So a better way of saying it is that hades and hell are the same thing, but the lake of fire is different.
My take, after reading the bible and the sources various posters included, is that hell and hade’s is the place where the dead go before the great white throne judgement. Which dead? I would say ALL dead before the death and descent of Christ to hades and all those who died without Christ after Christ’s resurrection.
“I would say ALL dead before the death and descent of Christ to hades and all those who died without Christ after Christ’s resurrection.”
I think the Old Testament saints are in the “bosom of Abraham” awaiting their resurrection Dan. 12:1-2, “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”
I think you are right about hell being populated by unbelievers since Paul says about believers;
2Cr 5:8, “We are confident, [I say], and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.”
Phil. 1:23, “For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:”