Another Crazy Idea: disc drive controller swapping

[Teo Zenios]

You still see HD controller boards for newer drives for sale on ebay, I 
didn't think swapping a board on a newer HD would work.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "steve shumaker" <shumaker at att.net>
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" 
<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Sent: Thursday, November 25, 2010 3:14 PM
Subject: Re: Another Crazy Idea: disc drive controller swapping


> controller board swapping used to be a "fairly frequent"  (interpret that 
> at your pleasure) occurrence in the cyber forensic community as a method 
> of reviving media taken as evidence.  Obviously it is rife with issues and 
> some media will cooperate more than others but in general, the older media 
> type with less on-board "smarts" will respond fairly well as long as the 
> board(or chips if that old) are a good match. in terms of firmware...
>
> steve shumaker..  former  (as in a long time ago) computer crime 
> investigator/ forensics specialist
>
>
>
>
>
> On 11/25/2010 8:17 AM, Philip Pemberton wrote:
>> Here's another idea that'll get me a place in the Loony Bin.
>>
>> A little while ago I picked up a couple of Amstrad EME232 double-sided 
>> 3-inch floppy drives. Out of the three I have, two have had their 
>> read-write ASIC zapped by someone (in one case myself, in another an ebay 
>> seller) plugging them into a PC power supply to "test". Net result: the 
>> ASIC goes completely deaf.
>>
>> Let's assume for a minute that the heads in the EME232 drives are 
>> undamaged. That means all the issues are related to defective circuitry 
>> on the PCB. So, how about this for an idea: move the controller chip and 
>> surrounding circuitry (or even the whole board) to the EME232, then wire 
>> it into the existing drive mechanics.
>>
>> This would -- in theory -- allow the two dead 232s (and possibly the 
>> EME156 single-head drive) to be resurrected.
>>
>> Anyone care to comment on this idea and its possibility or absurdity?
>>
>> The other option would be to get a new read-write ASIC for the Amstrad 
>> drives, but those seem to be like hen's teeth. Part number is M51017AP 
>> (made by Panasonic but if memory serves they're not marked with a logo or 
>> manufacturer designation) if anyone wants to check.. :)
>>
>> Thanks,