Atari hard drives? The actual Atari Answer :) - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

4 Jun 1998

Wait, are ST-506 drives the ones with a wide ribbon connector
and a narrow one? If so, they are pretty common here. I have a bunch
in my desk drawer. BTW, why is MFM so much more popular than RLL?
...
 > > Okay gang. I just can't take it, I gotta
help this guy become an  atarian. :)
...
 > > Okay, this is what; you need. You need an
ATSCI to SCSI converter
> 
> OK, but what to do with the system that takes an ST-506 interface  drive? I
just 
...

This is a problem that I've been thinking about rather a lot - not for 
Ataris, but for old workstations (PERQ, Xerox, etc) that have an ST506 
controller built in to the I/O board.

I've been thinking of designing an interface that'll link a SCSI or IDE 
drive to an ST506 controller. The problem is I'd have to know quite a  bit 
...
 about the low-level format of the drive so that I could
simulate it on 
the interface. And that data is not easy to come by.

But I am worried that ST506 drives are becoming less common every year, 
and there's no easy way to repair them.

-tony

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