Home Page Forums MAME MAME Harddisk database

I've created a table on https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BJelaDmh0FUY5BJ-5i-2pRgu8WgA4Ihf0HRAm95LvIA/edit?usp=sharing

with a few rudiments of a harddisk database.

Most are taken so far from the "Hard Drive Info-Base" by James Rohrer contained in this archive:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/55419307/Harddisk%20Database/PLATTEN.rar

The "Platte" subdirectory contains a DOS executable info1.exe with CHS, Precomp and form factor info.

I have tried to corroborate that info where possible, and have put the source of the info in a field of its own.

Please take a look if this effort is worthwhile, and comment if any database fields are missing or redundant. Once the database has settled, I plan to give it public write access, so everybody can add to it.

I think the layout of the sheet is ok. As soon as we can edit it, I'll be digging my hard disks to fill the corresponding info.

Qt CHDMAN has a template for hard disks with a lot of predefined settings and infos (manufacturer, model, total size, CHS, sector size, ...).

The table now has fields for LBA count and two alternative translation CHS values. Size is either calculated via the native CHS values or via the LBA count.

Darkstar has pointed me to Total Hardware 99 (thanks!) which is reproduced at http://museum.ttrk.ee/th99/ ... this makes an even nicer basis than the piece of soft I have proposed before.

@Anna ... thanks for the pointer. I'm not using a front end, so I'd like to have these things in MESS. What's the devs' view?

Right, I was just thinking about that. I'm sure that can be merged and otherwise anything new copied over to qmc2 for now

The CHD files should specify the harddisk model (some arbitrary string like "IBM-DCAS-32160" or something) and all "non-default" parameters (like firmware revision and non-default modepage settings for that particular disk for example).

The rest of the parameters (fixed modepage stuff, chs geometry, transfer rates and seek times, vendor/product IDs, etc.) should be defined inside MESS (so that it can be easily extended without having to change the CHD files themselves).

That is, unless someone would be crazy enough to actually simulate the harddisk controllers, in which case it would be a matter of having a ROM set for each harddisk model available (but which will probably not be feasible in the foreseeable future)

I'll try to locate the Micro House databases that I know I have lying around somewhere, there could be data on even more HDDs in there (but the TH99 database is probably just ripped from Micro House)

The database is writeable now.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BJelaDmh0FUY5BJ-5i-2pRgu8WgA4Ihf0HRAm95LvIA/edit?usp=sharing

Darkstar coined the term "Harddisk Personalities" which I like a lot.

I've added a field "AT drive type" - the values there are much like you'd have handled disks towards the end of the ST506 and the beginning of the IDE era: If you had a BIOS with no setting to "roll your own" harddisk definition, you'd try to come as close to the physical values of the harddisk, losing as few cylinders as possible. You'd hope that the drive in question was tolerant, so that a false setting for Write Precompensation wouldn't keep the drive from working.
I'm using a list of the extended 5170 BIOS for now, and I'm making those best bets.
This can of course be easily corrected to a stricter version or totally omitted.

almost all HDD specs for older drives (pre-1996) can be obtained here.....
http://theref.mfarris.com/hard_drives/mh__main.html

Qchdman's hard disk templates can be "dumped" in a script containing just "qchdman.dumpHardDiskTemplates()" in case someone wants to incorporate them .

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if we start handling drives at firmware level isn't this going to get a lot more complex with most drives having space only accessible by the drive (for relocating bad sectors etc.?)