AztecMonster Compact flash (CF) card

[mraroid]

Hi...

I am currently running a 7200 rpm 2.5" SCSI hard drive in my color classic.  I have just bought this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CF-AztecMonster-CF-3-5inc-SCSI-Converter-Card-New-for-Vintage-Computer-/301666054722?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item463cb2b242

If that link is broken, you can search ebay for item number 301666054722

With shipping from Japan, it cost $125.00

This unit has a SCSI connector that sticks out the back of it that takes the SCSI ribbon cable of my Color Classic.  The small card mounts correctly to a Mac/Color Classic plastic sled.

You also need to buy a compact flash card (usually just called a CF card) to plug into it.

Here is an example on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Compact-Frustration-Free-Packaging--SDCFHS-008G-AFFP/dp/B00GHBBKB4/ref=sr_1_4?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1434805284&sr=1-4&keywords=compact+flash+card

$15.00 for 8GBs.

I like this card from many reasons.  One is that a CF card draws way less current than a SCSI hard drive will.  So, the power supply in my color classic will have less demands on it.  I just had my analog board re caped (Thanks Charlie!!) and my color classic II logic board has been recapped.  I suspect my power supply is just fine, but still, I do not have to over work it now.

The other thing I like is not having a 120 F heater in my color classic any more.  At rest, but with the platters still spinning, the SCSI HD can stay at around 100F.  And when I work it, I am sure the temps go up.  If I roll this card in, it will not have the heat build up in my color classic.  Everything will be much cooler.  I like that.

I suspect (but do not know for sure) that all other things being equal, this CF card will boot and run much faster than any hard drive ever could.

As I understand it, my OS, 7.5.3, can see a hard drive up to 4GBs large.  So I bought a 8GB CF card.  I would like to format the card into two partitions, and give my color classic 8GBs of storage space.

Is anyone here running this CF card?  I have some questions about how to properly partition the CF card, and how to init the CF card. I have some software (and happy to give anyone a copy), but not sure how to use it. 

You can contact me here or send me private email.  Any feedback welcome.

Thanks

jack
 

 

[uniserver]

That HD is a 10,000 rpm 8 meg cache drive. Nice thing about the color classic and the LC 5XX models, is they have a nice ventilation fan on the back . I've installed quite a few scuzzy to CF and scuzzy to SD solutions for people and I find them to be slow . Personally I prefer my fast modern scuzzy solution in a vintage Mac. But as they say horses for the courses and different strokes for different folks and to each his own . Art mix and Mike McMaster are both great fellas to buy from seems.

 

[Elfen]

Yeah, the system will run much cooler and faster with the CF instead of the hard drive. But like a large hard drive, there are limits as to what you can put in and set up.

Anything from OS 8 and below needs partitions of less than 2GB. This is the limitation of the Mac HFS Partition Map. Many say that a partition of 1.7GB works best. I prefer running with round numbers like 1.5GB and 500MB (.5GB). Makes it easier in the head with the math.

From OS 8.1 to 9.22, you use HFS+ which gives you up to 4GB of Partition space. Again, work with smaller partitions like 3.75GB.

From here a couple of problems happen:

1) System 7 to 8.0 will not be able to see HFS+ Partitions.

2) Nor can you create a HFS+ Partition and put System 7 to 8.0 in it and expect it to work, it wont.

3) You can not use Norton Disk Doctor  or Apple's DiskFix programs from System 7 to 8.0 to work on HFS+. You will scramble that partition's data into unless binary data if you do. You need to run the right programs for the right partitions.

For a Color Classic, which is a 68K 030 CPU, 8GB is a big large. You can fit the entire 68K Mac software Library on 4GB... LOL! Don't let it deter you how ever. Partition the CF into the right sized slices and you should have no problems with it.

