Briareos wrote on 2023-07-16, 10:50:

Hello everyone, […]
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Hello everyone,

I sincerely hope someone can help me out on this; I finally found my IDE from the mid 90s and i'm dying to get it working.

Apparently it's a 50 Pin IDE with additional power pins. Another HDD I managed to adapt has effectively 39 Pins. (see attached images)

I can't find any adapter of 50 PIN to Sata or even 50 pin to 39 / 40 pin.
But i'm not sure in the first place if a 50 pin to 40 pin adapter plugged into a 40 pin to Sata would even work.
A friend also told me that these old IDEs lack some sector that makes it unreadable on modern systems anyway...

My 50 Pin IDE is an IBM HDD, Moel: WDS-3100 with 100MB of storage.

Hopefully, this problem is a no-brainer for some of you, so I'm kindly asking to forgive my noobism and thank you a lot in advance for any tips.

cheerio, fellas!

SCSI interface.
Not IDE.

It's important to learn the different interface types, once you know it's forever. Also, if you want to get into the retro bus you must know the types.
I once was there too 😀

Thanks for pointing this out mate! I'm rather confused by all these types 😉
I'll edit the topic accordingly.
Additionally I looked for a 50 pin SCSI adapter, but to no avail...

What is it you want to know about it?
Its SCSI2 Fast, which means its 8bit and runs an IO of 10MBps.
It uses a 50 pin SE connector, which is on most SCSI controllers, certainly the older ones, avoid the newer LVD only cards for it.

SCSI isnt all that complicated once you start looking into it. Its more involved than IDE was but its not complicated in itself.

Briareos wrote on 2023-07-16, 10:58:

Thanks for pointing this out mate! I'm rather confused by all these types 😉
I'll edit the topic accordingly.
Additionally I looked for a 50 pin SCSI adapter, but to no avail...

To make it work you need an adapter card. I think that a SCSI to IDE exists but it's not worth it IMO as you can buy cheap PCI SCSI adapter cards.
Be sure to buy one that has a 50-pin cable included, they aren't so cheap to buy alone.

Look for tutorials online, YT...
Have fun and enjoy your time!

Nexxen wrote on 2023-07-16, 11:58:

To make it work you need an adapter card. I think that a SCSI to IDE exists but it's not worth it IMO as you can buy cheap PCI S […]
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Briareos wrote on 2023-07-16, 10:58:

Thanks for pointing this out mate! I'm rather confused by all these types 😉
I'll edit the topic accordingly.
Additionally I looked for a 50 pin SCSI adapter, but to no avail...

To make it work you need an adapter card. I think that a SCSI to IDE exists but it's not worth it IMO as you can buy cheap PCI SCSI adapter cards.
Be sure to buy one that has a 50-pin cable included, they aren't so cheap to buy alone.

Look for tutorials online, YT...
Have fun and enjoy your time!

In addition to that get one of the Adaptec cards that uses EZ-SCSI software so you can terminate the bus on the card.

There are multiple options for PCI controller cards, Adaptec were the kings of the hill back in the day, especially for basic SCSI controllers.
the AHA-2904* cards would see you well, and should be cheap on ebay.

The internal SCSI cable you want looks very much like an IDE cable but its wider.

You could get a 50 pin to 68 pin adapter, that simply turns your drives 50 pin into a 68 pin connector, which will make cable selection much easier, it will also give access to a wider range of controllers too but then you start to run the risk of putting the drive on the wrong type of channel as it will now physically fit onto a LVD connector as well as SE.
Which is possible anyway, but it opens up the chance which is what you dont have now.

Look on ebay for "adaptec 2904" and you will see a controller that will work.
Then you just need a 50 pin internal cable and your good to go.

ElectroSoldier wrote on 2023-07-16, 13:10:

AHA-2904*

You probably mean AHA-2940, right ? Not the AVA-2904 ?

Wow, thank you all for your help and detailed briefings! I'll work through it and I'm positive to sort it out. Will report in case of any snags 😀 Cheers everyone

Zerthimon wrote on 2023-07-16, 14:37:

ElectroSoldier wrote on 2023-07-16, 13:10:

AHA-2904*

You probably mean AHA-2940, right ? Not the AVA-2904 ?

Yes sorry, AVA-2904.
There was a couple of variants of it.
The AHA-2940 would also do the job though.

I suggest the Adaptec 2904 because its cheap, widely available and will get him up and running.
The 2940 variants are usually a little more expensive (though more capable) and in his particular use case offer nothing over the 2904 does, and the external 50 pin connector might be an advantage if SCSI2 is his thing rather than the 68 Pin SE connector on the 2940. Dont forget its not until you get upto the 2940U2W controller that you get LVD.