PBP and a hard dirve?

[Michael]

I have NO clue about this whole subject -- fact is, other than knowing they store data, I'm not well versed on hard drives either.

Can someone point me in the right direction for a tutorial (if there is one) on how you can possibly interface a pic to read a hard drive?

For starters, how about certain popular file types like text or mp3 etc?

Let's say I just want to read a drive that already has be written to on a pc and just read it -- I'm sure that will be easier than the "write to" process.

THANKS.

[Charles Linquis]

A PIC cannot handle data fast enough to read from a hard disk. At the very least, you would need a FPGA with a buffer to grab one sector at a time, then you could process that at PIC speed.

You can, however, read and write to an SD card.

[rsocor01]

Michael,

Like Charles mentioned you can use SD cards to read and write data. Using SDFS3 you can use cards of up to 2 GB, and using SDFSHC32d you can use cards bigger than 2 GB. Check the next post for reference.

http://www.picbasic.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=11700&highlight=sdfs

Robert

[Demon]

What about older IDE drives?

How "slow" a harddrive could we access using PICs?

Robert

[Normnet]

What about older IDE drives?

How "slow" a harddrive could we access using PICs?

Robert
IDE HD Sure
See IDE Hard Disk experiments. (http://hem.passagen.se/communication/ide.html)
Includes Hex file for PIC16F1870 and schematic.
I haven't tried but it looks doable.

Norm

[Normnet]

IDE HD Sure
See IDE Hard Disk experiments. (http://hem.passagen.se/communication/ide.html)
Includes Hex file for PIC16F1870 and schematic.
I haven't tried but it looks doable.

Norm
Should be a PIC16F870

On the to do list.

Norm

[Demon]

Thanks for the link Norm.

He uses a 4014 8-bit static shift register:
http://www.nxp.com/documents/data_sheet/HEF4014B.pdf

Do we have to do the same? Is there any reason why we couldn't just use 8 pins on a PIC?

I glanced at Tilmann's page and he doesn't make any reference to that chip. He does say this though:


The data bus carries the 16-bit data words to and from the
host. However, when accessing the control and status
registers of the IDE drives, only data bits 0 through 7 are
used (8-bit transfer). The data bus lines are tri-state
lines that may be connected directly to the host's data bus.
However, to meet the host bus specs and to avoid noise
problems caused by the interface cable, a bus driver IC
should be used to decouple the IDE bus and the host bus.


Robert

[Normnet]

Thanks for the link Norm.

He uses a 4014 8-bit static shift register:
http://www.nxp.com/documents/data_sheet/HEF4014B.pdf

Do we have to do the same? Is there any reason why we couldn't just use 8 pins on a PIC?

Robert

The code supplied is HEX only so you will initially have to go with the existing setup as in the schematic.
The hardware and PIC/PC software shown is for learning however perhaps later a PIC with more pins could replace the 4014 but test as you go.

Norm

[Demon]

I wasn't really planning on using his code. I was mostly interested in the commands, schematic and procedure to interface with an IDE drive.

Robert

[Normnet]

I wasn't really planning on using his code. I was mostly interested in the commands, schematic and procedure to interface with an IDE drive.

Robert
Demon

Old post but did you have any luck with the IDE hard drive interface?
I am giving it a try again.


Norm

[Demon]

Not yet. I'm working on setting up a small inventory system using my phone as scanner. I've reached the point of buying stuff I already have.

It's also a good way to get all my parts organized.

Robert

[Charles Linquis]

You two HAVE to be joking! Wouldn't it be much easier to read a SD card instead? There is even code available.

[Normnet]

You two HAVE to be joking! Wouldn't it be much easier to read a SD card instead? There is even code available.
Been there done that.
Trying something new.

Norm

[Ioannis]

...Trying something new...

eeehmm, quite old I'd say... :)

Are those HD still on the market?

Ioannis

[wdmagic]

next thing you know, he'll want to try using an old MFM harddrive :) and if that don't work perhaps some old 8" floppy disks. hehe

[Charles Linquis]

I can understand the thrill of being successful at doing something new and hard - but don't you want to channel your efforts toward something that will produce a base for future work?

[Amoque]

Some of this "previous" technology is so old as to be effective hardware encryption. Should a burglar even think to steal them, who will have an 8" floppy drive to retrieve your bank information? Similarly, how many companies could loose hundreds of thousands of credit card numbers in a single hack if modems were only 300 baud? Hmmm... perhaps I will move my sensitive information onto 8 Track tapes! Anybody still have a ZIP drive for sale cheap?

[Ioannis]

Anybody still have a ZIP drive for sale cheap?

I do! But not cheap... :cool:

Ioannis

[Amoque]

A quick Google informs me both ZIP drives and 8" floppies are still available! "All things old are new again", wow... Next, I suspect I'll hear that nixie tubes are still in use.

[Ioannis]

Of course they are! Brand new!

http://www.sphere.bc.ca/test/nixies.html

and cheap! http://tubehobby.com/store.php?cat=2

and as clock for sales: http://store.tubeclock.com/index.php/nixie-tube-clocks/

Ioannis

[wdmagic]

its a shame i guess, I just took about 50 tape drives, 14 zip drives, and a few hundred floppy drives of all types to the metal recycle center

[Demon]

I keep all the hard, floppies and CD/DVD drives from scrap PCs. And I've had a LOT of PCs; been in this since they came out.

SD cards are much more efficient and I woulod use them in important project. It's the challenge of getting the beasts to work that is fun for me. One day I'll get to tackle one but I've alreayd got several other ideas I want to finish first.

Robert