Current CF card for X41 for Win XP OS

[jsailorca]

Hi,


Has anyone recently (say last two months) successfully put a (> 16gb) CF card in X41 installing Win XP? Please let me know the brand the model.
My last 16gb Kingston (233X) install was an abysmal failure.


Thanks.

[Neil]

Been running my X40 from a Transcend 400X 16GB CF card with WinXP for almost a year now. It works, but I would not say it works well. I use the X40 almost everyday, but it can be really sluggish at times.

Before that we had XP installed on the wife's X40 using an 8GB RiDATA 233X CF card. Don't remember how long we ran her's that way, but it's performance was just barely OK too.

I've decided that CF cards just don't work very well as a boot drive, unless you are using a Linux distro that boots, and runs, totally in RAM.

[sjthinkpader]

Since both CF cards and XP doesn't support TRIM, it will get slower and slower as the CF card gets cluttered with "dirty" (1s and 0s instead of all 1s) free space. I think this is constant that most of us who used CF cards eventually move to real SSDs.

Windows7 is not Panasea either, several of our Windows7 PCs with SSD get random crashes mostly during systems going to sleep. I think it happens when Windows shutdown when SSD hasn't finished TRIM operation.

[whalepirot]

Tried a CF adapter; cheap one from Hong Kong or China. Was very difficult to insert and the CF borrowed from wife's camera did nothing.

I'd planned to either do the 'SATA shuffle' IF I can get a decent pic of the solder points or go SSD. Seems either Win7 with TRIM or add-on software under XP is essential.

I run Linux Mint from a CD, for now, as I learn it and decide on a HD.

[Neil]

Linux has had TRIM support for a few years now, if you decide to stay with Linux Mint.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRIM

[deckoff]

Tried a CF adapter; cheap one from Hong Kong or China. Was very difficult to insert and the CF borrowed from wife's camera did nothing.

I'd planned to either do the 'SATA shuffle' IF I can get a decent pic of the solder points or go SSD. Seems either Win7 with TRIM or add-on software under XP is essential.

I run Linux Mint from a CD, for now, as I learn it and decide on a HD.

here is the tutorial you are looking for
http://forum.meetmobility.com/showthrea ... -included)

Read post 2 and post 6. In post 2 there is apart which describes how to enable windows 7 updates and so on. It is easy to overlook.
I am not impressed with the results, though - I bought x133 trancend CF, and windows is very slow. I have SSD and things feel much better, but the ssd is much faster that the cf, so this might be the reason.
Linux is a much safer bet, and if you plan to use it for a internet machine I advice you to go this way. Ubuntu, Mint, whatever you choose, but latest Ubuntu comes with pae kernel, so go for Xubuntu ot Lubuntu instead. 4 GB is the installation, so 8 GB CF might be enough. I use 3 40 with 8gb CF, all on Ubuntu 11.04 - one for torrents (even the screen is broken) and two internet machines - for my wife and for my mother.
Speed matters when you buy a CF

[whalepirot]

thanks for that. I am shopping another CF card.. a fast one.

NE one know if it is a PRO or UDMA card that is required to be bootable?

[yenots]

I've been using a Lexar 300x 8GB CF card as the main boot drive on my X40 with WinXP for over four years. This machine gets used on a daily basis for work, and I have had no problems with it getting slower over the years. There are next to no short term freeze episodes, and it is very usable for general web browsing, e-mail, office apps, and low horsepower CAD programs.

I initially tried the same install with a Transcend 133x CF card, and that was a disaster.

There is one program I had problem with, and that was Firefox (forget the version). From what I can tell, it liked to do lots of little block writes to memory, and the whole thing liked to seize up for tens of seconds at a stretch. I switched over to Chrome, and there have been zero issues since then. Thunderbird is fine.

I have paging turned off, with no ill effects. So far, I see no need for TRIM.

It's really amazing what you can do with a 8GB drive if you set your mind to it. It likes to fill up, and I clean out the junk every few months. I also have a slow 16GB CF card in the same slot for bulk storage.

[whalepirot]

Superb. thanks. How is the speed versus the spinner HD?

[AGoodSolution]

Superb. thanks. How is the speed versus the spinner HD?

Comparing the original inlcuded 4500 RPM drive to CF/IDE setups is the same as comparing walking to flying. Boot times decrease to less than 30 seconds instead of measured in minutes.

I've used varying CF combinations from different manufacturers and the reputable, longer established manufactuers including Lexar, SanDisk perform consistenly better both anecodotally and when measured using any HDparm utility. My Transcends perform inconsistenly and fail more frequently. But at least they're warrantied for life and I get them replaced in just eight weeks.

