Pardon if this is off topic too far. We would like to replace the hard drive in a '93 vintage PC with one of those little IDE flash drives that plugs right into the mb connector. The first attempt failed. The bios is old enough that it won't auto-select the drive so the params have to be entered manually. Unfortunately the US dist doesn't understand the question on drive geometry. Does anyone know of an IDE flash drive that will work in an old pc (pre LBA capable)? Scott
OT? IDE flash drive in OLD pc.
Started by ●December 20, 2007
Reply by ●December 20, 20072007-12-20
On Thu, 20 Dec 2007 08:36:02 -0700, Not Really Me wrote:> Pardon if this is off topic too far. > > We would like to replace the hard drive in a '93 vintage PC with one of > those little IDE flash drives that plugs right into the mb connector. > > The first attempt failed. The bios is old enough that it won't > auto-select the drive so the params have to be entered manually. > Unfortunately the US dist doesn't understand the question on drive > geometry. > > Does anyone know of an IDE flash drive that will work in an old pc (pre > LBA capable)? > > ScottBy "us dist" you mean US distributor, or something else? Your post may mean something if it's the former. IDE drives automatically remap themselves to match what the BIOS thinks they are, so you just need a combination of tracks, cylinders, etc., to match the size of the drive -- there's no need to actually match the drive. -- Tim Wescott Control systems and communications consulting http://www.wescottdesign.com Need to learn how to apply control theory in your embedded system? "Applied Control Theory for Embedded Systems" by Tim Wescott Elsevier/Newnes, http://www.wescottdesign.com/actfes/actfes.html
Reply by ●December 20, 20072007-12-20
Not Really Me wrote:> Pardon if this is off topic too far. > > We would like to replace the hard drive in a '93 vintage PC with one of > those little IDE flash drives that plugs right into the mb connector. > > The first attempt failed. The bios is old enough that it won't auto-select > the drive so the params have to be entered manually. Unfortunately the US > dist doesn't understand the question on drive geometry. > > Does anyone know of an IDE flash drive that will work in an old pc (pre LBA > capable)?I've had good luck using Mesa Engineering IDE to CompactFlash adapters in very old PCs.
Reply by ●December 20, 20072007-12-20
"Tim Wescott" <tim@seemywebsite.com> wrote in message news:EsCdnfqRFpxKCvfanZ2dnUVZ_qHinZ2d@web-ster.com...> On Thu, 20 Dec 2007 08:36:02 -0700, Not Really Me wrote: > >> Pardon if this is off topic too far. >> >> We would like to replace the hard drive in a '93 vintage PC with one of >> those little IDE flash drives that plugs right into the mb connector. >> >> The first attempt failed. The bios is old enough that it won't >> auto-select the drive so the params have to be entered manually. >> Unfortunately the US dist doesn't understand the question on drive >> geometry. >> >> Does anyone know of an IDE flash drive that will work in an old pc (pre >> LBA capable)? >> >> Scott > > By "us dist" you mean US distributor, or something else? Your post may > mean something if it's the former. > > IDE drives automatically remap themselves to match what the BIOS thinks > they are, so you just need a combination of tracks, cylinders, etc., to > match the size of the drive -- there's no need to actually match the > drive. > > -- > Tim Wescott > Control systems and communications consulting > http://www.wescottdesign.com > > Need to learn how to apply control theory in your embedded system? > "Applied Control Theory for Embedded Systems" by Tim Wescott > Elsevier/Newnes, http://www.wescottdesign.com/actfes/actfes.htmlAmerican distributor. I also should have mentioned that small is ok. The first one we tried was 500 MByte. The app probably fits on a floppy...
Reply by ●December 20, 20072007-12-20
On Thu, 20 Dec 2007 08:36:02 -0700, I said, "Pick a card, any card" and "Not Really Me" <scott@validatedQWERTYsoftware.XYZZY.com> instead replied:>Pardon if this is off topic too far. > >We would like to replace the hard drive in a '93 vintage PC with one of >those little IDE flash drives that plugs right into the mb connector. > >The first attempt failed. The bios is old enough that it won't auto-select >the drive so the params have to be entered manually. Unfortunately the US >dist doesn't understand the question on drive geometry. > >Does anyone know of an IDE flash drive that will work in an old pc (pre LBA >capable)?What flavor of PC is it? Is it an XT? 286? 386? 486? Pentium? Does it even have an IDE port? You've left a lot of questions before you can expect an answer. -- Ray
Reply by ●December 20, 20072007-12-20
