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mwildin1Flag for Australia

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Backup / copy and old HP 97500 - 85620 Hard Drive

Hi, I have an old HP hard Disk drive that I wanted to ghost. However, the disk is so old that although it appears to have an IDE connection, there is no power connector. Can anyone advise me how I can back this disk drive up or copy data from it please. The number on the hard drive I am trying to back up is HP 97500 - 85620 but I have found pictures of a similar drive on the net here:

http://www.sr-j.com/hp9000/97500-85620.htm

The drive I am working with has the same connections. I do still have the original PC that this drive came in, but does it get its power from the IDE cable or something?

yours hopefully,
    Marcus.
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gurutc
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Hi,

This is an ESDI drive of the type that was used in arrays back in the day.  You may be able to find a used ESDI controller on the net for this drive interface.  It's not standard IDE so you'll need a special controller.

- gurutc
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Actually it is a SCSI-1 connector. Check the following site:

http://www.sunstarco.com/Hard%20Drive%20Inf/hewlett_packard.htm

Such drives often came inside a caddy so they could be connected to servers while it was running. You may have to remove the caddy first to get to the proper connections.

A drive of that age and capacity (20MB!, not GB) is so old it is unlikely to still run, and if it does, it was likely part of a raid, so there probably isn't much point of ghosting it...
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Hi, thanks for the help so far! This disk came out of a HP desktop PC and I am told the unit still boots (although I guess I'll have to try it to be sure). There is actually 2 disks together, I thought the 2nd drive was just for more storage, but it may be the raid configuration (mirrored).

It doesn't look like it came out of a caddy though..
It may still be in a caddy.
Hi,

rindi is correct about the caddy setup.  But it could also be a 'one-off' connector which I saw back in the day.  You can buy adapters for these connectors, but if the old system still boots then you should absolutely use it and get your data backed up right away.

- gurutc
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nobus
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Thanks for your help guys, it's appreciated. I have asked for the base unit for this old drive and am going to power it up later today. I'll post back with the results.

Cheers,
     Marcus.
Ok, I have managed to find the housing and have posted some pics here :

http://www.uploadyourbusiness.com/HPPC/index.htm

It looks like the top unit may be the disk drives module and the lower section the PC itself. The units power up okay, but I need a old monitor to see what's happening with the system. A friend of mine is lending my a monitor over the weekend. However, when I get to that stage, will I be able to copy everything using the Floppy Disk Drive?

I'll post back once I have the monitor.

Cheers,
     Marcus.
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Looks like the HP-IB interface : http://www.saaya.net/p_hpib_b.htm
more :  http://www.bering.com/main.htm
if it is a HP - only - interface, maybe you can find how to access it on hp site :
http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/support.html?pageDisplay=support
Cool with me - gurutc