Wanted: A500 hard drive unit

[murple]

While I agree with your ideas of reasonable vs. ridiculous prices, I think the chances of you getting one for that price onlune is nearly zero. You might get lucky and run across one at a flea market or from a friend who has "old computer junk" in the closet... but I wouldn't get your hopes up too much. Thanks, ebay!

[murple]

First of all, rednova, I'm not looking for a 2Gig hard drive. This is an Amiga, not a PC.

Both my Amigas (1200 and 2000) have 4 gig drives. Start collecting games and demos, and you'd be surprised how fast that goes. I have 300 megs of games and about 400 megs of demos.

Second, we're talking about a computer that's what, 20 years old? Good grief, I wouldn't spen that kind of money for a hard drive for my PC let alone for an old 200MB HD for an A500. The problem with places like Ebay and flea markets is that people think they have gold. In the hunt for the almighty dollar folks have forgotten just what it is we're dealing with.

Well, while you're probably right feeling that way, you're also dealing with machines for which there is a thriving collectors' market, and regardless of whether or not these things actually are worth those prices, there are idiots willing to pay those prices. So, unless you find a seller who's never been exposed to a buyer willing to drop $200 on a 20 year old hard drive, there's not much you can do.

Your probably thinking "Yeah, well that's why we're called ENTHUSIASTS".  Well, I'm a huge Amiga fan, but if spending absolutley mind numbing amounts of money on 20+ year old computer parts is what is required for the title of enthusiast, count me out.

You're probably counted out then. You will almost certainly not find what you want online. I and others have found old Amiga/Commodore parts by asking friends (who often are willing to give the stuff away free since they consider it junk) or check flea markets and pawn shops... though you may go years without seeing a single Amiga item at those shops.

Your choices are really limited to one of:

* Pay the prices on ebay or a collector's shop

* Find somebody who doesn't know what the stuff sells for and get them to give it to you for free or cheap, either through a friend, flea markets, or yard sales

* Build your own hardware

Get it expensive but quick, get it cheap but slowly (read: years), or learn enough electronics to make your own.

You'd probably be able to find an Amiga 1200 or 2000 with a hard drive for WAY cheaper than an Amiga 500 hard drive.

[murple]

I'm not looking for a gaming "experience". Again, this is not a PC.

What the hell are you looking for then? As you say, this is not a PC. Running old games and demos are about all that old Amigas are good for (unless youre going to drop a ton of cash on frankenhardware like PPC CPUs and PCI busses... and even then...)

What exactly are you planning to use your Amiga for? Its not a very practical computer by modern standards. Its a great retro game/demo machine, but you say you don't want that either. Do you just want to say "I have an Amiga 500 with a hard drive!" and not use it for anything? I don't see the point.

Beleive me, 2GB is FARRRRR too much. I'm content with a couple hundred megs.

It doesnt matter if its 1MB or 200GB. A 2GB drive will cost you less than 10 dollars. Good luck finding a hard drive controller for an Amiga 500 for cheap though.

The prices that I've seen on 2000's would seem to indicate that my savings versus buying an A500 HD would be very slim, if any.

Trust me, I use all the methods for finding Amiga stuff. I leave no stone unturned.

Your first statement contradicts your second. You can get a nice Amiga 1200 for $150-200 and you can get a fully decked out Amiga 2000 for under $150. I got an Amiga 2000, 68030 accelerator, 4 gig hard drive full of software, a 1080 monitor, a Genlock, and a ton of disks and manuals all for about $160.

If you can find a hard drive unit for your Amiga 500 online for less than that, I will have to bow to your awesome skills. I'm pretty sure that will never happen though.

Shameful because most of us here almost have to be adults

While admittedly 21 is practically old enough to collect retirement benefits, I think the adult thing to do would be to accept that your wishes and reality do not match. You will probably not find an Amiga 500 hard drive for under $100. You probably can find an Amiga 2000 with a hard drive and probably a lot more for that.

If you want an Amiga with a hard drive, you have a few choices. You just have to pick one of the choices you actually have. Finding a $50 hard drive for your A500 online is probably not one of the choices open to you.

Good luck buddy.

[murple]

The problem is that you folks are treating them like they're the latest, greatest gaming machine.

