Has anyone tried an SSD in the X41? *PICS*

[weepy]

This is an awesome forum with plenty of answers. I am about to buy an X41 tablet and replacing the hdd with a cf alternative will be second thing i'm going to do with it (first being a 2GB RAM upgrade, at the end of the quarter, the RAM prices are said to go up).

It sounds to me that Lexar @ Addonics is a safe way to go. I'm looking at the strangely slow transcend 266x cf, that is explicitly said to have wear levelling implemented. Does anybody know, which brands/models have wear levelling? Isnt transcend slow just because of wl and others faster just because they dont give a ... ?

Thanks!

[seneca]

My addonics adapter and 2 8GB lexar CF cards arrived recently. The install went flawlessly. I've got Bios version 2.06 and didn't need to upgrade. There are no boot up warnings with the CF installed. Maybe this is an X41 issue? The X40 seems a little bit faster but not lightning fast like I was hoping. It was still a cool project to undertake. X40 is extremely quiet now and apps start up faster than before Enjoy the pics:
]

Are you getting DMA to work in your install? Because I'm starting to suspect that it is my Lycom adapter that's causing me problems.

[mbubba]

I want to upgrade my x41(t-tablet) to run with a fast CF and boot under Windows XP. I've read through this thread several times trying to determine what equipment I should get. I'm going to summarize some of the info I've found here. I'm looking for clarification and maybe to make the process a little easier for others.

-SSD
Regular SSD is not viable for the x40/x41. Most of the 1.8 SSD's on the market will not fit this model because it contains an SATA adaptor and has the pins on the wrong side vs. a typical 1.8 drive. Several SSD's are availble but they are significantly slower and more expensive than the CF/IDE route. Posters consider it unlikely that new SSD products will emerge to support this form factor. People looking for SSD in other models will probably be better off going with regular SSD becaue the devices are faster, cheaper, and will handle windows without a complicated workaround.


-CF/IDE Adapter
There are adapters that hold one CF drive or two CF drives. The adapter with the widest reported success is the Addonics 2-bay adapter. The Addonics 2bay adapter will fit in an x41 but the controller can only use one bay. The x40 can take advantage of both bays because it has a different controller or adapter than the x41. Posters caution not to get a "plain old" CF/IDE adapter because it may not connect the necessary pins for UDMA support. Also the adapter has to be 44-pin. The 40-pin version is for desktops.

-Main CF Drive
Consensus is the fastest drives are the Sandisk Extreme IV and the Lexar 300X. More posters have reported success with the Sandisk Extreme IV but performance specs are not posted. Performance specs for the Lexar 300X are included below. Note these drives are only 8GB. Both of these drives will report as removable and Windows will not boot on them without intervention explained in detail by Slade.

Two other drives I might consider are the Transcend 266x and the Delkin 305X. edit:[The Delkin is a 16GB drive.] The Transcend drive has been called a ripoff because its write speeds are relatively low. However, I am confused looking at the reported performance numbers it still looks pretty good. I think posters have said that the Transcend's real-world performance isn't as good as the numbers.

There is some discussion about the Delkin 305X. It apppears to have fair performance and may present itself to windows as a fixed drive, which allows for booting to be avoided. Some numbers are reported for 16GB Delkin UDMA CF which are not as good as the Lexar 300, but It's not clear to me whether those numbers are for the Delkin 305x or another Delkin.

So far the best practice (for x41) seems to be using a single Sandisk Extreme IV 8GB on a Addonics 2-bay CF/IDA adaptor; and optionally augmenting the main disk with a second (possibly slower and larger) CF card with a cardbus adapter in the cardbus slow. For x40, best practice would be to use two of these cards in the addonics adapter.

One poster reported success and decent read performance with the delkin cardbus udma32 adapter. From that posters numbers, it looks like either this device is very slow at writing or else the poster's three cards write slow (all transcend, which write slow, but not *that* slow).

