| Rev | Author | # | Line |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MarcelVanDeSteeg | 1 | The proper name for this interface is actually ST-506/ST-412. |
| 2 | |||
| 3 | This is a very old interface, used to connect storage devices to a motherboard. | ||
| 4 | This interface predates [IDE], and is not used anymore for harddrives. It was developed in the 1980's by Seagate, a storage technology company. | ||
| 5 | |||
| 6 | Typical harddrive sizes are 5MB, 10MB and 20MB. | ||
| 7 | |||
| 4 | JamieCurtis | 8 | [MFM] actually refers to the encoding method used for storing data on the disk. [MFM] is an acronym for "Modified Frequency Modulation". |
| 9 | Another encoding method used with this interface is [RLL]. ([RLL] encoding is possibly still used on modern [IDE] drives) | ||
| 1 | MarcelVanDeSteeg | 10 | |
| 4 | JamieCurtis | 11 | ST-506/ST-412 cables look like skinny [IDE] cables. (About half the width?) A single ST-506/ST-412 harddrive needs two cables, one is 20 pins, the other is 34 pins. |
| 1 | MarcelVanDeSteeg | 12 | |
| 13 | The biggest problem with this interface[1] is that there is no logic board mounted on the harddrive. The harddrive is controlled | ||
| 4 | JamieCurtis | 14 | by a separate controller card. Each harddrive requires its own unique controller card. Don't expect the controller cards to have any markings on them to indicate which harddrives they belong to/can work with. You have an ST-506/ST-412 harddrive but no controller card? Bad luck, use it as a boatanchor or a doorstop |
| 1 | MarcelVanDeSteeg | 15 | ---- |
| 16 | Apparently floppy drives still use this protocol (with [MFM] encoding) | ||
| 17 | ----- | ||
| 4 | JamieCurtis | 18 | ST-506/ST412 hardrives are BIG, NOISY, HEAVY and UNRELIABLE[2]. (About the size of a CD-ROM drive. They sound like typewriters IIRC :) |
| 1 | MarcelVanDeSteeg | 19 | ----- |
| 20 | ''"The last time I fiddled with an [MFM] harddrive was about 15 years ago, so most of this is from memory and whatever I could quickly google up ;^)" -- [MarcelVanDeSteeg]'' | ||
| 21 | ---- | ||
| 22 | |||
| 23 | [1] Besides the slow speed and the small storage capacity of the harddrives :D | ||
| 24 | [2] I ran into a working example the other day, buried in the internals of an old 4Mhz 8088 XT. | ||
| 25 | |||
| 26 | CategoryHardware |
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