Reading PowerBook 2.5″ SCSI Hard Drives
USB XpressSCSI with HD50 adapter Part# USB-SCSI-HD50 (EOL, NA) and Part# USB-SCSI-DB25 (EOL, NA) The USB XpressSCSI is a USB to SCSI Converter for new iMac, G3 (blue and white), G4, or Windows 98, Me, 2000 or XP PC owners who wish to use existing SCSI peripherals such as hard drives, and CDR. Connect your SCSI device or device chain to the USB SCSI Adapter. See appendices for adapters and cables you may need. Make sure that the device(s) are powered up. Plug in the USB SCSI Adapter to a free USB port on your computer, or USB Hub. A 'New Hardware Found' dialog box will appear. The MicroTech Laptop Adapter Kit includes the USB software flash drive, USB laptop adapter and cable, to allow the MicroTech user to connect and tune their ECU via laptop. The windows based software is designed to be simple to understand and easy to navigate, so both the first time user and professional tuner, can tune with confidence.
- The ORB USB drives are actually SCSI drives that come with a SCSIUSB adapter, usually made by Microtech. I've used this adapter with various SCSI peripherals on various non-scsi equipped Macs. The info and drivers on the Castlewood site should work for what you have.
- Hi Hector – you will need to convert the 2.5″ SCSI drive to a standard 50-pin Centronics or 25-pin D-Sub connector before using a USB-to-SCSI adapter. You may be able to purchase a 2.5″ external SCSI enclosure and put the drive in that, to use with a USB adapter.
Back in the 68k era Apple used small form factor 2.5″ SCSI hard drives in the PowerBook 100, 500 and Duo lines of notebooks. Use of the SCSI format provided compatibility with desktop Macs of the same era and permitted the use of external SCSI Disk Mode – the precursor to today's Target Disk Mode.
The 2.5″ SCSI form factor was not widely used throughout the industry, however. Most vendors (and soon Apple themselves) utilized ATA (IDE) drives. ATA remained the industry standard until SATA took over this past decade.
Occasionally somebody with an old SCSI-based PowerBook will contact me about transferring files from their old system. If their PowerBook doesn't boot, or the drive was previously removed from the computer, it becomes necessary to access the disk directly.
Microtech Usb Scsi Db25 Driver Adapter
The scarcity of the 2.5″ form factor means that there aren't many ways to read old PowerBook hard drives without having to install them in another PowerBook. A few external SCSI enclosures were made for this size but they can be hard to find today. Installation is not super difficult in the old models, but it isn't trivial either. A sacrificial model is needed for the endeavor (I use a PowerBook 170, as shown). If the drive doesn't boot your PowerBook you need to startup from a System Folder on an external SCSI drive in order to access the internal disk.
Another recent file transfer request got me searching for an external enclosure or adapter of some kind. After a fair amount of Googling I finally found a 40 54 pin (2.5″) to 50 pin (3.5″) SCSI adapter. This allows access to the smaller drives using a standard 50 pin ribbon cable and a 4 pin 5V/12V power cable.
I used the cabling from an external case to make an even more versatile adapter. The piece of ribbon cable has a 50 pin internal connector sandwiched between two external Centronics-style SCSI connectors. With this new rig and power provided by my external drive sled, I'm now able to connect old 2.5″ disks directly to my trusty Wallstreet's SCSI port and bridge the years without having to put my 170 into traction each time.
A much needed little adapter!
Update 2012:
After posting this update I acquired an external disk enclosure for 2.5″ SCSI drives. Once you remove the covers from these enclosures the remaining circuitry forms an adapter (or 'sled' if the bottom panel is still attached) to use to connect bare internal drives to external SCSI connectors – in this case a standard DB25 SCSI cable. This is smaller and easier to deal with than the hybrid adapter described above, and has become my main PowerBook data transfer drive tool. 2.5″ external SCSI disk enclosures are occasionally available on eBay.
