[Machine12]

Hey Guys,

Thank you for reading - I need some help in identifying the best way to connect a older 6GB HDD.

Context: This is a HDD from an old iRiver recorder that has stopped turning on. I've taken the HDD out and looking to connect to windows, and fingers crossed, it pops up like a removable HDD. It currently uses a flat flex ribbon cable, ATA-33 connector, however I'm struggling to find an adapter that would allow me to plug this into either a USB port, SATA, or even simply copy the data to flash storage. I've found something similar (Converter) for Toshiba drives, but am struggling for this drive.

I've contacted seagate's tech support who suggested I many need to daisy chain adapters, but did not give any further details on the type of adapters required.

I've added some pictures, any advice or guidance here?

Model: ST650211FX
Connector: ATA-33
More information: Seagate Technology ST650211FX hard drive specification and test

 

[SpywareDr]

Welcome Aboard!

Have you seen this thread?: Help needed in connecting a 2005 ATA 33 drive to USB/sata

 

[Machine12]

Welcome Aboard!

Have you seen this thread?: Help needed in connecting a 2005 ATA 33 drive to USB/sata

Thank you!

 

[SpywareDr]

No problem. Did it help resolve the problem?

 

[Machine12]

No problem. Did it help resolve the problem?

I hope so, I've ordered the cable/adapter needed, now time will tell if it all works, else I'll be asking for more suggestions if there is anything else that changes!

 

[Machine12]

No problem. Did it help resolve the problem?

Hey, So I've ordered the adaptor, and it's come, however no luck. The 1/8 HDD adaptor has a 40pin connection. This HDD for some odd reason uses an "FX" interface and has a 45-pin ribbon cable.
I've spent so long searching on google, and I can only find 45pin to 45pin ribbon extension adaptors, nothing to change 45pin/contacts to usb etc.

Any advice or help you can think off?

Thanks,

 

[MPR]

What you have there is a proprietary Seagate ST1 micro drive. They are not computer drives, they were made for MP3 players and limited duty-cycle use. Their technology is 20 years old. That drive was made Monday, April 4, 2005.

Here is some documentation. There are no readers available for the ribbon FX interface as far as I know as it was never meant to be an external drive connection type.

https://www.seagate.com/support/disc/manuals/external/st1_pm.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seagate_ST1

 

[Machine12]

What you have there is a proprietary Seagate ST1 micro drive. They are not computer drives, they were made for MP3 players and limited duty-cycle use. Their technology is 20 years old. That drive was made Monday, April 4, 2005.

Here is some documentation. There are no readers available for the ribbon FX interface as far as I know as it was never meant to be an external drive connection type.

https://www.seagate.com/support/disc/manuals/external/st1_pm.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seagate_ST1

Ah man, that's disappointing.

based on that manual, and given the pins,I looked at the ATA-7 Standards for the 40,45, and 50 pin connections. It seems they seem to share the common pins as per this link here. (http://affon.narod.ru/07at80.pdf)

Do you think I could place the FFC into a 50pin connector and try? Could there be any problems with this?

Else I'll have to buy an older Iriver and use that, hoping that swapping that disk with this, will allow me to connect to the pc and pull the files from this drive

 

[MPR]

Do you think I could place the FFC into a 50pin connector and try? Could there be any problems with this?

That's not going to work. They would not fit physically.

Pinouts start on page 25. It would take electronics fabrication equipment to make an adapter, though.

https://www.seagate.com/support/disc/manuals/external/st1_pm.pdf

 

[Machine12]

That's not going to work. They would not fit physically.

View attachment 335209

Pinouts start on page 25. It would take electronics fabrication equipment to make an adapter, though.

https://www.seagate.com/support/disc/manuals/external/st1_pm.pdf

I think I will need to do that. I'll take a look and get a quote for a fabricated adapter and compare against using a eBay H10

Thanks!

 

[MPR]

I think I will need to do that. I'll take a look and get a quote for a fabricated adapter and compare against using a eBay H10

Thanks!

Why would you even want to do this? Those small drives are essentially worthless. Not to mention that, as I noted, they were never meant for use with PCs; they were only meant for intermediate use. We are talking about obsolete tech here.

It would cost quite a bit of money to have an electronics fabrication plant design and fabricate an adapter for you. It cost me $500 once to get a cardboard box company to tool up for a box size I needed that they didn't carry and that was 1980s money, it would be $1380 today. And that's just a cardboard box. Even an enthusiast with a 3-D printer and knowledge of electronics I suspect would charge you well over a thousand dollars to create an adapter for you.

Do you have lots of MP3's downloaded to the drives that you want to recover? If so, then it would be best to find a working MP3 player on eBay of the type that used the drives and then install the old drives into them for download purposes.

With a magnifying glass and a steady hand you also might be able to solder wires from the ribbon cable to a CF adapter or split the cable and use micro alligator clips. If you are going to do this I'd suggest just soldering on pins and then using a female to male CF adapter as an intermediate step because then you could move the pins around if you got the pin-out wrong. You would have to insulate everything well because we are talking millimeter clearances here.

This is what one guy had to do to read his device and this was for a CF drive with pins where the adapters were actually available.