Hard drive data transfer

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   Does anyone have some advice for transferring data from a Western Digital 336P hard drive to something more modern?  It is from an IBM PS/2 made in 1988. The connector is SCSI like with male output. I will definately need a ribbon cable and possible a circuit board of some sort.

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ewingm Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 13 May 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1	Quote Reply Topic: Hard drive data transfer Posted: 13 May 2012 at 4:35pm
	Does anyone have some advice for transferring data from a Western Digital 336P hard drive to something more modern? It is from an IBM PS/2 made in 1988. The connector is SCSI like with male output. I will definately need a ribbon cable and possible a circuit board of some sort.

DOS lives on!! Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 27 October 2011 Location: Virginia Online Status: Offline Posts: 42	Quote Reply Posted: 16 May 2012 at 11:39am
	Oh, the non-standard PS/2 connectors. For this, I'd recommend either using floppies (depending o how much data you have) or transferring the files via a null model cable, sometimes referred to as a Laplink cable. There are applications that can do this (DOS 6.22s built-in program, PC Interlink, Laplink V.)
	~Ian~ Searching for a Packard Bell "Corner" Computer.

Mike Newcomb Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Joined: 15 July 2006 Location: London UK Online Status: Offline Posts: 528	Quote Reply Posted: 17 May 2012 at 9:16am
	Hi Dos, Ewingm's post implies the hard disk is on longer installed. If this is so, and the interface is non-standard, perhaps the easiest way is to locate a PS/2 and install the disk (as a slave if possible) in it. Then as you suggest, use floppies (with PKZIP and PKUNZIP) or a file transfer program such as LAPLINK. Regards - Mike Edited by Mike Newcomb - 17 May 2012 at 9:18am

Autumn Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 21 May 2012 Location: Minnesota Online Status: Offline Posts: 1	Quote Reply Posted: 21 May 2012 at 7:28pm
	Hi Mike - I have a similar issue. (Please don't ask how I got into this situation - talk about lack of foresight!) I have a hard drive that I took out of my Heath Zenith desktop - a computer I built when I was a planner at ETA Supercomputer. Anyway, I think I gave the computer to a friend at one point, but I took the hard drive out, because it had some documents in it that I wanted to keep. Now, I need one of them, a manuscript, so I took it to the local data retrieval guys today, and they say it is too old. Can you guys advise? It is from around 1988, and would have had an MFM controller card. The drive itself is a Microscience International Corporation HH-1050. Any guidance will be deeply appreciated. Autumn

Mike Newcomb Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Joined: 15 July 2006 Location: London UK Online Status: Offline Posts: 528	Quote Reply Posted: 22 May 2012 at 5:23am
	Hi Autumn, I would think the first step is finding a Heathkit or Zenith in which your hard disk can be installed, such that it can be read. Almost certainly there are some in collections or museums. Think I saw one recently on UK ebay/computing/vintage. The next step is deciding how to transfer the data. The floppy drive may be non-standard and also maybe the way the files have been written (being a cpm o/s). Please advise back on progress. Good Luck - Mike

DOS lives on!! Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 27 October 2011 Location: Virginia Online Status: Offline Posts: 42	Quote Reply Posted: 08 June 2012 at 9:23am
	No such PS/2 to MFM/IDE converters exist. IBM's micro channel architecture is one to shake your fist at. Autumn, is your hard drive the same one in this link? If so, you can hook it up to any 8088-486 computer that has an MFM controller card. Then, depending on the card, you may have to adjust some jumpers on the card. (Specific installation varies from card to card.) Then, you'll need to determine what OS it runs, and if it doesn't automatically boot from the HDD, start it up with the proper boot disk. It does not matter wheather it ran CP/M or DOS when it was in the laptop. The data can still be accessed.
	~Ian~ Searching for a Packard Bell "Corner" Computer.