How to use a CF card larger than 8 GB with PCMCIA adapter?

guybrush · 11 November 2020, 23:06

Not sure if this is possible, since my attempts did fail miserably.

I have 3 SD cards; a 2 GB, an 8 GB and a 32 GB. I formatted the 2 GB as Fat16, the others as Fat32, and used a SD to CF and a CF to PCMCIA to mount those on my Amiga1200.

The 2 GB did work fine; but needed to be formatted first. The 8 GB did work right out the box, but the 32 GB never showed up on workbench as mounted.

I tried to format the 32 GB as Fat16, but the max size for that is 4 GB; so I made 8 partition of 4 GB each, and formatted each partition as FAT16; but even that didn't work.
Last attempt was to make 8 GB partitions, and format them as fat32, like the 2 and 8 GB cards were formatted with, but even that didn't work.

So my understanding is that the largest SD card you can use with the amiga, on the PCMCIA port is 8 GB. Fat16 or Fat32 didn't seem to make a difference, since the 2 GB was fat 16 and the 8 gb was fat32 but they both work fine.

Is there any trick to use larger SD cards with the amiga? I would like to put on a card the whole CD library I have, and all the ADF disks, so I have it always accessible from the amiga. The main size of the hard drives on my IDE CF adapter is 4 GB, so I didn't even bother trying to use a larger internal card.

Jope · 12 November 2020, 07:05

You should use fat32 and one partition. Perhaps your 32GB CF card was not PCMCIA compatible, a different brand might work better. There is no inherent 8GB limit in the compactflash.device.

Daedalus · 12 November 2020, 09:55

Wait, are you using CF cards or SD cards? SD cards depend on your adaptor also supporting a certain size - it's possible your SD card adaptor to PCMCIA or CF has an 8GB limit.

Jope · 12 November 2020, 13:22

Interesting. SDHC is 2GB <-> 32GB, I wonder why they'd support 8GB but not up to 32GB. :-)

thomas · 12 November 2020, 13:59

The adapter also has to translate from SD to IDE. If it does not properly support LBA access it might support SDHC but not more than 7.8 GB.

@guybrush can you run HDDReport with the 32GB card inserted.

http://thomas-rapp.homepage.t-online.../hddreport.lha

It should tell the accessible size of the card. Or if the card is accessible at all.

Also run PrepCard and post a screenshot of it.

solarmon · 12 November 2020, 16:15

@guybrush,

I assume you have the CFD/FAT95 drivers installed appropriately?

Also, what Kickstart and memory expansion do you have? What is your Workbench setup? Is it from stock, or are you using something like ClassicWB?

guybrush · 06 June 2021, 07:51

Thanks for your help; seems that the problem was the card itself; it just died few weeks after.
I recycled the 8 GB card using FAT32 and it did work just fine. Also I noticed that my CF adapter has some bent pins; so I just ordered a new one and threw away the old one. Now everything works fine

11 November 2020, 23:06	#1
guybrush Registered User Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: usa Posts: 243	How to use a CF card larger than 8 GB with PCMCIA adapter? Not sure if this is possible, since my attempts did fail miserably. I have 3 SD cards; a 2 GB, an 8 GB and a 32 GB. I formatted the 2 GB as Fat16, the others as Fat32, and used a SD to CF and a CF to PCMCIA to mount those on my Amiga1200. The 2 GB did work fine; but needed to be formatted first. The 8 GB did work right out the box, but the 32 GB never showed up on workbench as mounted. I tried to format the 32 GB as Fat16, but the max size for that is 4 GB; so I made 8 partition of 4 GB each, and formatted each partition as FAT16; but even that didn't work. Last attempt was to make 8 GB partitions, and format them as fat32, like the 2 and 8 GB cards were formatted with, but even that didn't work. So my understanding is that the largest SD card you can use with the amiga, on the PCMCIA port is 8 GB. Fat16 or Fat32 didn't seem to make a difference, since the 2 GB was fat 16 and the 8 gb was fat32 but they both work fine. Is there any trick to use larger SD cards with the amiga? I would like to put on a card the whole CD library I have, and all the ADF disks, so I have it always accessible from the amiga. The main size of the hard drives on my IDE CF adapter is 4 GB, so I didn't even bother trying to use a larger internal card.

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12 November 2020, 07:05	#2
Jope - Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Helsinki / Finland Age: 43 Posts: 9,885	You should use fat32 and one partition. Perhaps your 32GB CF card was not PCMCIA compatible, a different brand might work better. There is no inherent 8GB limit in the compactflash.device.

12 November 2020, 09:55	#3
Daedalus Registered User Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Dublin, then Glasgow Posts: 6,374	Wait, are you using CF cards or SD cards? SD cards depend on your adaptor also supporting a certain size - it's possible your SD card adaptor to PCMCIA or CF has an 8GB limit.

12 November 2020, 13:22	#4
Jope - Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Helsinki / Finland Age: 43 Posts: 9,885	Interesting. SDHC is 2GB <-> 32GB, I wonder why they'd support 8GB but not up to 32GB. :-)

12 November 2020, 13:59	#5
thomas Registered User Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Germany Posts: 7,021	The adapter also has to translate from SD to IDE. If it does not properly support LBA access it might support SDHC but not more than 7.8 GB. @guybrush can you run HDDReport with the 32GB card inserted. http://thomas-rapp.homepage.t-online.../hddreport.lha It should tell the accessible size of the card. Or if the card is accessible at all. Also run PrepCard and post a screenshot of it.

12 November 2020, 16:15	#6
solarmon Registered User Join Date: Dec 2018 Location: UK Posts: 1,716	@guybrush, I assume you have the CFD/FAT95 drivers installed appropriately? Also, what Kickstart and memory expansion do you have? What is your Workbench setup? Is it from stock, or are you using something like ClassicWB?

06 June 2021, 07:51	#7
guybrush Registered User Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: usa Posts: 243	Thanks for your help; seems that the problem was the card itself; it just died few weeks after. I recycled the 8 GB card using FAT32 and it did work just fine. Also I noticed that my CF adapter has some bent pins; so I just ordered a new one and threw away the old one. Now everything works fine

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