Sounds like the drive motor is having problems

douglar wrote on 2024-01-25, 13:45:

Sounds like the drive motor is having problems

possibly, it is pretty loud.

really want to keep things as period accurate as possible. I plan on just buying a new drive, but not sure what is compatible (outside of just replacing the drive with the same one).

LaC wrote on 2024-01-25, 14:34:

really want to keep things as period accurate as possible. I plan on just buying a new drive, but not sure what is compatible (outside of just replacing the drive with the same one).

Does your BIOS show a date at boot or on the config screens?

That's quantum hard drive. ProDrive LPS 240. Fast hard drive for their time. 4,500 rpm. I had 120MB version once.

You can replace with anything, like using 270mb as 240MB using the same drive type number, same with 540MB as 504MB on different type number.

Cheers,

LaC wrote on 2024-01-25, 06:55:

I tried hooking it up to my modern PC and the drive still won't read.
So guess I need to replace this 30+ year old drive. Sad.

How did you connect it to your modern PC? If it's with some USB -> IDE adapter, don't throw away the drive yet.

douglar wrote on 2024-01-25, 15:00:

LaC wrote on 2024-01-25, 14:34:

really want to keep things as period accurate as possible. I plan on just buying a new drive, but not sure what is compatible (outside of just replacing the drive with the same one).

Does your BIOS show a date at boot or on the config screens?

I think its 1993. Its and HP Vectra. Couldn't find any other info on the bios.

pentiumspeed wrote on 2024-01-25, 16:54:

That's quantum hard drive. ProDrive LPS 240. Fast hard drive for their time. 4,500 rpm. I had 120MB version once.

You can replace with anything, like using 270mb as 240MB using the same drive type number, same with 540MB as 504MB on different type number.

Cheers,

Just trying to figure out what the max size would be.
I think over 1GB is too much since these older bios's don't support LBA or something like that? Memory is fuzzy on that.

konc wrote on 2024-01-25, 17:21:

LaC wrote on 2024-01-25, 06:55:

I tried hooking it up to my modern PC and the drive still won't read.
So guess I need to replace this 30+ year old drive. Sad.

How did you connect it to your modern PC? If it's with some USB -> IDE adapter, don't throw away the drive yet.

Yes usb->ide adapter.
I'm sure the data is fine on the drive, but I suspect its the motor or something on the main board.

LaC wrote on 2024-01-25, 18:08:

konc wrote on 2024-01-25, 17:21:

LaC wrote on 2024-01-25, 06:55:

I tried hooking it up to my modern PC and the drive still won't read.
So guess I need to replace this 30+ year old drive. Sad.

How did you connect it to your modern PC? If it's with some USB -> IDE adapter, don't throw away the drive yet.

Yes usb->ide adapter.
I'm sure the data is fine on the drive, but I suspect its the motor or something on the main board.

A 1993 BIOS is going to be limited to to a 512MB drive and CHS addressing. Just about any 512MB Hard drive, CF, SD adapter or 40 Pin DOM should work fine. You could even buy larger up to 2 GB and just configure it for 1023 cylinders, 16 heads, and 63 sectors per track and it should be fine. If you buy larger than 2 GB, it might work, but you start to run into some other issues. If you search ebay for "40pin DOM", you should see a lot of options for <$20. If you want to use more than 512MB, you would need to look into MRBIOS, XUB (XtIde Universal BIOS) or a drive overlay and I'd strongly recommend Win95b or newer for your OS.

Your Quantum ProDrive LPS is the same vintage and it is not likely that it supports LBA addressing.
If your USB to PATA device was built after 2010, it is quite likely that it only supports LBA addressing.
So with those things in mind, it seems pretty unlikely than your Quantum ProDrive LPS is going to work with your USB adapter (unless your USB adapter is more than 15 years old).
I have the same drive in my basement. I could test it out for you if you like.
Your drive jumper settings are in this doc: https://www.seagate.com/files/staticfiles/max … ive_jumpers.pdf

Here are some larger posts that I wrote for people in the past two days:
Re: 486 PC Hard Drive Troubles
Re: HDD won't boot on 486

I have a similar model D2753A - HP Vectra 486/25N , with the same bios.
I installed one mechancal drive 1.2 gb and a 4 gb CF card and it works great.
Edit: mine had the same drive, which died too.

b0by007 wrote on 2024-01-25, 19:12:

I have a similar model D2753A - HP Vectra 486/25N , with the same bios.
I installed one mechancal drive 1.2 gb and a 4 gb CF card and it works great.
Edit: mine had the same drive, which died too.

Interesting. Are they formatted at that size? Didn't think the bios could handle it.

Yes. The 1.2 gb mechanical hdd is formated all 1.2 gb fat 16 partition.
The CF card is split in 2 gb and 1.7 gb fat16 partitions.
I use ms dos 6.22

b0by007 wrote on 2024-01-25, 20:17:

Yes. The 1.2 gb mechanical hdd is formated all 1.2 gb fat 16 partition.
The CF card is split in 2 gb and 1.7 gb fat16 partitions.
I use ms dos 6.22

Did you add a hard drive controller with an option ROM or is there a drive overlay installed?

No addon controller or drive overlay. The bios just detects and uses full hdd up to 4gb.

LaC wrote on 2024-01-25, 19:52:

b0by007 wrote on 2024-01-25, 19:12:

I have a similar model D2753A - HP Vectra 486/25N , with the same bios.
I installed one mechancal drive 1.2 gb and a 4 gb CF card and it works great.
Edit: mine had the same drive, which died too.

Interesting. Are they formatted at that size? Didn't think the bios could handle it.

Latest BIOS is v.04.09 (attached ) - adds support for P24T OverDrive processors (v.04.04 was the original shipping / release version)

I wouldn't bother trying to resurrect the drive, assume it has failed. Prodrives are notorious for having rubber head bumpstops. It's likely it hit it and got stuck. Goopy mess, can be replaced with some heat shrink if you're quick about it and the platters didn't get any on them however.

b0by007 wrote on 2024-01-25, 21:40:

No addon controller or drive overlay. The bios just detects and uses full hdd up to 4gb.

It looks like you might have a newer Bios version than the original poster. Bios with support for P24t processors didnt come out until Q4 1995.

Sudos wrote on 2024-01-25, 23:22:

I wouldn't bother trying to resurrect the drive, assume it has failed. Prodrives are notorious for having rubber head bumpstops. It's likely it hit it and got stuck. Goopy mess, can be replaced with some heat shrink if you're quick about it and the platters didn't get any on them however.

its still spinning. you can hear the head try to read when it boots up per normal. It's just loud.

b0by007 wrote on 2024-01-25, 21:40:

No addon controller or drive overlay. The bios just detects and uses full hdd up to 4gb.

That's awesome. How do you update the bios? Just run the exe via command prompt?
Whats the model of the drive?