Dual Compact Flash to IDE controller.

[dkovacs]

Hi All;

I have recently purchased from someone off ebay a Dual CF to IDE converter - basically the same as a CF to IDE card but with two CF slots and jumpers for master/slave.

Question - should this work on the standard A1200 ide interface? Do I need a buffered interface?

Dan

[fitzsteve]

Originally Posted by dkovacs

Hi All;

I have recently purchased from someone off ebay a Dual CF to IDE converter - basically the same as a CF to IDE card but with two CF slots and jumpers for master/slave.

Question - should this work on the standard A1200 ide interface? Do I need a buffered interface?

Dan

It should work but you probably won't be able to use both CF slots at once, I tried this and it only works with slot one. If you put a CF in both slots (I was expecting IDE0 and IDE1) but then no HDD is seen by HD Toolbox.

I never tested it with Buffered IDE device though as it was one of those that fits right onto the IDE header.

Steve.

[Steven]

Originally Posted by fitzsteve

It should work but you probably won't be able to use both CF slots at once, I tried this and it only works with slot one. If you put a CF in both slots (I was expecting IDE0 and IDE1) but then no HDD is seen by HD Toolbox.

I never tested it with Buffered IDE device though as it was one of those that fits right onto the IDE header.

Steve.

I tested one of these earlier today with an Elbox buffered device and both drives were seen by the A1200 in hdtoolbox.

I'm going to use a 512mb cf for Workbench & 4gb for game with the buffered interface.

Can I use a 4gb partition or is it best to split it into two 2gb ones?

[fitzsteve]

Originally Posted by Steven

Can I use a 4gb partition or is it best to split it into two 2gb ones?

As long as you use another file system like SFS, FFS has some limitations with partitions over 2gb.

If I were you I'd do a bootable 250mb partition on it in case you want to use another workbench and the rest as a single partition. Thats how all my 4gb CF's are setup (with SFS)

Steve.

[Steven]

Originally Posted by fitzsteve

As long as you use another file system like SFS, FFS has some limitations with partitions over 2gb.

If I were you I'd do a bootable 250mb partition on it in case you want to use another workbench and the rest as a single partition. Thats how all my 4gb CF's are setup (with SFS)

Steve.

Cheers! Will go off and try that out just now.

[dkovacs]

Cool, I can't wait for it to arrive!

[Photon]

Is it one of those with one CF card on either side of the PCB? I think they're mainly for RAID, so maybe some special ones could have problems being used in non-RAID. But I don't think so, since RAID expects two separate harddisks. Maybe Steve got a special one, if both are seen they should be usable as two harddisks in non-RAID even if (!) the card is made for RAID to start with.

[mihcael]

I have also been using one, on a buffered interface but it should work on straight ide.

I have one with a CF card on each side of the PCB as Photon descibed and it works fine for me.