Compact flash instead of HDD!

[Predseda]

This item I´ve found recently in the auction. It is the compact flash adaptor for use in Amiga 600/1200 instead of internal HDD. It is powered directly from the socket, noiseless, fast, light and with reduced heat radiation. It uses standart CF cards. You only need patched HD toolbox to format it and use as a standart HDD.


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[jimbo005]

look like a good bit of kit all you need is this [/img]http://i16.ebayimg.com/01/i/06/4e/96/f1_1_sbl.JPG[img][/img]

[Predseda]

Yeah. It exists in version for use with 2.5" -> 3.5" adaptor, which is much cheaper, but needs to be powered from a floppy cable. It has an advantage - you can then mount it on the standart HDD data-cable as a secondary harddrive unit. I´ve just ordered one.
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[Chain]

a vpravo nahore u CF konektoru je miniaturni cervena SMD ledka ktera pekne poblikava z vnitrku a1200

[whiteb]

Yes you can use a CF adapter, but CF cards have a VERY finite life, estimated to about 1000 writes per sector, then it starts to break down, and also it will be alot slower than HDD.

[Predseda]

[Predseda]

So. I replaced my HDD with the compact flash card adaptor. This time only for testing, so I placed old (3 years) slow 32MB CF card to it. I uploaded a system to it, copied few games and disconnected harddrive. And now, read carefully: bootup of the system, that took 12 seconds before, now takes 2 SECONDS from reset to the full booted state!!!! And it is only old slow card! And another wonderfull thing: I now can play games, listen modules etc. without annoying sound of spinning HDD - Amiga is absolutely quiet. And after 2 hours of work - copying, playing etc. the CF card kept cold. Excellent!

And about re-write limits: new cards have over 1 000 000 re-writings guaranteed, so I expect no trouble with this.

Note: my Amiga 1200 is equipped with Elbox turbocard (28MHz) and 8MB fastmem.
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[Chain]

[dan.hutch]

I use on of those myself, is great. No probelms with reliability or setup as yet (using a 512MB Dane-Elec card). Have 2 A600s one with this in and another with a 2GB HDD (just sold) there is no difference in speed between the two as far as I can tell, guess the 7mhz processor is more likely to be a bottleneck anyway .

Compact flash pros:
+ no noise
+ less heat
+ less power
+ less weight
+ less susceptable to physical damage
+ cool little red light that makes A600 vents glow in the dark

Cons:
- cost per MB is more than a traditional HD, but the cards are getting cheaper all the time

[dan.hutch]

Oh, if anyone wants one of the above adapters and a cable I have a spare I can stick on ebay as a buy-it-now or something. Found the little 44 pin versions are a difficult to get hold of in UK - brought mine from a seller Hong Kong. Let me know.

[Predseda]

I must warn you: don't buy Transcend Compact Flash cards for your Amigas. They work prefectly for digital cameras as well as other modern devices, but aren't compatible with Amiga. I tried a new 1GB card in my A1200 with Kickstart 3.0 and WB3.0. Everything seemed to be OK, but as soon as I tried to write or read from the card, a lot of checksum errors appeared, the card started to be not validated etc. Nothing helped. I tried different 1GB card then (3 years old) and it works perfectly, as well as other cards that I have (32MB etc.) The card is built by some new technology and contains some self-repairing codes inside and Amiga is probably not able to work correctly with it (With my PC the cards works fine).

It is sad that the shopkeerper refused to take back the Transcend card, because "If it doesn't work in your prehistoric Amiga, it is no reason to return it and it must be the fault of the device, not fault of the card" (although other cards work properly).
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[neuroflip]

wow good info listened here!!!

but if you can't use the newest CF cards... other people has used new CF cards with the amiga?

i'm thinking about to get one of those!!! 2 seconds to reboot


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http://a1200.wordpress.com (spanish)
[a1200 + b1260 64Mb + Hd 10Gb 2,5'' + ELSA MC-11 Wireless PCMCiA + a520 with svideo mod + svideo tvbox + 19''LG]
[a600 - 3.1 - 256Mb - ide2cf][a500 + 512Kb][CD32 R.I.P]

[superturbo]

So how big are those cards? Is it possible get ahold of a 10GB CF card nowadays, or will it be outrageously expensive?
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"BEHOLD, MY MYSTIC CAGE OF BONE!!!"

[Jurbo]

Is there anything like this for the good old A500?

[Fingerlickin_B]