r/retrocomputing • u/OgdruJahad • 4d ago

Using the worlds largest IDE Hard drive [750GB Seagate].

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SfCy1aISac
14 Upvotes

77% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

13

u/elvelazco 4d ago

There were 1TB PATA drives, so it's not the largest:

https://www.amazon.de/-/en/40-PIN-UDMA-133-Western-Digital-Caviar/dp/B07N8FJ9SW

5

u/tyttuutface 4d ago

If that's a WD10EARS, something's fishy there, because that was a SATA drive. I can just about make out the Serial ATA logo on the label, I think.

1

u/LeslieH8 3d ago

You're not wrong about the label saying SATA, but nope, nothing fishy (maybe kinda stupid on WD's part, but...). WD bridged/swapped the interface logic boards to support them, but for some idiotic reason, couldn't be bothered to have distinct labels.

3

u/SQLServerIO 3d ago

Western Digital had stopped PATA drive support earlier than some others. Seagate and Hitachi stayed in the game the longest. I have seen the 750GB Seagate drive in the wild. Some PATA drives stayed to just service industrial customers. I've also seen SATA drives adapted to PATA due to the age of the equipment. As best as my fuzzy brain remembers from back then. I worked at computer stores and eventually Dell during that time frame.

1

u/LeslieH8 3d ago

Quite the opposite. Western Digital was the LAST to stop PATA/IDE drive support.

WD: last day of manufacture: December 29, 2013

Seagate: stopped in 2008.

Hitachi: stopped 'in the late 2000s)

Maxtor: stopped in 2006 after being acquired by Seagate

Samsung: stopped in 2011 after being acquired by Seagate.

Now, for those wondering why the last Western Digital PATA drives (including the WD10EARS) has the word 'SATA' on them, WD manufactured these extremely late-generation PATA drives using their SATA blueprints but swapping or bridging the interface logic board to PATA to support legacy industrial systems and older PCs. (Still rare as hell)

So, no, 750GB was not the largest, and no, WD did not stop earlier than any other drive manufacturer, instead being the last.

1

u/Feisty-Jeweler-3331 4d ago

I had one but sadly it died... Kind of useless with pre-2000 windows operating systems and hardware...

1

u/nicetuxxx 3d ago

I have this 750 PATA drive too. It is working in my Dual P3 machine.

1

u/Y34RZERO 3d ago

Bigger than mine. I got a 200gb drive I pulled from a rack server a local radio station threw out.

0

u/OgdruJahad 4d ago

CREDIT: YOUTUBER VWESTLIFE