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IBM XT Hard Disk Cable

L

lyonadmiral

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 3, 2009
Messages
2,431
Location
Peru, New York
I need a set of cables to connect the 10 meg stock hard disk to the stock hard disk controller. Can anyone help me out with this?

Thanks,
Daniel
 
I may have a set of cables that would work, or I can make you a set of cables if I don't have them in stock. I have boxes and boxes of cables, and components to make cables, so it would not be difficult if I don't already have what you need.

But, it's been so long since I've been inside of an XT that I would need to know how long they need to be.

The price would be $50, including shipping to addresses within the US.

PM me, or phone my home office at 909-820-9850, or email me at: gohim@att.net
 
Dan, they're $3-6 online--and that includes the floppy cable. Search on "QVS CC2202S", for example--they're not scarce. If you don't find anything that fancies your tickle, drop me a PM and I'll ship you a set for the cost of a USPS small flat-rate box (about $5).
 
Make sure that you're not looking at a (2) cable set (a 40-pin ribbon cable for IDE HDs and a 34-pin cable for minifloppy drives) for an IDE hard drive. Also, the cables for a MFM in an old XT box are usually quite a bit longer than the cables that you would use in a modern tower case (which is usually what you get in a modern cable set). A cable set for an old XT would be a 34-pin cable for the minifloppies, and a set of (20-pin and 34-cables) for the hard drive. The 34-pin cable for minifloppy drives is not the same as the 34-pin cable for a hard drive with three conductor twist, and pins pulled for cable select.

Good quality connectors are not cheap, and certainly much higher quality than those that you get in the cheap imported cable sets. The connectors cost close to $10 each.
 
@Micro, the "stock" for a 10MB drive was a 34 conductor (header one end, edge connector the other) control cable and 20 conductor (same setup) signal cable. While there may have been a 10MB IDE drive, I don't think that's what Lyon was talking about. My MFM cables are 2-drive and have the special "twist" (different from floppy) that allows one to use 2 MFM/RLL drives without changing the drive select jumpers.

Funny, I pay about 0.50-2.00 the each for this kind of thing. And just about everything--even 3M and Molex--is made in China nowadays.
 
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Chuck(G) said:
@Micro, the "stock" for a 10MB drive was a 34 conductor (header one end, edge connector the other) control cable and 20 conductor (same setup) signal cable. While there may have been a 10MB IDE drive, I don't think that's what Lyon was talking about. My MFM cables are 2-drive and have the special "twist" (different from floppy) that allows one to use 2 MFM/RLL drives without changing the drive select jumpers.

Funny, I pay about 0.50-2.00 the each for this kind of thing. And just about everything--even 3M and Molex--is made in China nowadays.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't know about that. The connectors I have are US made. Maybe old stock, or maybe there's different grades of connectors being sold by 3M and Molex now. I don't think I even have any 3M or Molex brand connectors in stock. I'm partial to other brands. All I know is that the connectors I use are not the same low quality as the ones supplied on the foreign made cable sets. Yeah, I have some of the bulk cable sets from when I used to assemble PCs, but the connectors are definitely not the same grade as the connectors I use for custom made cables. I've been assembling ribbon cables since the 70s, and have seen the quality (and price) of cables drop as production moved off shore. It was hard to justify using low quality imported cables when you're used to selling multi-user S-100 Systems that were being sold in the $10K to $30K price range.

I was actually caught up in a $1 million lawsuit once with a client who blamed me for unretrievable data on tape cartridges due to what was reported (by a less expensive (unauthorized) third party repair company) to be a defective cable on the tape backup drive. The Seagate ST4096 hard drive failed after five years of 24/7 operation, the Business Owner didn't have current data backups, and tried to retrieve copies of some custom applications software (had a fallout with the Programmer) off old backup tapes. This happened ten years after the computer was delivered, about nine years after the warranty ran out, and I got blamed, even though the tape backup system had not been used in years. So, I'm pretty sensitive to cable construction quality.

The initial system hardware cost was about $16K, including terminals, printers, and cabling. I did not do the software, but I did do the warranty service, and the after warranty service for about the first five years. After that, the Owner went with an independent computer dealer who was not an Authorized (Compupro) Dealer, and the computer became unreliable according to the Business Owner (who I heard from after the computer became unreliable).

