With my MMX machine, I use a 120GB IDE hard drive. I use Windows 95 as my OS, and while LGR said in his Socket 7 build video that using partitions over 32gb on Win95 can be problematic, I haven't had any issues using the full capacity at all.

solidus wrote on 2021-07-24, 16:26:

Hey all, so I am finally ready to finish up the parts for my MMX build. I am trying to figure out the best option for storage. I was wondering if it would be possible to go with modern solid state storage and just convert to IDE. Are there any issues with this?

Unfortunately, it depends GREATLY on the motherboard. I have many Socket 7 motherboards (most with the Intel 430TX chipset) and they all behave differently when it comes to storage.
So... it's mostly trial and error.
Also, depending on the your motherbord's BIOS, it might only support disks up to 32 GB.

I have a Pentium 233MMX currently running DOS 6.22 off an SD2IDE adapter. I also have a Win98SE Athlon 64 building running with the same model adapter.

Any halfway decent modern SD card will saturate a regular IDE interface during reads, while an UltraDMA 133 might not be fulling maxed, access speeds will be faster than the minimum cycle times.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UDMA

Get a 3d printed IO bracket, or a front external bay. You'll be able to eject the card and put it into a reader on a modern computer and copy files to and from it. You can also swap cards to change OSes without needing to mess around with boot managers.

Are you concerned about card lifetime write cycles? Don't be, you can get 128GB cards for $15 right now and they will be less expensive in the future if one does die 2-3 years down the road.

bloodem wrote on 2021-07-24, 16:45:

Also, depending on the your motherboard's BIOS, it might only support disks up to 32 GB.

Yeah, I had to patch my BIOS to get the drive to work, but once I did that it was all good.

I use a CF to IDE adapter in my MMX build.

I can swap CF cards as needed or plug them into my modern PC if I need to copy some stuff over.

SScorpio wrote on 2021-07-24, 16:49:

I have a Pentium 233MMX currently running DOS 6.22 off an SD2IDE adapter. I also have a Win98SE Athlon 64 building running with […]
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I have a Pentium 233MMX currently running DOS 6.22 off an SD2IDE adapter. I also have a Win98SE Athlon 64 building running with the same model adapter.

Any halfway decent modern SD card will saturate a regular IDE interface during reads, while an UltraDMA 133 might not be fulling maxed, access speeds will be faster than the minimum cycle times.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UDMA

Get a 3d printed IO bracket, or a front external bay. You'll be able to eject the card and put it into a reader on a modern computer and copy files to and from it. You can also swap cards to change OSes without needing to mess around with boot managers.

Are you concerned about card lifetime write cycles? Don't be, you can get 128GB cards for $15 right now and they will be less expensive in the future if one does die 2-3 years down the road.

This is likely what I want to go for. This PC is something I will want to mess around with alot. Being able pop in a Win 95 image, and then switch over to 98 with ease would be awesome. I forsee myself messing around with various OS/soundcard/gpu combinations and really just having fun experimenting. So anything that will help me have a very flexible machine would be best. I want to avoid being stuck with a traditional HDD, and needing to use floppies/CDs to get data across.

Im not really concerned with card lifetime, as I do not plan on keeping any sort of long term vital data around

I'm using a SCSI drive in my P200MMX because I happened to have the drive and controller to hand. I don't advise it though as it wastes a PCI slot and the cabling is complex.

solidus wrote on 2021-07-24, 17:11:

I want to avoid being stuck with a traditional HDD, and needing to use floppies/CDs to get data across.

That's fine, though if you're curious I actually have a USB card installed in my machine and use USB flash drives to transfer files. In a scenario with a traditional HDD, you can either do that or use an Ethernet card and FTP the files to the machine.

In me
My builds I always use period correct hard drives of I've got them (just for the feeling and sounds), but sec IDE is always a CF to IDE adapter for data transfer 😀

I am noticing that when I search for SD2IDE, I get a ton of results referring to the Amiga. Is this for some reason tailored toward that machine? Is there a preferred converter that is ideal for IBM PCs or does it really not matter?

The embedded/industrial PC industry requires weirdo storage options for older DOS/Windows hardware that can't really be replaced due to being mission critical and can offer you what you need. There are IDE/ATA flash modules, SATA flash modules, CF-ATA adapters, SD/microSD-ATA adapters, and probably some other stuff that I can't recall off the top of my head. You can get pretty much any of it on Amazon, though a lot of it ships from Asia.