Best practice for the cardbus drive might be using a 16GB Transcend 133x or 266x; or a Sandisk Extreme III 16GB, but there aren't a lot of other numbers for cardbus performance.

I will start with a single drive and think about cardbus option down the road. I am considering the Sandisk Extreme IV 8GB but I wish I could see numbers to compare it
to the Lexar 300.

I am *strongly* tempted to get the Delkin 305x 16gB. Marketing description says it delivers 45MB/s write speed, not "up to 45MB/s," and it would give me a lot more elbow room with 16GB instead of 8GB. This drive is newer than most of the postings in this thread. Also I will probably get the Addonics 2-bay adapter since it has the widest success. The 305X 16GB is not cheap at $400... though the 8GB Lexar 300X is $175, so the per/GB premium is not that big. My main reluctance would be uncertainty about performance and uncertainty about the drive's ability to boot into windows (removable/fixed issue)

Clarifications please!

[mattbiernat]

I would love see an easy solution to X4x slow drive problem (SSD or anything else). It would be nice if somebody could post a little guide how to install this and which parts they exactly used. I am planning to get X41tablet but not until I'm 100% sure about an easy solution to its HD bottleneck.

[DVormann]

Two other drives I might consider are the Transcend 266x and the Delkin 305X. These are both 16GB drives.

Transcend 266x is 8 GB, not 16 GB.

I am *strongly* tempted to get the Delkin 305x 16gB.

If I were to start all over again then that is exactly what I would do.

Marketing description says it delivers 45MB/s write speed, not "up to 45MB/s,"

That number is for sequential write, not random write.

[mbubba]

Two other drives I might consider are the Transcend 266x and the Delkin 305X. These are both 16GB drives.

Transcend 266x is 8 GB, not 16 GB.

Thanks for the clarification. I've changed that in my summary in case anyone tries to rely on it.

2) 16GB Delkin UDMA CF

Transfer rate
Min : 1.5 MB/s
Max : 31.6 MB/s
Avg : 30.3 MB/s

Access Time : 0.4 ms
Burst Rate : 29.8 MB/s
CPU Usage : 2.5 %

When I read this before I wasn't clear that this was the Delkin 305x, but now I see the 305x is the only 16GB Delkin makes. So it looks like Delkin 305x is clearly slower than the Lexar 300x.

Did I miss something looking for Sandisk IV's performance numbers in the thread? I couldn't find any posted perf numbers, so I am wondering whether it is really going to be equivalent to the Lexar 300x.

[j-dawg]

I think I'm going to try a CF-as-SSD setup in my X24. What I'll do is to buy an adapter and two CF cards.

The adapter just needs to work. Since that's literally just a few wires, I don't think there's any restrictions besides being 44-pin and fitting in the bay...but correct me if I'm wrong.

I'll get a cheap CF card (2-4gb, depending on price) for storing documents, etc. This will go in the X24's built-in CF slot, for which I have until now had no use.

The bit I'm not sure about is the OS/software card. I want a fast-ish card (266x or higher) so that I can achieve reasonable speeds and some noticeable speed improvement. For that, I was looking at the A-Data Turbo 266 cards and the Transcend 266 cards, which can be had in 2gb flavors for ~$30.

Herein lies the question: will an nLite-trimmed WinXP fit onto a 2gb card, and will the installer allow it? I don't plan on using this computer for anything particularly intense, so I think I can trim it pretty well down, but I don't know if the installer will let me install on just 2gb.

If not, I would be happy to use some small, lightweight Linux distribution, but I'd still like to know ahead of time.

Thanks in advance.

[xosh]

Herein lies the question: will an nLite-trimmed WinXP fit onto a 2gb card, and will the installer allow it? I don't plan on using this computer for anything particularly intense, so I think I can trim it pretty well down, but I don't know if the installer will let me install on just 2gb.