Quality Parts and Competent Service by experienced, knowledgeable technicians is not cheap. I've been flown all over the US, and to Foreign Countries by Owners of Compupro Systems without any complaints about the quality of service or the cost of service.
 
MikeS said:
$2.83 for the set?:
http://www.weisd.com/test/WEISD_TBL_view.php?editid1=QVSCC2202S
But the $50.00 does include US shipping...
Click to expand...



US made connectors, and US manufactured copper core ribbon cable? Custom assembled length to order shipped next day?

Nope, according to the link, minimum quantity (32) drop shipped from the factory (obviously not stocked) or five day shipping delay. Nothing stated about the construction, or materials, and nothing stated about the cost of shipping.

Gentlemen, you get what you pay for.
 
Who makes edge connectors in the US anymore? Tyco, 3M, Molex? Nope.

Nowadays in the case of antique technologies such as edge connectors, you're probably best off buying some NOS surplus stock--more likely to be made in the USA. Some of the best I've ever used were T&B Ansley, but Thomas&Betts sold that division off to the Tyco conglomerate.

The sad fact is that we don't make jack here, any longer. :(
 
@Micro, while i agree with you that using a USA made cable is THE way to go *keeping jobs in the USA* you have to remember that the majority of us in the forums don't have $50 to drop on a set of cables that can be had for $5 or even custom made for the same, maybe even locally by someone to them. And for $50, that's what i'd sell a pair of full height MFM drives for. Between $50 to $100 depending on the make and capacity, and i would include the cables. PLUS if your willing to change a jumper, just about ANY old floppy cable will work, and even in a pinch, an extra 34 pin can be used in place of the little connector, if you keep the slot-key lined up. Although i appreciate your reason for being apprehensive about cables and their making, how many people have been sued over a cable? How many of us are still using the original cable, or one made elsewhere? In this case, it's not really about who made it, but simply functionality..
 
k2x4b524[ said:
@Micro, while i agree with you that using a USA made cable is THE way to go *keeping jobs in the USA* you have to remember that the majority of us in the forums don't have $50 to drop on a set of cables that can be had for $5 or even custom made for the same, maybe even locally by someone to them. And for $50, that's what i'd sell a pair of full height MFM drives for. Between $50 to $100 depending on the make and capacity, and i would include the cables. PLUS if your willing to change a jumper, just about ANY old floppy cable will work, and even in a pinch, an extra 34 pin can be used in place of the little connector, if you keep the slot-key lined up. Although i appreciate your reason for being apprehensive about cables and their making, how many people have been sued over a cable? How many of us are still using the original cable, or one made elsewhere? In this case, it's not really about who made it, but simply functionality..
Click to expand...



Tell me about the full height MFM hard drives you have for sale for $50 a pair. I may buy all you have, if they are the right manufacturer/model, and they are working. Virtually all of the ones I had stored working have failed recent certification testing, and looking around on the Web I've been quoted $400-$800 per drive with a 30-90 day warranty.

The problem with more recently made connectors is that many are not gold plated or not gold plated to a thickness that will prevent corrosion, or the gold is alloyed with other metals that do corrode. Black corrosion on gold plated connectors is a real problem now, along with more common types of corrosion on plated connectors like what we see on older production IC sockets, and IC leads themselves.

I'm seeing problems with edge connectors on S-100 boards from some companies who did not use the best quality circuit board stock (CCS comes to mind, since I'm having black corrosion problems on my CCS Card Extender). Companies that used first quality fabrication (like Compupro) do not have problems on 30 year old boards. I see more corrosion problems on PC type expansion cards, and motherboards than I do on S-100 system components.
 
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Chuck(G) said:
Who makes edge connectors in the US anymore? Tyco, 3M, Molex? Nope.

Nowadays in the case of antique technologies such as edge connectors, you're probably best off buying some NOS surplus stock--more likely to be made in the USA. Some of the best I've ever used were T&B Ansley, but Thomas&Betts sold that division off to the Tyco conglomerate.

The sad fact is that we don't make jack here, any longer. :(
Click to expand...


The connectors I use are all NOS. I bought strips and bags back in the day, when I was using a lot of them. I buy up all I can find digging up swapmeets, and through the stock at the remaining electronics stores I drive by.

I prefer T&B Ansley, and Winchester brands myself. I always considered the 3M and Molex to be 2nd class.
 
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