SCSI-2 interface for Win 10?

[fadden]

I wanted to connect a couple of ~40-year-old SCSI-2 hard drives to my Windows machine, but I'm having trouble figuring out how to do that. Unfortunately the last PC I had with parallel SCSI went away some time ago.

I've found many adapters for SATA and even ATAPI/IDE, but nothing for SCSI-2. Adaptec's internal cards worked until Win 7, but they stopped updating the drivers. https://ask.adaptec.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/17425/~/what-adaptec-products-are-supported-in-windows-10

There's a USB adapter, but it seems to be in same boat driver-wise (https://www.amazon.com/Adaptec-1856600-USBxchange-Kit/product-reviews/B000067OHN?reviewerType=all_reviews).

This Classic Mac forum didn't leave me optimistic:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/does-anyone-have-a-suggestion-on-how-to-connect-scsi-external-drives-to-current-imacs-i-have-several-old-scsi-drives-that-i-used-with-my-power-macint.2309557/

Any suggestions?

[sc...@alfter.diespammersdie.us]

fadden <thef...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I wanted to connect a couple of ~40-year-old SCSI-2 hard drives to my
> Windows machine, but I'm having trouble figuring out how to do that.
> Unfortunately the last PC I had with parallel SCSI went away some time
> ago.
>
> I've found many adapters for SATA and even ATAPI/IDE, but nothing for
> SCSI-2. Adaptec's internal cards worked until Win 7, but they stopped
> updating the drivers.
> https://ask.adaptec.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/17425/~/what-adaptec-products-are-supported-in-windows-10

They did? I bought an AVA-2902E a couple of years ago and got it working
through a PCIe-to-PCI bridge card. I only think I tested it under Linux,
though, where it worked like a champ (unlike some no-name SCSI card I had
that didn't want to work with anything). I didn't test it under Win10
because my computer spends probably 99%+ of its time under Linux.

If you don't want to install Linux permanently, perhaps the course to take
is to get a live-system DVD, such as this:

https://bouncer.gentoo.org/fetch/root/all/releases/amd64/autobuilds/20220605T170549Z/livegui-amd64-20220605T170549Z.iso

Install your SCSI card, boot from the disk image, and do what you need to
do.

IME, hardware tends to be supported under Linux much longer than it does
under Windows. I have a scanner that still works with Linux that was last
supported by Windows XP.

--
_/_
/ v \ Scott Alfter (remove the obvious to send mail)
(IIGS( https://alfter.us/ Top-posting!
\_^_/ >What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?

[fadden]

On Tuesday, June 7, 2022 at 11:05:50 AM UTC-7, sc...@alfter.diespammersdie.us wrote:
> If you don't want to install Linux permanently, perhaps the course to take
> is to get a live-system DVD, such as this:

I think you're right. I was hoping for a "plug this in and everything works" answer, but PCI card + Linux recovery will work as plan B. :-)

> IME, hardware tends to be supported under Linux much longer than it does
> under Windows. I have a scanner that still works with Linux that was last
> supported by Windows XP.

Linux does a great job with old hardware, Microsoft does a great job with old software. Apple... no.

I'm looking at an Adaptec 29160, which should fit in my 2014-era PC (it has at least one plain PCI slot). If I'd known parallel SCSI was getting abandoned this hard I'd have kept an old card. I've found some PCI-E cards, but not with 50-pin connectors.

[Christopher G. Mason]

On 6/7/2022 11:59 AM, fadden wrote:
> I wanted to connect a couple of ~40-year-old SCSI-2 hard drives to my Windows machine, but I'm having trouble figuring out how to do that. Unfortunately the last PC I had with parallel SCSI went away some time ago.
>

Your options are limited. The Adaptec 29320LPE PCIe x1 card (reality is
its a bridged PCI card) should work with the Windows 7 x64 drivers.

See:
<https://www.savagetaylor.com/2018/02/11/scsi-on-windows-10-adaptec-aha-2940-adaptec-29xx-ultra-or-aic-7870-adaptec-78xx/>

There is also a LSI Logic LSI20320IE out there. Same deal, only has
Vista x64 era drivers, but they likely work on 10.

Both are going to need adapters since they don't have 50-pin narrow SCSI
plugs on board. Ideally you should just go with a "bridge" machine at
this point and run a dirt common PCI SCSI card like a AHA-29xx under
Windows XP.

[fadden]

On Tuesday, June 7, 2022 at 2:22:30 PM UTC-7, Christopher G. Mason wrote:
> See:
> <https://www.savagetaylor.com/2018/02/11/scsi-on-windows-10-adaptec-aha-2940-adaptec-29xx-ultra-or-aic-7870-adaptec-78xx/>

I found that page while searching around. The driver installation instructions were a little terrifying. Easier than buying a drive and installing Win7 on it though...

[sc...@alfter.diespammersdie.us]

fadden <thef...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm looking at an Adaptec 29160, which should fit in my 2014-era PC (it
> has at least one plain PCI slot). If I'd known parallel SCSI was getting
> abandoned this hard I'd have kept an old card. I've found some PCI-E
> cards, but not with 50-pin connectors.

A low-profile PCI card can be slotted into one of these for use in a newer
computer with only PCIe slots:

https://amzn.to/3NBIbE7

Fabrication (perhaps with a 3D printer?) of a bracket to hold both would be
nice for a permanent installation, but I had mine installed just long enough
to image my IIGS's hard drive. If the card already has a low-profile
bracket, you might be able to more easily install it on a permanent basis.

[sc...@alfter.diespammersdie.us]

fadden <thef...@gmail.com> wrote:
> There's a USB adapter, but it seems to be in same boat driver-wise
> (https://www.amazon.com/Adaptec-1856600-USBxchange-Kit/product-reviews/B000067OHN?reviewerType=all_reviews).

A different USB SCSI adapter is discussed in this video I ran across a while
back:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=APn4IhaYAlc

He was able to get it working with recent Windows and Mac OS versions
without a huge amount of fuss.

ISTR it only worked with one device at a time (no daisy chaining) and wasn't
particularly quick, but it worked.

[fadden]

I got this to work today. Full write-up here: https://fadden.com/tech/old-hdd.html

[kpom...@gmail.com]

The setup I use to connect and read from an old Mac-LC SCSI drive is;

Older PC motherboard with both PCI and PCI-E slots
Adaptec AHA-2940UW Pro SCSI controller (using its internal 50 pin connector)
Windows 11 Pro (64 bit)
June 2006 drivers from Adaptec (installed with digital signing enforcement
off)
MacDrive 10

Works well