Tetrium wrote on 2022-04-13, 17:04:

As I mentioned above, we thought you meant to say that 90% of all the drives you got, died during 1st spinup. Not that IF a harddrive dies, it will then die during first spinup at/after POST 🤣.
You gotta admit, it would have been really bad if mechanical harddrives were really this bad 😜

I also interpreted that 90% in the same way as you, so it didn't make sense to me either, if they had that failure rate there would be no working old hard drives by now! But these things have MTBFs of around 100,000 power-on hours (and about double that number or more for SCSI drives), that's quite a lot unless the drive is used 24/7 non-stop for years on a file server or something like that! So that's why I was saying that concerns of healthy hard drives suddenly dying are overblown. I would guess that most of the HDD deaths for those who buy loose drives from eBay and such are caused by shipping violence, much like CRTs and other fragile things.

I also got most of my retro HDDs from entire systems which i picked up in person, so the cost of the drives themselves is practically zero in most cases. As I said before, it doesn't make sense to me to spend $$$ on used hard drives on eBay, you don't know what kind of abuse they were subjected to during their lifetime and then they're going to be kicked and thrown around like footballs by the shipping company on their way to you. The only reasonable use case for buying old HDDs from eBay is when the following conditions are met:

• It's NOS in its original packaging
• Either the original packaging has enough protection/padding or the seller is willing to add it
• Price is reasonable, who in their right mind would pay a 3 figure price for 100MB of storage????

TheMobRules wrote on 2022-04-13, 17:54:

I would guess that most of the HDD deaths for those who buy loose drives from eBay and such are caused by shipping violence, much like CRTs and other fragile things.

This is it. Shipping violence. Or, the general physical life the HDD has had. Simple G-forces.

A HDD is designed for a basic life cycle: shipped in factory packaging, installed into machine, then sits in machine on desk forever.

Once it goes outside that cycle, at all, it's risk factor elevates. The risk of exceeding the unforgiving G-force threshold of mechanical HDDs. Simply by virtue of basic moving around, shoved here, shoved there, or clunked down a shelf one day just a tad too hard, or thrown from one courier driver to another. Could be anything.

If we hypothetically put that factor aside - such as, for a drive collection somebody keeps well in their own home for decades - quite a lot of the drives will still be fine. If my own stack of random drives from all ages is any indication.

I'm sure there are a decent amount of working old HDDs out there. But i can't see why you'd specifically go looking to buy one *used* if you have none. If you have a whole stack of them lying around or get them free then sure why not. Otherwise CF or SD is the way to go for reliability and speed. Not even worried about the life expectancy IMO. Its the noise. I love the clicking sounds of a older HDD reading/writing. But the constant disk motor whirring or whatever it is sounds like a turbine engine and i can't stand it 🤣.

All about silence with my PCs here! For some the noise is probably part of the charm.

I don't get it, how do you feel like your computer is powerful if it doesn't sound like a jet turbine 🤣

BitWrangler wrote on 2022-04-14, 17:16:

I don't get it, how do you feel like your computer is powerful if it doesn't sound like a jet turbine 🤣

https://youtu.be/IrIs3PeQ2Bs?t=285

I dunno why everybodys having so much trouble with old HDD....seems my apartment is a spawning ground for them.....

This is what I have all still working ATM...
100MB 2.5" IDE 44 pin Seagate = Tandy 1000A - came out of NEC Ultralite Versa
250MB 2.5" IDE 44 pin IBM = loose - came out of my Versa 40EC
250MB 2.5" IDE 44 pin IBM = loose - came out of Versa M/75TC
250MB 2.5" IDE 44 pin Fujitsu = loose - came out of DFI MediaBook 9200M
340MB 2.5" IDE 44 pin IBM = loose - came out of Versa M/75CP - in my GEM 286 I might be parting with soon
540MB 2.5" IDE 44 Pin IBM = loose - came out of Versa P/75HC

And if you were wondering the Versa V/50 never had a HDD....all the Versas and the DFI have ATA-133 2.5" drives....I might not have the capacities right on these, I could just say I have GOBS of space. All of these were bought on e-bay for less than $10.
- Versa 40EC = 60GB ATA-133 2.5"
- Versa V/50 = 40GB ATA-133 2.5"
- Versa M/75 = 80GB ATA-133 2.5"
- Versa P/75 = 80GB ATA-133 2.5"
- DFI MediaBook = 80GB ATA-133 2.5"

And all those Versas get carried and knocked around and somehow none have bad sectors.

