{"id":791,"date":"2023-04-21T12:00:04","date_gmt":"2023-04-21T10:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bananahdd.nl\/?p=791"},"modified":"2023-04-25T01:02:25","modified_gmt":"2023-04-24T23:02:25","slug":"seagate-st9144a-128mb-1992","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bananahdd.nl\/index.php\/2023\/04\/21\/seagate-st9144a-128mb-1992\/","title":{"rendered":"Seagate ST9144A 128MB (1992)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Released in 1992, the ST9144 family of drives from Seagate were their latest offerings in the 2.5″ hard drive space, competing with the likes of Toshiba & Conner Peripherals. The ST9144A, unsurprisingly, was the highest-end offering of the pack, reaching 128MB in capacity.<\/p>\n

Seagate certainly knew how to make a sleek looking 2.5″ drive.<\/p>\n

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Clean & simple.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
  Drive Attributes<\/strong><\/em>\r\n  -------------------------------------\r\n  Seagate ST9144A\r\n  -------------------------------------\r\n  Capacity      128MB\r\n  Mfc Date      1992-10 (week 43)\r\n  Format        2.5\"\r\n  Height        19mm\r\n  Interface     PATA\r\n  Platters      3\r\n  Heads         6\r\n  Cache         64KB\r\n  RPM           3450\r\n  CHS           980\/15\/17\r\n  Origin        Singapore (ST)\r\n  -------------------------------------<\/pre>\n
Offering 3 platters, alongside 6 heads, this is the largest capacity 2.5″ drive Seagate produced in this drive family. Per Seagate’s guide, these have a platter density of 40.87MB.<\/p>\n
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Barebones.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
As per Seagate’s usual in this era, the label is practically useless. This drive was manufactured in Singapore.<\/p>\n
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The rear.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
A busy board, even with the main logic being on the other side!<\/p>\n
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Late-1992.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
A lack of clarity on the front label doesn’t stop us from finding out when this drive was made, being in October of 1992, week 43.<\/p>\n
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Bare.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Peeking under the PCB reveals nothing much. The head-stack connection pin array is recessed slightly. Sadly, the spindle motor is encased within the assembly itself, resulting in no further details.<\/p>\n
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The PCB.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
We’ve a fairly busy board here, so let’s split it into two halves.<\/p>\n
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Part 1\/2.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
First, an Adaptec interface controller, alongside some Mitsubishi cache. 32KB per chip, two in total! (the other being on the next half) There’s some flash memory provided by Intel, with custom firmware for the 9144A, as indicated.<\/p>\n
Jumper settings are as follows:<\/p>\n
 ST9144 FAMILY<\/strong>\r\n ----------------------\r\n Master\/Slave Selection\r\n ----------------------\r\n       Jumper\r\n      +------+\r\n      | A  C |\r\n      | B  D |\r\n      +------+\r\n\r\n   Jumper for Pins        Configuration\r\n   A and B   C and D\r\n   ------------------------------------------------------------------\r\n   OPEN      OPEN       Drive is Master, no Slave present\r\n   OPEN      CLOSED     Drive is Master, Seagate Slave drive present*\r\n   CLOSED    OPEN       Drive is Slave to another ST9144A Family\r\n                        Master Drive\r\n   CLOSED    CLOSED     Reserved Position (Do not use)\r\n\r\n<\/pre>\n
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Part 2\/2.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Bodge wire galore. J2 is the head-stack connector block. The rest is a mixture of transistor arrays, latches and other miscellaneous logic control. Feel free to analyse further if you wish.<\/p>\n
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A healthy drive…<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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…but a slow one at that.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
While not a speed demon, this drive continues to function perfectly, near 30 years past its date of manufacture. An impressive feat.<\/p>\n
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Some history. (Ref: PC Mag 1993-08) [1]<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>Available in machines such as the CompuAdd Express 425XL and 425Color, this drive was set to star in a sub-$3k laptop from the period. Only the much higher end Express 425Colour-Plus would push the ST9144A out of the spotlight. CompuAdd would cease to exist only a year later, closing 110 stores and ending their fiery competition streak with Dell.<\/p>\n
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A popular choice, perhaps. (Ref: PC Mag 1993-08) [2]<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>Texas Instruments also decided the ST9144A was a suitable choice, appearing in the WinSX\/25 Colour, yet again finding place in a $3k price bracket.<\/p>\n
Popular? Perhaps. Common in this day and age? Not so much. Nonetheless, Seagate were clearly masters of producing sleek and quiet 2.5″ drives at the time, with performance taking the hit.<\/p>\n
Seagate 9144 Family – Installation Guide (pdf)<\/a><\/p>\n
If you missed the video I made on this drive, you can find it here:<\/p>\n