SSD all the way IMHO.

Cheaper, faster and more reliable.

For slow 486 and Pentiums, CF is more than enough and removes a lot of compatibility issues using more modern solutions.

For Pentium II and above era, SSD (as in, mSATA/M2 with IDE adapter, IDE SSD, IDE DOM) will provide a nice boost in performance over a mechanical HD. Having said that I'm still using a "fast" 32GB CF in a Tualatin Pentium III and it's also great.

Here is another option : Here's an idea: using high endurance (micro)SD cards meant for continuous video recording as storage for retro gear .

cyclone3d wrote on 2022-03-20, 03:19:

SSD all the way IMHO.

Cheaper, faster and more reliable.

Yup. But let's make sure the models are not older than 4 years or so. 😀
Using old SSDs from, say, 2011 just because they fit retro PCs capacity-wise isn't the most wise decision. 😉

Because, SSD technology advances quickly. Garbage collection/drive management (internal housekeeping) etc.
So old SSDs may or may not run badly on DOS/9x/XP/OS X..
If only SLC was still being used, however..
Gratefully, certain modern models do have an optional "SLC mode".

Edit: I was generally speaking only.
There used to be SSDs with better controllers in ~2011, too.

darry wrote on 2022-03-20, 04:39:

Here is another option : Here's an idea: using high endurance (micro)SD cards meant for continuous video recording as storage for retro gear .

Interesting, I hadn't considered SD cards. I'll take a look at that.

Jo22 wrote on 2022-03-20, 07:40:

Yup. But let's make sure the models are not older than 4 years or so. 😀

That was going to be my next question, if there is any consideration as to what specific SSDs might be a good choice. 😀

Shponglefan wrote on 2022-03-20, 14:57:

Jo22 wrote on 2022-03-20, 07:40:

Yup. But let's make sure the models are not older than 4 years or so. 😀

That was going to be my next question, if there is any consideration as to what specific SSDs might be a good choice. 😀

My best experiences in terms of compatibility with old IDE controllers have been with current Samsung SSDs and old Sandforce based SSDs .

I experimented with a very temperamental multitrack recorder a while back. While this is not a PC, it does highlight potential incompatibilities . Using a vintage multi-track recorder as a mixer, namely the Roland VS-880EX - might apply to other Roland VS- units

darry wrote on 2022-03-20, 15:26:

My best experiences in terms of compatibility with old IDE controllers have been with current Samsung SSDs and old Sandforce based SSDs .

So something like a Samsung EVO 870 should be fine? I have a couple of those on hand, so I might just go that route if they'll work.

At some point I wrote an imaginary book in my head “How I stopped caring and learned to love ANY silent disk solutions”. I was like this, had to have the SSD because “it was fast” or “it has garbage collection”. To my great sadness, in practice there was no apparent speed difference when I loaded those same machines from SD card or CF. And I’ve extensively used SD or CF solutions in the years past, none of them have shown any sign of slowness or degradation in practice. For DOS and Windows 98 it simply didn’t matter.

So I say just go with whatever is cheapest flash solution available. The one you use will depend on the situation. SD solutions don’t appear to allow master slave solutions, so I use CF on those, and SD otherwise. There is a $20-ish dollar 5 pack Microcenter 32gb SD card pack on Amazon that has been absolutely fantastic on Windows 98 for me.

If you want speed, then an SSD is the way to go. You can get 16GB NGFF sata devices on ebay for less than $10 in the US these days. Pair them with an NGFF-PATA 2.5"case and a 44 to 40 pin adapter and you have a very fast & compatible device.

But CF adapters are nice if you expect to do any sort of "sneaker-net" transfers with contemporary builds.

My testing with an Nforce-2 controller at UDMA6 speeds had these scores:

164GB Intel i320 Sata SSD:  0.08ms random seek - 84MB/s linear read - 30MB/s write speed
216GB KingspecBR NGFF Sata: 0.12ms random seek - 74MB/s linear read - 86MB/s write speed
32GB Topram Industrial CF:  0.30ms random seek - 25MB/s linear read - 7MB/s write speed
48GB Hyperdisk DOM:         0.39ms random seek - 27MB/s linear read - 12.4MB/s write speed
5128GB Samsung EX SD:       0.48ms random seek - 23MB/s linear read - 18MB/s write speed
616GB Lexar 1066x CF:       0.70ms random seek - 19MB/s linear read - 8 MB/s write speed
76.4GB Quantum Fireball EX: 10.4ms random seek - 13MB/s linear read - 12.5 MB/s write speed

Either way, for Win98, consider adding "ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1" to your system.ini to reduce unnecessary swap file usage.