'Alleged' IDE to SCSI adapter - Advice sought from you folks!

[Dave Scaramanga]

Hello,

I was wondering if you knowledgeable folks might have a look at this
godforsaken little circuit board and cast some light on what it is. It has a
50-pin centronics out on one side of the board, and a male IDE 40 pin (at
which point the circuit board is marked "IDE") and male molex interface on
the other side. There are a couple of LED's connected via wires to this
board.

The monkey I got these from claimed they were IDE-SCSI converters. Then
claimed they were SCSI-IDE converters after I informed him of the error. All
the same thing to him. Anyway I noticed that all 40 pins from the IDE
connector go essentially directly to the pins of the centronics, the only
other components on the board are a couple of resistors. No jumpers for SCSI
ID or termination. No IC's to speak of, except a little one on the Lian-Li
board. Obviously I would not attempt to connect a SCSI device to this thing,
it would no doubt be killed immediately. 12v, 5v and ground go to the
centronics connector too, so I can't see that helping a SCSI device.

I can't find any reference to what this device might actually be. My best
guess is that it is for transmitting IDE data and power over a 50-pin
centronics, and has nothing whatsoever to do with SCSI. I've tried googling
all the numbers on the boards to no avail. I do know what a true SCSI-IDE
converter looks like, an Acard AEC7720 for example, and these are similar,
well, apart from loads of IC's on the real thing. Any help or links are
sincerely appreciated.

http://www.auctiva.com/hostedimages/showimage.aspx?gid=164152&ppid=1122&image=244438866&images=244438776,244438792,244438825,244438866,244438883,244438909,244438944,244438975,244439007,244439037,244439055,244439091,244439120&formats=0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0&format=0

Sorry it's so long, here's a tinyurl:

http://tinyurl.com/csnpyt

or a preview:

http://preview.tinyurl.com/csnpyt

Many thanks,

Dave.

[Robert Heller]

This looks almost exactly like the little circuit board in my IDE
'Mobile Rack's. This is a thing that mounts in an exposed 5.25" 1/2
height bay. It is in two main parts: one part is permanently mounted
in the PC case. The other part is removable and there is a 'key' to
lock and unlock it. The removable part as a matching centronics
connector and has a place to mount a 3.5" *IDE* disk and includes a
standard 40 pin IDE plug and a standard Molex disk power plug (socket
actually). You mount your basic IDE disk in the removable part. Then
you can shove the removable part (the drawer) into the fixed part, lock
it in place (the key also turns on the power at the same time).
Depending on your BIOS and/or O/S you either need to reboot for the
disk to be seen and there you are. Copy your data to/from this disk
and when done, unlock the drawer (and power done the disk), remove the
drawer with the disk in it and carry it elsewhere (or just lock it in a
fireproof safe or something).

The two LEDs are power and disk access and end up at the front (exposed
end of the fixed part of the unit. There should be two wires that
connect to the power switch (key activiated). There is also a two-pin
connector for a little cooling fan that it on the fixed part of the unit.

>
> or a preview:
>
> http://preview.tinyurl.com/csnpyt
>
> Many thanks,
>
> Dave.
>
>
>

--
Robert Heller -- 978-544-6933
Deepwoods Software -- Download the Model Railroad System
http://www.deepsoft.com/ -- Binaries for Linux and MS-Windows
hel...@deepsoft.com -- http://www.deepsoft.com/ModelRailroadSystem/

[Dave Scaramanga]

"Robert Heller" <hel...@deepsoft.com> wrote in message
news:kJKdnffY8rTqTlbU...@posted.localnet...

Thank you Robert,

You have hit the nail on the head. They have a lead to fit into a lock, and
yes there's a pin marked 'fan'. Thank you for taking the time to look at
these things. Now the job is to convince monkey or Ebay that these are not
IDE-SCSI adapters and hopefully get my coin back.

Regards,

Dave.

[William R. Walsh]

You're right, that's not any sort of an IDE-SCSI converter. It's a
part of a removable drive rack system. I have a few of them.

Such things do exist, however. I know that an outfit by the name of
ACARD makes them. I've only seen ones suitable for use with 50 pin
internal SCSI. They have a SCSI connector on one side, an IDE
connector on the other and some kind of bridge IC. I believe there is
also a power connector.

William

[Jack Bauer]

I have one of those ACARD adapters. It has a U160 connector on it. Works
fine internally, NOT AT ALL externally.