So I'd like to upgrade the current unsatisfying rig I use as test bench which is a P4 platform with SIS chipset.
I found those ssd model 64 GB SANDISK X110, for just a couple of bucks, they are obviously used.
I actually use a CF card but I need to disable the udma mode and all those nice things, due to that I also have lower cpu performances, I tried to use a microsd card but the behaviour is similar.
Can I buy a bunch of them or I should go for other options?
Let's say I value the cost\performance and the easyness which I can transfer the data from my daily pc (now I just connect the compact flash and transfer the data via USB, I suppose the same goes for an ssd) and the reliability.
Those X110's are perfect. There is such a thing as alignment, but if you're not writing data to it 24/7, there is no need to worry.
Disable scheduled disk defragmentation after the OS installation.
Those X110's are perfect. There is such a thing as alignment, but if you're not writing data to it 24/7, there is no need to worry.
Disable scheduled disk defragmentation after the OS installation.
Yes I already opened the dispute but the seller doesn't cooperate, it's clearly a scammer. He said he told me the ssd were not what I ordered, then he offered a partial refund which I refused...
I will probably have to deal with ebay...
Yes I already opened the dispute but the seller doesn't cooperate, it's clearly a scammer. He said he told me the ssd were not what I ordered, then he offered a partial refund which I refused...
I will probably have to deal with ebay...
Ebay is buyer friendly. Buyers almost always get their money back in short order.
Sellers on the other hand? They get the fees when the sale is made and they get charged when a buyer complains.
The worst is when the buyer clearly breaks your stuff and then demands a refund. You are out the item and the shipping costs without a lot of recourse.
Yes I already opened the dispute but the seller doesn't cooperate, it's clearly a scammer. He said he told me the ssd were not what I ordered, then he offered a partial refund which I refused...
I will probably have to deal with ebay...
Ebay is buyer friendly. Buyers almost always get their money back in short order.
Sellers on the other hand? They get the fees when the sale is made and they get charged when a buyer complains.
The worst is when the buyer clearly breaks your stuff and then demands a refund. You are out the item and the shipping costs without a lot of recourse.
I mainly buy on ebay and sometimes I sell but I never had any disastrous issue as seller, I had some as buyer... In this case the seller is clearly tricky unlucky... now he said he needs to think what to do, in the meanwhile he closed the listing, I need to wait 3 days before I can ask for help from ebay.
The first one has hit its rated write endurance, so consider it dead.
The second one looks okay for non-critical stuff (just from translating parts of the Italian). It's definitely used, but with only a few CRC errors. I think the ADATA SSD in my own 98/XP system is worse (drives that cheap tend to use cheap partially-defective chips, so it logged some errors almost immediately before settling down).
So I received the right ssd this time and it's also in good condition.
The attachment $_1.png is no longer available
Now the problem lies on the sata adapter.
I've read several topics here on vogons about adapters, some users claim that any chinese will do... well actually nope... I have 2 chinese sata adapters and one was probably faulty, the second one gives issues too, according to bios the drive is just udma 4 and it disables the 32 bit transfer.
Now I used the safest settings but it's obviously slow as hell. The best adapters from what I understood use the JM20330 chip, but they are not easy to find nowadays.
Also that's the plan:
First partition: NTFS 5gb for windows xp and the bootloader
Second partition: FAT32 3gb for windows 98
Third partition: FAT32 and 32gb to use as data partition (possibly shared) between 98 and xp.
Problems: I installed windows 98 (and then copied the working installation from the sd card, doesn't work, windows hangs on loading, I installed windows xp but again doesn't work it prompts the os is missing error.
Edit: I'm making progress, windows 98 now works fine, it was the first adapter which was unreliable, now I'm trying to install windows xp, which apparently can't be cloned for whatever reason and which doesn't work, after the first installation phase (the textual part) when booting the computer just gets a blinking cursor.
With FDISK I marked the first fat32 partition as active (prior to install windows98) could it be the problem?
Fixed: To avoid the issue after begin the installation of windows xp I had to mark as active the ntfs partition. I installed windows xp flawlessly, then you need to copy bootsec.dos from windows 98 partition to ntfs partition and edit the boot.ini like that:
1[boot loader] 2timeout=15 3default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS 4[operating systems] 5multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect 6C:\ = "Microsoft Windows 98 SE"
Now the problem lies on the sata adapter.
