CF if tried and tested, It's what I use.
SD also seems to be getting more popular

I use a SATA adaptor in my xbox which in some ways is more sensitive then a PC as loading to the dash is timed and that split extra second some adaptors take causes trouble, Where as a PC is a lot more forgiving.
Most (if any) wont do anything for size limitations, its simply changing IDE to SATA, of course you could use drive overlay to have a massive sata drive usable in a 486 if you wanted.

There are multiple choices. Some have been named, though I will put them in my list as well.

- CF cards.
- SD to CF card adaptor in CF to IDE. Yes they excist, have not seen them named on Vogons before.
- DOM modules. (Disk on module)
- SD card's.
- Micro drives (slow)

Of course you can source old IDE drives, or you can use SCSI. Most of it are old, unreliable, expensive or will not last forever.

There are also SD -> IDE, without need of SD -> CF. However, at the moment only sellers in China sell them, but they are about the same price as a CF -> IDE adapter.

For me, SD cards are more ubiquitous (less cost) than CF.

I used CF cards in the past, but these days I've moved to SD cards with an IDE to SD adapter and that works great for me.

But like said before me, there are lots of options, which is a great thing 😀

dexvx wrote:

For me, SD cards are more ubiquitous (less cost) than CF.

I wouldn't recommend using SD cards as a hard disk replacement, as they are slow and have a very short life time. CF cards are much more durable/reliable. And, as already written, CF cards are native IDE/ATA, so there's no signal or protocol conversion involved.

The only issue you may find is that many CF cards don't have the fixed disk bit set and most BIOSes from 1994 and earlier won't boot from removable media. DOMs are a good alternative in such a case.

They're not as resilient as SSDs designed for heavier write cycles, but they would be fine in any situation where disk swapping wasn't a factor.

Thanks for all the info so far.

Here are a couple more questions.

1. CF card vs SSD durability? Is it really going to matter? I do have a few SSDs laying around and will probably end up using them before I move to CF if I ever do.

2. Are there any IDE to SATA adapters that are better than the cheap Chinese ones? The cheap Chinese ones are about $2 each. I can get some fancier ones that have LEDs and possibly a different chipset (JMicron 20330) on them for $3.25 a piece if I buy a lot of 6. What chipset do the cheap Chinese ones use? I can't tell from any of the pictures I could find.

2. Anybody ever tried a 500GB IDE HDD on a 486 setup? I have a WD one. I am still waiting on hardware to get here so I can't test myself yet. I know it would be totally pointless. I probably couldn't find enough software I would want to run on a 486 that would fill up a 500GB drive.

3. What drive overlay would be the best?

The cheap IDE to SATA adapters are fine.

For the time being I'm just using Drive Caddies on my 486 and soon my Tandy 1000 (and maybe the 286 as well) filled with bigger than normal hard disks.

Tandy 1000 = 8GB WD EIDE
GEM 286 = 540MB EIDE w/ DDO
486 = see below...
15GB = MS-DOS 6.22/WFWG 3.11
20GB = Windows 95 OSR2 C
40GB = Windows 98 SE
80GB = have not decided yet but leaning towards Windows 2000 Professional