SCSI HD to USB adaptor

I have a 50-pin Seagate Model ST52160N Medalist Pro 2160 hard drive I'd like to use as an external USB storage drive, or as a second internal drive in a PowerPC G4. To date, I haven't been able to find any enclosures that take the 50-pin. Is there any such animal? Adaptor?

Thanks.

Seagate Model ST52160N Medalist Pro 2160, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Jan 26, 2008 6:46 AM

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5 replies

Jan 26, 2008 7:04 AM in response to Richard Kazimer

Hi! HERE is a scsi to firewire adapter but not an external case. The only reason I can think of to try what you are attempting is if there's something very important on the drive. Otherwise it's just not practical to try and use an old drive for stroage when new ones are so cheap and faster. You could also put a scsi pci card in the mac and run it that way but a modern scsi card isn't cheap and there are compatibility issues. Also HERE is a scsi to usb adapter. Tom

Jan 26, 2008 8:46 AM in response to Thomas Bryant

Tom,

Thanks for the quick response. The "only" reason I want to do this is because I have it (and I'm a typical "save everything" cheap Yankee). I noticed the SCSI to USB adapter spec states it is not for use with Macs.
Also, the firewire adapter is 50-pin male. The HD is 50-pin male as is the original ribbon used to plug it in the old PowerMac 8600/300 I pulled it from.

Jan 26, 2008 6:57 PM in response to Richard Kazimer

Unfortunately, both of those adapters are designed for use with external SCSI devices having High-Density 50 ports, and isn't compatible with the types of data connection interfaces found on SCSI hard drives. Additionally, a hard drive needs its 12/5 volt DC power provided via a Molex power cable. For best results, you should acquire a Mac SCSI controller PCI card, whether using the drive internally or externally. For external use, a SCSI-I/II enclosure that accommodates a 3.5" or 5.25" drive will work. A typical case will have a compatible, internal 50-conductor ribbon cable/connector, that's connected to a pair of Centronics-50 ports on the exterior. Use an active terminator on the unused Centronics-50 port. The Adaptec SCSI card 2906 is a SCSI-I/II (driver-based, non-bootable) controller card and the "Power Domain" 2930** is a SCSI-I/II/III (firmware-based, bootable) controller card. Both of these cards can be found at eBay for very little now. For internal use, a 50-conductor SCSI ribbon cable of adequate length will do, however I prefer to use an active terminator, plugged into the next unused cable connector (after the drive), although installing the drive's termination jumper will also work. I've got an old Quantum 4 GB SCSI drive pulled from an 8600/300, that's in an external enclosure (with Panther installed), as an emergency boot drive for a pair of B&W G3s (with the "2930**" card). While 4 GBs used to seem like a lot of storage capacity, by today's standards, it's not much. Unless you can find the extra hardware for very little cost, your Seagate (ST52160N) 2.17 GB drive may not be worth the effort/expense, given its minimal storage capacity. A sale-priced ($15) 2 GB USB flash memory device will do the same, without the additional hardware.

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SCSI HD to USB adaptor

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