Freshly installed OS cannot recognised CF adapter as HD

[ttan98]

Just bought a CF to IDE adapter and a Kindston 16G CF. This combo is compatible with X40 laptop. I plug in the adaptor with CF into the hard disk slot. I then boot up via an external CDrom with an window 7 CD inside. The OS cannot recognise the CF as a hard disk, hence I cannot install window 7.

Do I have to format the CF separately before I try to install again? If not, any suggestions?

Thanks.

[sjthinkpader]

Your CF card needs to be programmed as "fixed" type instead of "removable" type. This is a tuple bit in the card CIS. You can try formatting the card as NTFS first.

[ttan98]

sjthinkpader,

Thks for replying, I don't understand your statement, "This is a tuple bit in the card CIS."
The program I use to format CF adapter also cannot recognise the adapter as a hard disk.

Any other suggestions pls?

[ttan98]

More information, I attached an external IDE adapter(with USB port) to the CF adapter with CF attached. I then hook it up to the Laptop, my X40 was able to recognise the CF combo.

It appears at this stage that when I insert the CF adapter to X40, it may not have been inserted properly eventhough I tried many times. How do I improve on this?

[sjthinkpader]

"Tuple" is a term used by the original development team on the PCMCIA spec around 1990 for each individual data type in the CIS. CIS is "card information structure". This prefaced the wide compatibility of PCMCIA cards and other standards came after it. The two particular individuals behind it were Terry Moore from a small company called Databook and Mike Dryfoos from Microsoft.

The DIMM SPD (serial presence detect) came later and is based on the same concept. SPD came about when DIMM complexity out grew the 2 bit, 4 combination PD used in SIMMs (single inline memory modules).

I always remove the KB bezel when inserting the adapter, just to make sure it is inserted correctly. The adapter should be upside down with pin 1 to the right. Put a piece of foam in the mostly empty slot to prevent the CF card/adapter from moving.

If your Kingston CF card is 133x, it will be too slow to use as a boot drive. I am using 233x cards which are still reasonably priced.

[CKae]

Yes like sjthinkpader said, make sure you have inserted the adapter correctly, and you may have to turn the adapter upside down, depending the type of adapter you are using. Pay attention to the pin location.

From Thinkwiki:

the Kingston card automatically changes ID based on the adapter used, so it will ID as fixed disk when used with an IDE-CF or SATA-CF adapter, but will ID as CF-Removable when used with a PCMCIA adapter.

So you don't need to care about "fixed" or "removable". I personally use a Kingston 266X Ultimate 16GB and it's running smoothly.

[ttan98]

Thanks to both.

The adapter comes in a case, same size as the 1.8" harddisk, unfortunately with the CF and adapter mounted in the casing, and then inserted into the hard disk slot the contacts are not properly made, hence X40 cannot recognise it.

I remove the casing and then insert the adapter inside, everything works. The writing speed is slow. I thought of using it with Flashpoint to improve the performance.

cheers.

[ttan98]

Hi,

I manage to install XP pro on the CF adapter with CF. It took some times to install because the writing speed is too low. After that I install Flashpoint SSD, the write improves a lot.

The overall speed is barely acceptable.

[sjthinkpader]

Yes, you must have a 133x CF card, and it will get worst. 233x+ speed is the way to go.

A few more suggestions:

1. fragmentation should be off.
2. Super fetch should be off.
3. indexing should be off.

These features were made for HDD and SSD don't need them. Sometime in the future, you may want to do a secure erase on unused space to improve write speed. The new TRIM feature in Win7 does this automatically.

[CKae]

The adapter comes in a case, same size as the 1.8" harddisk

I know which adapter you are using. I was thinking about getting one before I bought my dual-CF adapter.

The overall speed is barely acceptable.

I have a Kingston 133x CF as well, but only for storing files. It is way too slow for installing windows. I tried Flashpoint before, and I was not that impressed. Go get a faster CF.

[ttan98]

Ckae,

Where did you buy the dual adapter ? From Ebay?