I have two MFM drives running in a 486 right now.  I don't use them, but
I'm too lazy to remove them and the pc runs 24/7 as an email server. It
really uses a big SCSI drive, but the point is if you have an MFM card
any pc will probably run them.
Possible trouble is
1. conflict with an IDE controller.  I avoided that by
using SCSI.  SCSI doesn't use irq 14 or 13, like IDE.
2. too slow to write directly to your cdr.  You will have to copy first to
a modern drive, I think.
3. finding a controller card if you don't own one, although a swap meet or
hobbist might donate one, there were millions of these cards at one time.
Make sure it is a 16 bit isa card.
4. knowing the cylinders, heads, and sectors for BIOS CMOS setup.
Are the manufacturers still in business?  Some of the dead and gone
ones are listed on the company site that purchased them, like Conner
is at Seagate, but companies like Micropolis just disappeared.

Two drives will run from one contoller, but you need three ribbon cables.
Each drive has its own wide ribbon and a narrow one is shared.

If I had my pick, I would choose a system that wasn't already set up
as plug and play, and didn't have bus master drivers loaded.  You may
have to set the irq in BIOS to legacy to make the card work. Regardless,
with a little effort, I think you can get the drives to load on any modern PC.
Tom Turak
----------
From: Rick Christian
Sent: Tuesday, May 11, 1999 9:17 AM

I am looking for firms which can take some old MFM hard disks and convert
the contents to a CD.

I could try and put one back into an ancient XT or 386SX, but felt it might be
quicker & less hassle just to send these out.

Thanks!
Rick Christian

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