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A working Mac SCSI to Compact Flash adapter?

M

MacTV

6502
There is a story on Low End Mac about using CF in older Macs via SCSI.

http://lowendmac.com/mail/06/0615.html#2

They point to a $35 adapter that is external, and it sounds pretty cool.

However, a later email from someone who bought one says he can't get it to mount - that SCSI probe sees it but the Compact Flash card (using a PCMIA adapter) won't mount.

http://lowendmac.com/mail/mb07/1120.html#3

Has anybody seen/have a working Scsi to PCMIA/CF adapter in their Mac?

 
I follow this type of story because I am interested in usng CF as a Mac boot disk myself. I suspect that the individual in post #2 was optimistic in trying to use a 4GB CF card. Flash adapters have a poor record of support for later sizes and densities.

For example, the camera that I bought 12 months ago will only work with 2GB or smaller SD cards. My seven year old Kodak will not work with a Kingston 128MB CF card but oher owners have used different cards of the same size. I suggest that you search for information about the success of Apple II owners using CF adapters -- they are a technically adept bunch of people, so they are a good starting point, particularly if you are wish to use a multi-MB card rather than multi-GB.

 
A little more investigating has turned up one that was known to work.

The Adtron Accent.

http://www.adtron.com/products/Aspc.html

Take a look at the manual that is at the bottom of the page.

I found it while browsing through the Low End Mac Duo List. Someone with a 2300 was using it. I'm not sure what operating system they were running.

I have no idea whether or not you can boot from it.

 
Quite nice indeed! :)

I apologize for digging up this thread, but I really want some feedback about this: has anyone tried this Adtron adapter? I'm planning on getting one of those for my LC III web server (its 40 MB hard drive is a bit too small to me :)) .

I know there's also the CF PowerMonster, but it is really expensive (about $100, plus the SCSI to ATA adapter!). :p

 
You will find a lot of recent information at our wiki page about Using flash memory. Most Adtron SCSI devices are listed as end of life products and are very expensive, if availabe new. If you can pick up a used one in good working condition it is always worth to try it with your Mac.

 
I think whether or not you can boot off a CF card depends as much on the card as it does on the adaptor.

 
Anyone tried something like this:
http://cgi.ebay.ca/2-5-3-5-SCSI-Convert ... 500wt_1154

Cheap, but if it work as boot drive, would be great...
Click to expand...
That's SCSI to SCSI. That's to use a 2.5" SCSI drive in a 3.5" SCSI bay. The question everyone has is where to get something which allows one to connect a CompactFlash card to a SCSI bus.

I've used various adapters, and although I'm repeating myself it's worth emphasizing: a cheap adapter will likely cause problems with various machines (if connected to a machine's PCMCIA or IDE bus), or will likely cause problems with a SCSI-IDE adapter if connected to one. I've tried many kinds. The only kind which works wherever I connect it and with whichever size newer card I've tried is the Addonics CF to IDE. They're not cheap - I bought mine for about $25 USD apiece - but when you want something to just work, it's worth the price.

Couple that with an Acard SCSI-IDE adapter, and you've got a CF to SCSI which will work with any size modern CF card. It'll be quick, too, as you can see if you search around 68kmla (I posted some benchmark results somewhere a while ago).

I uses this: http://scsiforsamplers.com/cfcard_big.asp but on a sampler, it talks vintage scsi and works a treat. I will need to talk to JD (the owner) to see if it has been used with Macs.
Click to expand...
Nice, but external and expensive as heck!

 
Sorry, you are totally right, I misread the announced in eBay!

Other than this external pricey solution, is there anything else that have been tried?

I personally aded a 20 Gb IDE HD in a Performa 6100 using SCSI to IDE converter, and it is working just fine. I have another of those available, and may try it on another machine at some point. Did not had the time before.

But having CF card (or any flash card, SD would do fine too) would be cool. First, the older HDs tend to be noisy. Second, they fail after a while. So, Flash is the future of retro-computing!

Have you seen this one: http://dreher.net/?s=projects/CFforAppleII&c=projects/CFforAppleII/main.php

I want one for my IIgs! :p

 
I've used various adapters, and although I'm repeating myself it's worth emphasizing: a cheap adapter will likely cause problems with various machines (if connected to a machine's PCMCIA or IDE bus), or will likely cause problems with a SCSI-IDE adapter if connected to one. I've tried many kinds. The only kind which works wherever I connect it and with whichever size newer card I've tried is the Addonics CF to IDE. They're not cheap - I bought mine for about $25 USD apiece - but when you want something to just work, it's worth the price.
Couple that with an Acard SCSI-IDE adapter, and you've got a CF to SCSI which will work with any size modern CF card. It'll be quick, too, as you can see if you search around 68kmla (I posted some benchmark results somewhere a while ago).
Click to expand...
John, if you could start a thread with pictures of your setup, and maybe links to some places to source these, maybe a kindly moderator would sticky it for us. I think viewtopic.php?f=7&t=12050&hilit=benchmark&start=50#p123985 is the benchmarks you were referring to. If all this were in one post for reference, or in our wiki, it would be very helpful.

 
^^ USB in a IIGS? That's awesome to the max!!! It looks prohibitively expensive though.
Click to expand...
100$, not very expensive if you consider that a SCSI card for the IIgs is around the same price! And I can imagine that the IIgs would look very cool without an external drive to bug us :p

 
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