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Adapter for old CHS ("small") IDE drives

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First post, by perhenden

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How can I read IDE drives of sizes 540MB and below on a modern computer?
I tried an USB-adapter, but it only supports LBA, not the older CHS style drives.
Some old drives may also lack auto detect, I read.
Some internal adapters also lack the ability to read CHS drives, I read.

The drive I'm working on is a 107MB ST3123A.

Is there such an adapter, one that supports CHS drives with autodetect? Even better, supports drives without autodetect?
It can be an internal PCI-(express) card.

EDIT: I found a thread saying the SYBA SD-PEX40035 and SD-PEX50049 internal controller card works for this purpose, and that the Marvell 88SE912X chips they use can be found on some other boards as well.
Also, the BYTECC PCIe BT-PES321i.
Anyone with experience using these?

Last edited by perhenden on 2020-04-15, 12:28. Edited 3 times in total.

Reply 2 of 9, by computerguy08

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How modern is your computer? I am saying that because they included IDE headers up until x58 motherboards if I recall correctly, which are fully compatible with any CHS drive (this is in my main system).

The JMB36x PCI-e boards that you find on eBay will only go down to 1GB hard drives, any lower capacity won't be detected. (I own one of these)

Reply 3 of 9, by perhenden

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computerguy08 wrote on 2020-04-15, 15:36:

How modern is your computer?

It's a B450 motherboard, so more recent than x58.

Good to know that somewhat recent motherboards (with x58 or earlier chipsets) has IDE-support, though 😀

Reply 4 of 9, by computerguy08

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perhenden wrote on 2020-04-15, 15:55:

It's a B450 motherboard, so more recent than x58.

That definetly lacks IDE, it's from another era (first gen is quite old at this point, but I still use it because it refuses to die 😀).

Any older system, like a C2D or P4 or anything, should work fine. It should be able to run Windows 10 as well.
Not as convenient as an add-in PCI-e card though, but cheaper for sure.

You will likely be able to get one of these systems for free nowadays, if you don't have a spare one already.

Reply 5 of 9, by darry

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Another option to consider is using an old PCI IDE controller through a PCI to PCI Express adapter . In that case, make sur to get a PCI IDE controller that has drivers for you OS of choice or use it under plain DOS .

Reply 6 of 9, by Horun

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darry wrote on 2020-04-15, 16:54:

Another option to consider is using an old PCI IDE controller through a PCI to PCI Express adapter . In that case, make sur to get a PCI IDE controller that has drivers for you OS of choice or use it under plain DOS .

Good choice ! Just make sure the PCI IDE card does not require the dongle to an ISA slot. Made that mistake once ;p

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 8 of 9, by computerguy08

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radiounix wrote on 2020-04-21, 14:47:

Just curious - does anyone know a laptop solution? What is the likelyhood that a Pentium III or 4 could handle a legacy CHS drive on the internal controller?

Can you be more specific ? I suppose you're talking about connecting 3.5" hard drives to a laptop, to read them, but I'm not sure.

Reply 9 of 9, by radiounix

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computerguy08 wrote on 2020-04-21, 14:58:
radiounix wrote on 2020-04-21, 14:47:

Just curious - does anyone know a laptop solution? What is the likelyhood that a Pentium III or 4 could handle a legacy CHS drive on the internal controller?

Can you be more specific ? I suppose you're talking about connecting 3.5" hard drives to a laptop, to read them, but I'm not sure.

Sorry. I meant using a 2.5" drive inside the physical drive bay. I actually answered my own question - the earlier drives were thicker and won't fit.

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