CF-18 Harddrives - Need some help

Hello all... I'm a first time poster, but it looks like this is a pretty active forum, so I'm going to chance it and ask some questions.

We just purchased 80 CF-18's which we need to deploy to our field, and I would love to find an easy way to duplicate the hard drives. We purchased a drive duplicator, but the problem is it only has an IDE connection and not Panasonic's proprietary connection. Does anyone know where I can purchase (or have made) IDE -> PPHC (Panasonic's Proprietary Harddrive Connection)? I really hate to keep taking the drives in and out of the shock cases and would love an easier solution. Any ideas? Or suggestions?

 

What I did was use a software based app (acronis) and a USB external to copy.

 

We went that route also with Motion C5 tablets. One at a time still is a pain, although I guess it would be better than opening those shock cases each time I needed to make a new drive. I was just trying to do something other than "one-at-a-time".

 

We had a handheld machine that would copy really really fast, it came with cables but I just cannot remember what it was called (other than expensive)

 

Welcome to the forum.

The ONLY way to legally do this (I'm pretty sure) unless yo do a sysprep on each and every hard drive and then input the COA on the bottom of every laptop is to use Recovery Disks for the first installation... And then clone the hard drive. AS long as every Toughbook is the exact same model number! Otherwise you will need to install the COA into every individual laptop. Or when you do your updates and MS Genuine Advantage gets ahold of your software... It may shut you down.

That is the politically correct and legal way to explain it and is the only answer that you can really get here. There is no way to bypass the COA on this forum.

Hope this helps...

Rick

 

Does you company have a multi use license for the MS Windows or are you having to use individual COA's? By any chance does your company have an internal network on which you could push an image to the laptops? Or could you use your LAN to boot and install the Windows?

 

I believe a recovery disk will take care of it as long as they are all the same. But that would be a good idea too. However... The fact that he is here, to me, shows his compay doesn't have an IT Dept... Either that or he IS the IT Dept.

 

If I had 80 of one model , I would be asking the same questions
At about 2 or 3 hours to load each It will take quite a while to load each
Its not that time consuming to pull the drive from the caddy , after 10 or so ...you will be a real pro at it

Alex

 

JB -

The easiest way to get that proprietary connector is going to be to sacrifice one of your laptops to duty as a duplicating machine; while I'm sure several of our tinkerers here could fabricate up an adapter that would yield an appropriate IDE cable connection, I surely wouldn't want to volunteer any of them for it, nor would I want to pay for the R&D / Fabrication time required. This is of course, assuming you've got your licensing either via site license or plan to update the product key on every machine to reflect the COA present on said machines.

Good luck,

mnem
Weebelos Wobble-O but they don't fall down-el'O!

 

That connector is a standard JAE 50 ide 50 pin connector so you should be able to use one of these adapters: http://tinyurl.com/lkqgxf
these are made to plug a slimline CD-ROM into a desktop or mini ITX but the concept is the same as what you are trying to acomplish.
but you will need to change the gender of the JAE 50 on the adapter so that it will plug into your caddy. you can get the connector from an old slimline laptop CD drive and have someone solder it. I am pretty sure that all the pins should come out the same but take on ohmmeter to it to be sure. Or buy an 80 seat Norton ghost enterprise and multicast em all at once from a server.

 

Hmm... pretty big assumption that we don't have an IT Department. We do in fact have one, and no, I'm not the only one in IT, but we have never dealt with the Toughbooks in this manner before. We also do have a multiuse license on all the software that we have, so duplicating the drives is not a licensing issue.

Legal and software issues aside, I'm simply trying to find a hardware converter that would convert IDE to Panasonic's connector. I know there are or WERE some out there somewhere. Even Heartland said they had them at one time, but were told by Panasonic that they could use them anymore. Since the CF-18's that we have were purchased used and are not under warranty, then it should matter what I do to them as long as I don't try to make money off of them by doing it.

 

This is EXACTLY what I'm looking for, or so it seems!! Thank you! If I had read further before making that last post, I would have seen yours. I think this is exactly what I am needing.

 

I have one of these adapters in my toolbox; I'll try it & see if it works with my CF-28 HD cage. I was under the impression that the CF-18 did NOT use the JAE-50 connector like my CF-28; sorry for the confusion.

I'm afraid I don't have a CF-18 to try for you, but you can always compare your cage against a laptop CDROM; if this will work, it will be the SAME CONNECTOR. Just make sure you aren't looking at a male & female when you think you're looking at a female & female, which is what these SHOULD be.

EDIT: I've tried this adapter with both my CF-28 HDD Caddies; NO JOY.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news; while I can't say for certain this WON'T work with your model, odds are against it.

Better luck next time,
m.

mnem
Git along little data, git along!

 

Since the 2.5" IDE/PATA interface is a well-used standard across the entire laptop/notebook industry, you could probably find ways to connect to that using a 'dummy' caddy with no drive in it to connect up a drive externally that is hooked direct to the internal PATA bus.

I've worked with Sun systems for a long time and I can't recall how many different and unusual SCSI cable connection and adaptor combinations I have used at various times to hook at drives to various Sun machines. Since SCSI has 50 pin, 68 pin and 80 pin standards, plus different external and internal connector types, that's a lot of scope to cover!

Craig.

 

Ummm, Craig, he's trying to do the opposite thing here - he wants to LEAVE the HD in its caddy, and connect its JAE-50 pin connector to a standard IDE cable from a drive duplication machine.

If Panasonic used a STANDARD Connector with JEDEC standard pinout, then the 40-Pin IDE to 50-Pin JAE adapter commonly used to plug a laptop CDROM into a desktop IDE bus would work; HOWEVER - I just tried one of those on my CF-28 HDD and it didn't work. So... non-standard interface, no joy.

mnem
Of course, we could try shouting really stupid sh!t at at it really loud - that seems to work for Retch Limbaugh...