Really wanted: MFM Fixed disk interface bus (AKA: cables).

[per]

MFM hard drives tend to have a higher risk of failure when they get old. It is not uncommon that they die just over the night. Mine isn't dead yet, but it's interface bus is not 100%.

It all started when I decided to populate all of the 8 slots in my XT. The cable when attached to the fixed disk controller used quite a lot of space, and I had problems getting the card next to it to fit in it's slot because of this. The ressult was that the other card was squeazed into place, and added preassure to the bus from the fixed disk. This caused some of the lines to break, and the cables can't really be used unless bendt in a certain position.

If anyone got some spare cables for MFM disks (the 34 lines one and the 20 lines one). More than one set is also a plus, but please no more than 5 sets (I got like 50 or so IDE and Floppy disk cables, so I don't really have space for too much). I will pay $12 for shipping and $3 for the items. Anyone got some spares?

[MikeS]

I've got quite a few; if I remember next time I'm at the post office I'll check the shipping.

If the problem is at or near a connector they can usually be cut and recrimped; have you had a look if it's feasible?

m

[cosam]

Or you can replace the entire ribbon cable itself with (part of) one of the 50 you have lying around. The connectors aren't usually designed to be removed, but if you're careful it's generally doable.

In case of a floppy cable with a 34-way edge connector, you might even be able to use it almost as-is (I don't remember if the key is at the right end or not).

[arjoll]

I've got a handful of these, but agree its probably easiest to try sorting out what you've got first. Butchering a couple of IDE leads would be a good place to start.

[per]

Yea, re-leading them would be the best idea, but I really don't know how I open the connectors without destroying them.

Anyways, When I tried to park the heads last time, I got a 1705 error. Since I don't want to get pwned if my drive fails, I've backed it up. I've also made a boot disk including drivers for the 720Kb drive. However, durning the process, I found out that my drive isn't in that 100% shape as I thought. It turns out that a few files are corrupted, but everything is readable. It may be a prolem with the drive, it may be the cable. I don't know.

Because of this, I've decided that I'll manage to live without a hard-drive until the XT-IDE project is done. (I'll keep the old drive of course.)