I tried nLite, and yes it is able to trim Windows XP fit onto a 2 GB card (depending on how many modules you turn off). I heard that Windows XP could be trimmed down to several hundred MBs (which I haven't tried) as well.

[weepy]

Has anyone tried the new Pretec 333x CF (50nm, SLC)? What are real speeds? they say 50MB read/45MBwrite with some increased durability...

[xosh]

I would like to share some tips I found on installing Windows on a CF card. I think most of the guys who installed their system to CF card would already know this, but might be useful for the ones who are trying to start their long journey [As I posted, all the result is based on my Thinkpad X41 Tablet + Addonics CF-IDE adapter + Delkin 16GB UDMA 305x CF card.]

This are the things that you need:
1. Microsoft Windows XP CD
2. Blank CD
3. CD Recorder + CD Recording software
4. PC having 700MB+ free space
5. Your Thinkpad with CF card.
6. nLite software + Microsoft Windows Hotfix/Service Packs
7. Thinkpad Drivers
8. SD card (if possible)
9. 1G+ RAM (strongly recommended)


First, create an optimized Windows XP using nLite http://nliteos.com/. Using nLite you can create a Windows XP with all the service pack, hotfixes (including IE 7.0 and WMP 11.0), and Thinkpad drivers at a time. You could also get rid of bunch of unused Windows modules/services from installing to your system.

Second, burn the Windows image (.iso) created by nLite to the blank CD you prepared. And start installing the optimized Windows to your Thinkpad system.

Third, turn off the page file, and tweak your documents settings so that all your personal documents could be stored in the SD card (or other partition - This is necessary if you are going to use EWF because when EWF option is on, you wouldn't be able to write any files to C: drive (or other with EWF option) anymore.)

Fourth, when the installation is done (and you installed all the softwares and updates you need), install the EWF system by following the instructions in http://granturing.blogspot.com/.

By installing EWF and enabling it, the Windows system would stop writing to the EWF-enabled-disk. So, if you enable EWF to the system disk (usually C: drive), then no more system changes would be allowed. This will give you both security and speed. The speed difference is obvious when you boot, and start running programs! I think this is because whenever there is a file write operation in the EWF-enabled-disk, the system process the file on the RAM which is way much faster than on the actual drive. However, since the modification on the EWF-enabled-disk is on the RAM, you might have problems when you have very limited memory. I have 1.5G RAM, and have no problem with this. (Since you'll have to turn off the page file, you'll need more than 1 G RAM to do this.) Finally, you could always turn off the EWF option whenever you want to modify the disk. (It's all in the above link. Thanks to Silvio Fiorito!)


By this, I was able to install most application that I use (including major ThinkVantage Utilities, Acrobat Professional, Office 2007, and Visual Studio 2005) on the CF disk and still have plenty spaces in my 16GB CF card. My system boots up and runs really faster than ever, and I'm not afraid of system modification by malwares (because when I reboot I know my system will be as I first set).


One more tips for the Tablet users:
Windows XP Tablet is usually heavier than Windows XP. You could apply nLite on Windows XP Tablet Edition as well. Or you could install Windows XP and install "Wacom Penabled Driver" http://www.wacom.com/tabletpc/driver.cfm to enable your tablet pen. However, since the Windows is XP and not XP Tablet now, some of the application would fail to create the nice "ink" option, so if you are a heavy e-ink user try nLite on XP Tablet.

[xosh]

One more... (am I writing too many articles at a time? )

I also tried Windows Vista on my Thinkpad (X41 Tablet + 16GB Delkin UDMA) as well.

Using vLite http://www.vlite.net/, I was able to install Vista on my 16GB CF. It took about 2GB+ after installation (removing page file and hibernation file) - Not so bad... isn't it?

However, I decided to go with XP because it used more memory without any application installed than XP with all my application installed. And I wan't able to find a way to enable EWF on Vista. (Maybe nobody thought of EWF on Vista because they thought Vista is too heavy for CF cards which seems not too bad for me.)

