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

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

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.

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.

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

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?!

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...

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.

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.

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

no matter either way

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.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

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