20 Aug
2007
20 Aug
'07
8:24 p.m.
(b) A D-501 5 1/4" drive which I was told had a
MODIFIED
ESDI interface and used standard 34 pin / 20 pin
edge
connectors. Exactly what the word modified meant
specifically
was never made clear,
Hmm. Modified... Huh. Now I really wonder what would
happen if I connected one to a Dilog ESDI controller.
In practice, the C-501 actually handled TWO D-501
drives, so
the complete set up was a bit less expensive than
later
drives for which the 50 pin controller interface was
embedded
with the drive - when TWO drives were used.
That would make sense that an ESDI controller could
handle two of the drives and convert them to SCSI.
Eventually, the C-501 / D-501 was discontinued and
Sony
produced ONLY an integrated SMO S-501 drive.
OK - this one is a SMO-D501, so it's the EDSI model
then. (Provided they read the part number right)
Over the past decade, the SMO S-501 drives with the
embedded
controllers have been available on eBay and sold for
less
than the shipping cost.
Yeah, the one I was looking at is on eBay for like $5
plus another $11 to ship it. I just really don't want
to spend $16 if what I'm getting won't be of any use.
Does this answer your question? If you need some
media,
I can probably make some available. But I would
suggest
that you pass on the D-501 drive and get the SMO
S-501
if you really want to use that type of media.
Well, I'm not too concerned about the type of media -
I do like MO, however. It seems really convenient, I'm
mainly looking for an interchange format (not to
mention space expansion for the Vax), since I know
SCSI MO drives are easy to get (I have some
somewhere). The main draw of this drive was that it
was ESDI.
Hmm, is it worth $16 as a gamble... Two gambles,
actually - is it really ESDI, and will it work if it
is?
-Ian