You can get IDE to convertors as we have them on some Startech docks/duplicators we have here. Also we have IDE to USB and loads of other old IDE cables connectors and all sorts
We have done tons of block or OS level duplication, copies, restores and the like over the years of varying OS's, drives, interfaces. Different sized disks and loads of different software tools.
I see. Ok makes sense.
Is it not as simple as getting a known good donor disk and duplicating this in a dock to a new disk or has that been tried?
Docks are OS and file system format independent as just work at block level. It has no idea what the file system or data is so just duplicates the data at block level.
Once unlocked it would operate like any other HDD (so it would work in an IDE-USB adapter/dock) - you'd see the partitions and files. However to unlock a firmware protected HDD it needs a one-time native IDE connection unlock using that software.
I think the point Dean's trying to make is that using a dock should just be able to do a block level copy, so won't care if it's locked or otherwise. If you had . a known good one.
C
I've tried raw data copies (block level) in Windows, Linux and Linux bootdisk without joy. The firmware encryption/password protection precludes acknowledgement of any partitions/volumes to be able to do a block level.
Happy to try another tack but I spent about 3 hours on that one
These kind of things.
Yup, don't see any reason why not. I've used them for set top boxes, DVR/NVR boxes and all sorts over the years. Unless there is something weird and wonderful which in my experience often there isn't then no reason why not.Sorry to thread crash, but would one of those be good for copying the hd in my Sky box onto a new one?
I am sure it would be possible to clone a password protected disk at hardware level. An encrypted disk is very different but a password protected one should be possible.I've tried raw data copies (block level) in Windows, Linux and Linux bootdisk without joy. The firmware encryption/password protection precludes acknowledgement of any partitions/volumes to be able to do a block level.
Happy to try another tack but I spent about 3 hours on that one
The firmware password is doing it's job to be fair.
The less said about the 8 day brute force on a totally different but related issue on this journey the better
Yup, don't see any reason why not. I've used them for set top boxes, DVR/NVR boxes and all sorts over the years. Unless there is something weird and wonderful which in my experience often there isn't then no reason why not.
Aside from my caveats above about making sure the destination disk is the same or bigger than the source there are a couple of other possible considerations.
You can use a different manuafcture and spec of drive often with no issues. A hard drive is a hard drive at the end of the day.
There may be certain custom main board firmware's and/or OS's that will only address a single specific drive or manufacturer or size. It is rare and also less common now. I worked out a way years ago to upgrade EFi Fiery RIP's from say a 300i to 500i but it needed specific memory, CPU and hard disk. Also a certain combination of DIP switches settings. Took me maybe 100 hours of playing to work out maybe. The savings were immense though. Maybe a new EFi ZX30 was £10k and a ZX50 was £25k. However to upgrade a ZX30 to a ZX50 cost maybe £3k in parts. You could sell a ZX50 much cheaper than anyone else and still make huge margins. I forget the exact nunbers and I could be way off but the numbers were massively different. Canon obviously didn't like it. The photocopier world was very wide and shark invested back then
I was doing this for someone else who owned the business at the time and I was just consulting and providing a technical resource for them. I went fully on my own shortly after
Sorry I digress! It is rare to see.such things and limitations now though but it is possible and means the manufacturer can charge extortionate amounts say £250 for a £100 hard drive. It is unlikely until you get to silly high end custom kit.
Other issue might be a board only being able to address a maximum size. Again less rare but not uncommon. Some TV's or mobiles or cameras etc. might only address a maximum sized disk or memory card or USB stick.
All this is common on game consoles and set top boxes so I would suggest it would be fine and possible. Sky and the like often have cheap boxes and don't worry about locking or hard coding certain drives I wouldn't have thought. I could be wrong as not tried a Sky one but I reckon it would work.
Buy one from Amazon, try it and send it back if it doesn't work
Happy to lend you one or try doing it for you if you wanted. Unless anyone has a Sky box they want to send me to try it with?
There is a free program called Copy+ which does it, but I need a caddy and one of these isn’t much more money so I thought it might be easier.
I had a ZX80 in the 80’s so the ZX50 must be really old hat. Does it load games from a tape too?
Do you have a problem disk? Or just want a bigger or faster disk?
I was always a Commodore guy . A C64, 128D and an Amiga A500 for me those days.
Mine is working and if you want to copy that for an image let me knowUpdate:
From decompiling images and various other tricks (from the official update CDs) I think I know about 70% of the Bose NIT file structure. In addition I have I think around 40% of the files for the system albeit version 2.0 as opposed to 1.07 as installed in the 2009-2010 cars. This is helpful in that if I have a recoverable HDD and the corruption is in the 40% I can likely make a viable image (system). Of course a fully working HDD image or original image is the best situation.
Hopefully one of the latter I will have at the end of the coming week.