I've read several topics here on vogons about adapters, some users claim that any chinese will do... well actually nope... I have 2 chinese sata adapters and one was probably faulty, the second one gives issues too, according to bios the drive is just udma 4 and it disables the 32 bit transfer.
Now I used the safest settings but it's obviously slow as hell. The best adapters from what I understood use the JM20330 chip, but they are not easy to find nowadays.
Getting ATA drives to work at the best possible speed involves cooperation between the controller, driver, storage device, cable, and in your case, the pata sata bridge. I imagine you are using the built in IDE controller on your motherboard. What model of motherboard are you using?
JM20330 adapters are easy to find. Most of the devices on the market today use the JM20330 or some variation on it. They are the cheapest and most available. You can buy them in bulk from China for about $3.5 each on ebay.
I would say that the best adapters are based on 88SA8052 (SATA 3 Gb/s to PATA 133), but those usually cost over $20 each.
douglarwrote on 2024-08-22, 12:07:Getting ATA drives to work at the best possible speed involves cooperation between the controller, driver, storage device, cable […] Show full quote
Now the problem lies on the sata adapter.
I've read several topics here on vogons about adapters, some users claim that any chinese will do... well actually nope... I have 2 chinese sata adapters and one was probably faulty, the second one gives issues too, according to bios the drive is just udma 4 and it disables the 32 bit transfer.
Now I used the safest settings but it's obviously slow as hell. The best adapters from what I understood use the JM20330 chip, but they are not easy to find nowadays.
Getting ATA drives to work at the best possible speed involves cooperation between the controller, driver, storage device, cable, and in your case, the pata sata bridge. I imagine you are using the built in IDE controller on your motherboard. What model of motherboard are you using?
JM20330 adapters are easy to find. Most of the devices on the market today use the JM20330 or some variation on it. They are the cheapest and most available. You can buy them in bulk from China for about $3.5 each on ebay.
I would say that the best adapters are based on 88SA8052 (SATA 3 Gb/s to PATA 133), but those usually cost over $20 each.
You are right, there are some variables here but apparently there was a problem with the adapter I was using in the beginning (it was probably damaged it always gave me issues), the motherboard is a flaky ECS P4S5A/DX+ but since when I swapped to this one I had no issue at all with all the options enabled (lba, multiblock, 32 bit transfer, udma etc):
The attachment photo_2024-08-22_14-15-32.jpg is no longer available
I bought it years ago from China and I suppose it's a cheap no brand thing...
I bought it years ago from China and I suppose it's a cheap no brand thing...
The bridges with "DOF" printed on the main IC appear to be a die shrink of the JM20330 bridges. They behave and perform the same, as far as I can tell.
douglarwrote on 2024-08-22, 17:49:The bridges with "DOF" printed on the main IC appear to be a die shrink of the JM20330 bridges. They behave and perform the sam […] Show full quote
I bought it years ago from China and I suppose it's a cheap no brand thing...
The bridges with "DOF" printed on the main IC appear to be a die shrink of the JM20330 bridges. They behave and perform the same, as far as I can tell.
Yes I already opened the dispute but the seller doesn't cooperate, it's clearly a scammer. He said he told me the ssd were not what I ordered, then he offered a partial refund which I refused...
I will probably have to deal with ebay...
Ebay is buyer friendly. Buyers almost always get their money back in short order.
Sellers on the other hand? They get the fees when the sale is made and they get charged when a buyer complains.
The worst is when the buyer clearly breaks your stuff and then demands a refund. You are out the item and the shipping costs without a lot of recourse.
Yeah Ive been on the recieving end of a seller who sent me a hard drive in a polytene bag, no padding, just a bag.
He had proof of it working. He claimed I broke it, even questioned the hardware I was using the drive on, which was the onboard Adaptec U160 controller on a Supermicro Super P3TDE6. When I told him what controller it was he said he was unable to look it up as it was end of life.
I filed a return at his expense, which he objected to via messages afterwards, I sent it back and he tested it and found it wasnt working, then tried to blame me for breaking it.
I told him it was far more likely it was broken during shipping due to him shipping it in a polytene bag without padding and he finally refunded me the money.
It was a stupid amount of money. Had the return been my expense I wouldnt have bothered, but I did send it back on principal.
The ebay rules are what they are because sellers do send out broken things and expect the buyer to take it on the chin.