Don't get preoccupied with the standard advice about TRIM and other SSD optimizations on CF's or even SSD's inside an X41, the slow drive controller fails to take advantage of TRIM manged drives and leaving prefetch settings and others alone dones't signifciantlay improve performance. All of those reco's are good, and valid, but it's race car advice for the fast go-cart league.

XP performs well, Linux performs better.

[sjthinkpader]

Real SSD and fast HDD is still best. PM if you need help.

[whalepirot]

I like Linux, particularly Mint, when I can get it to work on a machine, but for the application I have in mind, I have to research further if applications are available.

I am stalled on this, as the cost of a decent sized, quality CF approaches the cost of an X61 which already supports SATA in a friendlier form factor. I have the CF adapter (Chinese) sitting right here, waiting, and was pondering a try-and -return-to-store approach, if it doesn't work. The adapter was inexpensive, so not a lot lost, in that case.

I have been reluctant to do the mod to the M/B, despite the low cost X41 sitting here. Also, been doing some other projects. I am intrigued by what sjthinkpader has in mind, however, as to alternatives.

This looks attractive for capacity and price, IF an unknown brand. It claims high quality. Thoughts?
http://www.amazon.com/Premium-Compact-S ... ar+300x+cf

I was thinking of using the SD slot for fast extra storage. thanks.

[whalepirot]

here is the tutorial you are looking for
http://forum.meetmobility.com/showthrea ... -included)

Read post 2 and post 6. In post 2 there is apart which describes how to enable windows 7 updates and so on.

That speaks to Win7 with a 'should be' reference to XP. I tried that with a VHD install and such, but was only able to format the CF as FAT (as it already was) and not NTFS, nor could I get VHD to run on my XP Pro desktop, nor partition the CF. It already showed as active.

ADDED: I formatted the CF as NTFS with Mint 11.

The CF shows up and is quick with a disk check and read/write of a few files.

The X41 does not see the card at all in the HD slot, but maybe it is seeing it as removable, hence not a bootable drive. It shows up just fine via USB adapter.

If there another step-by-step to make it bootable, please advise. Others seem to be able to do it, so I am obviously missing something. Thx.

[whalepirot]

I updated the BIOS, finally (no HD installed) to 2.06 but was disappointed to find no additional boot choices, i.e. SD card.

MaxISO (thanks, eHow) did not work for making a floppy image, but M/S's CDburner program got it done.

eHow, which I find universally useless for any info, took me on a waste-time trip, and claims the SD is bootable if USB -floppy or USB-CD is chosen as the boot option. Is this true?

thanks

[Neil]

I suspect that might be true if you were booting from USB, but you are not, are you? If you have the CF in the hard drive bay, it's very likely that either you don't have all the pins correctly connected (I find it easier if I remove the palm rest, so I can see what I'm doing), or the adapter you are using is faulty. I've read that some of the cheap ones don't work right. Of the three I've bought, only two of them work, and all were the same cheap Chinese model.

[whalepirot]

I suspect that might be true if you were booting from USB, but you are not, are you? If you have the CF in the hard drive bay, it's very likely that either you don't have all the pins correctly connected (I find it easier if I remove the palm rest, so I can see what I'm doing), or the adapter you are using is faulty. I've read that some of the cheap ones don't work right. Of the three I've bought, only two of them work, and all were the same cheap Chinese model.

No, not booting from USB.

I agree and can only get the adapter installed by lifting the palm rest. this one is specifically for the X41, but so far, no go.

The CF card itself only fits one way, tho there are two slots.

[Neil]

Don't remember if you said which adapter you are using, but this Thinkwiki article might help:

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/CompactFlash_boot_drive

I have a single slot adapter. The one that Thinkwiki says doesn't work, I think, and I install it with the CF card on the bottom side of the card when installed. Don't remember for certain if all the pin go into the socket or not. I think not.

[whalepirot]

Don't remember if you said which adapter you are using, but this Thinkwiki article might help:

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/CompactFlash_boot_drive

I didn't b/c I have no idea. I got it from FocalPrice out of Hong Kong. Twas cheap and so far, worth none of that. I am all over that article, now, Thx.

I have a single slot adapter. The one that Thinkwiki says doesn't work, I think, and I install it with the CF card on the bottom side of the card when installed. Don't remember for certain if all the pin go into the socket or not. I think not.

Having no docs, I think the jumper is for master/Slave, but that is a guess. I am going to try combos, figuring I cannot hurt anything.