More old drives I've got still kicking around
- 3GB Seagate Barracuda out of NEC Ready 9522 - still lworks, no bad sectors
- 250MB Connor Peripherals in my Compaq Deskpro 386s/20 - still works, no bad sectors
- 8GB Seagate in my 486DX4-100 desktop - also still working great with no bad sectors
- 20-80GB ATA-133 drives, all still going....

I must be doing something right since day one too because I ran my first hard disk into the ground. It was a Maxtor 7120AT in a Flight 386SX (Kingspao) desktop. I ran that drive till it had no usable sectors left - got about 20-25 years out of it, on top of it being 10 years old when I got it.

Only ever had one MFM/RLL drive fail - ST241 in a GEM 386 DX-20 desktop - since then I've had them in a Deskpro 286 and an XT Clone I had in the olden days, those drives still worked when I sold them.

creepingnet wrote on 2022-04-14, 18:14:

I dunno why everybodys having so much trouble with old HDD....seems my apartment is a spawning ground for them.....

So thats where all the working hard drives went! They get worm hole'd into your living room. Way to go!

Truth be told: I haven't actually touched a hard drive outside of retro computing in like....years. NVME SSDs have kinda made me do-away with them, but i only keep few games installed at once and have my important stuff backed up on external drives, so i don't need big main drive capacity yet. Speed over storage.

FioGermi wrote on 2022-04-14, 18:20:

creepingnet wrote on 2022-04-14, 18:14:

I dunno why everybodys having so much trouble with old HDD....seems my apartment is a spawning ground for them.....

So thats where all the working hard drives went! They get worm hole'd into your living room. Way to go!

Truth be told: I haven't actually touched a hard drive outside of retro computing in like....years. NVME SSDs have kinda made me do-away with them, but i only keep few games installed at once and have my important stuff backed up on external drives, so i don't need big main drive capacity yet. Speed over storage.

I'm kind of the opposite, I just slap huge ATA HDD into everything and then put just about every DOS/Windows game I have on them and then flog the heck out of them till they die - which never happens. Since I've been getting more and more into laptops thtat's been useful as then I can virtuaze all my CD-ROMs and rarely need to use external media if at all. All my modern systems use SSDs.

RaiderOfLostVoodoo wrote on 2022-04-14, 17:50:

BitWrangler wrote on 2022-04-14, 17:16:

I don't get it, how do you feel like your computer is powerful if it doesn't sound like a jet turbine 🤣

https://youtu.be/IrIs3PeQ2Bs?t=285

This reminds me a bit of my Ultrakaze. That case fan is not only very loud, but if you lay it on its side on a table and connect it, it will move so much air that the fan will move across the table on its own lmao! And this fan is fairly heavy as well 😜

creepingnet wrote on 2022-04-14, 18:14:

I dunno why everybodys having so much trouble with old HDD....seems my apartment is a spawning ground for them..... […]
Show full quote

I dunno why everybodys having so much trouble with old HDD....seems my apartment is a spawning ground for them.....

This is what I have all still working ATM...
100MB 2.5" IDE 44 pin Seagate = Tandy 1000A - came out of NEC Ultralite Versa
250MB 2.5" IDE 44 pin IBM = loose - came out of my Versa 40EC
250MB 2.5" IDE 44 pin IBM = loose - came out of Versa M/75TC
250MB 2.5" IDE 44 pin Fujitsu = loose - came out of DFI MediaBook 9200M
340MB 2.5" IDE 44 pin IBM = loose - came out of Versa M/75CP - in my GEM 286 I might be parting with soon
540MB 2.5" IDE 44 Pin IBM = loose - came out of Versa P/75HC

And if you were wondering the Versa V/50 never had a HDD....all the Versas and the DFI have ATA-133 2.5" drives....I might not have the capacities right on these, I could just say I have GOBS of space. All of these were bought on e-bay for less than $10.
- Versa 40EC = 60GB ATA-133 2.5"
- Versa V/50 = 40GB ATA-133 2.5"
- Versa M/75 = 80GB ATA-133 2.5"
- Versa P/75 = 80GB ATA-133 2.5"
- DFI MediaBook = 80GB ATA-133 2.5"

And all those Versas get carried and knocked around and somehow none have bad sectors.

