I picked up a 486 PC and i want to upgrade the hard drive.

[ShayOh]

Hi!
So, as the title says, I picked up this AT&T/NCR Globalyst 515 486SX with a ton of diskettes and software and an IBM OG keyboard, mouse, and HP OG monitor for $50. I want to turn it into a retro gaming PC. 
I've been collecting old tech for years, so I have an 80 GB IDE hard drive.

The PC, as it is right now, works great. I booted into Windows 3.1, which was already on the hard drive, and it was just fine.
On my actual PC, I was trying to backup the OG hard drive via a IDE to USB2.0 enclosure, and Windows 11 won't initialize it and claims there's an error, I then tested the 80GB hard drive and it shows up just fine.
When I just try to use the 80GB hard drive on the 486 PC, it says there's an error when I boot and it takes me to bios and I have no idea what to do there or what the error actually is since it does not specify and as far as I can tell, the bios wont even recognize the hard drive or maybe the technology were not there yet back then to recognize and identify specs of hard drives? (I was probably 6 when this PC was released.. so I don't know..)

I'm thinking of adding a LAN card. I've seen a YouTube video of someone doing that with what looks like the exact model that I have. I'm not at all sure what expansion possibilities I have.. 
Anyway.. any tips any help will be much appreciated!
Thanks!
 

[Dedayog]

56 minutes ago, ShayOh said:

Hi!
So, as the title says, I picked up this AT&T/NCR Globalyst 515 486SX with a ton of diskettes and software and an IBM OG keyboard, mouse, and HP OG monitor for $50. I want to turn it into a retro gaming PC. 
I've been collecting old tech for years, so I have an 80 GB IDE hard drive.

The PC, as it is right now, works great. I booted into Windows 3.1, which was already on the hard drive, and it was just fine.
On my actual PC, I was trying to backup the OG hard drive via a IDE to USB2.0 enclosure, and Windows 11 won't initialize it and claims there's an error, I then tested the 80GB hard drive and it shows up just fine.
When I just try to use the 80GB hard drive on the 486 PC, it says there's an error when I boot and it takes me to bios and I have no idea what to do there or what the error actually is since it does not specify and as far as I can tell, the bios wont even recognize the hard drive or maybe the technology were not there yet back then to recognize and identify specs of hard drives? (I was probably 6 when this PC was released.. so I don't know..)

I'm thinking of adding a LAN card. I've seen a YouTube video of someone doing that with what looks like the exact model that I have. I'm not at all sure what expansion possibilities I have.. 
Anyway.. any tips any help will be much appreciated!
Thanks!
 

IIRC< the old machines had a limit of 500GB so you should be fine there, and I don't think anything else precludes you.

 

Did you put the HDD on the Master setting?  Whether it's the proper connector on the IDE cable, or the jumper... depending on the drive you have.

[ShayOh]

20 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

IIRC< the old machines had a limit of 500GB so you should be fine there, and I don't think anything else precludes you.

 

Did you put the HDD on the Master setting?  Whether it's the proper connector on the IDE cable, or the jumper... depending on the drive you have.

Are you sure it's 500GB and not 500MB? copilot's answer was that it's 500mb..
I did try different configurations of master, the OG hard drive didn't have any jumper though 

[Guest]

2 hours ago, ShayOh said:

The PC, as it is right now, works great. I booted into Windows 3.1, which was already on the hard drive, and it was just fine.

How large is the disk in the PC?  If tiny enough, perhaps install crosstalk or some other file transfer program of that era?

 

[ISTR cobbling a 340MB (that's an M, not a G) IDE disk into my Compaq 386 portable.  It required modifying the BIOS ROMs to support its geometry, though]

[spunk.funk]

$50?!! You got ripped off They should have given this to you. Or paid you to haul it away

I don't think this is worth $50 in E-Waste.

 

Bios from 1994. 

 

the Bios says there are 5 drives. I see one Floppy and one CD drive, Drive letters A: thru E:

Are there 3 drives inside the computer?

 

https://www.kahlon.com/rm1007_AT&T_NCR_Globalyst_515_486SX_33MHz.html

 

[ShayOh]

9 hours ago, serverfarm said:

How large is the disk in the PC?  If tiny enough, perhaps install crosstalk or some other file transfer program of that era?

 

[ISTR cobbling a 340MB (that's an M, not a G) IDE disk into my Compaq 386 portable.  It required modifying the BIOS ROMs to support its geometry, though]

500mb.
I guess I could just burn a CD with a bunch of games and access it that way, I was just hoping to have a hard drive to dump a ton of games on and not worry about it anymore.

[thekingofmonks]

10 hours ago, spunk.funk said:

I don't think this is worth $50 in E-Waste.

It's a 486 PC, most of them were thrown away as garbage. Anyone that's mildly knowledgeable wouldn't sell it cheaply.

 

Motherboards alone usually go for more than $100 on any platform. For $50 this is very cheap considering it's a whole vintage PC setup.

[ShayOh]

3 hours ago, thekingofmonks said:

It's a 486 PC, most of them were thrown away as garbage. Anyone that's mildly knowledgeable wouldn't sell it cheaply.

 

Motherboards alone usually go for more than $100 on any platform. For $50 this is very cheap considering it's a whole vintage PC setup.

I'm pretty sure the keyboard goes for quite a lot too. The old IBM PS2, great condition too.

[MonkeyBomb]

This sure brings back memories!!  This is when I really started getting into pc's.  I had some used 286 system when the 486 came out and really wanted a 486dx66 system

[Needfuldoer]

You need drive overlay software or the XTIDE (either as its own card or in a socket on another card) in order to have anything even remotely resembling modern drive support on that thing. 

