Worth replacing hard drive with Cf card on PIO-4 speed only?

michaelweaser

I am wondering if it's worth replacing the hard drive on a old laptop with something that is PIO-4 only, or just keep with a hard drive? I know that PIO-4 is only 16.7 MB/S . I know that Cf card can be faster than that. I was either going to put a CF card in it, or put a faster ide laptop drive in it, that's faster than 16.7 MB/S. I was told to use at least a 110x speed Cf card, But shouldn't I go a bit faster so the read and write is slightly faster than 16.7 MB/S if it is worth doing it?

db2

I'm of the mindset that it's almost always worth replacing old hard drives with CF cards and appropriate adapters (assuming legitimate SSDs aren't available for the system). Not only is there the difference in speed (major savings with the elimination of seek time), but you also have to consider that it will run quieter, cooler, and consume less power. Installing a 4 GB CF card in my Libretto 50CT was a HUGE improvement, especially since I hadn't yet upgraded it to 32 MB RAM. Win 95 runs almost entirely on swap at 16 MB.

michaelweaser

db2 wrote:

I'm of the mindset that it's almost always worth replacing old hard drives with CF cards and appropriate adapters (assuming legitimate SSDs aren't available for the system). Not only is there the difference in speed (major savings with the elimination of seek time), but you also have to consider that it will run quieter, cooler, and consume less power. Installing a 4 GB CF card in my Libretto 50CT was a HUGE improvement, especially since I hadn't yet upgraded it to 32 MB RAM. Win 95 runs almost entirely on swap at 16 MB.

They did actually make 2.5" SSD IDE one point in time and still might be available today

The ones back then were like a SSD that they have now, But the actual IDE ones you can get now , I believe they are possibly just a Cf to IDE in a enclosure , I keep finding online , on amazon and chinese websites enclosures like the above picture that are a enclosure with a CF to IDE adaptor in it. They are usually sold on websites like ebay, probably using a industrial Cf card, that are designed to be used on with IDE and not removable.

db2

Yeah, I figure parallel ATA SSDs probably aren't worth the hassle to track down, since most old operating systems you'd be running on such machines likely don't support TRIM anyway. It's usually easier - and just as effective - to buy an adapter and big CF card when dealing with older stuff.

Alixnator

It would be defiantly a good choice to put a CF card as an HDD. I have a Macbook Air mid 2013 with an SSD (or basically a CF card) that has lasted longer than my first PC's HDD. The old PC's HDD only lasted for two years. My Macbook has survived for at this point 3 years working perfectly since the day I got it; December 25, 2013. Plus also, usually CF cards are cheaper than mechanical HDD's (and faster!), (and the price ranges higher depending on how large the CF card is).

I'd recommend a CF card with at least (depending on the OS being larger / smaller) anything newer than Windows XP be at least 40 GB, and anything older be at least 15 - 20 GB.