No, the problem is that your ideas about the cost of Amiga parts and the requirements for a decent retro gaming machine do not have much connection to reality.

Let's see...the HD I was talking about in my original post is currently going for $125 with only a few moments left

But did you get it? No. And $125 is more than $100.

do you realize how much it would cost to ship a 20-30lb machine like an A2000?

Shipping cost under $20 for the A2000 I got with no monitor, and about $25 for the one with monitor.

By the way, the $160 was the TOTAL, including shipping.

I have yet to see any Amiga 1200 for the low price your quoting. The 1200's I've seen on Ebay (as well as most dealer's websites) sell for upwards of $200.

You haven't looked that hard then... there's been several threads on this forum in the last 2 days mentioning highly visible businesses selling Amiga 1200s for well under $200.

[murple]

Have you LOOKED anywhere besides ebay? Like perhaps some of the vendors listed on amiga.org? An Amiga 1200 is pretty easy to get for under 200 bucks. Shell out anothe $5 on ebay for a 4 gig 2.5" drive and you've got a pretty fantastic system that will have plenty of room for all kinds of games, including the excellent AGA games that will not run on a 500, even with a hard drive.

I agree that ebay prices are retarded and not very connected to the actual worth of these old machines. However, if you want the stuff, there are other people willing to pay more than you, so theyre going to set the prices. You can complain about it, but thats not going to change the facts. If you want an Amiga with a hard drive, you can either pay a stupid price for an A500 hard drive and then have a pretty wimpy Amiga, or you can get an A1200 or A2000 for a somewhat reasonable price. The 1200 will be a much better machine. Or, you can just settle for your Amiga 500 with no hard drive.

You might find what you want for the price you're willing to pay, but I wouldn't count on that. You certainly won't find it on ebay... and I doubt you'll find one online anywhere. Maybe you'd luck out on CraigsList or Freecycle, but again... I wouldn't count on it.

[murple]

I don't think that Bgary335 is saying that the A500 is not a "lowly machine"... he seems to think its just good for old games as well. His statments actually seem to be saying that Amigas aren't worth much money because they are just good for old games. I dont think he's completely right, but then I don't think you are either. Amigas were cutting edge, now they're old. You can still do cool stuff with them, but Commodore going out of business really kinda froze Amigas in time.

Thinking you're going to find this hardware cheap on ebay or web sites is kind of unreasonable though. It SHOULDNT be, but due to the ebay mentality and some people having too much money to waste on toys, the fact is that online prices for Amiga hardware are pretty inflated. Since many sellers know that now, many sellers now only sell on systems like ebay where they can get top dollar.

I have gotten a few free or cheap Amiga and C64 items... but those are mostly accidents like yardsale finds or having a friend clean out their closet and find "old junk" they want to get rid of. You may luck out and get things that way, but if you want a specific item it can take years before you'll find one that cheap.

Since gary apparently didn't take the suggestion to read the site links and other threads here, I'll go ahead and suggest getting an Amiga 1200 from amigakit.com... dont buy a power supply (your A500 supply will work on it) or a hard drive (a much bigger one on ebay will cost you only 5 bucks). That'll get you a like new refurbished Amiga 1200 thats plenty good for most retro needs (and if you want, even pushing it to the limits and surfing the net etc) for under $200.

[murple]

Apparently intelligence is hard to come by (only two of us here have it).

It's good to see that in your looooooong 21 years on this earth you've learned to appreciate helpful advice as well as your vast Amiga knowledge.

[murple]

Thats the bottom line.  Those are highly collectible.

Dude, don't be silly! That's like saying that old Babe Ruth rookie year baseball cards are worth more than a few bucks. He hasn't even played baseball in years, much less been a rookie!

[murple]

I'd prefer my Amiga to spew free drugs out its PCMCIA slot every day, but if you're as much of an "adult" as you claim, you'd realize reality isn't always going to conform to your expectations. You'd also probably realize that hurling insults at people who've offered you actual helpful advice is probably not going to get you the best results.

Course you'd probably also have actually read the offer you got haha. :crazy:

[murple]

only a couple people have actually said or done anything helpful in this thread.

And unfortunately for you, those have been the ones you've been dismissing and insulting.

Why are you still here, troll?