If you know how to enable EWF on Vista please share your experience Thanks.

[seneca]

Does anyone know of a reseller of the Addonics dual CF 44pin IDE adapter in the EU?

[j-dawg]

I bought an A-Data Turbo 266X 2gb CF card, but when I got home, I looked up the specs and various websites listed the write endurance as "10000 insert/remove cycles." This seems absurdly low in comparison to pretty much every other CF card I've seen, though this one has got wear leveling. Is that 10,000 figure a typo or is it really true? And if so, how long can I expect this card to last? I only "need" it for the next few months, but I'd like it to last at least a few years.

[weepy]

insert/remove cycles are about how often are you going to insert the card into a camera od cf adapter, it is about connector endurance. It has nothing to do with write cycle count before failure or wear levelling. Transcend says about his 266x line, that it's connector has endurance of 10000, too, so it is quite common among cf cards. The number is ridiculously high when you look at endurance of socket 775 lga pins .

[eyestrain]

One poster reported success and decent read performance with the delkin cardbus udma32 adapter. From that posters numbers, it looks like either this device is very slow at writing or else the poster's three cards write slow (all transcend, which write slow, but not *that* slow).

Best practice for the cardbus drive might be using a 16GB Transcend 133x or 266x; or a Sandisk Extreme III 16GB, but there aren't a lot of other numbers for cardbus performance.

With my T60, using HDTach on an A-Data 266X and Transcend 133X, I got read speeds:

Code: Select all

Card    Via             Avg  Access  Burst	CPU

Adata2G Addonics-SATA   42.2   .4    45.2	7  
Adata2G Delkin Cardbus  35.2   .5    43.8	4  
Adata2G Extreme USB     18.1  1.0    18.1	5  
Trnsc2G Delkin Cardbus  33.5  3.9    35.7	8
Trnsc2G Extreme USB     18.1  4.3    18.8	8

Using a stopwatch, the Delkin did a serial write at about 10 MB/sec to the Adata. In the Addonics, about 35 MB/sec.

Addonics above is their CF-Sata adapter, in the Ultrabay of my T60. Extreme USB is the Sandisk reader.

[eyestrain]

The adapter just needs to work. Since that's literally just a few wires, I don't think there's any restrictions besides being 44-pin and fitting in the bay...but correct me if I'm wrong.

Looking closely at the cards, there are a few tiny components on them. Maybe LEDs and resistors? You can see them in some pictures on ebay or Addonics website.

I've had very bad luck (in a T60) using cheap CF-IDE adapters from China on ebay. Two didn't work anywhere I tried them. The third operates at extremely slow speed, though Linux says it's using UDMA. That third adapter won't work in two different USB 2.5" drive enclosures. And causes problems for Windows even when not booting from it.

The CF-SATA adapter from Addonics works good with Linux, but I'm having trouble booting Windows from it in AHCI mode. Have sent them email requesting help--they say they've got XP to work with it.

The CF-SATA might not fit in an X4x.

[eyestrain]

By the way, Sandisk is offering an attractive rebate program right now, through several stores. You get a Visa card instead of cash (use the second form) and the rebate per card goes up if you buy two or three of the same card.

Adorama Camera has the Extreme IV in 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB at decent prices after the rebate. Especially if you buy 2 or 3 of a kind, prices on this page are for 1:
http://www.adorama.com/Search-Results.t ... ndisk%20iv

Also check out the Firewire reader, alone or with an Extreme IV card. Though alone, shipping isn't free.

[j-dawg]

I got my cards and my adapter. I bought an A-DATA Turbo 2GB 266X and a generic CF-IDE adapter from Logic Supply. The installation hung up once, but went fine the second time. I was impressed by how fast the install was, especially with my old 24x CD-ROM.

