Kingspec is known chinese made and is low quality. Even good shops doesn't carry one due to quality.

We really need a best IDE SSD adapter to use mSATA designed by vogons members using quality converter chip with 4 layer PCB to defeat the chinese junk.
Also usb access to configure the controller via small flash storage with custom CHS to "tell the truth" like Conner 3044 CHS correctly, etc.

Cheers,

Fwiw I've used several of their SATA- and mSATA devices, some of them with (usually mSATA-to-)IDE adapters in older machines, and don't recall having any more (or less) issues than with other SSD brands. Maybe the onboard IDE interfacing solution they're using isn't the best? Or maybe you just got a lemon.

Personally I won't go for CF any more, they've always turned out to be slow for me, regardless of brand.

By any chance is this a disconnected pin 34 issue?

Linux should tell you and even offer a software override 😁

pentiumspeed wrote on 2023-11-02, 19:44:

We really need a best IDE SSD adapter to use mSATA designed by vogons members using quality converter chip with 4 layer PCB to defeat the chinese junk.
Also usb access to configure the controller via small flash storage with custom CHS to "tell the truth" like Conner 3044 CHS correctly, etc.

Cheers,

Well there's this design in the wild... https://hackaday.com/2023/01/19/that-old-thin … ce-2-5-ide-ssd/ might not be perfect for retro use but may inspire some ideas. Though seems close enough for me, just can't justify spending time making one right now.

bobsmith wrote on 2023-11-02, 18:52:

Got the 64GB version and tried it on my ThinkPad T42 with Windows 98 and Windows XP. They really aren't that good, and the performance was pretty terrible, 98 loved to lock up when installed and RW speeds were extremely slow, XP had similar issues. I heavily recommend going with a CF to IDE adapter if you're looking for a modern SSD solution. Would be interested to hear other experiences however. Opted to start a new thread instead of necrobumping one from 9 years ago.

I have 32gb one of this from aliexpress or ebay dont remember, and performance is good, much better than a no brand CF in my opinion

Did not tested 64gb

The cheapest performant solution is to get an mSATA-to-IDE adatper and a small mSATA SSD. Those are reliable and much faster.

- Alex

mSATA all the way, I was easily able to pick few 128GB brand name SSDs at <$10 a pop over the years. mSATA-to-IDE converters were also only few $. No problems in older machines.

elszgensa wrote on 2023-11-02, 20:57:

Personally I won't go for CF any more, they've always turned out to be slow for me, regardless of brand.

Most of those CF's are either based on 15-20 year old controllers or are based on new controllers that prioritized the ATA-8 stuff that PC's don't support.

But really it depends on where your retro pleasure is. If your controller doesn't go faster than PIO3, then CF's, SD's, and JMicron Sata bridges will all perform in the same range.

And sometimes those CF's with older guts support the 1995 vintage DMA modes better than the Jmicro Sata bridges do.

But if you are running windows XP or newer, I'd totally understand skipping the CFs and going for a sata device with a Jmicron bridge.

KingSpec? Can't be worse than Dogfish.

bobsmith wrote on 2023-11-02, 18:52:

Got the 64GB version and tried it on my ThinkPad T42 with Windows 98 and Windows XP. They really aren't that good, and the performance was pretty terrible, 98 loved to lock up when installed and RW speeds were extremely slow, XP had similar issues. I heavily recommend going with a CF to IDE adapter if you're looking for a modern SSD solution. Would be interested to hear other experiences however. Opted to start a new thread instead of necrobumping one from 9 years ago.

I've a few of those cheap 2.5 ide to msata adapters I got from ebay. I used them for a couple years in a t43p and tested one in a T41 and they worked perfectly. I had to use whitelist bios but you need that for every hdd.

I think they use jmicron chip I've also used one in a thinkpad 770x and a PIII Toshiba. Never had problems. Kingspec is trash.