SMD/IDE hard drive conversion anyone?

[Paul D.Smith]

OK, maybe the wrong forum so if so, please point me elsewhere...

Has anyone here come across, or even built, an adaptor to allow a modern-ish
drive (IDE/compact flash?) to be used as a replacement for a circa-1990 SMD
hard-drive. OK, so it's a long shot but you never know...

"Why" you ask? Because there is still equipment doing sterling work which
uses these drives and like-for-like replacements are $3,000.00 (for a 20MB
disk!) from specialist refurbishers. OTOH, CompactFlash devices are cheap
and how hard can it be to convert between two different drive interfaces,
says the computer bod with no electronics experience who wouldn't know where
to start!

Paul DS.

 

[Tim Shoppa]

Has anyone here come across, or even built, an adaptor to allow a modern-ish
drive (IDE/compact flash?) to be used as a replacement for a circa-1990 SMD
hard-drive. OK, so it's a long shot but you never know...

Wilson labs has been doing similar converters for a few decades now.
Due to the abysmal reliability of IDE drives, they usually provide an
adapter for hooking a SCSI drive up to an older interface.

http://www.wilsonlabs.com/

Hint: if you're worried about the price difference between an IDE and a
SCSI drive, you are not a potential customer .

Tim.

 

[Paul D.Smith]

Wilson labs has been doing similar converters for a few decades now.
Due to the abysmal reliability of IDE drives, they usually provide an
adapter for hooking a SCSI drive up to an older interface.

http://www.wilsonlabs.com/

Hint: if you're worried about the price difference between an IDE and a
SCSI drive, you are not a potential customer .

Tim.

Boy, those are some serious units! Unfortunately, the drive in question is
a 5.25inch SMD 20MB drive in a micro-computer in an EPR spectrometer. From
looking at Wilson's website, their SMD drives are targeted at old Winchester
drive users with a lot of space to house the drive. That said, they do
suggest a call so it might be worth a punt when the old drive goes.

FYI, apparently the replacement code (refurbished) is about $3,000.00 and
replacing the micro-computer for the latest controller is about $15,000.00 -
but obviously you get a lot more function such as networking etc. for that.

Thanks for the link,
Paul DS.

 

[Tim Shoppa]

Boy, those are some serious units! Unfortunately, the drive in question is
a 5.25inch SMD 20MB drive in a micro-computer in an EPR spectrometer.

If, for example, it's a Unibus or Q-bus PDP-11 or VAX, then there's
probably a drop-in compatible disk controller that'll talk SCSI instead
of SMD.

Whether anyone is willing to "support" a
hodgepodge-not-as-originally-delivered-from-the-vendor config is a
different matter.

Tim.

 

[Homer J Simpson]

Boy, those are some serious units! Unfortunately, the drive in question
is
a 5.25inch SMD 20MB drive in a micro-computer in an EPR spectrometer.
From
looking at Wilson's website, their SMD drives are targeted at old
Winchester
drive users with a lot of space to house the drive. That said, they do
suggest a call so it might be worth a punt when the old drive goes.

FYI, apparently the replacement code (refurbished) is about $3,000.00 and
replacing the micro-computer for the latest controller is about
$15,000.00 -
but obviously you get a lot more function such as networking etc. for
that.

No way to hang an external drive?

 

[Andrew Tweddle]

If, for example, it's a Unibus or Q-bus PDP-11 or VAX, then there's
probably a drop-in compatible disk controller that'll talk SCSI instead
of SMD.

Tim.

Years ago I worked for a company which made such controllers, part of
the operation is still in business, so if this is the problem send me a
few more details and I may be able to chase down a Tech for you.

Andrew

 

[Sjouke Burry]

OK, maybe the wrong forum so if so, please point me elsewhere...

Has anyone here come across, or even built, an adaptor to allow a modern-ish
drive (IDE/compact flash?) to be used as a replacement for a circa-1990 SMD
hard-drive. OK, so it's a long shot but you never know...

"Why" you ask? Because there is still equipment doing sterling work which
uses these drives and like-for-like replacements are $3,000.00 (for a 20MB
disk!) from specialist refurbishers. OTOH, CompactFlash devices are cheap
and how hard can it be to convert between two different drive interfaces,
says the computer bod with no electronics experience who wouldn't know where
to start!

Paul DS.

Why not buy an IDE card? Or get one from an old computer?
I saw lots of them, almost none of them had one
integrated in the motherboard.