Marco wrote on 2024-03-05, 20:39:

Thanks a lot for your detailed input.

Two points here:
1. from major experiences back in the days I would only recommend smartdrv over all alternatives. Mem isn’t a problem currently

This is correct. Also, smartdrv can be loaded high.

Marco wrote on 2024-03-05, 21:56:

Conclusion: after reinstalling a lot I will switch back to my modern hdd. There is really little to non performance improvements because of the very low DOM/CF access times on a 386sx. Installations take same time as the cpu is bottlenecking expanding files etc. Furthermore having no noise at all takes away the whole retro feeling for me. Anyway a good try. I will stick to m ide hdd with 16mb cache onboard. Lessons learned and evenings spent 😀

Next will be benchmarking smartdrv on/off there.

And I learned about the importance of multisector transfers in the max throughput scenarios.