Powerbook 1400c - Solid State Storage!

[LC_575]

No more noisy hard drive: storage is now all CompactFlash.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Sounds cool, I can't watch your video (I intentionally refuse to load Flash) but it would be nice to see some pics of your configuration.

I've been using 512MB &1GB cards w/OS 9 in PCMCIA adapters in my 1400c/G3466 for close to 10 years now. With that and a WiFi Card, "Beater" was my only online connection on the free WiFi downtown for about 5 1/2 years.

I've got 8.X and 9.0 installed "for any macintosh" on the two cards so I can pop 'em in any PCMCIA PB and play with any new or prospective acquisitions at any time.

 

[J English Smith]

I'm tempted to give this a try with one of mine - is all you need a 4gb or 8gb CF card and a 44-pin IDE adapter?

Do you need to do anything before removing the old HD and then booting from the 1400's original backup CD?

 

[J English Smith]

Also, do you need an Addonics brand adapter or will one of the cheaper 44 pin adapters on eBay also work?

 

[LC_575]

I believe I used a cheap 3rd-party type. it's a simple device so I don't see what can go wrong. FYI, I have it set to 5V mode.

For file copying, I simply bought a PC card to CF adapter, plugged in the card (note that at this pint I am still running from the HD), ran Drive Setup on it, copied all my files, and then selected it as the startup disk to check that everything was working fine. Then just set up the CF card with the 44 pin adapter.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Have you got links to post for the adapters and those BIG CF Cards?

How do the access times of period specific PB HDDs compare to modern CF Cards? :?:

 

[J English Smith]

I see for instance 16gb CF cards on eBay, still for cheap, but they don't say whether they are type I.

Heck, if 16gb cards would work, this solution could work for my Pismos too.

 

[LC_575]

I honestly think any CF card will work, as long as the Mac supports whatever DMA/PIO's the card features.

 

[beachycove]

How do the access times of period specific PB HDDs compare to modern CF Cards? :?:

I have used an 8GB CF card in a PCMCIA adapter installed in a Cardbus-enabled 2400c. There, it is a good deal slower (I'd say between 50% and 100%) than the stock IDE hard drive, so that I tend to run the machine from the internal drive by preference.

I couldn't convince the CF card to work with one of the ubiquitous cheapie 44-pin internal adapters as an internal drive, and owing to the complexities of dissassembing and assembling the 2400c, gave up after three or four tries. I have, however, used a 2300c in this way for a couple of years, and I have got to admit that performance is perfectly acceptable for a 2300c. It would have been nice to get the same setup working in the 2400c, but no joy.

 

[J English Smith]

I've got the 44-pin adapter on order, and the PCMCIA adapter. Now I am trying to score a low-cost 8gb card on the 'bay. I figure I will give this a try in one of the 1400s first and see what's shaking.

 

[MacJunky]

Cheap out on the adaptor, not the card. -_-

As long as the adaptor is passive&straight through the card is all that should matter.

 

[quinterro]

I'm trying it with a Wallstreet II, with mixed results.

A Syba adapter is being used (I'll take pictures this evening), and doesn't appear to contain any extras as far as ICs on the board. A Centon 8GB 133x CF card is being used. When it is connected, I can install MacOS 9 and MacOS X to it. However it will not boot from it.

When installing Jaguar, I noticed that it thought the drive was slave instead of master. I don't know if that is the culprit, but it definitely could be.

When the adapter is inserted into the IDE connector, the pins for Master and Slave are inserted as well. This also occurs with an actual hard drive.

I do have another CF to 44-pin adapter, but the way it was soldered causes some issues with the IDE connector. This one is one of the $1-$2 ones from Hong Kong.

Any ideas? I also have a slower Kingston 8GB CF card to try if needed.

 

[LC_575]

I recommend not using a PCMCIA based converter as a permanent solution, as the CF card has a tendency to default to a very low transfer speed in those slots. An IDE converter will always offer the best performance.

 

[register]

You might consider to read (like you probably did) and improve the notes regarding the use of flash memory in the 68kMLA Wiki. There are already some notes about the PB1400 as a test system in several configurations.

Information about the proper use of mini IDE to SDHC adaptors would be most welcome. I bought one and did not find a way to let it work inside a PB1400, yet. As opposite to a mini IDE to CF adaptor, there is not a jumper to set the master/slave configuration. Any suggestions?

 

[LC_575]

Can't really imagine why it wouldn't have a master/slave jumper. Perhaps it is then always in cable select mode?

Why would you use SDHC anyway? It's much slower and doesn't offer IDE, AFAIK.

 

[register]

Why would you use SDHC anyway?

Just because it is available and cheap. Even most recent MacBooks sport a SDHC compatible slot.
But I agree with you, that CF is the more convenient storage medium to interface an IDE host adaptor. UDMA compatible CF cards seem not to become cheap, however.

 

[J English Smith]

I went to try this today and wondered what to do about the extra pin in the cheapie adapter. The IDE pin side has 44 pins and the HD cable has a knockout (no recepticle) in the 10th row. Did I get the wrong adapter? Hmmm...

I was able to initialize the CF card in the PCMIA slot, and then copied over the system folder to it...

 

[quinterro]

On the cheapo one I had I just cut off the extra pin with a pair of wire cutters.

It worked on my Wallstreet II with an 8GB card. Tried it for a while with MacOS 9.22, then my Thinkpad T22 died so its 40GB hard disk is now in there.

 

[register]

Some adaptor cables have one hole blocked, matching an obsolete, missing pin. The missing pin is to match such slotted adapter cables in a defined way only. So you can not mismatch the connector and probably damage the deviece or the host adaptor.