 

 

The stock BIOS probably can't handle any drives over 512 MB. OnTrack can bump that up to the 137 GB limit imposed by 28-bit LBA, you just have to lie to the BIOS and enter the drive geometry for a 500 MB drive. I recommend the XTIDE though, because OnTrack steals some of your conventional memory to work its magic. (Drive overlays will also make the drive not work under modern Windows. I've been able to read OnTrack-ed drives with XP, but nothing newer.)

 

For the drive itself, just use an SD card in one of those cheap, generic SD to IDE adapters. CompactFlash cards are the old school SSD "hack", but whether the specific card you get supports fixed disk mode is anyone's guess. SD adapters do all the work, and don't care at all what the card supports. They're cheap and plenty fast (especially compared to 90s hard drives).

[ShayOh]

11 hours ago, Needfuldoer said:

You need drive overlay software or the XTIDE (either as its own card or in a socket on another card) in order to have anything even remotely resembling modern drive support on that thing. 

 

 

The stock BIOS probably can't handle any drives over 512 MB. OnTrack can bump that up to the 137 GB limit imposed by 28-bit LBA, you just have to lie to the BIOS and enter the drive geometry for a 500 MB drive. I recommend the XTIDE though, because OnTrack steals some of your conventional memory to work its magic. (Drive overlays will also make the drive not work under modern Windows. I've been able to read OnTrack-ed drives with XP, but nothing newer.)

 

For the drive itself, just use an SD card in one of those cheap, generic SD to IDE adapters. CompactFlash cards are the old school SSD "hack", but whether the specific card you get supports fixed disk mode is anyone's guess. SD adapters do all the work, and don't care at all what the card supports. They're cheap and plenty fast (especially compared to 90s hard drives).

Yeah, I think this would be a bit too expensive and complicated for me with EPROM programming and everything.. I just wanted to make a retro PC gaming PC with at least a few gigs so I won't have to use CDs to play games that required 32mb of ram or less, which is some of my favorite games.  Something that I'll have somewhat easy access to the hard drive if I want to load new games onto it, and I don't think this would be the case.. 

I'll see if I can sell the PC, maybe keep the IBM keyboard, and get something a tad bit newer. 

[ShayOh]

On 4/16/2025 at 12:55 PM, Needfuldoer said:

You need drive overlay software or the XTIDE (either as its own card or in a socket on another card) in order to have anything even remotely resembling modern drive support on that thing. 

 

 

The stock BIOS probably can't handle any drives over 512 MB. OnTrack can bump that up to the 137 GB limit imposed by 28-bit LBA, you just have to lie to the BIOS and enter the drive geometry for a 500 MB drive. I recommend the XTIDE though, because OnTrack steals some of your conventional memory to work its magic. (Drive overlays will also make the drive not work under modern Windows. I've been able to read OnTrack-ed drives with XP, but nothing newer.)

 

For the drive itself, just use an SD card in one of those cheap, generic SD to IDE adapters. CompactFlash cards are the old school SSD "hack", but whether the specific card you get supports fixed disk mode is anyone's guess. SD adapters do all the work, and don't care at all what the card supports. They're cheap and plenty fast (especially compared to 90s hard drives).

i just came across this Youtube video completely randomly (after pretty much giving up on the project).
is this what I need?

 

 

[jmwhite33]

Maybe something like this would work, a sata HD to IDE connector;

 

https://www.amazon.com/NFHK-Motherboard-Converter-Adapter-Desktop/dp/B09GPGFLWB?pd_rd_w=MF9z5&content-id=amzn1.sym.ea1d9533-fbb7-4608-bb6f-bfdceb6f6336&pf_rd_p=ea1d9533-fbb7-4608-bb6f-bfdceb6f6336&pf_rd_r=603PFTM9E6BQJ9W88A43&pd_rd_wg=M1K2R&pd_rd_r=91373ae2-58b4-4f1d-95ae-567094a54283&ref_=sspa_dk_detail_img_2&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9kZXRhaWxfdGhlbWF0aWM&th=1

 

Then just use f-disk and partition the 80 gig into multiple 512 mb partitions.

I used the opposite type of adapter, IDE hd to SATA connector to access old IDE drives I had, worked fine.

[jmwhite33]

On 4/15/2025 at 5:30 PM, ShayOh said:

Hi!
So, as the title says, I picked up this AT&T/NCR Globalyst 515 486SX with a ton of diskettes and software and an IBM OG keyboard, mouse, and HP OG monitor for $50. I want to turn it into a retro gaming PC. 
I've been collecting old tech for years, so I have an 80 GB IDE hard drive.

The PC, as it is right now, works great. I booted into Windows 3.1, which was already on the hard drive, and it was just fine.
On my actual PC, I was trying to backup the OG hard drive via a IDE to USB2.0 enclosure, and Windows 11 won't initialize it and claims there's an error, I then tested the 80GB hard drive and it shows up just fine.
When I just try to use the 80GB hard drive on the 486 PC, it says there's an error when I boot and it takes me to bios and I have no idea what to do there or what the error actually is since it does not specify and as far as I can tell, the bios wont even recognize the hard drive or maybe the technology were not there yet back then to recognize and identify specs of hard drives? (I was probably 6 when this PC was released.. so I don't know..)

I'm thinking of adding a LAN card. I've seen a YouTube video of someone doing that with what looks like the exact model that I have. I'm not at all sure what expansion possibilities I have.. 
Anyway.. any tips any help will be much appreciated!
Thanks!
 

 

 

oops, see above post...