Using a Compact Flash card on a600/a1200 IDE

[FOL]

Originally Posted by pashdown

I've got an 8GB Sandisk CF that I'd like to try some different settings on. All I read says to use "HDToolBox" to change these settings, but when I use that, "Partition Drive" doesn't have Mask and Max Transfer and "Install Drive" warns me that I will destroy all the data on my drive if I use it. So how do I do it?

Also, is SFS worth it over FFS if I have OS3.9? What advantages are there to it?

Mask and transfer are in the partition drive section, when you select the filesystem. Click "advanced box" then click change, and you will work out the rest.

[wXR]

I would also like to know if there are any real advantages of SFS over FFS?

[NovaCoder]

Originally Posted by wXR

I would also like to know if there are any real advantages of SFS over FFS?

speed advantages as you go up in drive sizes (eg 2gb+).

[Jope]

Having your volume always validated is the biggest single advantage of SFS or PFS3. Filenames longer than 32 chars are another.

It's ok if you have a 200MB partition - you can still wait for that to validate, but when you have larger ones, it becomes painful.

[Tempest 2084]

Well after looking through 13 pages of posts, I didn't see anything that helped so I guess I'll post my problem.

I bought a cheapo CF>IDE adapter off ebay:

http://www.e2wholesale.com/disimage....&img=image.jpg

It looks just like all the other ones that people seem to use, so I think it's compatible. I also picked up a Kingston Elite 4GB CF card that is exactly the same as the one sold in various kits, so the card should be good as well.

Just to test the card I added it as a HD in WinUAE and installed WB 3.1 on it. Using WinUAE I was able to boot into WB 3.1 from the CF card. So far so good. However when I tried to plug it in in place of my HD on the Amiga, my 1200 didn't detect it. All I got was the Kickstart screen with the little insert disk animation.

EDIT: Doh I forgot I still have the 3.0 Kickstart roms in my 1200. That could be the issue, but wouldn't it give me some error message instead? It seems like it's not even detecting it. I'll try it again using WB 3.0 tonight.


So I decided to boot from my install disk and use the HDTools to format the drive on the Amiga. HDTools will detect the card but when I try and get info it comes back with wacky results like negative space free and such. When I try to save though results it says it can't save for some reason. Therefore when I go back to the main screen I can't do any formating because the device is still 'unknown'.

Any ideas? Bad CF adapter? Bad Card? User error?

[Rabbit80]

Firstly - what partition sizes are you setting? Keep 'em under 2Gb. Then have a look at the MaxTransfer value in HDTools - On mine it was way too big and caused untold corruption at first.

[Gordon]

Does the LED come on? I have 2 and there both red light? If not then there no power going to them. Make the red strip on your IDE cable is in the position as in the pic below. This was the mistake i made.

http://www.katmandew.com/images/Misc...ard%20disk.jpg

[Tempest 2084]

Originally Posted by Rabbit80

Firstly - what partition sizes are you setting? Keep 'em under 2Gb. Then have a look at the MaxTransfer value in HDTools - On mine it was way too big and caused untold corruption at first.

I can't get that far. The card is labeled as Unknown so when I go to Change Drive Type and Define New then Read Configuration it fills in all the fields, but when I go to save the info it throws some sort of error. Therefore I can't get to the partitioning part.

Originally Posted by gordonbennett

Does the LED come on? I have 2 and there both red light? If not then there no power going to them. Make the red strip on your IDE cable is in the position as in the pic below. This was the mistake i made.

http://www.katmandew.com/images/Misc...ard%20disk.jpg

Yes the light comes on when it starts up. I was using this port with a real HD so I know it works.

[Tempest 2084]

I got it working last night with a little help from my friends. Turns out I needed to modify something in the HDTools icon first then format the card. Now if only I could get my PCMCIA adapter working.

I installed EasyADF and ADAPCMCFL from the disk I got with the adapter (from AmigaKit), but when I try to use the adapter with a 2GB CF card I have I get a "No Disk Present in Device CF0" error. Maybe I need to try those other drivers?

I probably just forgot to move something to the device drawer or somthing as simple as that, but Prepcard seems to recognize the CF card.

[Tempest 2084]

Ok now I have a strange problem. When ADAPCMCFL says it's going to patch my port it says that my workbench is too old (Volume Workbench is too old insert WB 2.x or greater) which is odd because I have WB 3.1. I can't believe this program wouldn't be 3.1 compatible.

[jimmer78]

Hello,

I want to get a IDE CF internal adapter to replace my HD, which one should I get??

This:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CF-to-2-5-44-P...3%3A1|294%3A50

Or this:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Male-Dual-Comp...3%3A1|294%3A50

????

Will they work ok with the EZ IDE 4 way? I have one of these installed already from the previous owner. For some reason, pin 22 is missing on IDE 3 though for CD-ROM connection drive stilll works though??? Interestingly workbench does not boot when CD-ROM connected to IDE2?? black screen??

Any help appreciated.

[Magno Boots]

Go for the 44 pin version. You can then use your existing cable (unless you''ve got a 2.5 to 3.5" cable at present). The 40 pin version needs a separate power source.

I presume the EZIDE is similar to IDEFix 4-way adaptor?... if so you will be able to use the CF adaptor without problems.

Magno

[jimmer78]

Cool thanks...


by the way - dirt cheap 3.3Gb Microdrives in ATA/IDE mode on ebay here:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/3-3GB-ATA-IDE-...3%3A1|294%3A50

(not me by the way)

I just bought 2!!

[Chain]

they are on 3.3V only, clearly stated
also microdrives have start/stop lag as hell

[jimmer78]

Originally Posted by Chain

they are on 3.3V only, clearly stated
also microdrives have start/stop lag as hell

Sh1t....does this mean that they won't work? What do the IDE to CF adaptors kick out voltage wise?

Would it work with PCMICA adapter?

[jimmer78]

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

And remove the FAT partition using Disk Management before using it in WinUAE. Windows may get confused when someone corrupts the FAT partion

(and you most likely need magic command line parameter, check readme.txt)

hmm, delete partition is greyed out in win xp 's disk management when i right click on cf card? any ideas?

[Jope]

XP sees it as a removable disk.. Use a Linux live cd?

[amigarobbo]

Would these MMC to SF adapters work?

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/SD-SDHC-MMC-t...3A1%7C294%3A50

SD cards seem cheaper than SF cards for some reason

[Photon]

Originally Posted by dlfrsilver

use BRANDS PNY and DANE-ELEC if you have these in your country.

and never use CF running at more than 40X. 80X and superior are unsupported !

Isn't "40x" and the like deprecated? (At least it's not specified as such on the manufacturer homepage.) Anyway, my Sandisk Extreme III is probably 80x+ and works fine in two Amigas here.

And yes, DANE (Viking logo IIRC?) are usually very nice!

[mai]

Is it possible to format back a amiga formated cf-card to windows fat32?
It seems i have heavy problems with the card, than i have amiga formated the disk, probably something went wrong.
Now the inserted card causes long boot delay in the emulator and is recognized as NDOS . Hope i have not destroyed the card.