Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum

Main => Buy/Sell/Trade - non-retail => Topic started by: paigeoliver on September 26, 2003, 06:53:11 am

Title: Anyone want to donate a small hard drive
Post by: paigeoliver on September 26, 2003, 06:53:11 am
I just got a computer to use for my Battlezone project. The only problem is that it has like a 6 gig hard drive, which is in my opinion a total waste for a system that is going to only have DOS, mame, and the bzone rom.

So, does anyone have an old hard drive laying around that they feel like mailing to me.
Title: Re:Anyone want to donate a small hard drive
Post by: SirPeale on September 26, 2003, 08:45:38 am
LOL!  I've been wondering the same thing.  I've got TWO old 80M drives.  Both working when I put them away, both dead now from unknown causes.
Title: Re:Anyone want to donate a small hard drive
Post by: tmasman on September 26, 2003, 09:53:32 am
Here's a 840MB drive about to end for $6.50 shipped (Not DOA)...
Just a thought...
Ebay Auction (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2755268427&category=168)
Title: Re:Anyone want to donate a small hard drive
Post by: abrannan on September 26, 2003, 10:01:49 am
Will the system boot from CD?  You might be able to get away with a small RAMdrive for any writing the needs to be done and boot from CD.


Or possibly even strip out all of the extra drivers from MAME and see if you can get it to fit on a floppy.
Title: Re:Anyone want to donate a small hard drive
Post by: SirPeale on September 26, 2003, 11:05:05 am
Here's a 840MB drive about to end for $6.50 shipped (Not DOA)...
Just a thought...
Ebay Auction (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2755268427&category=168)

Man, I'm tempted...but I'm gonna pass for now.

Did include his store in my favorites, though.
Title: Re:Anyone want to donate a small hard drive
Post by: Aceldamor on September 26, 2003, 11:18:10 am
You could set your bios to boot from usb and use a thumbdrive and put dos, dosmame and your bzone rom on it, then write a batch file that will load it all up on powerup and you should be good....you can get a 128 thumbdrive for 40ish bucks..that should be plenty.
Title: Re:Anyone want to donate a small hard drive
Post by: JackTucky on September 26, 2003, 11:50:49 am
I ahve a Seagate ST351 A/X that's been in storage for about 2 years.  It worked when I took it out, but I don't have an easy way to test it.

It will probaby cost around $3 or $4 to ship it though.  Might be worth paying the 8.50 for the one on ebay.  

lLet me know if you want it.
Title: Re:Anyone want to donate a small hard drive
Post by: gndprx on September 26, 2003, 02:51:08 pm
You could set your bios to boot from usb and use a thumbdrive and put dos, dosmame and your bzone rom on it, then write a batch file that will load it all up on powerup and you should be good....you can get a 128 thumbdrive for 40ish bucks..that should be plenty.

That's a sweet idea...I may have to think about that down the line for a project that I'm considering....

EDIT: Here's where the problem comes in though...DOS has crap for USB support.  There are a few drivers out there that are hit or miss on USB storage device support, but you'd be lucky to get it working with a USB micro storage device and acutally run.

Just an observation after doing some searching for DOS USB support.
Title: Re:Anyone want to donate a small hard drive
Post by: tmasman on September 26, 2003, 02:55:07 pm
hm...
Looking for a cheap solution...
Should I buy a newer motherboard that will boot to a USB device  & a bootable USB device for another $40, or use any old Mobo & a $7 HD...

LOL, sorry, I was just thinking about the $$$...

That would be a cool idea for space restricted projects though!
Title: Re:Anyone want to donate a small hard drive
Post by: Valence on September 27, 2003, 12:19:40 am
Dell has a 16MB usb key for 14 bucks

Link (http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?sku=340-7269&c=us&l=en&cs=19&category_id=4325&page=external)
Title: Re:Anyone want to donate a small hard drive
Post by: paigeoliver on September 27, 2003, 02:31:31 am
Never mind, most of the suggested solutions cost as much as what the computer cost me, and I just found a 1.6 GB hard drive in a box at my house anyway.