SCSI2SD

The SCSI Hard Drive Emulator for retro computing.

Download

1. downloads for v3/v4/v5/v5.1 hardware revisions.
2. downloads for v6 hardware revisions. This firmware will NOT work on the older boards.

News

[16 April 2018]v4.8 New Firmware

• Support for v5.1 hardware boards
• Added a speed selection to scsi2sd-util. Users with older SASI or SCSI1 controllers should select the lower speed for stability.
• Added specific support for emulating XEBEC controllers
• Added SCSI host-types selection to scsi2sd-util. Apple Macintosh users should manually fix their settings to use the Apple mode.
• Apple mode pages now only sent when in Apple mode.
• Fix Unit Serial Number inquiry page to use return configured serial number

[31 Jan 2018]v6.1.3 Bugfix release

• Fixes several synchronous transfer bugs, especially write issues at 10MB/s

[28 Nov 2017]v6.1.2 Bugfix release

• Fix several synchronous negotiation bugs

[21 May 2017]v6.1.1 Bugfix release

• Fix scsi2sd-util size and sector-size inputs
• Fix crash when configured scsi disk starting sector is less than SD card size
• Add new "turbo" speed option to boost speeds.
  • May not be reliable, and use is not supported
  • Async timings trimmed
  • Sync speeds boosted to theoretical 15.625MB/s, with 12.0MB/s measured read throughput
  • SD card put in "high speed" mode.
  • USB for configuration/firmware updates is disabled in turbo mode when processing SCSI commands. A power cycle may be required to connect again via USB

[1 May 2017]v4.7.1 Bugfix release

• Fix scsi2sd-util size and sector-size inputs
• Fix crash when configured scsi disk starting sector is less than SD card size

[2 April 2017]v6.1.0 Bugfix release

• Enable sync transfers on SCSI1 hosts
• Support 4MB/s sync transfers for Amiga A590 (WD33C93)
• Merge v4.7 release changes

[12 March 2017]v4.7 New firmware

• Fix bug in SCSI Inquiry command for SCSI2 hosts
• Added OMTI host quirks mode
• Fix for booting from early Mac Plus ROMS
• Performance fix when SCSI2 mode is enabled. Some users may need to disable SCSI2 mode if it was incorrectly enabled previously.
• Added support for configurable mode pages
• Fix for exporting selectionDelay/startupDelay parameters to XML via scsi2sd-util
• scsi2sd-util is now built with libudev1 on Linux, as all distros have moved to this version. Users on older Linux distributions will need to compile from source.

SCSI2SD Archived News

Overview

SCSI2SD is an emulator for old SCSI hard drives. It allows replacing one or several old broken SCSI drives with a SD memory card.

Unlicenced Copies

Older versions of the SCSI2SD hardware designs were published under the GPL licence. This permits anyone to build their own board from the original or modified designs, so long as they abide by the licence terms.

• The source/designs of any modifications must be provided to those you distribute the board to.

Artmix is currently selling unlicensed modified clones ("SD SusanoMonster"), and refuses to comply with the GPL. Please do not purchase this board. If you have already purchased, please request the seller provides you with the modified designs under the GPL licence.

Which version should you buy ?

SCSI2SD V5.1	This is a new version, intended to replace V5. At present it has only had limited testing on older hardware.
SCSI2SD V5	This is the older stable version, with the widest compatibility. It works well with both SCSI1 and SCSI2 systems.
SCSI2SD V6	This board offers better performance, but is more expensive. It may not work properly in SCSI1 systems, including any system using DB25 cabling or passive terminators. It requires more power than the V5 board and may not be stable using the scsi cable terminator power alone. See SCSI2SD V6 Compatibility
SCSI2SD for Powerbook	Designed for Apple Powerbook laptops using 2.5" drives.

