Hard drive interaction?

[Techno Keith]

Hello all.
Has anyone attempted to read or write data from a hard disk drive?· How difficult would this be?· I was thinking it could possibly be simplified by using and ide to usb adaptor.· It must be possible.

I am new to spin - just got a prop board for christmas.· I plan on using it for various projects I've been kicking around.

·- Keith

[hippy]

The IDE-USB adapter would make it harder, impossible at the present time; there is no support for the Propeller to work as a USB host.

IDE is really just a data bus, a few control lines and some registers to control what's going on. It's been done with far less capable micros than a Propeller so there shouldn't be too many problems. Saying so is easier than doing however http://forums.parallax.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

[Mike Green]

If your interest is just in accessing a hard drive from a Propeller, you could use a USB host like the Parallax memory stick datalogger and a IDE to USB adaptor. The IDE to USB adaptor would make the hard drive look like any USB mass storage device and the Vinculum chip in the datalogger can handle standard USB mass storage devices. The Vinculum VDrive2 or VMusic2 can also be used and GHI Electronics makes the USBwiz and uALFAT USB host interfaces which can also be used this way.