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05.07.2008 at 07:16AM PDT, ID: 23382827
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Hooking Up Old 1987 IBM Hard Drive to Current Computer
Tags: IBM, Hard Drive, WDI-325Q, Hard drive from IBM PS/2 System (c. 1987)
I'm curious if anyone has any information about how to hook up this old style hard drive.  It has an IDE cable +4 pins (which must be for power).  Does anyone know if there's an adaptor/hack I can get to hook this up to my computer?

I'm pretty sure the HDD is shot but I want to see if I can recover these very old (21 years) files off of the computer.

Here are some pics:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chefelf/2473800088/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chefelf/2472982139/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chefelf/2473802378/

Thanks in advance for any help!
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Question Stats
Zone: Storage
Question Asked By: chefelf
Solution Provided By: garycase
Participating Experts: 2
Solution Grade: A
Views: 12
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05.07.2008 at 09:13AM PDT, ID: 21517884

Rank: Master

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05.07.2008 at 02:01PM PDT, ID: 21520319

Rank: Genius

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05.07.2008 at 02:16PM PDT, ID: 21520409

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05.07.2008 at 09:13AM PDT, ID: 21517884

Rank: Master

Not worth the effort unless you just want to do it for kicks.

I believe that is a MFM drive which is about 2 generations before IDE.  So no possibility to directly plug it into anything on a modern computer.

You best bet would be to get your hands on a really old computer that you could just plug the drive into.  Then use a serial link to transfer the data to a modern system.  Assuming there is any data there to be had and the drive is not seized up.

It may be possible to get a old controller working in a new system though I think there would be some communication difficultles,  I do not know if the controller or drive would be properly recognized or not.  You would also need a ISA slot which is quite rare on anything in recent years.  Beyond that the controllers are huge - full length and height and then some - and phsically installing it could be a problem.

I actually tossed a couple controllers for those drives to the recyclers this week.      They probably was nothing wrong with them.  There is still quite a bit of the old hardware kicking around.
Assisted Solution
 
05.07.2008 at 02:01PM PDT, ID: 21520319

Rank: Genius

As kode99 suspected, this is indeed an old MFM drive (21MB).   You don't need a computer as old as 1987, but you DO need a computer with an ISA slot ... which means at least a decade old or so.   There are plenty of MFM controllers listed on e-bay for ~ $5 each ... but as I noted, they require an ISA slot.

You could buy an old PC with an ISA slot for ~ $15 [http://cgi.ebay.com/Used-Dell-Dimension-XPS-D266-Desktop-Computer_W0QQitemZ180240098597QQihZ008QQcategoryZ179QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem ] and an MFM controller card for $5 [http://cgi.ebay.com/National-Computer-NDC5525-16-Bit-MFM-Controller-HD-FD_W0QQitemZ330213265220QQihZ014QQcategoryZ90719QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247  ]and you'd be able to read the data from the disk (if the disk is okay ... which it probably is).
Accepted Solution
 
05.07.2008 at 02:16PM PDT, ID: 21520409
Thanks a lot for your replies.  I can't think of a way that I would be able to try to recover the data from a PC old enough to have an ISA slot.  The last time I tried to boot this HDD in its original computer it wouldn't boot so I suspect there are bad/damaged sector(s).

So it's probably not worth trying to hook this up and use ancient software to recover the data.  That being said, I may have an old PC around with an ISA slot somewhere and if I get time perhaps I'll give it a shot.

Thanks so much for all your help!
 
 
05.07.2008 at 03:28PM PDT, ID: 21520903
The fact it wouldn't boot doesn't necessarily mean it's bad.   I'd spend the $5 for an MFM controller and give it a shot ... especially if you have a PC with an ISA slot.   You won't have to use "... ancient software ..." to recover the data => once the drive is interfaced (with the controller card) it'll be just like any other hard drive ... you can simply use Windows Explorer to copy the data from it.   If it DOES have bad sectors; then it's likely not worth the trouble to recover them.
 
 
05.07.2008 at 03:49PM PDT, ID: 21521027
Thanks a lot!  I will look into the MFM controller solution.  Hopefully I can get it working.  It's worth the investment.
 
 
 
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