Purchase

The new V6 board and 2.5" PowerBook version are available at:

• Inertial Computing (USA)
• codesrc.com (Australia)

The 3.5" boards are available from the following distributors:

• itead (China)
• Inertial Computing (USA)
• AmigaKit (UK)

3rd party accessories

• durhamcardco.com Internal faceplates for V5 and V6 boards, and external V5 case.
• Thingiverse nibblernibbles has created a 3d-printable external enclosure for the SCSI2SD + DB25 adapter. Power can be supplied over USB for hosts which don't supply termination power.
• SCSI2SD V5 & V6 Bracket by Maya Designs

Features

1. In-built active terminator.
2. Emulates up to 4 SCSI devices (7 for the V6 version)
3. Supports sector sizes from 64 bytes to 8192 bytes
4. Firmware updatable over USB
5. Highly configurable over USB
   • Selectable SCSI ID
   • Selectable parity support
   • Enable/disable Unit Attention Condition
   • Artificial limits on the SCSI disk size (eg. limit size to 4G to avoid OS bugs)
   • Sector size (can also be set via the SCSI MODE SELECT command, as sent by SCSI format utilities).
6. External LED connector.

Technical Specifications

	V5 hardware	V5.1 hardware	V6 hardware
SCSI Interface	SCSI-2 Narrow 8-bit 50-pin connector. Supports asynchronous transfers only.	SCSI-2 Narrow 8-bit 50-pin connector with optional DB25 female socket. Supports asynchronous transfers only.	SCSI-2 Narrow 8-bit 50-pin connector. FAST10 (10MB/s) synchronous transfers.
SD Card Interface	microSD, tested up to 64GB Communication is via the SPI protocol at 25MHz (3MB/s theoretical max)	Full-size, tested up to 32GB Communication is via the SPI protocol at 25MHz (3MB/s theoretical max)	Full-size SD, tested up to 32GB Up to 20MB/s
USB Interface	Firmware updates and configuration USB 2.0 micro-B	Firmware updates and configuration USB 2.0 micro-B	Firmware updates, configuration, and mass-storage USB 2.0 micro-B. Mass-storage at USB 2.0 FS speeds (1.2MB/s max)
Power	5V via standard Molex 4-pin drive connector, USB, or self-powered using the SCSI host termination power. 2.35W maximum (500mA) DO NOT CONNECT 12V at all if you need to make your own power cable as it risks destroying the board if you accidentally swap the wires.	5V via floppy 4-pin drive connector, USB, or self-powered using the SCSI host termination power. 2.35W maximum (500mA) DO NOT CONNECT 12V at all if you need to make your own power cable as it risks destroying the board if you accidentally swap the wires.	5V via floppy 4-pin drive connector, USB, or self-powered using the SCSI host termination power. 2.35W maximum (500mA)
Dimensions (L x W x H)	5cm x 10cm x 1.5cm	10cm x 9cm x 1.5cm	10cm x 9cm x 1.5cm
Performance Tested under optimal conditions. For comparison, here are some benchmarks of some older SCSI hardware.	Up to 2.6MB/s read, 2.3MB/s write (1.1MB/s on most older SCSI hosts)	Up to 2.6MB/s read, 2.3MB/s write (1.1MB/s on most older SCSI hosts)	Up to 10MB/s.

Compatibility

• SCSI2SD V5 Compatibility
• SCSI2SD V6 Compatibility
• 2.5" Powerbook SCSI2SD Compatibility

Files

Firmware update utility and configuration tool at:

1. downloads for v3/v4/v5/v5.1.
2. downloads for v6.

These files are currently available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OSX.

A copy of all sources can be obtained via the command:

git clone --recursive git://www.codesrc.com/git/SCSI2SD

or (for V6)

git clone --recursive git://www.codesrc.com/git/SCSI2SD-V6

Alternatively, the git sources can be viewed using your web browser by clicking here or here (V6)

Howto

• SCSI2SD FAQ
• SCSI2SD UserManual
• FormatWithBasiliskII Format an SD card for use with Apple Macintosh hardware using the Basilisk II emulator

Alternative Open SCSI Projects

• AJ's alternative implementation. AJ and I originally had a competition to design and build a SCSI device to boot an old Mac LCIII. The deadline for that competition has long-since expired without a winner, but we have both continued to progress our designs.
• S2I (was: SCSI2IDE)
• AVR based SCSI RAM disk

Old

For historical project information see SCSI2SD old