LGR - 486 Update! Installing CompactFlash Storage

at least there tech that can make old PC be like a new PC

Very interesting :D

floverSaeu09

I have an adapter in a drawer somewhere with a conspicuous no name CF card which I was intending on using in my Compaq Prolinea but I have had to retire that machine for a while due to space issues. I have a lot of laptops though, and this might be a good idea for them. I find that old 2.5" IDE drives have a habit of dying more so than your standard 3.5", maybe a potential upgrade for the Armada sometime in the future!

Dan Milner

As discussed at 3 minutes into the video, CF is natively supported by older machines with no specialty hardware required, making it the cheaper and easier solution. SD cards require a specially-made interface since it's not compatible with older PCs at the BIOS level, and those will run you anywhere from $60 to $150 or so, whereas CF is like 2 bucks for the adapter. Come to think of it, I'm not even sure there's a dedicated SD card interface for older PC hard disks at all, I mostly see them for floppy drive emulation.

LGR

Is there a specific reason to use CF over something like SD? I have about 6 older PCs that I need to get running for various things, and they all need updated HDDs. If I can safely go with SD, it seems like it'll be a bit cheaper, but if CF has a good reason, I'll spend the extra cash on it.

Zem Hysong

Good ol' Amazon <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Syba-Compact-Adapter-Enclosure-SD-ADA45006/dp/B0036DDXUM" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com/Syba-Compact-Adapter-Enclosure-SD-ADA45006/dp/B0036DDXUM</a>

LGR

It did! I actually have three identical doodads, and showed several of them throughout the video. One of them had bent pins and I didn't realize while filming.

LGR

Where did you get the one for the 2.5" laptop? I have an old IBM T42 that I want to repurpose for Windows 98, and this would be the perfect solution. Thanks

Martin Ravensholt

I actually have a similar adapter for SD to 2.5" IDE for my old Win95 laptop. I still haven't figured out a way to expand the partition size without making it unbootable, but it works!

aetherspoon

That's true! I guess when I'm referring to not having experience with CF, I'm referring to the IBM PC-compatible platform specifically :)

LGR

Thanks, Jason!

LGR

Tyrian is amazing, been one of my favorites since I was a kid! And I like putting it in my videos too since Alexander Brandon, the composer for its soundtrack, watches my videos and comments when I mention it ;)

LGR

You know it.

LGR

Indeed, and I'm glad CF is such an cheap conversion to IDE! Custom SD card solutions are nice too, but this whole thing cost me like 5 bucks.

LGR

It is nice that we have modern solutions to older PC platforms. Because let's face it, IDE hard drives are getting finite in terms of availability and working-ness.

The Enforcer

Of course your desktop wallpaper is woodgrain. Why would it not be lol

Terminally Nerdy

Great choice of test games. Jazz Jackrabbit has always been one of my favorite games, and Keen is way up there too. I never played too much of Tyrian until I got older, but it's got such a great soundtrack.

Zem Hysong

Man, everything you put out is relaxing and informative. So good.

Jason Dupree

Remember you've got an A1200 with sweet compact flash access speeds too (and lots of games on it). :D Also lately I replaced a part of my dream retro PC too ! Not the 160 GB Hitachi 7200 RPM hard drive, but I replaced a noisy GeForce 4 Ti4200 with a GeForce 4 Ti4800 for 15 € (would have cost 250 € when it was new !). Not only it makes Serious Sam The First Encounter look very good and play great, but with a little bit of work to remove the dust it is now very quiet. :)

Maximilien Noal

Incredibly simple, you just plug it into any card reader and it shows up as a drive!

LGR

I learned something new today! Seems like a good fix to replace a very noisy hard drive. Is it easier to transfer files to and from other computers using this flash storage, or not too much different?

Lindsay Michelle

I mentioned the storage limit twice in the video, and yes it is limited to 2GB per partition

LGR

Is it just me, or did your doodad have a couple of bent pin thingys?

Ant Field

Great video! I was curious, I didn't see any mention of file-storage limits. It looks like you used MS-DOS 6.22 in the video. Doesn't that only support FAT16, with a 2Gb limit?

Sanguine Games

I tend to hum Monkey Island music while installing DOS. :D But man, I've not been successful with my Compaq Prolinea desktop that doesn't work with either of the three CF readers I got, hence the mail I sent you last year about the motherload of IBM and Compaq floppies you got. I think I need to build a proper classic 386 or 486 like your Woodgrain eventually.

Anders Enger Jensen

Oh my goodness, that wobbly table at the end scared the crap out of me, like "dude, be careful, what if the Woodgrain falls off" xD

I've had good luck using the CF cards in old MS-DOS laptops. However, it's a pity there are no cheap solutions for XT style computers... As you mentioned at the end, there's the XT-IDE, but it costs a lot more.

The 8-Bit Guy

I vaguely recall hearing that compact flash directly conforms to the IDE standard (I was once shown a CF card that contained an actual spinner magnetic platter, it was early in the Cf storage days) so it makes the adapters easier to engineer. SD cards have to emulate IDE which makes the adapters more expensive and slower in certain workloads.

SNDTST

Is there a particular reason why CompactFlash is used so much for old retro stuff given the other memory format solutions out there? I just find it odd considering how expensive CompactFlash tends to be.

Kris Asick

Glad you enjoyed it!

LGR

On modern machines, yes, I hate any kind of noise coming from the tower. But on a vintage machine where I'm trying to replicate exactly the experience from like, 1991, and am only going to be using it because of those limitations? It's a must.

LGR

Honestly...I do not miss harddrives. The seeking noise is somehwat pleasent but the spinning noise was always headache inducing. SSDs, sound dampened cases and low noise fans are the way to go...

This, was amazing. thank you

neat

Dude

I have consumed the Content in its full resolution, it was very tasty!

Goes all the way up to 2160p, 4K is fun :)

LGR

1440p? Sweet baby Jebus.

Mmmm this is some Druaga1 type stuff. Can't wait to watch when I get home.

Contreramanjaro