Boot times are very fast. I timed it at 36 seconds from cold boot to usable desktop. But despite using nLite to trim my install down to ~350MB, I quickly filled 2GB. With what that 2GB was filled I am unsure.

I did leave the page file on (with a max of ~400MB) because I have only 256MB of RAM. But I can't see how, even with a page file, I'm using up the whole card.

I've got a second 2GB CF card for documents and such, but I hadn't touched anything besides drivers, etc. before it began to warn me of Imminent Disk Space Doom (~40MB remaining).

I also noticed that, while programs loaded very quickly, scrolling of any sort was extremely choppy. I suspect this was at least in part because I had not yet installed video drivers, but it was when I moved to do so that I ran out of space.

Bottom line, XP doesn't run comfortably on 2GB. So unless anyone's got any tips on slimming XP down further, I think I'll give Linux a shot. I have a copy of Xubuntu 7.10 sitting around; has anyone got an idea of how that will perform on my system, and if it will fit comfortably on 2GB? I also plan to have no swap partition; will this reduce system performance significantly, given my meager 256MB RAM? I'm willing to sacrifice some card lifespan since I only need the computer for a few more months, so I don't mind leaving the swap partition in place if removing it would kill performance.

[eyestrain]

I'm typing this from a T60 (3GB RAM) running on a 2GB card, with only 1.25GB of the CF filled up. With XP SP2, almost all Windows Updates, .Net 2.0, NHC, Firefox, latest Adobe reader, Thinkvantage System Update and some suggested updates, and ATI X1400 Video drivers (but no ATI screens in my control panel working yet). I have no audio working yet, though did download drivers after the nlite installation. Am not using page swap. I'm using NTFS compression on the card, but benefit is small, maybe 5-10%. Also avoided anything WMP or Outlook, but may need to put in some minimal security updates since I don't think they're entirely disabled.

If you want to stick with XP, try shutting off automatic updates, slipstream SP2 into your nlite, shut off system restore, reduce page swap size, and make a smaller nlite installation. For example, in nlite, I got away with not installing video drivers. (but didn't get away with audio )

Also shift-delete the install files with $ signs, and the word "install" IIRC, from your Windows folder. Not all $ files can be removed, just the ones with a filename indicating it was from an update. (Sorry I don't remember for sure the word in the filename, if it isn't "install" then someone please correct me. But from looking in the folder, it should be obvious)

Once working, can experiment with adding things slowly. But IIRC auto windows updates in background used up all of my card. Manually shutting it off and doing manual/"custom" install of updates went better.


I don't have personal experience with Ubuntu yet, other than Live CD. But from what I've read, Xubuntu might be a good option, with relatively little memory and a somewhat old system. I'm thinking of switching to Ubuntu/Xubuntu myself if can find a utility to undervolt CPU that I think I can safely handle (no recompile kernel,etc).

2GB install might take some tricks, I think there's a Canonical page that says Ubuntu install requires 4GB. Since it fits on a CD though, I imagine 2GB should be possible with squash, even if you have a small swap.

[syzygy]

Scroll down to the bottom for the real question....

My journey so far:

The 40GB hard drive on my X40 starts making clicks, gets slower and slower and slower. Oh gloom. The whole thing finally seizes up, but I'm able to recover (temporarily) by running CHKDSK over and over again. Whew.

Let's get another drive from eBay (stop laughing). I order another 40GB drive (not new). When it arrives, I found I was shipped a 60GB model! O joy!

Looks okay. It has been wiped except for a big folder of recorded Chinese TV shows. And a virus in the root directory that infected the machine I was using to read it. Work a couple of hours to get rid of THAT!

Clone the old drive, the new one works fine. Joy returns. After a day of use, I start getting errors. The reallocated sector count in SMART gets bigger and bigger, and CHKDSK is unable to finish. Bah. Fortunately, I'm able to return it for a full refund.

