They're totally unique, but noticeably slower and noisier in operation than 3.5" drives. They would certainly be the main bottleneck of your P-III build, but they will give you that noise that you're after (and lots of it, given that they will take longer to load... everything).

I haven't heard stories of them failing more often, but it's probably worth avoiding the earlier models (Bigfoot without suffix and Bigfoot CY) just in case there were teething issues. (And, in truth, you should be weary of using any HDD of that vintage here in 2018, regardless of brand or lineup.)

As far as alternatives, there are always lots of 10K/15K RPM SCSI drives on auction sites; mostly they are used working pulls from servers that had 20+ identical models all going at once for a few years.

SW-SSG wrote:

And, in truth, you should be weary of using any HDD of that vintage here in 2018, regardless of brand or lineup.

I'm aware that HDDs of that age are starting to get a little iffy; what gives me confidence is that I have a Dell Latitude C600 with a 10GB HDD and a spare 6GB HDD, both of which were made in 2000, and they work just fine, knock on wood. I feel like if those fragile 2.5" drives can survive for a decent amount of time, so can a bulkier desktop drive. Both of them are similar ages, and even if I get a drive released in 1997, that drive would only be three years older than the ones I have in and for that laptop.

SW-SSG wrote:

As far as alternatives, there are always lots of 10K/15K RPM SCSI drives on auction sites; mostly they are used working pulls from servers that had 20+ identical models all going at once for a few years.

For any SCSI devices, I'd have to buy an Ultra-Wide SCSI controller card or something similar. The only thing I have right now is a PCI Future Domain 50 pin SCSI card that was made in 1994, and I really don't think that thing would cut it.

I would skip "period correct" thing entirely with HDD part. Managing limited 8-10gb space is counterproductive.

I have a 4.3Gb quantum bigfoot but I have never considered using it with any of my builds because of the noise.

If that's what you want then go for it.
Any selling now would have failed long ago if they were bad. Excluding ones dying due to general age of course, but that's in fate's hands.
But they were cheap and slow even for the time so that old scsi card may still work out faster 😜

Period-correct and decent would be a similar-sized Quantum Fireball. They are both fast (for the time...), relatively quiet and the noise they do make isn't too grating. I have 10.2GB Fireball in a test system with Win98SE and it's fast enough that the delay doesn't irritate me, which is saying a lot 😉

That said, I prefer IDE-CF adapters or PATA-SATA adapters with a SATA SSD. Noise and delays are not my favorite thing to be authentic on.

I ran into a Quantum Bigfoot once in 1999. They are slow budget drives. Meh. I was a Quantum Fireball fan at the time. First the 5400RPM drives, but then the 7200RPM Fireball Plus drives came in. Plus KA and Plus LM for example. These are definitely not quiet however.

But really my preference is a mid 2000s PATA drive with fluid bearings. Quiet, fast compared to the old stuff. Much less trouble than going with adapters or PCI cards for SATA, CF, etc.

athlon-power wrote:

SW-SSG wrote:

I feel like if those fragile 2.5" drives can survive for a decent amount of time, so can a bulkier desktop drive

The 2.5" drives have less rotating mass, and the heads themselves have less mass and move in a narrower arc (and the arm is also more rigid, being shorter). This puts less strain on the motor/servos and reduces the risk of a head crash.

If you can find an ancient, dead, Bigfoot just gut it and put fast notebook drive in it for the Bigfoot aesthetic and the modern capacity/speed. And then you have large magnets and platters and stuff to goof around with.

For DOS, Win3x and Win95 it should be okay. Maybe even Win98. I have not used on in a long time. But NOT for WinXP or higher.

I would skip out on the Bigfoot. My Compaq came with one.

I didn't use it, but still have it hanging around.

They're big and slow... skip!

Back in my highscool days we just to say bigfoot=bigs**t 😀