More old drives I've got still kicking around
- 3GB Seagate Barracuda out of NEC Ready 9522 - still lworks, no bad sectors
- 250MB Connor Peripherals in my Compaq Deskpro 386s/20 - still works, no bad sectors
- 8GB Seagate in my 486DX4-100 desktop - also still working great with no bad sectors
- 20-80GB ATA-133 drives, all still going....

I must be doing something right since day one too because I ran my first hard disk into the ground. It was a Maxtor 7120AT in a Flight 386SX (Kingspao) desktop. I ran that drive till it had no usable sectors left - got about 20-25 years out of it, on top of it being 10 years old when I got it.

Only ever had one MFM/RLL drive fail - ST241 in a GEM 386 DX-20 desktop - since then I've had them in a Deskpro 286 and an XT Clone I had in the olden days, those drives still worked when I sold them.

I have a fair number of sub 1GB drives (barely even tested these drives), but almost all of those are 3.5in. How silent are those 2.5in harddrives?

Tetrium wrote on 2022-04-15, 23:09:

creepingnet wrote on 2022-04-14, 18:14:

I dunno why everybodys having so much trouble with old HDD....seems my apartment is a spawning ground for them..... […]
Show full quote

I dunno why everybodys having so much trouble with old HDD....seems my apartment is a spawning ground for them.....

This is what I have all still working ATM...
100MB 2.5" IDE 44 pin Seagate = Tandy 1000A - came out of NEC Ultralite Versa
250MB 2.5" IDE 44 pin IBM = loose - came out of my Versa 40EC
250MB 2.5" IDE 44 pin IBM = loose - came out of Versa M/75TC
250MB 2.5" IDE 44 pin Fujitsu = loose - came out of DFI MediaBook 9200M
340MB 2.5" IDE 44 pin IBM = loose - came out of Versa M/75CP - in my GEM 286 I might be parting with soon
540MB 2.5" IDE 44 Pin IBM = loose - came out of Versa P/75HC

And if you were wondering the Versa V/50 never had a HDD....all the Versas and the DFI have ATA-133 2.5" drives....I might not have the capacities right on these, I could just say I have GOBS of space. All of these were bought on e-bay for less than $10.
- Versa 40EC = 60GB ATA-133 2.5"
- Versa V/50 = 40GB ATA-133 2.5"
- Versa M/75 = 80GB ATA-133 2.5"
- Versa P/75 = 80GB ATA-133 2.5"
- DFI MediaBook = 80GB ATA-133 2.5"

And all those Versas get carried and knocked around and somehow none have bad sectors.

More old drives I've got still kicking around
- 3GB Seagate Barracuda out of NEC Ready 9522 - still lworks, no bad sectors
- 250MB Connor Peripherals in my Compaq Deskpro 386s/20 - still works, no bad sectors
- 8GB Seagate in my 486DX4-100 desktop - also still working great with no bad sectors
- 20-80GB ATA-133 drives, all still going....

I must be doing something right since day one too because I ran my first hard disk into the ground. It was a Maxtor 7120AT in a Flight 386SX (Kingspao) desktop. I ran that drive till it had no usable sectors left - got about 20-25 years out of it, on top of it being 10 years old when I got it.

Only ever had one MFM/RLL drive fail - ST241 in a GEM 386 DX-20 desktop - since then I've had them in a Deskpro 286 and an XT Clone I had in the olden days, those drives still worked when I sold them.

I have a fair number of sub 1GB drives (barely even tested these drives), but almost all of those are 3.5in. How silent are those 2.5in harddrives?