Which brings me around to the SSD branch of the tale. It was clear by this point that the 1.8" hard drives were just not destined to be a reliable solution. I encounter this thread on thinkpads.com and know I have found a new religion. O joy!

Order a dual CF adapter card on eBay from Hong Kong. Only $1.99. How can I go wrong? Can you say 'completely'? It worked, but mechanically it was doomed. The 44 pin connector was on the WRONG SIDE of the board, and it would not plug into the X40 drive bay. Forget it.

In the meantime I ordered a Transcend 133x card, just to see how it would work. (Stop laughing!)

But I needed a new adapter card, so I snagged a new dual Addonics on eBay. It arrives quickly, it fits, I put everything together, and install an XP lite version from an external CD. And wait. And wait. And wait. It runs overnight, and finally finishes the next morning.

But it does work! But it was excruciatingly slow, sort of like DOS booting up on a 7MHz 8086 from a 5" floppy. Tried a full install of XP (another overnight experience), and it was even worse, and really dragged. I read this thread a few more times, and decide that the Lexar 300x is the best option. Back to eBay, find a 8GB version on the cheap, and get it in two days.

Talk about night and day! The Lexar zooooooms! Joy returns. I put the Trancend in the other slot, just to keep archives of documents. Or maybe I'll relegate it to camera duty.

Finally, the question:

What is the best way to secure the door on the drive bay? There is only one screw that holds down the left end, and the right end is loose. To make matters worse, there is a rubber foot on the bottom that drags on the table top, and I'm sure it will pull the door out and snap it off at the screw. I was thinking about putting the old drive caddy tray back on, but there is nothing to screw it on to. It needs a rigid bracket of some sort. Hack the end off of a dead drive??

I really don't want to end up with a busted door. Any ideas?

[volodar]

Hi all! I'm ready to make the jump. I had it narrowed down to the lexar 300x 8gb (150 at adorama) or the Extreme IV 8gb (140 adorama), but I just found the Kingston 266x 8gb at b&h for 105! Has anyone used that card?
The specs here,
http://www.hjreggel.net/cardspeed/ seem pretty good, and it seems to have the right specs: 44.12MB/s read, 38.74MB/s write, UDMA-5, and it is listed as "Fixed + CF-Removable", so my X40 may recognize it as a HD automatically.
Somebody asked a similar question earlier in this thread, but I haven't seen anybody online using this card as SSD. I'm leaning towards just getting the lexar, since its gotten such rave reviews, but the Kingston is the right price!
BTW, I purchased a 8gb SDHD card from frys ($25) and it works in my x40 after the sdhc update in XP! I'm planning on using that to store my media.
http://shop2.outpost.com/product/529773 ... mory:Spot4
Good luck! I hope this helps somebody.
-V

[j-dawg]

Okay, so I suppose others' experiences with XP on 2GB call my claims into question. They were a bit rash.

Nonetheless, I tried some Linuxy stuff. Xubuntu also barely fits, as I learned yesterday, if you bugger the install up. But that brief setback was offset by great yields from my OS adventures today. I installed Ubuntu as a command-line-only system, installed X, and tried out a few window managers. I tried IceWM, and while I liked it initially, it got old quick (less than a few hours!). I tried Fluxbox, too, with which I was impressed, but I had to tweak a few things. I told myself I'd reinstall everything tomorrow...so why not try Xfce sans Xubuntu?

Boom! Everything works, it's not hard to set stuff up, and it's much faster than the full Xubuntu install. I can click something and it comes up straight away. I can change settings without having to alter text files or fear for my window manager's life. I found my setup. I don't even think I'm going to clean all the crap out from my IceWM and Fluxbox installations beyond just deleting the basics. Everything works and after I get ndiswrapper and OO.o up and running, I'll settle in.

