31 Jan
2011
31 Jan
'11
3:43 p.m.
On Sun, 30 Jan 2011, Philip Pemberton wrote:
Hi guys...
I've just this second got my DiscFerret talking to an ST506 hard drive.
Specifically, a Control Data / Magnetic Peripherals 94205-51 "Wren IIHH",
apparently also known as the Seagate ST253. 989 cylinders, 5 heads, 17
sectors. It also seems to bear an uncanny shape-and-weight resemblance to a
breezeblock...
But anyway, I digress. First, the pretty pictures:
Linear histogram:
http://www.discferret.com/temp/st506/dat.lin_histogram.png
Logarithmic histogram:
http://www.discferret.com/temp/st506/dat.log_histogram.png
Scatter graph:
http://www.discferret.com/temp/st506/dat.scatter.png
The log-histogram shows a very distinctive MFM timing pattern (three peaks at
1T, 1.5T and 2T), and the scatter-graph shows that the timing data is split
into 17 distinctive segments: the sectors.
Very kewl.. A serious milestone is reached!
So what's the catch?
1) The DiscFerret PSU doesn't have enough grunt to run a Winchester drive
(or at least a 5.25 half-height like the Wren) and a 3.5in floppy drive at
the same time. This is an academic point, because you need an adapter board
to hook the 'Ferret up to the ST506 drive, and you can't have both a floppy
drive and the adapter plugged in at the same time.
If the PS has problems with the MPI drive, wait until you attach a real
manly drive like a Priam V185 or Maxtor 2790 :-). Those beasts just about
dim the room lights with the inrush!
Steve
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