2.5" -> 3.5" SCSI adapter

[Branchus]

Does anyone know if a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter exists that would allow me to connect a PowerBook SCSI drive to a desktop vintage Mac?

I would hope the process isn't too complicated.

Thanks in advance,
Bruce

 

[max1zzz]

They do, I have one around here somewhere

It'll probably be quite difficult to source one now, given they would have been pretty niche even back in the day and 2.5" scsi drives are all but extinct now
It wouldn't be too difficult to reproduce though given it's just a straight through passive adapter

If your really desperate your welcome to mind if I can find where the damn thing is (Not sure waht shipping form the UK to Australia would be though!)

 

[Branchus]

They do, I have one around here somewhere

It'll probably be quite difficult to source one now, given they would have been pretty niche even back in the day and 2.5" scsi drives are all but extinct now
It wouldn't be too difficult to reproduce though given it's just a straight through passive adapter

If your really desperate your welcome to mind if I can find where the damn thing is (Not sure waht shipping form the UK to Australia would be though!)

At the very least I'd love to see some good quality photos of it to see if I can make my own.

Many thanks,
Bruce

 

[Androda]

Here you go, this is the design I came up with for converting internal 50 pin SCSI to something a 2.5 inch powerbook drive can plug into.

PCBDesigns/Adapters/50PinInternalSCSI_ToPB at main · androda/PCBDesigns

PCB Designs By Androda. Contribute to androda/PCBDesigns development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

 

[Branchus]

Here you go, this is the design I came up with for converting internal 50 pin SCSI to something a 2.5 inch powerbook drive can plug into.

Thanks so much @Androda, this is all kinds of awesome!

 

[Branchus]

Thank you once again @Androda! The PCB arrived today, I put it together and it's exactly what I was after. I decided to attach a whip cable with a Molex connector instead of the Berg as it suits my needs better.

 

[Elemenoh]

This doesn't answer your question but thought you might like to have a laugh at my homemade 34 to 50 pin SCSI adapter for the Macintosh Portable.

 

[Branchus]

A thing of beauty!

 

[This Does Not Compute]

I'm a little late to the party, but I picked up one of these earlier in the year and it works as advertised. Not as much geek cred as building a PCB yourself, of course.

50-Pin IDC 2.54mm Male to 50-Pin IDC 2.00mm Female SCSI Laptop HD Adapter

www.cablesonline.com

 

[trag]

I'm a little late to the party, but I picked up one of these earlier in the year and it works as advertised. Not as much geek cred as building a PCB yourself, of course.

50-Pin IDC 2.54mm Male to 50-Pin IDC 2.00mm Female SCSI Laptop HD Adapter

www.cablesonline.com

I just bought one of those. I saw an article that linked to the seller somewhere.

The thing that puzzles me is that the 2.5" connector is 50 pins. Isn't the connector/cable on the 2.5" drive 40 pins?

Does the adapter cover the SCSI ID pins and then move that functionality to the jumpers on the adapter?

Does anyone have a datasheet for a 2.5" narrow SCSI drive? Or an old dead one they don't want any more? I want the physical dimensions.

 

[This Does Not Compute]

I just bought one of those. I saw an article that linked to the seller somewhere.

The thing that puzzles me is that the 2.5" connector is 50 pins. Isn't the connector/cable on the 2.5" drive 40 pins?

Does the adapter cover the SCSI ID pins and then move that functionality to the jumpers on the adapter?

Does anyone have a datasheet for a 2.5" narrow SCSI drive? Or an old dead one they don't want any more? I want the physical dimensions.

The adapter provides power to the 2.5" drive, and does indeed "move" the SCSI ID jumpers to the adapter's PCB. Here's a shot of the adapter connected to a drive; the SCSI jumpers are on the right and the power input is on the left.

 

[Androda]

SCSI only "needs" 19 pins. 18 for data and control lines, plus termination power. The 50 pin scsi connector is mostly ground lines.

The 40 pin powerbook scsi connector has three power sources: motor power, drive logic power, and termination power. That's 5 pins used, leaving 34 (one pin missing to ensure orientation) for a pretty even split between 18 necessary scsi signals and grounds.

 

[alxlab]

Here's another 2.5" to 3.5" adapter that was created back in in the day:

These came with 2.5" IDE to 2.5" SCSI adapters as well. The model is Winstation Systems 25HD-02:

Was planning to use it in my LC 520 but then I found out the hard drive connector of the LC didn't fit in the adapter. It's on my todo list to make another adapter that will work.

 

[Branchus]

I'm a little late to the party, but I picked up one of these earlier in the year and it works as advertised. Not as much geek cred as building a PCB yourself, of course.

50-Pin IDC 2.54mm Male to 50-Pin IDC 2.00mm Female SCSI Laptop HD Adapter

www.cablesonline.com

With the benefit of hindsight, a little adapter like this would have been perfect, but having gone down the path of assembling my own, I do quite like having the ability to connect two drives to the one adapter.