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#316550 - 20/11/2008 15:09 Re: 32GB CF Cards now under $180 (GBP90) and falling.. [Re: eagle]
Robotic
pooh-bah

Registered: 06/04/2005
Posts: 2026
Loc: Seattle transplant
You have PM!

Thanks for your help, eagle!
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10101311 (20GB- backup empeg)
10101466 (2x60GB, Eutronix/GreenLights Blue) (Stolen!)

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#317672 - 01/01/2009 09:29 Transcend SSDs [Re: Robotic]
Major_Sarcasm
member

Registered: 28/08/2003
Posts: 149
Loc: Isle of Wight, UK
From the Book of Empeg.

And so it came to pass, a lowly Empeg user didst try to upgrade to dual SSDs
and was thwarted in his efforts.

Knowing the good Lord was keeping watch, the user beseeched Him for His
assistance and benevolence and tolerance.

The Lord did see the users plight and dismay and came down from where he
resided up on high (Canada). And Lo! The Lord hacked the Hijack Kernel to
include a longer wait state for SSD cards and unto the user He thundered,
"Test this special release of my code."

And the user did test the code, uploading song after song all through the long night.
And he was delighted beyond compare as he saw his faithful Empeg once more
restored to working order. And he said unto the Lord, "Thanks, man! You're da bomb."

And the Lord cast his eye over the code once more and saw that it was good.
And all was well again. And the Lord did declare unto all, "Users! There is another
version of Hijack for slow-writing SSDs."
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Steve

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#317695 - 03/01/2009 19:45 Re: Transcend SSDs [Re: Major_Sarcasm]
tfabris
carpal tunnel

Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31563
Loc: Seattle, WA
Heh, reminds me of Acts of Gord.
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Tony Fabris

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#317823 - 06/01/2009 14:04 Re: Transcend SSDs [Re: tfabris]
Nobbie
journeyman

Registered: 12/02/2002
Posts: 59
Loc: Herts, UK
As the lord has now spoken i may now retry my dual CF empeg project.

Muahahaa.
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Getting Old.

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#320870 - 31/03/2009 23:41 Re: CF empeg [Re: robricc]
robricc
carpal tunnel

Registered: 30/10/2000
Posts: 4931
Loc: New Jersey, USA
Time for a slight bump


Attachments
cf_32.jpg


_________________________
-Rob Riccardelli
80GB 16MB MK2 090000736

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#320872 - 01/04/2009 05:57 Re: CF empeg [Re: robricc]
andy
carpal tunnel

Registered: 10/06/1999
Posts: 5914
Loc: Wivenhoe, Essex, UK
I'm still waiting for affordable 64 GB cards before I move mine to solid state.
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#320878 - 01/04/2009 13:09 Re: CF empeg [Re: robricc]
Robotic
pooh-bah

Registered: 06/04/2005
Posts: 2026
Loc: Seattle transplant
Very sexy, Rob!
_________________________
10101311 (20GB- backup empeg)
10101466 (2x60GB, Eutronix/GreenLights Blue) (Stolen!)

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#320879 - 01/04/2009 13:15 Re: CF empeg [Re: robricc]
mlord
carpal tunnel

Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 14472
Loc: Canada
Colour coordinated and everything! wink

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#320880 - 01/04/2009 13:54 Re: CF empeg [Re: mlord]
robricc
carpal tunnel

Registered: 30/10/2000
Posts: 4931
Loc: New Jersey, USA
Yeah, it's beautiful but it isn't working reliably. Very often, the slave drive will fail upon boot with the "lost interrupt" error. I can't tell you how many times I flashed the drive builder on the player last night, but I spent 5-6 hours trying to get thing working right.

It doesn't matter which adapter I designate slave or which card I stick into which adapter. 9 times out of 10, the thing won't boot correctly and HDB is always what gets hung-up. I checked the cable multiple times and even swapped for a new one.

My list of possible reasons is:
  • The CF cards may not be 100% compatible being accessed as IDE devices (probably a long shot).
  • The IDE-to-CF adapters may not be compatible with cards over a certain size. They appear to be dumb pin converters, but I could be wrong.
  • One of the adapters may have grounded out on the drive carrier. There is electrical tape along the bottom as shown in the photo, but it's easily pierced. When removing the 8GB cards, the adapters became a little loose. I didn't notice this until later when I tried tightening-up the screws holding the CF adapters to the drive carrier.

