SCSI to IDE

<<<< in the near future, the supply of smaller SCSI drives will eventually dry up That's why when a batch of 151 new ones popped up on eBay I bought them :-) If anyone is trying to restore a machine I may part with one or two (I have a few machines in the restoration list myself inc some servers that need about 8 each) but I reside in Australia so postage should be factored in. Contact me off list if you need some help restoring a genuine vintage machine that needs a small SCSI drive but please note that I can't do much until maybe March 2011 as its all packed up for a house move (again :-( ++++++++++ Kevin Parker m: 0418 815 527 ++++++++++ http://au.linkedin.com/in/krparker -----Original Message----- From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of joe lobocki Sent: Saturday, 27 November 2010 03:48 To: cctech at classiccmp.org Subject: SCSI to IDE Ok, so I have been doing research, and this affects everyone here who collects SGI, apple, and anything using scsi. in the near future, the supply of smaller SCSI drives will eventually dry up, due to failure from age and lack of supply, as I believe they are no longer manufactured, unless for the industrial/server market. I could be wrong on that part, but I take it as such because my searching for them brings up nothing new. what does that mean for collectors? it means that your neat little apple or SGI or etc will run, until the scsi disk dies, then we will be left cannibalizing machines for disks, paying ridiculous prices for leftover scsi disks, which will skyrocket because of the small supply. So what is our option? I have seen SCSI to IDE adapters around, but they go up into the $100's to $200's, say you have a minimum 10 machines, that leaves you somewhere between $1,000 and $2,000 total, before the disk or devices. If we could design a simple SCSI to IDE interface, we could be set for a good long while on storage for these devices for a decent amount of time. There are all sorts of adapters to IDE, there is CF to IDE, SD to IDE, SD to CF which could be placed in a CF to IDE adapter if need be, i'm sure one could also rig up a USB drive to SCSI if one tried, but I could be wrong. Having said that, I know nothing about programming microcontrollers or simple processors, but I have seen people on the board who do. I'm sure if we can find a chip capable, and lay out a schematic, source code, and possibly a board layout, members could source their own boards and components to build their own devices at home (given they have a chip programmer), so no one person has to take on the responsibility of supplying parts, kits, finished devices unless they so choose to. This is just an idea, if nothing becomes of it, no big deal, just putting it out there.... -Joe