Miscellaneous Operating Systems/Hardware

Microdrive access

pentium avatar
pentium
From Kamloops, BC
Who joined Aug. 28, 2006, 6:29 p.m.
Wrote the following at Sept. 4, 2009, 8:14 a.m...
My old MP3 player had a 4gb Seagate ST64022CF microdrive in it and it contains a considerable chunk of my music. Needless to say the MP3 player has died but I still have the microdrive.
I'm trying to backup the contents of it but I'm running into serious problems.
The main issue is that no matter what method I try to access it in both Linux and Windows (be it an internal card reader, PCMCIA to Microdrive adapter, IDE to microdrive adapter or USB to laptop IDE adapter followed by a Laptop IDE to microdrive adapter) The result is I can see it in the OS but I can't copy files off it. It appears what happens is that when the microdive is connected to the system using any of the above methods the microdrive likes to spin up and down like it's crashing, then spin up and then spin down and refuse to work until you unplug it and plug it back in.
It shows all the symptoms of being dead (short of not being able to see the contents which I can and briefly play some of the music back) but this is where things get really weird for me.
If I take the microdrive and plug it into my PS3 (I have the 80gb MGS4 unit with the card reader) not only will it see it, access it and play back it's contents but the thing acts perfectly normal. Shoot, I can even dump the whole thing to the internal hard drive on the PS3. Unfortunately, after it is on the PS3's hard drive I have no way to transfer it to another medium to move it back onto my pc and I can't copy the contents of the microdrive to another storage medium like an SD card or a USB drive that might be plugged in.

It is an OEM microdrive but should it really be this fussy with me?
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henrycault avatar
henrycault
From Sherbrooke, Quebec
Who joined Dec. 9, 2008, 10:30 a.m.
Wrote the following at Sept. 4, 2009, 8:21 a.m...
What's the power consumption of that thing? It sounds like it's drawing too much current on your adapter bundle.
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pentium avatar
pentium
From Kamloops, BC
Who joined Aug. 28, 2006, 6:29 p.m.
Wrote the following at Sept. 4, 2009, 9:41 a.m...
I don't have the slightest idea what the power draw would be.

But according to a pdf file from Seagate...:
Seagate wrote: Startup current 5V (peak) (maximum RMS in 10ms window)--350 mA
Seek power (typical 3.3V)----------226 mA
Read/write power (typical 3.3V)----------330 mA
Performance idle mode (typical 3.3V)----------200 mA
Low power idle mode (typical 3.3V)----------90 mA
Standby/Sleep mode (typical 3.3V)----------30 mA

Link to full PDF and remember I'm using the ST64022CF

Still, for my IDE to Microdrive adapter I should not have power consumption issues as it draws power directly from a regular 4 pin molex connector.
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henrycault avatar
henrycault
From Sherbrooke, Quebec
Who joined Dec. 9, 2008, 10:30 a.m.
Wrote the following at Sept. 4, 2009, 6:52 p.m...
hmm. Im not really sure, but i checked the pdf and

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Interface CompactFlash 2.0 (CF+ 2.0)

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When CompactFlash was first being standardized, even full-sized hard disks were rarely larger than 4 GB in size, and so the limitations of the ATA standard were considered acceptable. However, CF cards since the original Revision 1.0 have been able to have capacities up to 137 GB. While the current revision 4.1 from 2004 works only in ATA mode, future revisions are expected to implement SATA.

Revision 2.0 added an increase in speed to 16 MB/s data-transfer, according to the CompactFlash Association (CFA).
Revision 3.0 supports up to a 66 MB/s data transfer rate, along with a number of other features.
Revision 4.0 supports IDE Ultra DMA 133 for a maximum data transfer rate of 133 MB/s.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CompactFlash


Then i googled a bunch of Microdrive to IDE and they were CF I/II. no mention of CF+ II
Im not really sure if it means anything but it seems to be a limitation on filesystem and transfer speed

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While these drives fit into and work in any CF II slot, they draw more current (500 mA maximum) than flash memory (100 mA maximum) and so may not work in some low-power devices (for example, NEC HPCs). Being a mechanical device a Microdrive is more sensitive to physical shock and temperature changes than flash memory. But Microdrives are not subject to the write cycle limitation inherent to flash memory.

