Hey old forum I'm surprised is still on the go smile

So my beater '03 GTI finally bit the dust, and I'm about to transplant my empeg out of it and into an '09 Honda Fit. Thankfully the Fit doesn't use the stock stereo to control half the car, and the car will take a DIN dash kit, so I can keep my museum-piece stereo going.

I haven't had the player apart in probably 10 years, other than reseating the IDE cable a couple of times. Knowing the spinning rust HD's inside are well over a decade old and running low on space, I figure maybe it's time to give the player a refresh.

To upgrade the storage, I'm thinking of using a 44 pin->SATA adapter plus either a spare 240gb SSD or 500gb HDD that I've got kicking around the house. Hopefully everything mechanically fits, I'm sure I can make it fit if it doesn't. Anyone using these adapters successfully and able to comment?

Also, I'm reading that the players struggle if you've got a lot of files on the player due to memory limitations. Looks like I can stack chips for 32MB (which looks easy enough to do) or buy a memory expander board for 64MB. I'll probably just install what I can get my hands on more easily - anyone happen to have some MK2A EDO chips or a memory expander board taking up space in their closet?

Thanks!