Reading data from an old SCSI hard drive

My girlfriend has an old computer that she didn't use for MANY years. It has some important pictures on its hard drive, so I tried to access that data. The HDD is an old Seagate ST34520W with a 68pin SCSI. What are my options? I didn't finds any SCSI to USB or to SATA converter/adapter...

And if there was such an adapter, would I be able to access the HDD? I mean in terms of drivers etc. will a modern laptop (preferably Ubuntu) be able to communicate with it?

Toeffel

Posted 2018-06-12T08:50:59.553

Reputation: 11

1That's odd, since USB mass storage is basically SCSI. I see a lot of products online. – user1686 – 2018-06-12T08:59:48.473

1@grawity USB may use the same protocol, electrically it's another world. OP: The old computer is not operational anymore? That would be the easiest method, as presumably the old computer at one time could read and write the SCSI drive. Alternatively you need to find a second-hand wide SCSI controller (single-ended, "SE") which probably will have a PCI connector, so you also need a motherboard with PCI. What operating system was on the old computer? Linux will probably be able to read whatever filesystem was used. – wurtel – 2018-06-12T09:21:29.637

I used an external HDD casing for my old HDDs (brought before 2005). It become an external drive with USB interface. Extracted all data without any issue using Windows 10. – Sandeep – 2018-06-12T09:26:00.063

"My girlfriend has an old computer" Does it still work? – Moab – 2018-06-12T11:14:44.380

@wurtel: That doesn't seem like a problem – the adapter could just as well receive the signal in one form, and retransmit it in another. (I mean, that's what USB-to-ATA adapters do anyway.) The point is, if we have USB-to-ATA adapters which convert the signal and translate the protocol, I'd be very surprised if there weren't USB-to-SCSI adapters which only need to do half that. – user1686 – 2018-06-12T11:41:24.097

Answers

Classically, you need a SCSI card, like Adaptec SCSI Card 29160 .

You connect it to a PCI slot, connect the SCSI drive to the card. Such cards have a SCSI interface. They also support booting from them.

But given that you need this on a laptop, it's more complicated. You could try to find something like Microtech 1M USB To SCSI Converter DB25F/USB but they are extremely expensive compared to a SCSI PCI card you can get from old recycled PCs/servers.

Overmind

Posted 2018-06-12T08:50:59.553

Reputation: 8 562

USB to SCSI adapters do exist. Search "IOMEGA JAZ SCSI USB ADAPTER cable -SCSI USBA converter 04089800" as an example. These look expensive, and they may only work with Iomega hardware though. There are others if you search hard enough.

But you will also need a SCSI drive enclosure, to power the drive, as only the hotswappable server variant of SCSI provided power over the SCSI connection itself.

It's going to be far easier if you can get a rescue OS booted up on that system and copy the files from a running live Linux CD or similar. Linux has great support for older SCSI hardware so it should recognize the drive, assuming no physical issue with the controller or drive itself.

LawrenceC

Posted 2018-06-12T08:50:59.553

Reputation: 63 487