Meaning that even if its powered from the Molex connector, maybe something on the adapter cannot pass that much current to the Microdrive.
:Octane: 270Mhz SI 384Mb ram :Octane2: 2x360Mhz V6 1.5Gb ram
:O2000: Death by flooding... :(
Amiga A3000D / Full ECS, Kickstart 3.1, 2Mb CHIP/24Mb FAST with 2+18Gb SCSI HD
Amiga A1200 starting to work on this one.
pentium avatar
pentium
From Kamloops, BC
Who joined Aug. 28, 2006, 6:29 p.m.
Wrote the following at Sept. 4, 2009, 9:30 p.m...
Hmm. Well then I have no idea how to fix that.
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hamei
From over the rainbow
Who joined Feb. 24, 2004, 4:10 p.m.
Wrote the following at Sept. 5, 2009, 2:20 a.m...
pentium wrote: Hmm. Well then I have no idea how to fix that.

If you want to mail it over I can give it a shot ... my CameraMate firewire adapter has been successful with reading a microdrive (an IBM drive tho.)
pentium avatar
pentium
From Kamloops, BC
Who joined Aug. 28, 2006, 6:29 p.m.
Wrote the following at Sept. 5, 2009, 5:27 p.m...
hamei wrote:
pentium wrote: Hmm. Well then I have no idea how to fix that.

If you want to mail it over I can give it a shot ... my CameraMate firewire adapter has been successful with reading a microdrive (an IBM drive tho.)

Do I trust the postal system to deliver the thing in one piece? :P
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hamei
From over the rainbow
Who joined Feb. 24, 2004, 4:10 p.m.
Wrote the following at Sept. 5, 2009, 7:58 p.m...
pentium wrote: Do I trust the postal system to deliver the thing in one piece? :P

Bubble wrap. Lots of bubble wrap.
pentium avatar
pentium
From Kamloops, BC
Who joined Aug. 28, 2006, 6:29 p.m.
Wrote the following at Sept. 7, 2009, 8:10 a.m...
I'll go take it to fellow member Jax and see if he can do anything with it. China is a bit too far for me to try.
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guardian452 avatar
guardian452
Donor
From Kentucky, United States
Who joined Aug. 21, 2007, 10:12 p.m.
Wrote the following at Sept. 7, 2009, 4:06 p.m...
Maybe you can take it to a photo place and ask them to read it. Microdrives were popular with digital cameras for a while.
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un_ avatar
un_
From San Diego, CA, USA
Who joined May 28, 2008, 6 p.m.
Wrote the following at Sept. 8, 2009, 11:09 a.m...
Just a crazy thought, but have you considered getting the same model mp3 player off ebay and putting the drive in that? You might be able to pick up one with a dead drive for example.

Is this the kind of drive that fits in a cf port or what? I've used a camera with a CF port as a card reader in the past.
pentium avatar
pentium
From Kamloops, BC
Who joined Aug. 28, 2006, 6:29 p.m.
Wrote the following at Sept. 9, 2009, 7:23 a.m...
Yes, it's a Type II card so it will fit in a Type II Compact flash slot like the one in my PC and my PS3. Actually, any Type II card is normally a Microdrive.
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pentium avatar
pentium
From Kamloops, BC
Who joined Aug. 28, 2006, 6:29 p.m.
Wrote the following at Sept. 11, 2009, 4:51 a.m...
Went there, got the drive successfully dumped onto a USB stick and.....left the damn stick in Vancouver.
Well at the least we got 98% of the music off of it.
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