IMHO you should just add a PCI IDE controller to a retro machine to replace an onboard one (due to speed, 32GB bug or other issues). In that case, you should just disable one of the onboard controllers and try to assign the port adresses and IRQs the onboard one used, to minimize possible conflicts.

swaaye wrote:

A SATA PCI card is an option too but they tend to be troublesome as well.

The alignment challenge is easily solved by using a SATA/USB dongle on a modern PC to partition the drive. Handy for loading files onto it too.

Good tip with partitioning drives on a modern PC. I also do this for Windows XP builds.

I've also had a lot of frustration with PCI SATA controllers. The Silicon Image cards, work, but even with the IDE BIOS and drivers installed, performance is lagging behind using SATA to IDE adapter with the onboard controller. I'm not sure what the reason is. I know that some have a great working setup with excellent performance, but for me it never fully worked. When you have a NIC and a Vortex 2, you also often run into resource issues and need to swap PCI slots and all of that.

So I like to stick with SATA to IDE adapters as well, they work well. The Slot 1 boards I use all have a 128 GiB limit, which is perfect for using Windows 98. You can just hook up a 500 GB drive, auto detect it as a 128 GiB drive, and partition and format it using the Windows 98 Installation CD. But usually I create a smaller partition on a modern PC, and / or use SeaTools, if it's a Seagate drive, to turn into a 32, 60 or 120 GB drive.

I also question the impact of 33 vs 66/100/133 on a Pentium III machine. Sure in a benchmark you might see a difference, but Windows is not going to boot faster. I found that the clock speed is the most important factor in how "snappy" Windows 98 feels. I've done test with my automated Windows 98 installation (answer file), and found that the difference between a SSD and a modern platter drive is tiny.

Smid1980 wrote:

Looking into devicemanager reveals that DMA-mode is not checked.
Cheking the box with my SSD will result in a reboot (as expected) but after reboot the DMA option is unchecked.

Does anybody know if and how i can remedy this?

Just experienced the same problem with one of my pc's. I used a 40-wire PATA cable instead of an 80-wire one.. only found that out after hours of experimenting 😵 Turns out that over the years I have collected all sorts of cables, including PATA cables, in 40 wire and 80 wire variants. For a SSD and a UDMA capable motherboard you need a 80 wire PATA cable! My problem is solved, now both the SSD and optical drive work fine in DMA mode and Windows keeps it saved.