From: nospam@needed.invalid   
      
   On Sun, 9/28/2025 11:48 AM, Jim wrote:   
   >   
   > First, thanks to all that are helping me.   
   >   
   > Second, answers to pertinent questions...   
   >   
   > 1) HDD Caddy: the one I've been using is a Sabrent Model Number: EC_ECDFLT   
   with a 2000mA wall wart (external) power supply.  It has worked successfully   
   for 25+ different hard drives.   
   >   
   > 2) HDD spinning:  Yes, it spins.  I can both hear it spin and feel it.   
   Related: also, I can hear a subtle click (possibly the heads unparking).  I   
   know someone out there is thinking click-of-death.  I know the click-of-death   
   sound from prior    
   experience.  This is not that, and is much much quieter.  Also it only   
   happens two or possibly three times.   
   >   
   > 3) HDD Computer: Knowing and appreciating distrust of extra links, I plugged   
   the HDD into a dell Optiplex 740 I had sitting around. Observations:   
   >   a) The clicking I mentioned in #2 sounds/feels more like a bump.   
   >   b) The click/bump happened for exactly 7 times FWIW.   
   >   c) The BIOS didn't recognize the drive.  Not only that, the drive   
   crashed the bios when I went to see what specs the BIOS was able to read.    
   The BIOS performed fine with no HDDs attached.  The BIOS performed fine with   
   a known good HDD attached.   
   >   
   >   
   > Paul a) Thanks for all the info and links.  The Wikipedia article looks   
   interesting, but I didn't really understand it at first skim and have other   
   obligations soon.  Hope to read it in detail this evening.   
   > Paul b) I've never had/owned a helium drive before and didn't realize that   
   was what i had.   
   > Paul c) I guess that Optiplex is probably too old to be a "reasonably modern   
   motherboard." :)  I'll have to look at some of my other computers to see how   
   old they are.  I generally ignore the age if it seems to be working   
   adequately. :(   
   >   
   >   
   > Next steps ?   
      
   Do you have access to any other desktop motherboards with SATA ?   
      
   A quick Google for the right kind of USB enclosure is getting me nowhere.   
      
   The thing is, there are few remaining choices for USB to SATA adapter chips.   
   Some of the weird chip choices back in the WinXP era, are likely no longer   
   in production. And they would only have given you a headache in any case.   
      
   A lot of the enclosures use Asmedia (chip making company at Asus).   
   There might be a few JMicron. I don't know if there are a lot of   
   obscure Chinese chip choices for this.   
      
   Just stick with motherboards and their SATA ports, and that will prepare   
   the drive in the "normal" way (no emulation screwups). That's about the   
   most I can offer.   
      
   I think my ten year old machine, would handle your drive just fine,   
   and the ten year old machine runs sufficient OSes to work and interwork   
   with the drive. Any of the machines (that are still alive) and older   
   than ten years, in my collection, won't work.   
      
   My Optiplex 780 with Q45 Southbridge and Core2 processor, it does not   
   look like the BIOS on that is UEFI, so unlikely to tolerate a 4Kn drive.   
      
   *******   
      
   I could drive to my computer store, go to the Support desk (where they   
   build computers up from parts), and ask the guy to pop the disk into   
   one of their technician machines, and do a quick check on it. But that   
   would cost something, and the thing is, this drive is only worth rescuing   
   as a DIY project. I wouldn't sink another dime in the thing, via   
   getting help at the computer store.   
      
   And the staff are unlikely to have a clue about "do you have any USB   
   enclosures that support 4Kn?". My guess is they don't have any. If an   
   enclosure had such a feature, it would be proudly displayed in the advert.   
      
   I suspect some NAS boxes *might* support such drives. But NAS boxes   
   with BYOD features (sold as empty NAS boxes), they cost hundreds and   
   considering the NAS investment, you'd just be buying new drives to   
   stuff in it. And buying an old/used NAS box would also be sketchy   
   for the project, if it was... too old. There are probably NAS boxes   
   out there, with IDE ribbon cables inside them, that someone wants   
   a few bucks for. That would be no good.   
      
   1) Put it back in storage.   
   2) When the right motherboard shows up some day, give it a test.   
      It is unlikely to be much fun, and mostly aggravation, until   
      the right equipment for it shows up.   
      
      Paul   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)