TBH I've had good luck with old IBM/Hitachi Travelstar drives. I have several of them still going strong after 20+ years of use.

Hard disks can last a LONG time if treated properly. Even some of the incredibly fragile Segate MFM disks are still kicking.

I prefer real disks, and I will hold out using them for as long as I can manage. There is no substitute. I dislike things like USB floppy emulators, CF to IDE converters, SD card readers in 486/P5 machine. I just think they take away from the system, and that if you are going to use an SSD for retro computing, you might as well emulate it.

I have a strong belief that part of using retro computing is the inconveniences that come with it. Like a find wine or cheese, it's the ups and downs that bring it to it's brilliance. You can't have fun without having frustrations. It's the more you work, the more you suffer, the more you wait, the more fun the games are, and the better of a time you get in the end. When you start to substitute the annoyances for modern convenience, it starts to chip away at that fine signature that makes up a retro system. If I don't take a cartridge and plug it into my Genesis, if I don't see the soft fuzz of the analog picture, if I don't have the feeling of the real controller, I don't feel like I am actually playing a Genesis.

This is why I heartily disapprove of pretty much all hardware reproductions. Unless it's LITERALLY a board for board reproduction of something, I don't want it. Even still, there is always the stigma of it being a reproduction, and that it's not the same as original hardware.

If I want pixel perfect, beautiful picture, and lightning fast load times, I won't use some improved SSD or whatever, I'll use an emulator, that's my too lazy to go through the paces of using real tech route, but when I do emulate, I still get a subpar experience.

Ampera wrote:

Hard disks can last a LONG time if treated properly. Even some of the incredibly fragile Segate MFM disks are still kicking. […]
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Hard disks can last a LONG time if treated properly. Even some of the incredibly fragile Segate MFM disks are still kicking.

I prefer real disks, and I will hold out using them for as long as I can manage. There is no substitute. I dislike things like USB floppy emulators, CF to IDE converters, SD card readers in 486/P5 machine. I just think they take away from the system, and that if you are going to use an SSD for retro computing, you might as well emulate it.

I have a strong belief that part of using retro computing is the inconveniences that come with it. Like a find wine or cheese, it's the ups and downs that bring it to it's brilliance. You can't have fun without having frustrations. It's the more you work, the more you suffer, the more you wait, the more fun the games are, and the better of a time you get in the end. When you start to substitute the annoyances for modern convenience, it starts to chip away at that fine signature that makes up a retro system. If I don't take a cartridge and plug it into my Genesis, if I don't see the soft fuzz of the analog picture, if I don't have the feeling of the real controller, I don't feel like I am actually playing a Genesis.

This is why I heartily disapprove of pretty much all hardware reproductions. Unless it's LITERALLY a board for board reproduction of something, I don't want it. Even still, there is always the stigma of it being a reproduction, and that it's not the same as original hardware.

If I want pixel perfect, beautiful picture, and lightning fast load times, I won't use some improved SSD or whatever, I'll use an emulator, that's my too lazy to go through the paces of using real tech route, but when I do emulate, I still get a subpar experience.

I also can't imagine an old 386 system with a cheap IDE to CF adapter. I too always prefer time correct components, no matter if rare or expensive. The ssd for example is right for me in a real sata mainboard like a KT600/880 and there I think it's ok.
For emulators, in the past I liked the idea of high accuracy emulators that use a lot of cpu power for it but at the end I always prefer real machines with all its analog video/audio. For example the sound of a Master System booting the cartridge bios/logo with its bass sound... 😎

I use orinigal parts for everything except two:
- I use newer PSU's because of some old systems had no good PSU I could repair or re-use
- DOMs (Disk-on-modules) for very old systems because too many old drives died suddenly, taking away the joy of the old systems itself.
I still use "newer" IDE 2.5" drives for some not ancient systems but the pre pentiums all use a DOM because I am tired of reinstalling systems over and over due to harddrive issues.

I use old disks, for your machine though I'd go with an ATA100/133 Based 20gb they where around by 2000/2001 and where fast

I prefer using period-correct hard drives when possible, but for a DOS-based system I'm not willing to pay for a used HDD from that era that may go kaput at any moment, especially when I don't know the past history of the drive and how much "abuse" it has suffered from its previous owner(s). So in those cases if I don't have an actual hard drive I have no issues going with a CF-IDE or DOM, they just work fine and are pretty fast.

In your case, I agree with candle_86. An ATA100/133 is the way to go.

