It’s time to have another play with the Sega TeraDrive! This time I’m fiddling around with an XTIDE / XT-CF-Lite card to see if I can get some CompactFlash storage working nicely with the machine.

For anyone unfamiliar with the TeraDrive, it’s essentially an IBM-compatible PC and a Sega Mega Drive sharing the same rather interesting case. The PC side was available in several configurations, including the Model 2 and Model 3 machines I’ve been tinkering with over the years.

The original hard drive arrangement in the Model 3 is a little unusual, and finding replacement drives isn’t particularly easy. That’s where the XTIDE comes in. With an 8-bit ISA interface and a suitably configured BIOS, we can use something a little more convenient than an ancient mechanical hard drive.

Of course, getting the hardware installed and getting the computer to boot from it are two different things. The XTIDE BIOS needs to be configured for the controller, and the CompactFlash card needs to behave well enough for the TeraDrive to recognise it. Otherwise we’re not going very far!

This is quite a long video. Some things that just didn’t go the right way caused it to drag on and on and on. Never mind, that’s generally what this channel is for. Uncut, lazy recording with a splash of actually achieving the goal!

I first started playing with XTIDE cards in these machines back in 2012, so this is another opportunity to revisit the hardware and see how much trouble I can get myself into. At least CompactFlash doesn’t make horrible grinding noises when it starts to die. Usually!

Some Fallout 4 Nonsense

And below we have another silly video from the old Fallout 4!

Sources