Cheap SSD from Compact Flash card for older laptops

Okay, so this post is about 3 years too late, but I thought I would post it anyway.

I have a number of old laptops which I use as digital photo frames, we are talking original Pentiums II here. The problem is given the age of these, the hard drives are either extremely noisy and about to die, or already conked out. So what is a cheap reliable solution for these aged drives, a Compact Flash memory card and an IDE adapter.

I advise buying the dual models as it gives you four alternate ways to play with (two dual slots, and single jumper for selecting either master or slave). Two identical Toshiba laptops, would only accept these devices in a specific different configuration, perhaps it was the different adapter models though. A 4GB Compact Flash card can be purchased for $10, with the adapter around $2.

Below are two versions of the IDE to Compact Flash adapter;

And a cheapy Compact Flash card;

Okay, so the speed of these aren’t too great, but for what I am using them for they are perfect.