[weepy]

A bit of heresy came to my mind when thinking about ssd in x41... did anyone measure the dimensions of the hdd bay? I know that for example hama SSD 16GB has ide connector on short side, but still, a 44pin to 44pin short ide cable could be used, right? Twisted, squeezed, but who cares ? But the drive is some 8 mm longer (78, including connector) than standard ibm 1.8 drive. It is 50mm wide and looks very slim.. would it fit?

did anyone try? does the cable then have to be "84 pin" (equivalent of 80pin for udma4 or higher)? gee.. probably [censored]....

[rbmartin]

I just successfully installed the Super Talent FHD32GC18M in my X40.

http://www.supertalent.com/datasheets/6_50.pdf

Note that this is not the older, slower FHD32GB model which has been discussed before. I purchased this drive for $739 +S/H, so the cost per gigabyte is not out of line with other options discussed here.

Transfer rate measured with hdtune is 50MB/sec. Mechanically the drive fits perfectly in the X40 drive bay - I just moved the plastic end bezel from the old drive.

[mbubba]

How did that install go? I saw some discussion on another thread looked like the X41 wasn't seeing this SSD, perhaps because of a 3v/5v issue. Did you have to do anything special to get the hardware to regognize it?

How are the write speeds and random access? How is your bootup process? Are you running Windows?

I was waiting for someone to order the Delkin CF drive but with this news I think I might cancel and go with this instead.

[rbmartin]

mbubba, I'm not sure what the other poster's problem was. I don't buy the 3v/5v theory - the laptop should be supplying both to the drive. I did manually jumper the drive for Master mode, but I'm not sure if this was necessary. That's the only thing I can think of that I might have done differently.

I'm not sure what to use to measure write speed objectively. Booting takes about 5-6 seconds from the time the bios splash screen goes away to the time the ctrl-alt-del prompt comes up. Overall the system seems pretty "zippy".

Yes, I'm running XP SP2.

[cchsiao]

I am the one who "invent" the 3.3v/5v theory. However, according to what Super Talent told me, the SSD I got is probably defective and I was so lucky to get it... However, I don't dare give it a try again and I returned the SSD I bought from e-wiz.

If rbmartin got this SSD (the same as what I got a month ago) to work, could you please check if it also works on an X41 (tablet or not).

[rbmartin]

cchsaio: Interesting, I bought my drive from e-wiz. The package it arrived in was unsealed, as if it had been returned. I may very well have your drive.

Sorry, I don't have an x41 available to test.

Did you check to make sure the drive was jumpered in Master mode? I know from previous posts that the x41 will not recognize a Slave drive.

I've been running the SSD for over a day now; it's been rock solid. I gotta say it's a tremendous improvement over the 1.8" mechanical Hitachi. The main drawback is price - other than the geek value it's very hard to justify this purchase financially. For a few hundred dollars more you could buy a brand new x60 or x61 with a fast hard drive.

[weepy]

Does anyone know of a reseller of the Addonics dual CF 44pin IDE adapter in the EU?

I don't know, if this will help much, but in Hungary, www.hardveraruhaz.hu looks good. In UK, http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/ says it has them in stock for similar price, so I guess shipping cost would decide...

[bartelby]

As others have done before me, I built an improvised SSD for my X30 from a dual Addonics adapter and a pair of 16GB 133x Transcend CF cards. I then underwent the pain of reinstalling XP on this rig. I am not the first person in this thread to observe that random write performance with this setup is suboptimal. In all other respects, however, the X30 is improved immensely: bootup time is better by about 50%, battery life is better by about 20%, the computer is usually more responsive and best of all, it is dead silent. It used to sound like The Hen From Outer Space, clucking and clicking and making odd booping noises at random intervals. Eventually, the price of an MTRON SSD will fall to my range, at which point I will upgrade again. In the meantime, I don't want to chase after performance improvements by buying faster, more expensive CF cards.

The OS sees the two cards as two separate IDE drives. Is it possible to improve performance by setting up the two cards as a RAID0 array? If so, how would I go about doing such a thing?

Thanks