DOS-based Dynamic Drive Overlay disk (was: SERIOUS need of)

[glitch]

A little late, but if you're still in need of a generic DDO, I just got a huge pile of floppies in this week and there are several revisions of the Quantum OnTrack Disk Manager. I'm not sure if it will support a machine that old, but I seem to remember using it to upgrade the hard drive in my Compaq 286/SLT laptop many years ago. I'm currently using it with my Gateway HandBook.

Speaking of which, if you don't have an objection to using something modern, CF -> IDE converters are the way to go for replacing old laptop drives. All of my old machines use them nowadays (including the HandBook). As long as you don't do memory swapping to disk (i.e. DOS) the writes to the CF card will be very low. I've also found that the availability of small-size CF cards makes for a good replacement since you can simulate a hard disk size that would be time-appropriate for the model you've got.

 

[leeb]

A little late, but if you're still in need of a generic DDO, I just got a huge pile of floppies in this week and there are several revisions of the Quantum OnTrack Disk Manager. I'm not sure if it will support a machine that old, but I seem to remember using it to upgrade the hard drive in my Compaq 286/SLT laptop many years ago. I'm currently using it with my Gateway HandBook.

Speaking of which, if you don't have an objection to using something modern, CF -> IDE converters are the way to go for replacing old laptop drives. All of my old machines use them nowadays (including the HandBook). As long as you don't do memory swapping to disk (i.e. DOS) the writes to the CF card will be very low. I've also found that the availability of small-size CF cards makes for a good replacement since you can simulate a hard disk size that would be time-appropriate for the model you've got.

YES, I would be QUITE interested in the software... Until I establish WITHOUT doubt that I cannot do anything else, I will try any/all variations! (1.44, I hope?) :D

And on the subject of CF cards... how do they show up regarding BIOS parameters? Can/could they be forced to respond as a 615/4/17 20mb drive (in case the BIOS re-write is not possible)? That would be a GREAT alternative to kludgy older units even if the size limitation remains!

 

[glitch]

I'll see if I can't image the disks for you over the weekend. PM me with an e-mail address I can send them to -- I haven't quite gotten around to setting up a FTP server for my (growing) software image archive!

I've had pretty good luck with just letting the BIOS think the card is what it wants...usually, as long as none of the C/H/S parameters exceed what's actually available with the card, it's fine and the extra space is ignored. Plugging a 1 GB card into the 386 laptop I've got works, and it has fixed BIOS definitions for hard disks like your machine does.

If the BIOS supports user-defined C/H/S, CF cards work just fine at full capacity (or whatever your system supports as a max). The Compact Flash standard is an extension of the PCMCIA standard, so CF cards that support it (most older cards and a lot of new cards) will operate in a native IDE mode -- the converter is literally a circuit board to match connectors. With the really large CF cards that have come out lately, a lot of manufacturers have started disabling IDE mode (SanDisk is a great example) to force people into buying Solid State Disk products rather than using cheap CF cards -- this is mostly a non-issue when refitting vintage machines, since 1 GB cards are usually more than enough.

 

[leeb]

Will do!
I have found an extremely inexpensive adapter on ebay... I may order 'a few' of them and even use one of them in my 4p (CP/M)...

 

[glitch]

I ended up ordering 5 of them last time I needed one. They're so cheap, it's worth it to always have some extras around.

 

[archeocomp]

A little late, but if you're still in need of a generic DDO, I just got a huge pile of floppies in this week and there are several revisions of the Quantum OnTrack Disk Manager. I'm not sure if it will support a machine that old, but I seem to remember using it to upgrade the hard drive in my Compaq 286/SLT laptop many years ago. I'm currently using it with my Gateway HandBook.

A little late me I would too be interested in the software. I plan to equip my SIEMENS 286 laptop with bigger drive.

 

[emotionalamoeba]

I can confirm with a Compaq SLT 286 that has the CMOS battery fix, I used a 4GB SD card in an SD 2 IDE adaptor (https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08R79X2RK), it needed 12v and 5v from the original power connector to its FDD connector before it would be recognized, looking at the motherboard the pins are GND, +12v, +5v in left to right order. Then used the OnTrack version 9 boot floppy (https://winworldpc.com/product/ontrack-disk-manager/9x) to set up 2x 2GB partitions and install DOS 5.0. So far all working.