspdf.com/pdf-file/556284/CirrusLogic/CL-SH260/1

Is it a 44-pin IDE connector plus master/slave jumper block?

[mrmills]

Thank you fzabkar
I've managed to get the drive working (the heads were stuck) and it spins up and stays alive.
However, I'm using an IDE to USB adapter to connect it to Windows but nothing is showing in Windows disk management.
I presume this will not work?

[fzabkar]

This drive is a CHS model. Your USB-IDE adapter probably supports LBA mode only.

https://stason.org/TULARC/pc/hard-drives-hdd/conner/CP-2024AT-21MB-2-5-SSL-IDE-AT.html

[data-medics]

Yep, definitely is a CHS drive. You'll either need a really old, still working motherboard that supports CHS, or a tool like PC-3000 used by data recovery labs.

[maximus]

Why does everyone keep saying to read a CHS drive you need a really old motherboard that supports CHS? All you need is a computer that has a PATA (IDE) connector and cable, and use Linux to read the drive. You can also use Hiren's Boot CD version 15 (based on XP which still supported CHS). You only ever need a very old motherboard if you want to actually boot from the CHS drive.

[data-medics]

I guess I just never investigated the option of doing it that way. I've always just plugged into PC-3000 when I needed to recover one.

I'd always assumed a more recent motherboard using AHCI would get in the way.

[maximus]

You can even use a SATA to IDE adapter with a computer that doesn't have IDE, as long as the OS supports CHS (Linux does). You just can't use a USB to IDE adapter because they typically don't support CHS. I remember hearing that someone that had a USB adapter that was supposed to support it, but it didn't work.

[mrmills]

Thank you so much for the advice everyone.
I think that I'll end up getting an older motherboard with IDE on it and seeing if that works.
Would you know if this will be suitable with Linux or some other older OS or boot iso as suggested above?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/175000602521

It's an Abit UL8 - AMD Athlon 64 compatible

http://abit.ws/page/en/motherboard/moth ... Socket+939

The manual looks like the BIOS support CHS - there are settings on page 3-5 showing Cylinder/Head/Sector values.

[Lardman]

I keep an old dell dimension 5150 handy they have both ide and sata. You can pick entire working machines up for 50gbp on ebay.

I'm curious as to how you knew the head was stuck and how you unstuck it, data recovery may be more than just getting a machine that will read the drive now if that was your goal.

[maximus]

The manual looks like the BIOS support CHS - there are settings on page 3-5 showing Cylinder/Head/Sector values.

I will state it again. The BIOS does not need to support CHS to be able to read the drive. The OS you boot from does need to support CHS to read the drive.

The only time the BIOS needs to support CHS is if you need to BOOT from the CHS drive. The OS is what matters when it comes to reading. You don't need an ancient motherboard to be able to read a CHS drive. You just need one that has an IDE connector, or a PCIe IDE card, or a SATA to IDE adapter.

[mrmills]

Ok - message received and understood @maximus.

@Lardman - I read online a lot of comments on the head being stuck on this drive - I opened the drive and nudged the head off the bumper which kick started the head. The stuck tape over the bumper.

https://youtu.be/vS5vDWHtvUc?t=528