Test PowerBook 100 & 145b Drives

[mhristau]

Have had three PowerBooks in storage and hoping to restore two.

Pulled the drives:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/de8qg70ooosztlz/powerbookDrives.jpg?dl=0

and just want to begin by seeing if any have a chance of working. Is there a 50 pin-to-something cable that would allow me to tell if they will spin up?

 

[olePigeon]

Yep.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-5-Laptop-50-Pin-w-Molex-Power-Cable-to-SCSI-Hard-Drive-Adapter-CablesOnline-/270840619638

Just be mindful of which way the adapter plugs into the hard drive.

 

[mhristau]

Thanks olePigeon - got one ordered.

 

[mhristau]

Received the MK-007, 2.5" Laptop 50-Pin w/ Molex Power Cable to SCSI Hard Drive Adapter...

but does not fully connect to my 2.5" drives (drive connected is set back too far on circuit board ):

Photo:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/y0543nyt1sma85l/noEngageSCSI-Adapter.jpg?dl=0

Any other way to test these three drives?

 

[olePigeon]

I had the same problem with mine.  The trick was to push harder.  I think I eventually removed the plastic shield on mine to get it to work.

 

[tanaquil]

I have a kit like this one:

http://www.amazon.com/USB-2-0-SATA-Cable-Adapter/dp/B001OOXBBG

and have found it to be super helpful. But I hope you get the one you have working.

 

[olePigeon]

I have one like that, too, but it's not so useful for SCSI.

 

[tanaquil]

That's weird, I thought I remembered using my kit on one of my old SCSI drives? Maybe the kit I have has more connectors... or, no, I think I just used the power connector to find out whether it would spin up. 

Never mind, brain is muddled. It's good to know that there is a SCSI solution if I ever need it, though.