The 2.5" drives vary wildly, the ATa-133s are all dead silent almost, I have to put my ear to the computer to hear any read/writes - and thre room has to be quiet. The older 2.5" drives (<540MB) Are a little noisier but still not that loud. The worst is the Seagate that's in my Tandy 1000A (105MB) - but that's also the oldest.

creepingnet wrote on 2022-04-18, 14:06:

Tetrium wrote on 2022-04-15, 23:09:

creepingnet wrote on 2022-04-14, 18:14:

I dunno why everybodys having so much trouble with old HDD....seems my apartment is a spawning ground for them..... […]
Show full quote

I dunno why everybodys having so much trouble with old HDD....seems my apartment is a spawning ground for them.....

This is what I have all still working ATM...
100MB 2.5" IDE 44 pin Seagate = Tandy 1000A - came out of NEC Ultralite Versa
250MB 2.5" IDE 44 pin IBM = loose - came out of my Versa 40EC
250MB 2.5" IDE 44 pin IBM = loose - came out of Versa M/75TC
250MB 2.5" IDE 44 pin Fujitsu = loose - came out of DFI MediaBook 9200M
340MB 2.5" IDE 44 pin IBM = loose - came out of Versa M/75CP - in my GEM 286 I might be parting with soon
540MB 2.5" IDE 44 Pin IBM = loose - came out of Versa P/75HC

And if you were wondering the Versa V/50 never had a HDD....all the Versas and the DFI have ATA-133 2.5" drives....I might not have the capacities right on these, I could just say I have GOBS of space. All of these were bought on e-bay for less than $10.
- Versa 40EC = 60GB ATA-133 2.5"
- Versa V/50 = 40GB ATA-133 2.5"
- Versa M/75 = 80GB ATA-133 2.5"
- Versa P/75 = 80GB ATA-133 2.5"
- DFI MediaBook = 80GB ATA-133 2.5"

And all those Versas get carried and knocked around and somehow none have bad sectors.

More old drives I've got still kicking around
- 3GB Seagate Barracuda out of NEC Ready 9522 - still lworks, no bad sectors
- 250MB Connor Peripherals in my Compaq Deskpro 386s/20 - still works, no bad sectors
- 8GB Seagate in my 486DX4-100 desktop - also still working great with no bad sectors
- 20-80GB ATA-133 drives, all still going....

I must be doing something right since day one too because I ran my first hard disk into the ground. It was a Maxtor 7120AT in a Flight 386SX (Kingspao) desktop. I ran that drive till it had no usable sectors left - got about 20-25 years out of it, on top of it being 10 years old when I got it.

Only ever had one MFM/RLL drive fail - ST241 in a GEM 386 DX-20 desktop - since then I've had them in a Deskpro 286 and an XT Clone I had in the olden days, those drives still worked when I sold them.

I have a fair number of sub 1GB drives (barely even tested these drives), but almost all of those are 3.5in. How silent are those 2.5in harddrives?

The 2.5" drives vary wildly, the ATa-133s are all dead silent almost, I have to put my ear to the computer to hear any read/writes - and thre room has to be quiet. The older 2.5" drives (<540MB) Are a little noisier but still not that loud. The worst is the Seagate that's in my Tandy 1000A (105MB) - but that's also the oldest.

I have some 20GB 2.5in HDDs which are dead silent and also really fast for what they are. I really like them despite their somewhat limited storage capacities 🙂
Iirc the only really old 2.5in HDD was a prairieteck and I consider it as non-functional and mostly a curiosity or old relic (I never actually tested it btw but I suppose prairieteck went under for a good reason(?)). I kept it because of the brand. I'm pretty sure it's worth like a gazillion gold septim bytecoins on ebay these days 🤣

Tetrium wrote on 2022-04-15, 23:09:

creepingnet wrote on 2022-04-14, 18:14:

I dunno why everybodys having so much trouble with old HDD....seems my apartment is a spawning ground for them..... […]
Show full quote

I dunno why everybodys having so much trouble with old HDD....seems my apartment is a spawning ground for them.....

