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MFM HDD Failure - Alternatives?

T

theo205

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Joined
Sep 4, 2011
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8
Hello,

This is the first time I need serious help for my old XT setup and thank God I have found this forum.
I honestly thought I was the only weirdo keeping the old lady runing in a time where its computing power compares to a nowdays calculator.
Whatever the case, this box means a lot to me so I need to get it running again .

As above my trusty old ST-251 has given up on me after 23 years of use.
I was thinking of replacing with another 2nd hand MFM in order to keep it a proper vintage XT,
but then again nobody can guarantee how long its going to last.

What would you suggest is the best altrenative?
Is it possible to go solid-state?
Read about the XTIDE project.Does it work?Is it still available? What modifications and requirments are needed in order to run the XTIDE interface?

Any help would be much appreciated guys.
Thanks
Theo
 
Welcome to the forums!

What's wrong with the ST-251? Is there read/write errors, won't spin up, or weird noises?

XT-IDE is a pretty neat invention. It converts the MFM cables to a CF card port, where you can attach a CF card.
They work just fine, many forum members have had great luck with them.
The person who's working on them is Hargle. Currently, he's working on version 2. I'm not sure of the availability.
 
DOS lives on!! said:
Welcome to the forums!

What's wrong with the ST-251? Is there read/write errors, won't spin up, or weird noises?

XT-IDE is a pretty neat invention. It converts the MFM cables to a CF card port, where you can attach a CF card.
They work just fine, many forum members have had great luck with them.
The person who's working on them is Hargle. Currently, he's working on version 2. I'm not sure of the availability.
Click to expand...

The drive will spin up to speed but I can hear it having trouble on read/write.
Sometimes the disk manager will see the disk and might boot but sooner or later it will result to a read/write error with the dreaded r/w error MFM noise repeating.(its audible on MFM as if its choking itself again and again?)

Shall I just PM Hargle for more XTIDE detail ?
 
I'd pull off and push back on the connectors, then try a low-level format on it. Of course, it's bound to die at some point though. Also check your PSU voltage are good and stable.
 
MFM hard drives usually had a life of only 5-10 years, so any functionality is a gift from the high land. Try a low level format. Do you have any low level formatting utilities?
 
What kind of closet was the one you used to fix your drive? does it have to be exactly the same to work for me? ;)
I do have some LL Format utilities but I'll confirm the problem first by checking (again) for bad connections and PSU output voltages under load.
Thanx everybody for the tips. I will run some more checks and report later.

Theo
 
DOS lives on!! said:
XT-IDE is a pretty neat invention. It converts the MFM cables to a CF card port, where you can attach a CF card.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I have to make a correction here, the XT-IDE card is it's own IDE controller, MFM is not involved at all. Uses standard IDE drives, CF card adapters, or Disk On Modules. It does work, and wonderfully too. That would be the way to go, when they become available.

The best low level format "utility" I have found is DEBUG.
 
AppleIIfan is giving a 251 away for shipping. Operating condition is, I believe, unknown.

I have a couple of 251-1s that are still going strong and neither of them has a single bad track. One of them spent about 20 years in a garage with no top on the bubble and when I put a top on it and fired it up, it booted right to DOS. One of Seagate's best and toughest drives.
 
Was testing the disk again tonight and made a short video of it failing under load.
I'm currentlu running Norton Disk Doctor II which has found some bad sectors.
I noticed though that the errors come up randomly (not on specific exe files) and sometimes if you retry the disk will read te sector very easily.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=673FXdS56nM

Theo
 
I don't think seeing bad sectors is very meaningful. Do a low level format and then see what you have. It's the proper maintenance techniques for these drives.
 
I did a LLF through the BIOS of the ST11 MFM controller. I found that the HDD was incorrectly formated before. The sectors value was set on 24 (IIRC) instead of 16.That would explain why my Segate 251 was the only 251 with 60MB of storage instead of 40 :) Funny thing is that i has been working very well for some years now! I also dropped interleave factor from 4 to 3 .
Anyway after I reconfigured the drive it seems to be working very well. Have been runing games etc for the last couple of days no problems whatsoever.
I'm still going for the XTIDE interface though.

I'm off to sort the rest of the problems now
Thanks everyone for your help!! :)
Theo
 
"ST11" doesn't tell the entire story. This controller came in two flavors--the ST11M (standard MFM) and the ST11R (RLL). If what you have is the ST11R (very commonly used, particularly with hard cards), 24 sectors/track is a reasonable value.

So your woes may not be over.

Just saying...
 
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