On Sun, Mar 26, 2023 at 10:20 PM Paul Berger via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:
> I have seen lots of laptop drives that would fit a 50 pin connector that > is about 2mm pitch Looking at the back of the drive from the left there > are 44 pins in a group then 2 pins missing and the remaining 4 are for > selecting master and slave. > https://www.unitechelectronics.com/ide44pinout.gif which shows 44 pins + the '6' extra slots for cable select and keying. These are often called the '44 pin' interface... Warner > Paul. > > On 2023-03-26 4:33 p.m., Steve Lewis via cctalk wrote: > > Is anyone familiar with the 50-pin IDE interface, which I think is called > > ATA-3? It is from around 1997-2002. Normally IDE is 40-pin, or in > > laptops might be a 44-pin. > > > > But in a COMPAQ Presario 1220, I've come across its hard drive that is > > using this 50-pin interface (two rows of 25-pin that are quite > > small/tightly spaced - moreso than even PCMCIA). > > > > I believe it is different (electrically) than the 1.8" 50-pin > interface. I > > ordered a CF-to-50-pin adapter that is intended for those 1.8" drives, > and > > it won't work on this ATA-2 port (system won't boot with it inserted). > > However, all my CF cards are larger than 2GB - so I'm not sure if that > was > > the issue (don't think so, I think even with 8GB or larger it would still > > at least try to boot). > > > > > > The 2GB drive in this Presario (with the "weird' 50-pin IDE) contains > > Windows ME and Office 2000. That's cute, but I'm not so interested in > that > > - I was hoping to image that drive for archive, then install something > else > > (OS2). But I can't find any "ATA-3 to normal 40-pin IDE" adapter. > > > > I think the "6 extra pins" on this 50-pin (relative to normal 44-pin > laptop > > drives of those days) -- 2 of those pins (5-6) aren't used (maybe a kind > of > > key) and the 4 others (1-4) are vendor specific. So I may just be out of > > luck here in upgrading or replacing this drive with a more modern > > solution. But wanted to run it by the crew here before giving up. > > > > Thanks, > > > > -Steve / v* >
