Subj : Bluetooth To Ethernet
To   : Ky Moffet
From : Barry Martin
Date : Mon Apr 27 2026 08:12:00


Hi Ky!

 > OK, so I was right about the MFM cards under some conditions.  ...Recall
 > when I talked with the Western Digital technical support they did any
 > IDE controller and hard drive -- mix-and-match type of thing (they
 > didn't phrase it that way).
 KM> Yeah. With IDE it's a matter of whether the adapter card (or
 KM> later, the host bus port) and the system BIOS support that
 KM> capacity. With MFM and RLL drives, things got fussier. The ST225
 KM> is not so fussy and will speak to any compatible card, but some
 KM> were bundled with their own controller card and would speak to no
 KM> other.

(MFM:)  OK, maybe the 'sometimes' was the important part and in my case 
don't mix them up.  I didn't need to know some others worked togther; in
my case they had to be kept paired.


 > More paperweights!   ...I'm trying to remember what that old-old drive
 > is in the storage box -- Banker's Box with the other hard drives.  It's
 > full-height, not half-height.  ...I think I still have it.
 KM> Those very old drives are now quite valuable -- to data recovery
 KM> companies in need of components to rescue legally-required data
 KM> from antique drives. One that I did not keep I later learned was
 KM> to that market worth.... $900 !!!

Oops!  I'm taping a note to the box with the hard drives in it -- right 
now too much work to pull the box to check.  


 > Right.  I haven't moved in decades but have occasionally culled stuff
 > just because too old and wil never use it.  ...Nice to have spare parts
 > on hand, but if no possibility of use.  (Hey look! an AGP video card
 KM> I have some ISA vidcards... the basically-junk are useful for
 KM> testing when you're not sure about the capture state of the magic
 KM> smoke.
 
Right: I have a few sacrificial test pieces, and not just for computers:
LP for testing tonearm skating, CD and DVD for those devices.  ...Outlet
box I rigged up with a 2A circuit breaker.


 >   KM> And now we have single files that are routinely larger than the
 >   KM> best drives of 25 years ago....
 > Yes!
 KM> I think the largest single file I have is the driverpack
 KM> archive... 15GB.
 
Those archieves can get rather large!


                     ¯                                 ®
                      ¯  BarryMartin3@MyMetronet.NET  ®
                     ¯                                 ®


.... Herd this cow pun?

Why cows have hooves instead of feet?
They lactose.
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