Maybe I'll do some more detective work in the future, but for now this empeg has an old 60 and 80GB drive in there getting filled with tunes.
_________________________
-Rob Riccardelli
80GB 16MB MK2 090000736

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#320884 - 01/04/2009 14:29 Re: CF empeg [Re: robricc]
mlord
carpal tunnel

Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 14472
Loc: Canada
Originally Posted By: robricc
It doesn't matter which adapter I designate slave or which card I stick into which adapter. 9 times out of 10, the thing won't boot correctly and HDB is always what gets hung-up.

Not all CF cards will ever work correctly as "slaves". I think the original CF spec assumed master/single drive configs, but my memory is fuzzy about that now.

Quote:
The CF cards may not be 100% compatible being accessed as IDE devices (probably a long shot).

Not an issue. "IDE" mode is the normal access method for CF cards.

Quote:
The IDE-to-CF adapters may not be compatible with cards over a certain size.

You can rule that one out, too. The same pins are required for any size drive, from 1MB to 2TB in size. So it's not a drive size issue.

Quote:
One of the adapters may have grounded out on the drive carrier.

That's a good and likely possibility, and not too difficult to troubleshoot.

I do have a couple of empegs here with dual 16GB cards installed and working.

Cheers

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#320886 - 01/04/2009 14:34 Re: CF empeg [Re: mlord]
mlord
carpal tunnel

Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 14472
Loc: Canada
Double-stick foam tape might make for a better spacer / insulator under the cards.

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#320887 - 01/04/2009 14:36 Re: CF empeg [Re: robricc]
mlord
carpal tunnel

Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 14472
Loc: Canada
Quote:
HDB is always what gets hung-up.

Another possibility is that the master/slave jumpers on the carriers may not be totally correct -- eg. perhaps there's a solder bridge somewhere that needs to be cut for the jumpers to work properly.


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#320892 - 01/04/2009 15:07 Re: CF empeg [Re: mlord]
robricc
carpal tunnel

Registered: 30/10/2000
Posts: 4931
Loc: New Jersey, USA
Yeah. I'm going to take a closer look later, but now that there are hard drives in that empeg, I'm not feeling very motivated.

I think real SSDs are a better option as long as they keep making PATA versions. The 32GB CF cards are probably destined for ebay.
_________________________
-Rob Riccardelli
80GB 16MB MK2 090000736

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#320902 - 01/04/2009 15:46 Re: CF empeg [Re: robricc]
mlord
carpal tunnel

Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 14472
Loc: Canada
Still, a pretty good bargain -- two 32GB cards are probably less than half the cost of a 64GB SSD.

Cheers

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#320930 - 01/04/2009 23:41 Re: CF empeg [Re: mlord]
gbeer
carpal tunnel

Registered: 17/12/2000
Posts: 2665
Loc: Manteca, California
Foam tape was my first thought too.

But a spacer, or stack of washers, between the tray and cards would also work.
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Glenn

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#321736 - 26/04/2009 19:48 Re: CF empeg [Re: robricc]
wfaulk
carpal tunnel

Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
I've been running a pair of 32GB CF cards for about a year with zero problems.
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Bitt Faulk

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#325069 - 13/08/2009 01:36 Re: CF empeg [Re: wfaulk]
stahimooney
member

Registered: 29/04/2002
Posts: 126
Loc: Virginia
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#325071 - 13/08/2009 02:47 Re: CF empeg [Re: stahimooney]
robricc
carpal tunnel

Registered: 30/10/2000
Posts: 4931
Loc: New Jersey, USA
That looks fantastic!
_________________________
-Rob Riccardelli
80GB 16MB MK2 090000736

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#326239 - 20/09/2009 14:39 Re: CF empeg [Re: robricc]
Aragon
member

Registered: 17/05/2002
Posts: 148
Loc: Cape Town, South Africa

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#326240 - 20/09/2009 17:07 Re: CF empeg [Re: Aragon]
wfaulk
carpal tunnel

Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
Pricy, but awesome.

