Dual CF IDE Amiga 1200 setup query

[ccorkin]

Evening EAB,

I currently have my A1200 setup it in a tower running WB 3.1 on 3.5" 80GB IDE setup successfully. But I fear that this old-horse may fail at some point down the line...So I was thinking about going down the route of the Compact Flash Card(s) on CF-IDE board(s), which I know isn't an issue since I've used one prior to moving over to the Tower setup.

My query is could I use two CF-IDE boards at once - One CF-IDE board (Master), for say a workbench setup and a second CF-IDE board (Slave), for all other software/games etc.? (Just so if anything goes wrong on my WB drive I can reimage a new snapshot without having to effect the software/games etc.)

If this is possible, would sizes could I get away with for the second CF IDE (32GB, 64GB, 128GB - SFS)? and what is the best brand to use for both devices?

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Also I am trying to test installing WB on a CF card (Transcend CF 133x 4GB), via a USB CF Card Reader (*Generic Brand), on my PC through WinUAE (Run Admin Mode - V3.2.2)...and I've trawled the forums and google and keep getting a bloody 'E' under HardDrive setup in WinUAE for the 'Generic Storage Device', which consequently when selected doesn't show up any additional information in the two panesl directly below the device chosen once selected...like I've seen in every other tutorial that does (I've clean the card via DiskPart prior)...Grrr

Sorry for the tome of questions above, just wanted some advice prior to spending my pocket-money

Many thanks in advance

*Edit: USB CF Card Reader - is a UGREEN SD Card Reader USB 3.0

[ccorkin]

On looking on Google - I found this Dual CF IDE Board by Vesalia: http://www.vesalia.de/e_cf2xide40ladapter.htm

Has anyone used this device on an A1200 - and am I correct in thinking that you would have 2 separate devices instead of 2 seen/merged as 1?

[Daedalus]

Unfortunately, it's not a simple yes or no. In theory it should work just fine, with the two cards acting as two separate hard drives, but in reality many cards don't fully follow the specification and so don't play nicely together with other cards. So it's a case of trying them, unless you can find someone who can recommend specific cards that work together.

As for size, any size you like should work. I take it you're already familiar with the >4GB issues so I won't go into them. But drives over 128GB need extra care too because only certain specific versions of scsi.device can access them properly. see this thread for more details, but basically you need to use scsi.device 43.45 or 44.2 if you want to go above 128GB.

As for manufacturers, the Sandisk Extreme Pro cards tend to get recommended a lot, and I have used them personally without problems, but I can't comment on how well they work with other devices on the same bus...

[ccorkin]

Many thanks for the info Daedalus, appreciate the assist! (Apols for late reply )