This is what I have all still working ATM...
100MB 2.5" IDE 44 pin Seagate = Tandy 1000A - came out of NEC Ultralite Versa
250MB 2.5" IDE 44 pin IBM = loose - came out of my Versa 40EC
250MB 2.5" IDE 44 pin IBM = loose - came out of Versa M/75TC
250MB 2.5" IDE 44 pin Fujitsu = loose - came out of DFI MediaBook 9200M
340MB 2.5" IDE 44 pin IBM = loose - came out of Versa M/75CP - in my GEM 286 I might be parting with soon
540MB 2.5" IDE 44 Pin IBM = loose - came out of Versa P/75HC

And if you were wondering the Versa V/50 never had a HDD....all the Versas and the DFI have ATA-133 2.5" drives....I might not have the capacities right on these, I could just say I have GOBS of space. All of these were bought on e-bay for less than $10.
- Versa 40EC = 60GB ATA-133 2.5"
- Versa V/50 = 40GB ATA-133 2.5"
- Versa M/75 = 80GB ATA-133 2.5"
- Versa P/75 = 80GB ATA-133 2.5"
- DFI MediaBook = 80GB ATA-133 2.5"

And all those Versas get carried and knocked around and somehow none have bad sectors.

More old drives I've got still kicking around
- 3GB Seagate Barracuda out of NEC Ready 9522 - still lworks, no bad sectors
- 250MB Connor Peripherals in my Compaq Deskpro 386s/20 - still works, no bad sectors
- 8GB Seagate in my 486DX4-100 desktop - also still working great with no bad sectors
- 20-80GB ATA-133 drives, all still going....

I must be doing something right since day one too because I ran my first hard disk into the ground. It was a Maxtor 7120AT in a Flight 386SX (Kingspao) desktop. I ran that drive till it had no usable sectors left - got about 20-25 years out of it, on top of it being 10 years old when I got it.

Only ever had one MFM/RLL drive fail - ST241 in a GEM 386 DX-20 desktop - since then I've had them in a Deskpro 286 and an XT Clone I had in the olden days, those drives still worked when I sold them.

I have a fair number of sub 1GB drives (barely even tested these drives), but almost all of those are 3.5in. How silent are those 2.5in harddrives?

I'd say the deal with 2.5 drives is:

Track length being the product of 2 * π * radius, If you spin a hard disk at a certain x RPM, a larger platter will have significantly more m/s of track passing the head on its outer rim than a smaller one.
And it's more likely not to use the inner tracks below a certain radius. Therefore, all else being equal, it will be significantly faster on continuous read or write.
But, the smaller drive dealing with much less mass and inertia, based on the same mechanical sophistication, it's bound to be less noisy and maybe even have faster access times.

Now, the retro trick is to use a hard drive much younger than the system since limited speed won't matter if it still exceeds your controllers bandwidth.
That's why 2.5 drives will often be a less noisy, but otherwise optimal solution.

Although, with late 90s platforms, well, IIRC, they started to have the UDMA-66 controllers and took drives up to 128 GB. You'll be hard pressed to find any drive below 128 GB yet faster than 66, let alone a 2.5...
Many CF cards aren't all that fast, they just have virtually zero access time.

I really don't mind 2.5 drives, but putting the adapter to the 40 pin cable on them seems a really messy affair. So far I couldn't find any that appeared half way mechanically sound to me.

The slow access speeds of early hard drives honestly makes me wonder if that was the biggest hidden performance bottleneck of early computing. You spend a bit of time with one of those in a midrange 486, then try a CF card and it sometimes feels like a completely new system. Everything so snappy and instant. Games with constant loading feel so much smoother. Ofc it won't magically make your 486 run Doom at 240fps. But its just a little quality of life difference that you can feel.

Or maybe its just me 🤣

There might be some psychology involved as you don't hear "the gears cranking" every time it does something.
But consider that our subconscious/sensory functions at least is rather keen on very short delays. We do measure the runtime offset of sound reaching our left ear earlier than our right one. And, a ping time of 0.06 seconds in a shooter can feel tangibly longer than half of that.
Biggest nightmare was a Windows on tight RAM with conventional hard drives. "I'm staring at a static gif for a minute, what is there to do on the harddisk, ffs?!?!?"
CD-ROM games are special, as well...

It's not just you, FioGermi. Latency is a big deal.

