SCSI 2.5" Laptop HDD - Connections

[Hodgkinson]

Hi,
I've got a SCSI (SCSI-2?) 2.5" Quantum Go Drive (TM) Laptop HDD from a old Apple laptop, dated 1992, probably 42.9MB in size.

The connector on the end of the drive is similar to that of IDE laptop drives, execpt rather than having the bank of 44 pins, followed by two vertical empty pins and a square of 4 pins that arn't normally used, this drive has a bank of 40 pins, followed by the same two vertical empty pins, then a bank of 4x2 pins.
(No additional power connector either)

Anyone any ideas how to hook somthing like this up to a standard wide 50-pin SCSI + Power?

Thanks,
Hodgkinson.

[Hodgkinson]

Btw, the connector-header on the drive is the same pitch, length, and width (Including the extra block of pins) as that on standard IDE laptop drives.

[Iggy_Drougge]

Why not check Hardwarebook first of all?

http://hardwarebook.info/SCSI_Internal_%282.5%22%29

[Hodgkinson]

(Doh, I noticed that the other day and forgot to mention, thanks for the post)

On the other hand I was also wondering if anyone had built such an adaptor and got a 2.5" SCSI drive working in their system. Similarly, what might those extra 8 pins be for? SCSI ID? Could these drives be used in the usual fashion on a standard SCSI device chain?

Thanks,
Hodgkinson.

[Kin-Hell]

Amitrix made a device for the CDTV that used 2.5" SCSI hard drives.

I had a bit of a look around but cant find anything RE SCSI headers on 2.5" devices.

Anyways, if you use the info from the top of the device & get some info on the Pin-outs for the Go Drive itself, you should be able to lash up a Data cable & a Power cable all in one.
You would need a 50 Way 2.5 Header for the drive itself.
A 50 way header for the 3.5" SCSI Contoller header.
Info on the 3.5" SCSI header Pin outs.
Info on the 2.5" Device pin outs (Data/Voltage)

Some of those 50 way wires from the 2.5" device are power & you will need to know what Volts to throw at it & choose an appropiate way to get the Volts right from your Miggy. 12 & 5 are available from the PSU, so may have to figure out a step down. Dont take Volts away from your Mobo as this may damage/deplete/load the mobo components.

I guess you`re just looking at a way to use the drive kicking around eh!?  ;-)

[Floid]

Adapters actually aren't that rare, assuming it's a standard 2.5" SCSI drive.  (What's the model number?  Quantum's datasheets should still be online somewhere.)

http://www.cablesonline.net/25lapscsihar.html
or here..

I haven't dealt with laptop SCSI in ages.  "54-pin" is probably a misnomer, but don't quote me.


Edit:  And here's the pinout on a related model.

[Hodgkinson]

> I guess you`re just looking at a way to use the drive kicking around eh!?  

Yup :-D

Hmmm, despite the drive having "SCSI" printed alongside the connector, it might just be standard 2.5" IDE. A guy on this forums' trying to do more or less the same thing with his (Identical) drive.

What do you folks think?

Hodgkinson.

[gazgod]

Those drives are certainly SCSI, as well as macs they were fitted in various portable Unix workstations from Tadpole, IBM  and RDI amongst others. Though by modern standards the drives are very small, the largest one made was 1.2 gig. Various workstations came with larger discs but these were actually ide disc with a very small ide to scsi adapter boards attached under the drive.
The interface is a variation on the scsi 2 standard so all that is required is one of the adapters mentioned previously.

I must ask for the small size and requirement of additionally adapter is it really worth it?

Gaz
 

[Hodgkinson]

>I must ask for the small size and requirement of additionally adapter is it really worth it?

Nope. :-D

(Small size = <42.9MB )

In that case I'll keep an eye out for one of those adaptors, but im certainty not going to go and specially buy one. It would be nice if I could get it to be of some use someday, though (One original idea was to have it running alongside my 2.5" drive inside my A1200 for some portable fast* HDD space, should I ever get a Blizzard SCSI...)

(RF Shield and heatsinks on/over the custom chips limits fast HDD expansions to ones built onto accelerator cards…Which tend to be SCSI…)

Thanks,
Hodgkinson.