Classic 8X Plain IDE CD-ROM Drives

[EverStaR]

Where can you find these in new like looking condition - need a pair of white ones for the 2 486 DX2 66's I have. How fast did they get before they went ATA?

 

[T-R-A]

Think you mean "SATA".
I remember buying 52X IDE..LGR has a YouTube video on a Kenwood 72X truespeed CD-ROM.

 

[twolazy]

I'll look through my hoarde and see if I have 2 that match, I should...

 

[Anonymous Coward]

Not really sure what is meant by "plain IDE".
I think I heard there exist IDE CD-ROM drives that are not ATAPI, though I've never encountered one. Perhaps this is what the poster is looking for?

 

[krebizfan]

Most of the pre-ATAPI CDROMs has vendor specific interfaces so getting a match between drive and system might take some searching.
New ATAPI CDROM drives still seem to be available. SATA didn't kick in for optical drives until about the mid-2000s so there should be a huge stockpile of ATAPI drives out there.

 

[Timo W.]

I assume he means "plain" as in "no DVD, no burner".

 

[twolazy]

OK so I have 2 24x and 1 32x Teacs drives. 1 of the 24s has some weathering on the chassis, and volume wheel is black. The 32 has a different faceplate but grey volume wheel, and the faceplates do interchange. So I can have a matching 24x and 32x if they are up your alley. All drives work great.

Correction, seems the 32x has the led in a different spot, so faceplate will NOT interchange.

 

[hunterjwizzard]

There exist a limited number of 72x drives, but these are rare and quite expensive. The fastest easily-available are 56x.

Finding a drive that is pure CD or pure DVD is a bit of a challenge, but they can be had for $20 or so. Getting two that match perfectly may be a challenge, especially in like-new condition. You may need to retro-bright the front panels.

 

[Timo W.]

It's not that much of a challenge. Just look for "job lots" on ebay. This is a good way to get multiple ones at once. And as for "new like looking condition", all they can do is yellowing, but that rarely happens. I've not yet seen a CD-ROM drive with any signs of wear; I mean, some dust aside or dirt you can just wipe off.

I would try to get a drive as slow as possible. 8x is probably already starting to be too much for a DX2/66, depending on the interface used for IDE (VLB/PCI is fine, ISA is not). Issue is, if the CPU can not handle the data as fast as delivered by the drive, the CD will constantly spin down, up, down again and so on. That makes it slower than using a 4x.

 

[twolazy]

Personally I use 24x cdroms on anything under a P100. Max read speed is usually unobtainium. I suggest not going faster then 32x though, as streaming early game videos will sometimes stutter. On my 486, I have a 2x creative, and a 32x teac.

 

[EverStaR]

Definitely not looking for SATA. Looks like I what I was asking for was a an early ATA Drive to work with my motherboard, however, I did pickup some Promise Controllers that can do Up to ultra 66. I might however prefer not to use those and eat up a PCI slot How much for the two 32x drives and are they early ATA or require the 80 Wire Cables?

For fun, GPT's definition;

The distinction between "IDE" and "ATA" in terms of wire count primarily relates to the transition from the original IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics), which is essentially early ATA (AT Attachment), to the more defined ATA standards, including both PATA (Parallel ATA) and SATA (Serial ATA). Here's how the wire count varies across these interfaces:

Original IDE (Early ATA)​

• The original IDE interface, which is synonymous with early ATA standards, used a 40-pin connector. This interface was designed for connecting hard drives and later CD-ROM drives to the computer motherboard. The 40-pin connector was standard for IDE/ATA interfaces up to ATA-1 through ATA-5 (Ultra ATA/33 or Ultra DMA/33).

PATA (Parallel ATA)​

• As the ATA standard evolved, it retained the 40-pin connector for compatibility. However, to support higher data transfer rates and reduce signal interference, an 80-conductor cable was introduced with the ATA/ATAPI-4 standard (Ultra ATA/66). This cable still used a 40-pin connector, but half of the wires were dedicated to grounding to reduce crosstalk between the data lines. The 80-conductor cable was used for all subsequent PATA standards (up to ATA/ATAPI-7), supporting higher data transfer rates (Ultra ATA/100 and Ultra ATA/133).

SATA (Serial ATA)​

• The SATA standard, which succeeded PATA, significantly reduced the number of wires needed for connection by moving to a serial communication protocol. SATA uses a 7-pin connector, a substantial reduction from the 40-pin connector used in PATA. This change facilitated smaller cables, improved airflow within computer cases, and supported higher data transfer rates starting from 150 MB/s (SATA 1.0) to 600 MB/s (SATA 3.0), with further enhancements in subsequent versions.

In summary, the original IDE (early ATA) and PATA used a 40-pin connector, with PATA later adopting an 80-conductor cable to support higher data rates without changing the pin count. SATA dramatically reduced the wire count to a 7-pin connector, streamlining the interface and supporting higher speeds.

 

[Timo W.]

No ATA CD-ROM drive I know ever needed a 80-pin cable, as UDMA-66 would only be needed for a 450x speed drive. Obviously, these don't exist.

But as I said earlier, stay away from fast drives. A DX2-66 simply can't handle that. 4x is perfect and peroid correct, 8x is most likely the limit. Everything faster won't be fun to use. There is software to slow faster drives down, but that does not always work and it's kind of pointless anyway, unless fast drives are all you have,

 

[hunterjwizzard]

Definitely not looking for SATA. Looks like I what I was asking for was a an early ATA Drive to work with my motherboard, however, I did pickup some Promise Controllers that can do Up to ultra 66. I might however prefer not to use those and eat up a PCI slot How much for the two 32x drives and are they early ATA or require the 80 Wire Cables?

I use 40 pin cables all the time on modern(ish) systems when I'm too lazy to find an 80 pin.

 

[EverStaR]

So yeah, I am back to 8X drives. That's what the Gateways came to me with. They will seldom be used anyway!

 

[Unknown_K]

PATA is what you want for systems that are DMA capable and should use 80 pin ribbon cables.

For early systems like high end 386 or 486 I just use SCSI drives (Plextor or Teac) if available since SCSI doesn't use up much processor time.

There are or were tons of CDROM drives labeled Creative that were upgrades for systems that didn't have a CD-ROM from the factory or a soundcard (they came in a bundle with the CDROM interfacing with the sound card. Reveal also sold a million of those kits.

These days finding a beige non-CDR drive is kind of hard and you will probably run into issues reading CDR or CDRW media with the earliest ones.

 

[hunterjwizzard]

They're not actually that tough to find, its just slower-speed ones that have become rare. I imagine a lot of users were like me and thought "bah! I'll never need this 8x drive! Long live the 56xs!"

 

[Unknown_K]

I tend to keep the old drives if they are working and when people are scrapping machines I tend to snag parts if I can for spares. The thing is I snag what I think I might need, not excess to sell when they get rare.

When the early PPC macs were being scrapped I snagged a bunch of the SCSI CDROM drives (beige no markings 2x-12x speed depending on the machine you snagged it from)

 

[EverStaR]

I have thought about a SCSI controller, I still have a SCSI HD laying around. But, maybe I will just see if I can find some new face plates or restore the ones I have. Part of the fun is searching too, I will at some point have at least 4 systems to sell, 2 extra souped up 486's and 2 XP Core Duos, maybe, you never know. Relearning, some mods, makes for fun times!

 

[hunterjwizzard]

Did they ever make any 486s that took ATX PSUs?

 

[twolazy]

There are ISA atx backplanes available if you wish to go that route