VOGONS


First post, by Gramcon

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I purchased some Optiplex GX110s (low profile chassis) from a local government auction. Neat computers, in good condition, built like tanks. I'm surprised they were still in use, actually. Most government auction stuff nowadays is Core2 or newer. The resellers wouldn't touch them, as they're too old -- I guess I'm glad there weren't any retro collectors bidding! I'd like to keep some and sell some. Anyway, their IT guys pulled all the hard drives, which is understandable, but unfortunately took the proprietary mounting trays with them. I can't find any of the right trays for sale on EBay... Has anyone around here improvised with these or machines like them to mount the hard drives? I don't want to go the CF route, as they'd be running Win98, so would prefer to have an actual disk. I heard that CF cards don't do well with swap files....

Reply 1 of 3, by boxpressed

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Could you use a DOM?

Reply 2 of 3, by derSammler

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Flash memory in general isn't good with swap files, since the number of writes to a flash cell is limited. However, even most security appliances run Linux from a CF card, which is even worse with swapping than Windows 98. As long as you have enough RAM (64 MB or more to reduce swapping) and don't fill the CF card to more than 50% of its capacity, nothing bad will happen. I'm running one Win98 box and two Win95 boxes from CF cards with no issues so far. And if they fail, just replace the card. I made images of the cards after they were fully set up, so this takes 5 minutes or so...

Reply 3 of 3, by ODwilly

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How about some of those ide to sata adapters and you just sticky a sata ssd wherever is convenient? Modern SSD's have come a long way in longevity.

Main pc: Asus ROG 17. R9 5900HX, RTX 3070m, 16gb ddr4 3200, 1tb NVME.
Retro PC: Soyo P4S Dragon, 3gb ddr 266, 120gb Maxtor, Geforce Fx 5950 Ultra, SB Live! 5.1