Multiple mass-storage, RTC and network solutions already exist for the Amstrad CPC. We can put them in 3 categories:
*Historical: The [[Vortex Winchester Drive]] and the [[Dobbertin Harddisc|Dobbertin HD20]] with [[Dobbertin Smart Watch]] were sold during the commercial lifetime of the CPC. But these solutions are clumsy today with their very small capacity and their non-standard hard-drives and interface.
*Historically-plausible: The [[Symbiface II]] IDE/PATA mass-storage or [[X-Mass]] with [[Nova]] NVRAM/RTC are using the IDE/PATA interface created in 1986. But it's fake as the IDE interface was effectively introduced on the CPC with the [[CPC-IDE]] prototype in 2004, and the Symbiface II being available in 2006, way after the commercial lifetime of the CPC. The whole IDE/PATA sector access and FAT filesystem dance the CPC has to perform here is just unnecessary with more modern solutions. Also, these devices don't offer any network support.
*Modern: [[Albireo]], [[ULIfAC]], [[Symbiface 3]] and [[M4 Board]] as they give the CPC a direct file view of the mass-storage instead of a sectors view. So the FAT filesystem does not need to be handled on the CPC itself. It's overall a simpler, more convenient, more future-proof approach. The Symbiface 3 and the M4 Board provide a NetAPI to access the Internet unlike the Albireo and the ULIfAC. But the Symbiface 3 is going overboard with its embedded MP3 player.