USB XpressSCSI with HD50 adapter Part# USB-SCSI-HD50 (EOL, NA) and Part# USB-SCSI-DB25 (EOL, NA) The USB XpressSCSI is a USB to SCSI Converter for new iMac, G3 (blue and white), G4, or Windows 98, Me, 2000 or XP PC owners who wish to use existing SCSI peripherals such as hard drives, and CDR. Connect your SCSI device or device chain to the USB SCSI Adapter. See appendices for adapters and cables you may need. Make sure that the device(s) are powered up. Plug in the USB SCSI Adapter to a free USB port on your computer, or USB Hub. A 'New Hardware Found' dialog box will appear. The MicroTech Laptop Adapter Kit includes the USB software flash drive, USB laptop adapter and cable, to allow the MicroTech user to connect and tune their ECU via laptop. The windows based software is designed to be simple to understand and easy to navigate, so both the first time user and professional tuner, can tune with confidence.
- The ORB USB drives are actually SCSI drives that come with a SCSIUSB adapter, usually made by Microtech. I've used this adapter with various SCSI peripherals on various non-scsi equipped Macs. The info and drivers on the Castlewood site should work for what you have.
- Hi Hector – you will need to convert the 2.5″ SCSI drive to a standard 50-pin Centronics or 25-pin D-Sub connector before using a USB-to-SCSI adapter. You may be able to purchase a 2.5″ external SCSI enclosure and put the drive in that, to use with a USB adapter.
Back in the 68k era Apple used small form factor 2.5″ SCSI hard drives in the PowerBook 100, 500 and Duo lines of notebooks. Use of the SCSI format provided compatibility with desktop Macs of the same era and permitted the use of external SCSI Disk Mode – the precursor to today's Target Disk Mode.
The 2.5″ SCSI form factor was not widely used throughout the industry, however. Most vendors (and soon Apple themselves) utilized ATA (IDE) drives. ATA remained the industry standard until SATA took over this past decade.
Occasionally somebody with an old SCSI-based PowerBook will contact me about transferring files from their old system. If their PowerBook doesn't boot, or the drive was previously removed from the computer, it becomes necessary to access the disk directly.
Microtech Usb Scsi Db25 Driver Adapter
The scarcity of the 2.5″ form factor means that there aren't many ways to read old PowerBook hard drives without having to install them in another PowerBook. A few external SCSI enclosures were made for this size but they can be hard to find today. Installation is not super difficult in the old models, but it isn't trivial either. A sacrificial model is needed for the endeavor (I use a PowerBook 170, as shown). If the drive doesn't boot your PowerBook you need to startup from a System Folder on an external SCSI drive in order to access the internal disk.
Another recent file transfer request got me searching for an external enclosure or adapter of some kind. After a fair amount of Googling I finally found a 40 54 pin (2.5″) to 50 pin (3.5″) SCSI adapter. This allows access to the smaller drives using a standard 50 pin ribbon cable and a 4 pin 5V/12V power cable.
I used the cabling from an external case to make an even more versatile adapter. The piece of ribbon cable has a 50 pin internal connector sandwiched between two external Centronics-style SCSI connectors. With this new rig and power provided by my external drive sled, I'm now able to connect old 2.5″ disks directly to my trusty Wallstreet's SCSI port and bridge the years without having to put my 170 into traction each time.
A much needed little adapter!
Update 2012:
After posting this update I acquired an external disk enclosure for 2.5″ SCSI drives. Once you remove the covers from these enclosures the remaining circuitry forms an adapter (or 'sled' if the bottom panel is still attached) to use to connect bare internal drives to external SCSI connectors – in this case a standard DB25 SCSI cable. This is smaller and easier to deal with than the hybrid adapter described above, and has become my main PowerBook data transfer drive tool. 2.5″ external SCSI disk enclosures are occasionally available on eBay.
Microtech Usb Scsi Db25 Driver Updater
Microtech Usb Scsi Db25 Drivers
I just cracked open my PowerBook Duo 230 to remove the hard drive to recover some data that I never transferred from it. I have followed the links provided and have not found the products that are required.
What I want to do is convert from the scsi to usb is this possible? I want to be able to do is simply mount the drive much like an external is this feasible?
This article has been very helpful, I have an old 40-pin SCSI from a PowerBook that I want to interface with my Mac IIci. Following the link in your article I found that the 54-pin to 50 pin SCSI is available. If that is the correct adapter then all I need are cables for a DB-25 SCSI plug.
I have assembled the adapter to connect my old PowerBook drive, although the connector is not quite deep enough to fully engage the pins on the drive. Any suggestions on a fix?
Another question, with this adapter how do I manage the SCSI ID?
There are a group of pins to one side of the connector, otherwise I don't see anything else on the drive.
