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Considerations for using CF-IDE adapters

Performance, hardware, software, general buying and gaming discussion..
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springbox44
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Location: Brisbane, Australia

Considerations for using CF-IDE adapters

#1 Post by springbox44 » Thu Jun 25, 2020 4:07 am

Hi all,

I'm considering buying one of these each for my G40 and 600E, with the intent of installing 98/2000 on them.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3283846 ... 50-RLziiwM

However, before forking out my money, is there anything I should be aware of, in terms of extra adapters required or otherwise? Looking for the cheapest option really.

Thanks

dr_st
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Re: Considerations for using CF-IDE adapters

#2 Post by dr_st » Thu Jun 25, 2020 4:42 am

The VOGONS forums are probably the best source of information for such questions. I never tried one myself.
Thinkpad 25 (20K7), T490 (20N3), Yoga 14 (20FY), T430s (IPS FHD + Classic Keyboard), X220 4291-4BG
X61 7673-V2V, T60 2007-QPG, T42 2373-F7G, X32 (IPS Screen), A31p w/ Ultrabay Numpad

Neil
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Re: Considerations for using CF-IDE adapters

#3 Post by Neil » Thu Jun 25, 2020 6:57 am

I've used such an adapter in my X40 for many years. Works great. Only gotcha is it's very difficult to install in the drive bay. One basically has to remove case plastic to gain access to the IDE connector. That's about my only option with the X40, but with other devices with a full size HDD slot, I would recommend an adapter with a case or a dual CF card adapter something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Micro-SATA-Cable ... 07&sr=8-18
Collection = T430 - T500 - R400 - X300 - T61 (14" WXGA+) - R61 (15" SXGA+) - T60 - X40 - T43p - T43 - T42p - A30P

cadillacmike68
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Re: Considerations for using CF-IDE adapters

#4 Post by cadillacmike68 » Fri Jun 26, 2020 11:41 pm

Neil, how is the speed on one of those?
600 600X
760LD FUBARd
T21 2647 T22 2647 1@ 1GHz SXGA+ 4 more; T23 2647 1@ 1.2GHz SXGA+ 3 more
T30 2366-88U 2GHz; 2366-83U 1.8G; 5@ 2366-LU0/66U; 2367-KU6 FUBARd
T41 T42 T43
T60 T61 8897 2.4GHz SXGA+; 8898 2.4Ghz; 6463 2@ WSXGA+; 7658 2.5GHz; T61p; 6 more T61s
T500 2
T530 W530

Neil
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Re: Considerations for using CF-IDE adapters

#5 Post by Neil » Sat Jun 27, 2020 7:39 am

Well, I can't really comment much on the speed, as it's the only drive I've ever had in the X40. So there is nothing for me to compare to other than other ThinkPads of similar vintage that are running spinning IDE HDDs. And to me performance is about the same. The X40 with CF card probably lags a little more that the others at times, but it's all purely subjective, as I've never measured anything.

Given the choice, I would choose a "real" hard drive every time. But, for the X40, at the time (many years ago), CF adapter was the only affordable option. And it worked. I've been using it (on my second CF card, first wore out) for several years with various Linux distributions. Even ran Win XP for a while some years ago, but that was more trouble than it was worth.
Collection = T430 - T500 - R400 - X300 - T61 (14" WXGA+) - R61 (15" SXGA+) - T60 - X40 - T43p - T43 - T42p - A30P

theterminator93
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Re: Considerations for using CF-IDE adapters

#6 Post by theterminator93 » Sat Jun 27, 2020 8:22 am

I have something like this in my X41T. The main thing is the CF card you use needing to report itself as a fixed disk, not removable; I tried upgrading to something bigger than the tiny 16GB CF card that was in it when I acquired it, and the 64GB SanDisk card I used did not work...

Here's an article that may yield some mental nuggets on the topic: https://www.daniel-boehmer.de/thinkpad-cf/
T480 with T25 keyboard | T25 | W520 i7-2860QM·Quadro 2000m·IPS FHD | T601F T9900·NVS 140m·LED AFFS UXGA
T420 IPS FHD | X220 IPS FHD | T61p·T61·43·42p|X13 Yoga G3·220T·301·41T·24·23·22|G41|A31p·22m|i1200|TransNote
600|770Z|770|760XD|760EL|701C|755C

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