Actually, does it present both CF cards as one drive, or does it just present them as master and slave? If the latter, you're better off getting a cheaper solution, since the empeg already has enough space for two drives.
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Bitt Faulk

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#326244 - 21/09/2009 15:35 Re: CF empeg [Re: Aragon]
pca
old hand

Registered: 20/07/1999
Posts: 1102
Loc: UK
Or you could try this which is essentially the same thing for a lot less. It works quite well.

pca
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#326246 - 21/09/2009 16:52 Re: CF empeg [Re: pca]
wfaulk
carpal tunnel

Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
It just presents the two cards as master and slave, right? That is, it's not doing any sort of RAID?

The reason I ask, if it's not obvious, is that it would be cool to get four CF cards in the empeg instead of two. I'm approaching the point where I'm going to have to switch back to hard drives due to storage limitations.
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Bitt Faulk

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#326279 - 22/09/2009 21:25 Re: CF empeg [Re: wfaulk]
hybrid8
carpal tunnel

Registered: 12/11/2001
Posts: 7738
Loc: Toronto, CANADA
Yes, it'd be nice if that Darkwire adapter were RAID0, then you might get back some of the lost speed as well (for notebook use anyway, not that relevant for the empeg).
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Bruno
Twisted Melon : Fine Mac OS Software

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#326280 - 23/09/2009 00:25 Re: CF empeg [Re: hybrid8]
wfaulk
carpal tunnel

Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
Hm, found one.

You could combine two 3-way CF-to-IDE adapters, six of these 4-way MicroSDHC-to-CF adapters, and twenty-four 16GB MicroSDHC cards and get a 384GB flash empeg.

Sure, it'd cost you about $2000, but who's counting?
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Bitt Faulk

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#326368 - 26/09/2009 08:28 Re: CF empeg [Re: pca]
andy
carpal tunnel

Registered: 10/06/1999
Posts: 5914
Loc: Wivenhoe, Essex, UK
Originally Posted By: pca
Or you could try this which is essentially the same thing for a lot less. It works quite well.


I bought one of them, but I'm not sure if it is actually useful. None of the threaded screw holes line up with a 2.5 inch drive:



So I'm not sure how I'd use it as a direct replacement for an existing drive.
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#326372 - 26/09/2009 15:32 Re: CF empeg [Re: andy]
Robotic
pooh-bah

Registered: 06/04/2005
Posts: 2026
Loc: Seattle transplant
Originally Posted By: andy
I bought one of them, but I'm not sure if it is actually useful. None of the threaded screw holes line up with a 2.5 inch drive:

So I'm not sure how I'd use it as a direct replacement for an existing drive.

Drill new holes?
Double-sided foam sticky tape?
Velcro?
_________________________
10101311 (20GB- backup empeg)
10101466 (2x60GB, Eutronix/GreenLights Blue) (Stolen!)

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#326373 - 26/09/2009 17:51 Re: CF empeg [Re: Robotic]
tfabris
carpal tunnel

Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31563
Loc: Seattle, WA
Just one of the screws? All you need, really.
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Tony Fabris

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#326379 - 26/09/2009 21:01 Re: CF empeg [Re: tfabris]
andy
carpal tunnel

Registered: 10/06/1999
Posts: 5914
Loc: Wivenhoe, Essex, UK
I don't think any of the holes will line up with any of the screws on the empeg drive tray and also allow the cable to reach. Though admittedly I haven't yet opened an empeg to check.

Sure I could stick it down, but they I'm likely to have to deal with whatever I stick it down with failing in time. I naively assumed this would have holes to match a real drive frown

I have certainly used some laptops where this CF holder definitely would not be usable due to the lack of screw alignment.


Edited by andy (26/09/2009 21:05)
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#326380 - 27/09/2009 00:43 Re: CF empeg [Re: andy]
tman
carpal tunnel

Registered: 24/12/2001
Posts: 5528
There appears to be 2 holes on the PCB side right next to the header? Its slightly off from the standard screw holes but it should work if you wedge a nut in or something?

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#326382 - 27/09/2009 05:53 Re: CF empeg [Re: tman]
andy
carpal tunnel

Registered: 10/06/1999
Posts: 5914
Loc: Wivenhoe, Essex, UK
There are, but I bought this because I expected it to be an easy clean fit. I'd rather get another adapter that has the right screw holes than mess about bodging this one.

All my own fault really, it is perfectly clear from the ebay photo that the holes are in odd places.
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