IDE controllers with “Data security & virus protection” \ VOGONS

IDE controllers with “Data security & virus protection”

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First post, by douglar

Posted on 2025-11-11, 00:15

douglar Offline

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Location: Ohio, USA

Some cards like the promise DC2300 have a port labeled “Data security & virus protection”

https://theretroweb.com/expansioncards/s/promise-dc2300a

Was there some sort of security coprocessor that could plug in there in an alternate world where CPU’s didn’t get fast and viruses didn’t change weekly?

Anyone have pictures of one?

Reply 1 of 1, by _Krille_

Posted on 2025-12-05, 19:13

_Krille_ Offline

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Joined: 2021-05-23, 15:14

Interesting! I'm guessing the idea was to have a read-only IDE interface where write access was disabled in the BIOS. Similar to how enabling the BIOS Antivirus protection makes the boot sector read-only. Makes you wonder if (and how) they also prevented direct access somehow? But I guess using a non-standard I/O base address would give the needed security (by obscurity). Perhaps it was only accessible with a driver? Maybe it was just an idea they scrapped after designing the hardware? All this is just speculation on my part, of course.

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