CF card as hard drive

[RVD]

Ok, I spent the last 2 hours researching and reading old posts about using a CF card as a hard drive on the X40. I have an X40 and the slow hard drive speed is driving me nuts!

I know this stuff is expensive and I can probably upgrade my laptop instead but anyway...

A few questions / points:

1) I bought the Addonics dual slot CF to HDD adapter (part number AD44MIDE2CF)

2) I bought 2 transcend 300x 16GB CF cards from newegg.

3) Will the addonics dual slot view the 2 CF cards as 2 different drive (e.g. C: and D:) or will it combine them together to form 1 big drive? If I were to put in 1 16GB card now and later add 1 more, is that just plug and play or would I need to re-install the OS, etc.?

4) I will have to re-install windows XP right? i don't mind doing this but i don't think i have the CDs to install XP professional? Can I get a windows XP OEM version somewhere and then install it and use the product key on the sticker on the bottom of the laptop? Instead, can i reduce my data and hard drive down to under 16GB and then take an image of it and then image the 16GB CF card instead?

5) Does the addonis adapter and CD card fit well in the space for the hard drive or are modifications necessary to make it fit right? I also use a docking station so I need it to fit ok.

That's all that I can think of for now. Thanks for the help everyone and I look forward to this project. Any additional urls for info would be greatly appreciated.

RVD.

[tim S]

I believe it's true to say that the X40 won't read two of the same CF cards in the dual Addonics adapter. It's like having two drives in a desktop jumpered incorrectly so the system can't tell master from slave. Two different card brands might work though and a second CF card that is seen by the system as removable will work.
The Addonics adapters, both single and dual fit perfectly into the old HD slot without any modifications. I made a tab out of duct tape so there is something to guide it in and pull it out with.
I think Transcend cards are read as fixed disks by the system, so installing an OS is the same as with the old drive.
Cloning the old drive onto the CF card will be fine. A 32G CF card should take just about everything anyway. My X40 is doing great XP + files on about 7g of a 16G CF card.
Good luck.
Tim S

[uux]

I believe it's true to say that the X40 won't read two of the same CF cards in the dual Addonics adapter. It's like having two drives in a desktop jumpered incorrectly so the system can't tell master from slave...

I'm using two Transcend 300x 16GB just fine with the Addonics dual adapter in my X40.

3) Will the addonics dual slot view the 2 CF cards as 2 different drive (e.g. C: and D:) or will it combine them together to form 1 big drive? If I were to put in 1 16GB card now and later add 1 more, is that just plug and play or would I need to re-install the OS, etc.?

They are seen as two separate drives. You shouldn't have any problem using one now and adding another later. I don't use Windows, so no comment on that. The adapter and cards will fit fine, though it might be tricky to insert into the IDE slot through the tiny opening in the case. I partially removed the palm rest to help.

[sjthinkpader]

1. I have an ircube dual slot adapter and it can view two cards as two drives.

2. I am using a single long (same length as 2.5 HDD) adapter in a X20 with a very slow but cheap 133x 8GB Kingston card and it works fine as long as I use NTFS. Both FAT32 and FAT format don't work due to the fix/removeable bit problem.

3. I am using a no name single slot short adapter in a X40 with an 8GB RiDATA 233x card and it gets good performance.

Adapter 2 and 3 were purchased in Tokyo's Akihabara markets. Adapter 1 was purchased off eBay. They all cost less than $10 each.

[weepy]

1) I bought the Addonics dual slot CF to HDD adapter (part number AD44MIDE2CF)
2) I bought 2 transcend 300x 16GB CF cards from newegg.

I have that adapter, too. There is text on the box it came in that there may be problems with two fixed type CFs. Transcends, according to www.hjreggel.net , can be both. That is, if you have trouble running 2 cards on it, google for utility that can turn the second card into removable, or buy CF from a known removable card maker.. lexar, sandisk...

3) Will the addonics dual slot view the 2 CF cards as 2 different drive (e.g. C: and D:) or will it combine them together to form 1 big drive? If I were to put in 1 16GB card now and later add 1 more, is that just plug and play or would I need to re-install the OS, etc.?

No combining, it is just like IDE master and slave drive (they will appear as two drives)

4) I will have to re-install windows XP right? i don't mind doing this but i don't think i have the CDs to install XP professional? Can I get a windows XP OEM version somewhere and then install it and use the product key on the sticker on the bottom of the laptop? Instead, can i reduce my data and hard drive down to under 16GB and then take an image of it and then image the 16GB CF card instead?

The key should work and you won't get the IBM software. Some say good riddance, some miss it... but you can always download it from lenovo site.

5) Does the addonis adapter and CD card fit well in the space for the hard drive or are modifications necessary to make it fit right? I also use a docking station so I need it to fit ok.

Fits okay, it is just very hard to align the pins. No booting? Try again and again and again. Personal exp..

[RVD]

thanks for the info. i'll be playing with this over the weekend (on Sunday if i can get to it).

i've got my windows CDs and software ready. the CF cards arrive tomorrow but i have to fly out of town until Sunday so i won't get to it until then.

anyway, thanks again for the tip everyone.