Date   : Mon, 04 May 2009 10:24:46 +0100
From   : zeem.uk@... (Alex Taylor)
Subject: ADFS 1.53 patch

2009/5/3 Mike Tomlinson <mike@...>:

> BTW, A poster on uk.adverts.computer was selling a Connor CFS210A drive
> (120MB) a couple weeks ago. ?I remember this as one of the early drives
> that could be jumpered to IDE or ATAPI (8 bit vs 16 bit?) ?I remember
> these from my early PC days - there were 8-bit cards available for the
> PC/XT models which had only 8-bit ISA slots.

Are you thinking of XTA (sometimes called XT-IDE) and ATA (otherwise
known as IDE) disks? XTA is an 8-bit subset of the 16-bit ATA
interface, and the two aren't interchangeable. I've got a couple of
Western Digital 30MB FileCards with duff XTA drives on them, pulled
out of Amstrad PC1640s. Apparently CompactFlash cards support the
8-bit XTA mode as part of the specification, but I have no idea if it
will work by just plugging one into an XTA interface card.

I think XTA's just an historical curiosity, even in terms of
connecting hard drives to 8-bit machines. I don't think there was ever
a great deal of drives made. Nowadays they're like hen's teeth, and
most of those left are probably broken.

I don't think the Conner CFS210A is 8/16-bit configurable, looking at
the specs and jumper layout.

-- 
Alex Taylor