Using an Industrial Disk Module in a PowerMac - it's AWESOME!

Industrial disks on modules - neat little SSDs that come in tiny packages meant to fit directly into IDE or SATA motherboard connectors in industrial machinery - no bulky data cables required! But, how well do they work in old computers? Could they be a way better solution than CF card adapters? Not only are they faster, likely more reliable, and leave much more airflow room in the case - but they might even work out to be cheaper.

Let's install one, take a bunch of benchmarks against other modern retrocomputing IDE replacement solutions, and find out!

LINKS:

(Amazon links are affiliated)

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#Macintosh #Linux #PowerPC

[deejayqueue]

I think you saw such a close race between media when doing the OS install because you were bottlenecked by the CD drive.

[Gatewayuser]

The secret to successfully using CF cards as HDDs is to use industrial CF cards.

Industrial CF cards like the Transcend CF220I and Transcend CF170 are designed specifically with usage as a fixed disk in mind. The CF220I supports SMART, Global Wear-Leveling, UDMA1-5, PIO, and true IDE mode. These industrial compact flash cards are also seen as fixed disks, not removeable cards by operating systems. These cards are full on IDE SSDs in a CF card format. Datasheets are available online for both models.

The best part is that the CF220I uses SLC NAND for ultimate reliability. The CF170 uses MLC and comes in larger sizes. I use them with all my vintage computers builds. In everything from a Intel 386 to a Pentium 4 these Transcend cards have always worked well.

Trying to use CF cards meant for cameras is a an exercise in futility. They often have flaky UDMA implementations and will always be treated as removable media by operating systems newer than Windows 9x.

[deltarathedev]

I love how animated he is in these videos. You can tell he enjoys making this content and I enjoy watching. I don't have many old Macs, just one iBook G4, but I really do love the retrospective videos on older hardware.

[leedogg]

5:54 love the Doug Score reference lol

[zoomzabba]

Coming from the OG Xbox modding scene, we only use 80 conductor IDE cables for SATA adapter to reduce cross talk. Systems often won't boot if we use the OEM 40.

[stanguay]

And then, we will give it a Doug Score!! :) LOL! Nice one!

[joemama]

Its cool to see Hardware im working with on a daily basis be so beloved on a Macintosh youtube channel, loved the video

[MichaelAStanhope]

Finally got an SSD to work in that damn iMac! I've seen these modules on eBay and Amazon and was thinking myself of trying them in a few vintage machines, mostly PC's since you get the smaller 512mb and 1gb modules to replace the hard drives in the older machines. Glad to see it works on Mac's, and if it works on those, then i'm sure it will work on an old Pentium PC!

[staz]

Nice to see the quirks and features of this solution :)

[leeteauk]

I use a CF adaptor for my g3 wallstreet (with a broken hinge ): ) Its cheap, reliable and easy to set up due to its high compatibility and is always better than a failing hard disk

[richardestes]

First time I saw one of those DoM IDE devices was when LGR built his single-board 486. Fascinating concept.

[CACressida]

I was looking at my lunch when I heard "doug score" and I had to do a double take. Thanks for the insight on this module. Im going to buy a bunch for my old macs.

[ShoelessJP]

"And then we'll give it a Dougscore" nice reference to Daddy Doug there!

[jlj]

You should try using an IDE extension cable for the iMac. The DOM should be able to just plug into the cable and that way there will be room for the optical drive too.

[MegaManNeo]

Those HP Thinclients also use those modules.
I kept mine around in case it could be of use again, otherwise I replaced it with a card reader to install Windows 98 or XP onto it.

[emilianotechs]

I REALLY appreciate the sponsor mention up front. Not sure why exactly but it seems honest, lol

[junktionfet]

I've never taken the time to look into what these modules were all about, but now I wish I had! Great tutorial and information here. I suspect I'll order 1 or 2 of these to play with. Also, nice "Doug Score" reference 🤣

[cjhawk]

Great thing about those DOMs are you can hit them for years with read and writes without missing a beat where you would have corruption and need to reformat a CF card multiple times to use one heavily for years.

[jaybrooks]

DOM emulates a spinning drive so it makes sense that they work on mac. The sizes are relatively small and most are eide you will still have some compatibility issues. They are slow. Which is fine on a water jet machine or a milling machine because they often use 486’s

[marksmith]

You missed an opportunity to use Doug score sound ;-) I used these for DOS 6.22 & Windows 2000. Running windows requires sending temp files to another drive to prevent wearout of the media. Don't know how Max OS handles temp files, but it is something to watch.