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Copying from MFM to XT-IDE

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First post, by sqeeek

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Hello. I'm stuck again 🙁

I've got a computer my dad built in the late 80's, a 286 with a Seagate MFM drive. I've got the drive working again, and I'm trying to get everything copied off of it so I can give the files to him for Father's day (long story)

Problem is, I'm having trouble getting my XT-IDE to coexist with the ST11R. No matter what I do, the ST11R BIOS loads first. If I disconnect the drive from the card, it'll pass on to the XTIDE, but otherwise it'll jump straight to booting and I can't access the XT-IDe at all.

It looks like my XT-IDE gives the option of C800h/D800h for the address, while the ST11R gives C800h,D000h,D800h, and E000h. I've tried every option on both cards and the ST11R just loads first anyway.

I've read that some people set their XTIDE card to D000h, but I can't do that with mine (XT-CF type)

Do you have any advice? I've tried in an XT clone and the 286 with the same result. I do have some shadowing options in the 286's bios, but I'm kind of at a loss otherwise. Maybe I'm not understanding BIOS loading correctly, but I assumed that C800h would load before D800h?

Thanks for all the help, guys. My dad's mom just died, he could use a little nostalgia right now.

Reply 1 of 4, by HanJammer

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Controllers need to exists on different addresses. So you got it right.
BIOS (and system) will see just a single controller, and you need some kind of driver to access drives on second one.

Play around with 3drives:
https://www.uselesssoftware.com/download/3drvs260-zip

Be aware it supports just selected MFM controllers.

It's good idea to take a look at memory map and interrupts in CheckIt, just to verify there are no conflicts.

But if it's just a matter of copying data... well... just get 20 floppies and do it this way.

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Reply 2 of 4, by sqeeek

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HanJammer wrote:
Controllers need to exists on different addresses. So you got it right. BIOS (and system) will see just a single controller, and […]
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Controllers need to exists on different addresses. So you got it right.
BIOS (and system) will see just a single controller, and you need some kind of driver to access drives on second one.

Play around with 3drives:
https://www.uselesssoftware.com/download/3drvs260-zip

Be aware it supports just selected MFM controllers.

It's good idea to take a look at memory map and interrupts in CheckIt, just to verify there are no conflicts.

But if it's just a matter of copying data... well... just get 20 floppies and do it this way.

Great info, thanks!

The issue I've had is the ancient floppy controller in both systems, but I do have some newer (486+) stuff that might work with the MFM controller, I'll give that a shot. Or maybe I'll track down a different floppy controller and use some 3.5" disks.

Reply 3 of 4, by sqeeek

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Well, the answer turned out to be very simple: throw it in a 486. With absolutely no configuration, I'm booted to a CF card from the main IDE controller, looking at the MFM controller from FreeDOS.

I think I am going to pick up a USB floppy emulator though, soon as I get paid. That should help with some of the other drives I need to recover.

Thanks 😀

Reply 4 of 4, by Predator99

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If its only about copying the data I would not waste to much time to get MFM/IDE running in the same system.

Using floppies is a good idea.

Or install a network card and mount a network drive.
Or serial cable via Laplink.
Or use a parallel port drive, i.e. ZIP.
SCSI should also be easy to coexist with MFM.

Many options...

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