Need a format identified...

[geneb]

I've got an Intertec SuperBrain "SuperFive" system that's got a Seagate
ST-506 hard disk in it. The machine is going to a new home tomorrow, so I
wanted to get an image of the hard disk.

I don't know if the machine works or whether or not the drive is any good.
I powered it up externally and was able to get an image of it with the
help of Wohali on IRC (many thanks!).

--analyze was unable to determine the drive format.

I took two images of the disk and I'd greately appricate it if someone
could take a look at them and see if the format can be derived for it.
The files are available at
http://annex.retroarchive.org/disks/superbrain_hd.zip

Thanks!

g.


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[David Gesswein]

Unlikely to be able to take serious look at it before you send it off. The
histogram show you did record somethink that looks like MFM data.

If you got time it would be good to record another transitions file with
--begin_time 300000 in case data straddles index.

Haven't looked at information online. Do you know if any detailed information
such ast schematic is available on the HD controller? If not seeing if any
standard HD controller chip is used would help in figuring out the format.

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[geneb]

On Wed, 28 Jul 2021, David Gesswein wrote:

> Unlikely to be able to take serious look at it before you send it off. The
> histogram show you did record somethink that looks like MFM data.
>

It's going to be a CP/M 2.2 file system if that helps.

> If you got time it would be good to record another transitions file with
> --begin_time 300000 in case data straddles index.
>

I don't know that I'll have the time.

> Haven't looked at information online. Do you know if any detailed information
> such ast schematic is available on the HD controller? If not seeing if any
> standard HD controller chip is used would help in figuring out the format.
>

The hard disk controller is under the main PCB and if it comes out easily,
I may be able to get a photo of it. This is what the machine looks like
without the top case: https://i.imgur.com/hZstVOj.jpg

Thanks David.

[David Gesswein]

Got time to look at it. Format added Superbrain.
Read was for 612 cylinders but ST-506 only has 153 cylinders so lots of
cylinders reported unreadable at end.

Some bad sectors
Bad sectors on cylinder 1 head 0: 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
Bad sectors on cylinder 13 head 0: 1

[geneb]

Holy cow, I'd completely forgotten about this. THANK YOU DAVID!

Is the resulting file browsable at all? I still have the files I created,
but the machine is now living with its new owner.

tnx.