> >Does anyone know of an IDE flash drive that will work in an old pc (pre LBA > >capable)? > > What flavor of PC is it? Is it an XT? 286? 386? 486? Pentium? Does > it even have an IDE port? You've left a lot of questions before you > can expect an answer.To those familiar with ATA - who are the obvious addressees of the query - the question is clear enough. Apparently his PC works with CHS rather than LBA addressing. I was about to suggest looking into the CF-cards, since they look like ATA drives, but I did not know if there were any doing CHS. Apparently Jim Stewart has found some so the OP got what he needed, I guess. Dimiter ------------------------------------------------------ Dimiter Popoff Transgalactic Instruments http://www.tgi-sci.com ------------------------------------------------------ http://www.flickr.com/photos/didi_tgi/sets/72157600228621276/ On Dec 20, 8:22 pm, Ray Haddad <rhad...@iexpress.net.au> wrote:> On Thu, 20 Dec 2007 08:36:02 -0700, I said, "Pick a card, any card" > and "Not Really Me" <sc...@validatedQWERTYsoftware.XYZZY.com> > instead replied: > > >Pardon if this is off topic too far. > > >We would like to replace the hard drive in a '93 vintage PC with one of > >those little IDE flash drives that plugs right into the mb connector. > > >The first attempt failed. The bios is old enough that it won't auto-select > >the drive so the params have to be entered manually. Unfortunately the US > >dist doesn't understand the question on drive geometry. > > >Does anyone know of an IDE flash drive that will work in an old pc (pre LBA > >capable)? > > What flavor of PC is it? Is it an XT? 286? 386? 486? Pentium? Does > it even have an IDE port? You've left a lot of questions before you > can expect an answer. > -- > Ray
Reply by ●December 20, 20072007-12-20
On Thu, 20 Dec 2007 11:20:37 -0800 (PST), I said, "Pick a card, any card" and Didi <dp@tgi-sci.com> instead replied:>> >Does anyone know of an IDE flash drive that will work in an old pc (pre LBA >> >capable)? >> >> What flavor of PC is it? Is it an XT? 286? 386? 486? Pentium? Does >> it even have an IDE port? You've left a lot of questions before you >> can expect an answer. > > To those familiar with ATA - who are the obvious addressees of the >query - the question is clear enough.Where did you see any addressees? I must have missed that. When posting a technical question to a technical forum it is customary to give all the details required for a qualified answer. You seem to forget that this newsgroup is searchable on Google Groups meaning that without the qualifying parameters I requested the thread is useless as far as newsgroup conventions goes. Unless, of course, all details are provided in the query. Let's not forget about why newsgroups are here to begin with. -- Ray
Reply by ●December 20, 20072007-12-20
Ray Haddad wrote:> On Thu, 20 Dec 2007 11:20:37 -0800 (PST), I said, "Pick a card, any > card" and Didi <dp@tgi-sci.com> instead replied: > >>>> Does anyone know of an IDE flash drive that will work in an old pc (pre LBA >>>> capable)? >>> What flavor of PC is it? Is it an XT? 286? 386? 486? Pentium? Does >>> it even have an IDE port? You've left a lot of questions before you >>> can expect an answer. >> To those familiar with ATA - who are the obvious addressees of the >> query - the question is clear enough. > > Where did you see any addressees? I must have missed that. When > posting a technical question to a technical forum it is customary to > give all the details required for a qualified answer. > > You seem to forget that this newsgroup is searchable on Google > Groups meaning that without the qualifying parameters I requested > the thread is useless as far as newsgroup conventions goes. Unless, > of course, all details are provided in the query. > > Let's not forget about why newsgroups are here to begin with.From the original post, it seemed pretty clear to me that he needed some sort of IDE/ATA flash drive that was hardware compatible with a spinning drive and could be addressed by CHS. If you didn't get that, I would think that proper nettiquite would be to just chill out and let the cavalry handle it.
Reply by ●December 20, 20072007-12-20
On Thu, 20 Dec 2007 12:08:13 -0800, I said, "Pick a card, any card" and Jim Stewart <jstewart@jkmicro.com> instead replied:>Ray Haddad wrote: >> On Thu, 20 Dec 2007 11:20:37 -0800 (PST), I said, "Pick a card, any >> card" and Didi <dp@tgi-sci.com> instead replied: >> >>>>> Does anyone know of an IDE flash drive that will work in an old pc (pre LBA >>>>> capable)? >>>> What flavor of PC is it? Is it an XT? 286? 386? 486? Pentium? Does >>>> it even have an IDE port? You've left a lot of questions before you >>>> can expect an answer. >>> To those familiar with ATA - who are the obvious addressees of the >>> query - the question is clear enough. >> >> Where did you see any addressees? I must have missed that. When >> posting a technical question to a technical forum it is customary to >> give all the details required for a qualified answer. >> >> You seem to forget that this newsgroup is searchable on Google >> Groups meaning that without the qualifying parameters I requested >> the thread is useless as far as newsgroup conventions goes. Unless, >> of course, all details are provided in the query. >> >> Let's not forget about why newsgroups are here to begin with. > > From the original post, it seemed pretty clear >to me that he needed some sort of IDE/ATA flash >drive that was hardware compatible with a spinning >drive and could be addressed by CHS. If you >didn't get that, I would think that proper >nettiquite would be to just chill out and let >the cavalry handle it.Don't be so arrogant, mate. I knew what the question was but depending on the variety of motherboards out there, the answer will have been different. As I pointed out earlier, you and others here seem to be forgetting why USENET was started in the first place. Remember, he had tried a so-called working device which didn't work. Duh! If a device that worked elsewhere didn't work, more details are needed to determine why. Offering a device that worked for you is pointless. The cavalry is us. Not just you. Get over yourself and try to educate others here rather than demean. -- Ray
Reply by ●December 20, 20072007-12-20
