IDE HDD mod tutorial?

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SegaShazam
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IDE HDD mod tutorial?

Post#1 » Tue May 09, 2017 2:09 am

Hello Dreamcast talk,

I been searchin for a tutorial on how to do a Dreamcast IDE hdd mod. Assemblergames use to have an detailed written w/ pics :D tutorial but the site has taken offline as of lately :cry: and unsure when they will come back online. Does anyone know of a substitute site or link that contains that tutorial?

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TacT
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Re: IDE HDD mod tutorial?

Post#2 » Tue May 09, 2017 3:23 am

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Last edited by TacT on Tue May 09, 2017 12:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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it's still thinking.

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pcwzrd13
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Re: IDE HDD mod tutorial?

Post#3 » Tue May 09, 2017 9:40 am

I recently did the IDE mod and went by the pinout here. Don't bother with that "Dream IDE Reborn" thing; it's expensive for what it is and it's for a full size 40-pin IDE drive which still requires an external power source. 44-pin is the way to go as it's powered from the Dreamcast itself and uses the smaller 2.5" drives which you can actually fit in the Dreamcast itself. I put my drive where the GD-ROM would normally go. The IDE cable just fits to the right of the motherboard. You just need to cut a small section of the metal tray the motherboard sits on.

I also removed the laser mechanism from a non-working GD-ROM drive in order to make room for the HDD. You need the GD-ROM drive attached or the Dreamcast won't boot up. Apparently there's a workaround for this but I found this to be the easier solution.

IDE Mod.jpg


IDE Mod Wires.jpg
PSO Characters:
Teal'c - lvl 119 HUcast - GC# 11666
Alto - lvl 39 FOnewm - GC# 12964

YouTube Channel : Dreamcast Live

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SegaShazam
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Re: IDE HDD mod tutorial?

Post#4 » Tue May 09, 2017 11:06 pm

for clarification I thought it was required to use the gd-rom in place because you still needed to boot Dreamshell from a cd-r, but this isn't the case because you removed the gd-rom optical drive. How is Dreamshell booting, from HDD?

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The-Amazing-Mr_V
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Re: IDE HDD mod tutorial?

Post#5 » Wed May 10, 2017 8:06 am

I would love a mod like this.

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pcwzrd13
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Re: IDE HDD mod tutorial?

Post#6 » Wed May 10, 2017 8:47 am

SegaShazam wrote:for clarification I thought it was required to use the gd-rom in place because you still needed to boot Dreamshell from a cd-r, but this isn't the case because you removed the gd-rom optical drive. How is Dreamshell booting, from HDD?


I flashed the DreamShell bootloader to a custom BIOS chip. I guess it's possible to boot DreamShell from a disc as well but obviously you won't be able to make the drive internal if you have the GD-ROM drive still attached.
PSO Characters:
Teal'c - lvl 119 HUcast - GC# 11666
Alto - lvl 39 FOnewm - GC# 12964

YouTube Channel : Dreamcast Live

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