Like using a SSD on a modern computer as the boot drive. 😁

FWIW, I'm running a 7200RPM hard disk on an old computer without any big noises. SMARTDRV (and any other disk caching utility) in DOS can help to improve loading times if properly tuned.

Cuttoon wrote on 2022-04-18, 20:45:

I'd say the deal with 2.5 drives is: […]
Show full quote

Tetrium wrote on 2022-04-15, 23:09:

creepingnet wrote on 2022-04-14, 18:14:

I dunno why everybodys having so much trouble with old HDD....seems my apartment is a spawning ground for them..... […]
Show full quote

I dunno why everybodys having so much trouble with old HDD....seems my apartment is a spawning ground for them.....

This is what I have all still working ATM...
100MB 2.5" IDE 44 pin Seagate = Tandy 1000A - came out of NEC Ultralite Versa
250MB 2.5" IDE 44 pin IBM = loose - came out of my Versa 40EC
250MB 2.5" IDE 44 pin IBM = loose - came out of Versa M/75TC
250MB 2.5" IDE 44 pin Fujitsu = loose - came out of DFI MediaBook 9200M
340MB 2.5" IDE 44 pin IBM = loose - came out of Versa M/75CP - in my GEM 286 I might be parting with soon
540MB 2.5" IDE 44 Pin IBM = loose - came out of Versa P/75HC

And if you were wondering the Versa V/50 never had a HDD....all the Versas and the DFI have ATA-133 2.5" drives....I might not have the capacities right on these, I could just say I have GOBS of space. All of these were bought on e-bay for less than $10.
- Versa 40EC = 60GB ATA-133 2.5"
- Versa V/50 = 40GB ATA-133 2.5"
- Versa M/75 = 80GB ATA-133 2.5"
- Versa P/75 = 80GB ATA-133 2.5"
- DFI MediaBook = 80GB ATA-133 2.5"

And all those Versas get carried and knocked around and somehow none have bad sectors.

More old drives I've got still kicking around
- 3GB Seagate Barracuda out of NEC Ready 9522 - still lworks, no bad sectors
- 250MB Connor Peripherals in my Compaq Deskpro 386s/20 - still works, no bad sectors
- 8GB Seagate in my 486DX4-100 desktop - also still working great with no bad sectors
- 20-80GB ATA-133 drives, all still going....

I must be doing something right since day one too because I ran my first hard disk into the ground. It was a Maxtor 7120AT in a Flight 386SX (Kingspao) desktop. I ran that drive till it had no usable sectors left - got about 20-25 years out of it, on top of it being 10 years old when I got it.

Only ever had one MFM/RLL drive fail - ST241 in a GEM 386 DX-20 desktop - since then I've had them in a Deskpro 286 and an XT Clone I had in the olden days, those drives still worked when I sold them.

I have a fair number of sub 1GB drives (barely even tested these drives), but almost all of those are 3.5in. How silent are those 2.5in harddrives?

I'd say the deal with 2.5 drives is:

Track length being the product of 2 * π * radius, If you spin a hard disk at a certain x RPM, a larger platter will have significantly more m/s of track passing the head on its outer rim than a smaller one.
And it's more likely not to use the inner tracks below a certain radius. Therefore, all else being equal, it will be significantly faster on continuous read or write.
But, the smaller drive dealing with much less mass and inertia, based on the same mechanical sophistication, it's bound to be less noisy and maybe even have faster access times.

Now, the retro trick is to use a hard drive much younger than the system since limited speed won't matter if it still exceeds your controllers bandwidth.
That's why 2.5 drives will often be a less noisy, but otherwise optimal solution.

Although, with late 90s platforms, well, IIRC, they started to have the UDMA-66 controllers and took drives up to 128 GB. You'll be hard pressed to find any drive below 128 GB yet faster than 66, let alone a 2.5...
Many CF cards aren't all that fast, they just have virtually zero access time.

I really don't mind 2.5 drives, but putting the adapter to the 40 pin cable on them seems a really messy affair. So far I couldn't find any that appeared half way mechanically sound to me.

