Intel486dx33 wrote on 2025-07-12, 14:13:

I would be using Ontrack to get over the partition size limitations.

I avoid Ontrack unless I absolutely must have LBA48 support in a DDO, which is never, except for that one time that I wanted to see if it supported it.
The older versions ( < 10) use proprietary partition types.
Newer versions ( >= 10 ) are resource intensive.

EzDrive is my goto. 9.09 has good Fat32 support, uses standard partition types, 32 bit access in dos, reasonable installer, etc. I just wish the installer didn't always require a format.

Okay, Also wha do you recommend as a Good VLB controller to use with Dual or three CF cards ?

Just a curious question: what is your reasoning for this setup as if you need more space, why not just switch to a new larger CF card? Take a backup of your current drive, setup a new larger CF with overlay software and basic dos installation and drop files from your backup in. In this way your setup is simpler and you have still two dedicated IDE channels, one for the HDD and the other for CDROM.

Plus my experience is that very few CF cards (or card readers) support adding a slave to them. They just want to be alone on the entire IDE channel.. otherwise they go crazy in different exciting ways.

Intel486dx33 wrote on 2025-07-12, 16:38:

Okay, Also wha do you recommend as a Good VLB controller to use with Dual or three CF cards ?

A Promise 20630 paired with the promise LBA bios would be nice.
Re: List of VLB IDE Controllers

A QDI 6580 would also be nice but they are a little harder to find. It has decent support in XUB (XTide) If you find one with a QDI BIOS 3.7, I would like to talk!!
Re: List of VLB IDE Controllers

I'd recommend a Promise 20230C because they are fast and easy to find and have good drivers and are supported natively by XUB (XTide) but the cards only have one high speed IDE header. ADi/2 is also nice but once again, only have one high speed IDE header.

douglar wrote on 2025-07-12, 19:54:

A Promise 20630 paired with the promise LBA bios would be nice. Re: List of VLB IDE Controllers […]
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Intel486dx33 wrote on 2025-07-12, 16:38:

Okay, Also wha do you recommend as a Good VLB controller to use with Dual or three CF cards ?

A Promise 20630 paired with the promise LBA bios would be nice.
Re: List of VLB IDE Controllers

A QDI 6580 would also be nice but they are a little harder to find. It has decent support in XUB (XTide) If you find one with a QDI BIOS 3.7, I would like to talk!!
Re: List of VLB IDE Controllers

I'd recommend a Promise 20230C because they are fast and easy to find and have good drivers and are supported natively by XUB (XTide) but the cards only have one high speed IDE header. ADi/2 is also nice but once again, only have one high speed IDE header.

Okay, But I want a card with two channels to support 4 ide devices.

CharlieFoxtrot wrote on 2025-07-12, 17:00:

Just a curious question: what is your reasoning for this setup as if you need more space, why not just switch to a new larger CF card? Take a backup of your current drive, setup a new larger CF with overlay software and basic dos installation and drop files from your backup in. In this way your setup is simpler and you have still two dedicated IDE channels, one for the HDD and the other for CDROM.

I want a second CF card to use as removable storage.

I have a 5x86 PC with two CF card, primary 64GB, and one i use as remobable 32GB, both with ontrack and works fine

Right now i have

primare IDE 64GB CF and IDE ZIP
Secondary IDE 32GB CF and CDROM

Intel486dx33 wrote on 2025-07-12, 20:30:

Okay, But I want a card with two channels to support 4 ide devices.

Then I'd stick with a Promise 20630 paired with the promise LBA bios (https://vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fileid=2018) or a QDI 6580 with XUB ( https://xtideuniversalbios.org/ )

That would provide the best mix of LBA support, PIO 4 support, and 2 channels. The promise 20630 can even do a limited form of MWDMA2.

But if you already have something else, give it a shot and see if it works for you.

p.s. if you can't find a VLB card with a rom socket, you can put the rom on any card.
So these are all options:

• Find an old ISA NIC that takes an Eprom and put the Promise or XUB rom on it.
• Get an XTIDE card with a spot for a rom. This will also give you an extra IDE channel for a CDROM if you only have one channel on your VLB card
• Buy or build a tiny 8 bit option rom card
• Use EZ drive 9.09 instead of Ontrack

p.p.s. just remember to enable rom shadowing for that memory address range if you use an option rom.