Problems with the CF:

- Like any SSD, a CF is limited to the number or writes to it, about 1million writes per cell. This averages to about 5 to 10 years of use. And when the CF begins to fail, it becomes a ROM like your CDs and DVD and you wont be able write to it. So after a (LONG!) while of writing to a file, it will no longer be writable anymore.

For me, I got a couple of Macs and PC Laptops with CFs in them as hard drives older than 15 years, and they are still working!

- Name Brands count. Beware of counterfeit CFs out there. I have a few trusted sources where I get my CFs. Counterfeit CFs do not give you the advertised Speed and Space of a NameBrand CF. They also do not last as long.

- Beware of Used CFs. You do not know how many times it has been written or how old the CF is, so therefore you do not know how long it will last when you have it.

Back to the limited number of Writes any SSD has, you need to do a couple of things:

- Max the RAM in your machine.

- Disable Virtual RAM on your machine. You can use it and it will run faster than a hard drive, but you are ranking up the number of writes to it quickly.

- Turn off any System Logging the OS has. This is more true for OSX than Mac OS.

- The bigger the CF, the longer it will last as larger CFs have more writable cycles to them.

- BEWARE OF STATIC ELECTRICITY!!! Nothing fries a CF more than a static shock. A Power surge can also kill a CF (along with the rest of the machine before it).

I think you will enjoy using the CF and wonder why you have not used them before.

 

[mraroid]

Elfen...

Thank you for your detailed post.

I thought I read some place that 7.5.3 can see a hard drive that is 4GBs large.  But guess I was confused.  With a 4GB CF card, I can make two, 2GB partitions. That would be quite nice.

You are absolutely correct about the lifetime of CF cards.  The same is true for solid state hard drives.  But I have noticed that some solid state hard drives are shipping with 5 year and 10 year warranty. But yes, after a while they poop out after so many reads and writes.

I suspect my CF card will out live me.  But I intend to have it on a sled and a mechanical hard drive on a sled, and move between them from time to time. I bought directly from Amazon (not a Amazon 3rd party) when I bought my CF card, and yep, I agree, I would never buy used.  I usually pay the big bucks and buy the better hardware rather then some off name brands.  For example the CF card I bought from Amazon is made by SanDisk, probably in the top three best brand available. After I bought it, I read a bit more on CF cards. I have just learned about a CF card they make called "SanDisk Extreme Pro":

http://www.sandisk.com/products/memory-cards/compactflash/extremepro-160mbs/

That CF card comes with a lifetime warranty.  It also occurred to me that I can buy just one AztecMonster Compact flash adaptor, and swap out CF cards if I like. The above SanDisk Extreme Pro smallest size is 16GBs.  But maybe with partition software I can just make, say three partitions of 2GB and make the rest disappear?  I am not sure about this.  I sure do not want 8 hard drives sitting on my Color Classic desktop.

I have no other Macs other than my Color Classic. I had to sell them all.  I am moving from the US to Ecuador and Ecuador customs will only allow me to bring two computers in. So I sold all my other computers, but for my color classic and a desktop PC/ubuntu desktop.

I did not know the difference between HFS and HFS +.  Thanks for getting me up to speed on that.  If I use HFS only, can I run software like Norton Disk Doctor or TecTools?

I have the maximum amount of RAM in my Color Classic.  I will double check about Virtual RAM, but will now check again.  I am not sure what System Logging is, but I will find it and turn it off. Again, something I was un aware of. - Thanks!!

In a past life I built super fast PCs for kids that play computer games - the kind of computers where they would have two $1,500.00 video cards in them, two ethernet ports, and two internet feeds to their home.  So I always build on my workbench with a static wrist band on.

Have you ever used software called "Anubis Plus 3"?   I bought it because it is suppose to init, partition and do other magic on non Apple equipment like partition a CF card.

I put it on my hard drive.  Serious stuff!

I would like to make a floppy that would boot my color classic and also have the Anubis software on it so I can partition and init the CF card.

Can you advise me on how to make a bootable floppy to do this?

Thanks again for all your help.

jack