I prefer HDDs for my retro machines, but I don't always demand that they be 100% period-correct. I can make an allowance by assuming a system got upgraded or repaired at some point in its lifetime. For example, the laptops in my signature originally shipped with a 1.3GB drive and a 12GB drive, respectively. (In this case, the upgrade to a 4GB and 20GB drive is a repair, as both of the stock drives have run into issues).

FWIW, both of the newer HDDs are Travelstars (IBM DTCA-24090 and Hitachi IC25N020ATMR04-0, respectively). Both are old at this point but have no problems.

Definitely prefer a spinning drive, something that gives the system a proper thinking noise of some kind. I wouldn't trust old drives in the long term, of course. Better keep things backed up elsewhere.

Old drives here because my cf-ide adapter does not work, I'm not willing to fork out the cash for sd-ide and have lots of nice Seagate Barracudas (IV, V, 7200.7,9). These are all whisper quiet and I've got good experience with them.
WD and Hitachi of the Barracuda IV period are noisy (whine mainly).
As for really old disks, I've spun up a 210MB Caviar that worked nicely. After a couple of days it suddenly died. My old 40MB WD is also dead.

I might get a PCI SATA adapter some day if it's really cheap, but it is not a priority.

elod wrote:

Old drives here because my cf-ide adapter does not work, I'm not willing to fork out the cash for sd-ide and have lots of nice S […]
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Old drives here because my cf-ide adapter does not work, I'm not willing to fork out the cash for sd-ide and have lots of nice Seagate Barracudas (IV, V, 7200.7,9). These are all whisper quiet and I've got good experience with them.
WD and Hitachi of the Barracuda IV period are noisy (whine mainly).
As for really old disks, I've spun up a 210MB Caviar that worked nicely. After a couple of days it suddenly died. My old 40MB WD is also dead.

I might get a PCI SATA adapter some day if it's really cheap, but it is not a priority.

For the Sata adapter, after some tests I personally went for the PCI controller instead. They have their problem (for example if they boot or not the connected drive) but I prefer a better build quality of the pcb.

I think there ought to be a market for some kind of PC "rumble pak" that will simulate the experience of having a noisy physical hard drive inside. There is something vaguely satisfying about it.

Ampera wrote:

You can't have fun without having frustrations. It's the more you work, the more you suffer, the more you wait, the more fun the games are, and the better of a time you get in the end. When you start to substitute the annoyances for modern convenience, it starts to chip away at that fine signature that makes up a retro system.

Perhaps, but there's also a point where the frustration becomes too much to bear, especially when the hardware starts to physically fail in mysterious ways. You probably wouldn't want to play a Genesis after screaming at it for ten minutes either.

Jorpho wrote:

I think there ought to be a market for some kind of PC "rumble pak" that will simulate the experience of having a noisy physical hard drive inside. There is something vaguely satisfying about it.

Ampera wrote:

You can't have fun without having frustrations. It's the more you work, the more you suffer, the more you wait, the more fun the games are, and the better of a time you get in the end. When you start to substitute the annoyances for modern convenience, it starts to chip away at that fine signature that makes up a retro system.

Perhaps, but there's also a point where the frustration becomes too much to bear, especially when the hardware starts to physically fail in mysterious ways. You probably wouldn't want to play a Genesis after screaming at it for ten minutes either.

I would and I did.

And then it broke so I bought another.

That's exactly what I mean. It's more fun to play with an old computer after spending days to figure out why it won't test the memory just to find out you forgot to remove some standoffs before you installed the board.
It's a case of if you work for you meal it tastes all the sweeter.

Isn`t KT133A paired with 686B bridge with IDE problems and data losses?

Never liked hard drive noises. Prefer to have silent operation. Even for a vintage system, I would prefer to use a newer drive, if available. I just need to see the hard drive LED on the casing. My 486 still has a Fujitsu 4GB drive in it. It's still working good. Errrmm... not too noisy I guess... otherwise would have changed it. 🤣

Looking at how drives become noisier near the end of their lifespan, I also do not like hearing noisy drives.

I prefer using IDE2CF adapters. Although I collect old HDD's up to 1GB (also have many larger of course). My favorites are from Quantum and Conner. Also like IBM drives with sizes 40GB+.

peklop wrote:

Isn`t KT133A paired with 686B bridge with IDE problems and data losses?

I didn't know that, any more info about it?

386SX wrote:

peklop wrote:

Isn`t KT133A paired with 686B bridge with IDE problems and data losses?

I didn't know that, any more info about it?

Is that the problem that occurs with SB Live cards?
http://kxproject.com/686b.php?language=en

It was fixed with a bios update, just check to see if your board got the bios update, if it did not then don't use a live, use an Audigy

I've really grown to like SSD drives. I try to put the quickest drive into any system possible.