Date   : Thu, 29 Dec 2005 12:49:22 +0000
From   : Jules Richardson <julesrichardsonuk@...>
Subject: Re: Connecting a BBC Micro to a PC

Jonathan Graham Harston wrote:
>> Message-ID: <43A6B05F.70607@...>
>  
> Jules Richardson <julesrichardsonuk@...> wrote:
>> I've got no way of backing up any of the BBC hard disks that I have though,
>> and I wouldn't fancy running those drives for the length of time needed to
>> transfer via serial (something like 10 hours I think I worked out) when
> there
>> was maybe only one shot at getting the data off them...
>  
> You could transfer them to an IDE hard drive with the IDE
> interface. Changing a link maps the interface into a different
> address and lets you plug in both the Acorn SCSI interface and the
> IDE interface. ADFS 1.50 will see the SCSI interface, and you can
> copy the drive with http://mdfs.net/Info/Comp/BBC/IDE/ADFS/SCSItoIDE

Hmmm, interesting idea. Is the 16-bit IDE interface stable? (Just noticed the 
bit about the PCB problem on your site, although I assume the schematic's OK).

So assuming I threw an interface together, I'd use a stock ADFS 1.50 ROM 
(which contains the SCSI code) and your SCSItoIDE utility (which contains the 
IDE code) to do the copy?

> Initial calculations indicate about 16M per hour.

Hmm, that's probably do-able. I wouldn't fancy chances of some of the ST506 
drives that I have running for much longer than that without heads ploughing 
into disk platters! (Some of the drives I have are sounding decidedly dodgy)

cheers

J.