I've used Hitachi Travelstars in several of my rigs. 20GB, ATA-100 and manufacturing date of ±may 2005 which is significantly more recent than the rigs I used them in 🙂(P3 era).
Same thing I did with my 486, adding a 1GB IBM harddrive that was a couple years younger 😀
It was a good way to make rigs of this era seem more responsive (and usually more silent) before flash cards and SSDs became a thing.

20 gigs in itself is perhaps not that great (I'm pretty sure some would rather want 120GB or something), but it suffices for my needs as they are quiet and fast and just work.

I agree with what you say about the adapters, it's usually just a matter of being a bit creative but I usually ended up just having the flat IDE cable go upward from the adapter a bit as to kinda lift up the adapter to make it stay a bit more horizontal. I may just tie the cable up if I think it would be needed but usually it isn't.
I'd rather not want the adapter (along with the IDE cable) to sag over time.
I just checked my old Tualatin build, it's still horizontal 🙂

The adapter I used was a König Electronic 2.5 to 3.5 hard disk mount kit, though for my Tualatin rig I apparently went with a different 2.5 to 3.5 adapter (one with 2 separate brass-colored U-shaped metal thingies mounted to either side of the 2.5in drive and this assembly mounted into a 3.5in internal bay).
Can't remember why I used a different mounting thingy but possibly because it was either unfit for this particular case or because the mounting holes didn't align up perfectly with the 2.5in HDD but the 44p to 40p was definitely from this adapter kit.

Gmlb256 wrote on 2022-04-19, 22:12:

Like using a SSD on a modern computer as the boot drive. 😁

FWIW, I'm running a 7200RPM hard disk on an old computer without any big noises. SMARTDRV (and any other disk caching utility) in DOS can help to improve loading times if properly tuned.

I had been running mechanical harddrives as main drives till recently and SSDs are a real thing. Kinda make having a good amount of RAM somewhat redundant 😜
I find todays mechanical harddrives silent enough. I don't mind the coffee grinder noises some still make (like a certain WD Black I have) when doing reads and writes.
These days it's mostly fans that cause most constant noise, especially the HP I'm currently using (hey, it's literally the fastest I have and I got it for free, 🤣). It seems impossible to find a suitable 3rd party HSF to replace the tiny and obnoxiously loud stock GPU HSF (it's some OEM GF 1050).
I'm contemplating just moving the entire system to the Coolermaster Centurion 5 case I got from the pawn shop a couple weeks ago if only so it can have an actual improvement in the cooling department xD

But anyway, I'm still not gonna use SSDs for my old rigs any time soon because for my purposes the laptop drives are good enough for now.

Tetrium wrote on 2022-04-23, 19:02:

I had been running mechanical harddrives as main drives till recently and SSDs are a real thing. Kinda make having a good amount […]
Show full quote

I had been running mechanical harddrives as main drives till recently and SSDs are a real thing. Kinda make having a good amount of RAM somewhat redundant 😜
I find todays mechanical harddrives silent enough. I don't mind the coffee grinder noises some still make (like a certain WD Black I have) when doing reads and writes.
These days it's mostly fans that cause most constant noise, especially the HP I'm currently using (hey, it's literally the fastest I have and I got it for free, 🤣). It seems impossible to find a suitable 3rd party HSF to replace the tiny and obnoxiously loud stock GPU HSF (it's some OEM GF 1050).
I'm contemplating just moving the entire system to the Coolermaster Centurion 5 case I got from the pawn shop a couple weeks ago if only so it can have an actual improvement in the cooling department xD

But anyway, I'm still not gonna use SSDs for my old rigs any time soon because for my purposes the laptop drives are good enough for now.

I agree.

For older computers modern HDD are good enough and they can be adapted in several ways such as upgrading the motherboard BIOS if available and/or limiting the maximum capacity available (thru jumpers or software depending of the HDD model, the latter is much flexible when it comes to avoiding wasted capacity). Using ODD such as Ontrack Disk Manager also works to bypass the BIOS limitations but has some tradeoffs such as less conventional memory size available in DOS.

On my modern computer I'm still even using a one as secondary storage and don't even mind the HDD noise which is nothing compared to the fans noises despite having improvements over the time.