Can someone ID this 1993 external hard drive - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Alex Eisenhut
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 04, 2023, 04:50:21 pm
content: https://youtu.be/_M_Vt_7CEKk?t=133Kinda upset they don't mention or show the brand. Tried googling variations of pocketable, portable, 1993 hard disk etc , nothing.TIA!

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 04, 2023, 09:20:28 pm
content: The "logo" that can be seen (very fuzzy) kinda rings a bell, but I can't pinpoint it.Unable to find any info on a portable external hard drive of this era either. I suspect this was pretty short-lived.

author: DrGeoff
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 04, 2023, 10:18:32 pm
content: Is that an RES232 serial port connector or a mini-scsi connector? I suspect serial port for laptop connection. Might be an old miniscribe drive from that era.

author: Stray Electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 05, 2023, 01:59:58 am
content: Quote from: Alex Eisenhut on August 04, 2023, 04:50:21 pmPost a picture so that we can look at it and not have to wade through a bunch of ads on U-tube. I won't waste my time with them any more. YES< I probably could dick around and put an ad blocker on U-tube but it's more trouble than they're worth.

author: Alex Eisenhut
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 05, 2023, 02:13:05 am
content: Thanks, this thing has suddenly become a "beige whale" as CRD calls them, "I don't need it, but I want it".This is closehttps://vintagegeek.wordpress.com/2020/12/09/hitchhiker-120-portable-scsi-drive-vintage-macs/Quote from: DrGeoff on August 04, 2023, 10:18:32 pmDon't know, but there are clips Paul presses to release it.

author: retiredfeline
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 05, 2023, 02:13:36 am
content: Iomega zip drive? That was released in 1994 though.

author: Kean
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 05, 2023, 09:40:42 am
content: Not an Iomega Zip/Jaz/Click drive. The logo does look a little familiar though.The connector is possibly a 20 pin Mini-Centronics, but it could also have been 14 or even 26 pin. These are often called "SCSI" connectors, but I don't think any official SCSI standard used less than 50 pins.

author: MK14
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 05, 2023, 02:32:34 pm
content: Quote from: DrGeoff on August 04, 2023, 10:18:32 pmThey (one of the men, in the linked to video) seem to say, that it connects to the 'Parallel port' (which for those that don't know, was the (Centronics) printer port of that era). Which makes sense, as a number of (external) drives, connected up that way, in that era. Before modern interfaces, such as USB were available.

author: Alex Eisenhut
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 05, 2023, 03:23:35 pm
content: Quote from: MK14 on August 05, 2023, 02:32:34 pmCorrect, I found floppy drives, tape backups, and a few other portable hard disks, but not the one in the video. Since the parallel port doesn't supply power, these devices all have power supplies. So the battery powered '80s-looking chunker in the video awoke my collecting streak...

author: Alex Eisenhut
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 05, 2023, 04:18:48 pm
content: The closest yethttps://modelrail.otenko.com/retro/datastor-commuter-parallel-port-ide-hddBut only the manual on eBay is like 50$. No thanks.orhttps://unitedandco.net/2021/09/20/paradisk-250-a-hard-disk-drive-for-the-printer-port/Meh, I guess it's not that important ...

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 05, 2023, 04:23:46 pm
content: Quote from: Alex Eisenhut on August 05, 2023, 04:18:48 pmThose appear much newer. The one you originally posted is clearly from the 1930s. You can tell by the art deco styling.

author: Alex Eisenhut
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 05, 2023, 09:40:16 pm
content: As Andy would say "I want THAT one"

author: MK14
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 05, 2023, 10:46:21 pm
content: The following 1992 article, seems to explain why the Parallel Port was used for such interfaces.https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1992/09/21/parallel-port-devices-are-worth-the-cost/Maybe if you find a computer magazine (online, free PDF), it will have such devices. From around the 1993/1994 era.Example, from 1992, with portable devices, such as page 54, which seems to show a Parallel port to SCSI adaptor, for hard disk connection.https://vintageapple.org/byte/pdf/199212_Byte_Magazine_Vol_17-13_Guide_to_Portable_Computing_x1ocpp.pdfIt seems, even in 1992 (looking at that magazine), you could just get laptops, with built in (easily removable, in slide out cartridges, judging by the pictures) hard drives, so I can't really see the point in having an external, battery powered hard drive in 1993, except perhaps for backup purposes.