Why not go for a compact flash card and a 44 pin ide adapter?

lolo799 wrote on 2026-04-03, 10:07:

Why not go for a compact flash card and a 44 pin ide adapter?

Windows 95 would quickly wear out any CF card because of the number of writes it performs on the disk during operation. CF cards are great but only for DOS.

heretyk wrote on 2026-04-03, 07:43:

What kind of HDD is required for this laptop? Original 815MB drive is 8.45mm thick and probably standard 9.5mm drives won't fit. I read that there are also BIOS capacity limitations.
I was about to buy standard IBM Travelstar 10GB hard drive as a replacement but I have doubts if I just waste money.

If you want to stick with a real hard drive, the Toshiba Libretto 50CT has a limitation with that - the drive height must be 8.5mm rather than 9.5mm. Squeezing in a 9.5mm will squash the drive. The Libretto 70CT had the case expanded a bit to fit 9.5mm drives.

They're limited to 8.4GB max as far as I'm aware, personally I'd stick to around 2GB to keep it period correct. Only Toshiba made drives of this height.

Here's some Toshiba 8.5mm drives that would work: MK2109MAT, MK4309MAT, MK4313MAT

heretyk wrote on 2026-04-03, 10:18:

lolo799 wrote on 2026-04-03, 10:07:

Why not go for a compact flash card and a 44 pin ide adapter?

Windows 95 would quickly wear out any CF card because of the number of writes it performs on the disk during operation. CF cards are great but only for DOS.

Not all CF form factors are actually flash.

If you need spinning rust, look for old 1st gen iPods to steal a microdrive out of. 😁

An MP3 player would be better served by a flash card anyway, which is what most people with those old players *do*. If your libretto needs rust, it's hard to get thinner and smaller.

heretyk wrote on 2026-04-03, 10:18:

Windows 95 would quickly wear out any CF card because of the number of writes it performs on the disk during operation. CF cards are great but only for DOS.

Right, but how long will that take with semi regular use?
What for do you want to use the Libretto?