My need for the drive is temporary, provide an intermediary to copy files between the IIci and my PC while finish translating old documents to PDF. Gangstar vegas free download for mac.
Okay, I was able to start the drive and install the microtech software. The USB interface was detected by windows XP though not identified. I installed the microtech software without errors. On reboot after install, the USB interface was not detected. I checked the hardware status and saw that the USB driver was not loaded.
Can you offer any suggestions on troubleshooting?
Thank you. I will also contact Microtech and see if they have ideas.
While testing out my adapter, I noticed a LED on the SCSI adapter plug that connects to the drive. Should this light up while the drive is running?
Also, have you seen a powered SCSI terminator before, looks like the Microtech USB adapter needs a power source.I found two problems with my interface, I needed to add termination to the drive and the drive is not supplying power to the Microtech adapter. I have switched to a cardbus adapter and added a thru-terminator to the drive.
I am trying to connect several SCSI drives to the my Windows XP machine via an Adaptec USBExpress adapter. The drives are accessible in system 7 though I cannot get the adapter drivers to load. I wondered if you had encountered similar problems.
I have a Mac IIci with an ailing internal drive. I may be able to fix it. Although I am considering using the SCSI powerbook drive as a replacement. I have the adapter board for it, although how do I terminate it and set the SCSI id?
I have a PowerBook SCSI drive with the adapter, can this be installed and formatted to work on a MacIIci running System 7?
I also have a Mac IIci and a conner CP-2045 Powerbook drive and have been trying to get it up and running at least temporarily. I have an inquiry in with cables online WRT their laptop adapter.
Adam, you have this setup running so I hope you can answer a couple of questions, first, the drive implies no jumpers are necessary for SCSI ID=0 using the adapter as an internal drive, so this is OK? Also, how does the adapter handle the termination issue?
Last, why would you not recommend this setup for long term usage (per above)?
Tks D.
Thanks Adam
I'm leaning toward the SD approach for a long term solution but since I have the 2.5″ HD I'd also like to keep that option on the table or at least understand the issues.
I have a dual centronics + 50 pin cable exactly like the one in the photo that I can use with the 2.5 to 3.5 adapter card, did you terminate your setup with something like the in-line centronics pass through terminations?
I have also made an adapter cable matching the pinouts for 40 & 50 pin SCSI & the Apple PB cable. The only questions I have is handling the non-power grounds. I connected the necessary 2.5″ grounds (identified from the Apple cable) to convenient grounds in the even number pins of the 50 pin side.
So far I haven't gotten the Mac to find the HD; internally, without & with termination, and externally with & without termination. Termination was using a centonics connector + terminator in the ribbon between the HD & 50 pin connector.
Any suggestions?
Tks. D
Hi – I found my old Powerbook Duo 230 (I got rid of the Dock years ago). It works perfectly. In fact, my little niece and nephew had turned it on and were playing games on it. I had a bunch of old word docs saved and I deleted them, but realistically if I want to give this away/sell it/do anything with it, do I need to acquire an external drive and the operating system floppy to reinitialize the hard drive (for safety/security reasons)?
Thanks!
i have a powerbook duo 270c which i have owned for over 15 years.
it runs on OS 7.6
it has been working well and i usually boot it up a few times a year.
However recently it wont boot up. When i connect it to the ac, it tries to power up without me pressing the power button.
it gets to the MAC OS logo on start up and then switches off. This happens even if i do use the power button
Not sure if it is a hard drive failure?
I do not have OS7 on floppy disk to try to boot up this way. I do have OS7.6 on CD but I did not have a cd player i can use with this machine.
any suggestions?thanks Adam. will give it a try
Looking for a Mac classic compatible hard drive; eBay has a few. Are there other sources?
Hi Adam. I have an old PowerBook Duo 230 and a PowerBook 1400cs. The HDDs still work in both of them, and I wanted to take them out and plug them into my Linux box so I can use the dd command on them to make an image of their contents.
I wanted to plug the drives into the Linux computer via USB. What I am wondering is, can you give me a list of the things I need to buy to do this? All of the links I've seen here are dead, and I don't know if I need that one CablesOnline adapter in my case.
Freestyle dash download. Thanks, and great article!
Hello
Can you ask for Scheme 2.5 'Laptop SCSI Hard Drive Adapter
Item # MK-007 because they do not send an adapter to Poland.
Thank you
Microtech Usb-scsi-db25 Driver
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