CF Hard Drive Opinions Wanted

11 posts / 0 new
Last post
Offline
Last seen: 2 years 10 months ago
Joined: Sep 21 2008 - 17:13
Posts: 6
CF Hard Drive Opinions Wanted

Hi all,

I want to get a Compact Flash card for my IIGS (ROM 01) and I was wondering if those of you who have one or more of them would chime in on what you have, as well as likes / dislikes (if any) and any gotchas that I should be aware of. I'm just getting back into the Apple II platform and I'm pretty fuzzy on details after all this time (read: I've completely forgotten everything), so any help would be appreciated.

Here's what I'm considering:

- ReactiveMicro's MicroDrive IDE Controller w/128MB CF Card
- 16 Sector's Focus IDE HD Controller + CF
- R&D Automation's CFFA V2.0 RevB

Thanks in advance!

LZ

kwc
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 2 months ago
Joined: Jul 13 2008 - 20:40
Posts: 35
CFFA

I'm using the R&D CFFA card with a 256mb Sandisk card. Shows up as 4 - 32mb ProDos volumes and one 128mb HFS volume. One of the ProDos volumes boots System 6.01. It's in slot 1, that way I can boot from the floppys if desired.

Excellent support. There is also a support forum,

http://dreher.net/phpBB/index.php?sid=87da9108cabe7d06230d44e36ee81bb5

I've just recently re-discovered the Apple II's and am enjoying it.

Offline
Last seen: 2 years 10 months ago
Joined: Sep 21 2008 - 17:13
Posts: 6
Forgot...

I probably should have mentioned that, IIGS aside, I'm PC-based, and I'll want to be able to stick the CF card in a PC and copy files downloaded from the net onto it.

So I'm not sure if makes a difference (prompted by your 128MB HFS volume comment haha)

Thanks again.

kwc
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 2 months ago
Joined: Jul 13 2008 - 20:40
Posts: 35
CFFA

I'm also tied to a pc. There is a program called CiderPress that runs on the pc and will access the CF card,

http://www.faddensoft.com/

Another program you will use is ADTPro,

http://adtpro.sourceforge.net/

ADTPro enables transfer of disk images from the pc to the Apple IIgs floppy's and hard drives.

I can't imagine what the retro Apple II world was like prior to these two programs.

littlejohn's picture
Offline
Last seen: 1 year 12 months ago
Joined: May 18 2005 - 13:11
Posts: 114
One more to consider....

IIgs MicroDrive/Turbo IDE Controller
http://www.reactivemicro.com/product_info.php?cPath=1_36&products_id=34

I have at least one of all the Compact Flash drives you listed, and some really rare ones not on that list, all are really great. But if you want speed, you really need to check out the Microdrive/Turbo.
They say that speed does not matter, and I used to agree. Henry showed me one of these at Kfest, and I was blown away. I had to have one.

Offline
Last seen: 2 years 10 months ago
Joined: Sep 21 2008 - 17:13
Posts: 6
Thanks

I hadn't seen that (somehow).

So does the software included with the MicroDrive or MicroDrive/Turbo include documentation?

Thanks again!

littlejohn's picture
Offline
Last seen: 1 year 12 months ago
Joined: May 18 2005 - 13:11
Posts: 114
I am not sure what documentat

I am not sure what documentation it comes with, but it is plug and play. No switches to set, literally just pick a slot and plug it in.
Henry was using my IIGS at Kfest to test some stuff, and I persuaded him, (Picture two grown men wrestling like kids in the hall and you will get the idea.) to leave it in my computer. There should be no problems with it, but Henry is always just a phone call away for support.

gsmcten's picture
Offline
Last seen: 6 years 5 months ago
Joined: Oct 4 2005 - 18:52
Posts: 2629
CF Hard Drive Opinions Wanted

I have a CF Drive in my ROM 3 IIgs and it works great. No Gotcha's.

If you go to install one in a IIe, now that's another story. lol

According to Rich's manual the only way to get 4 32 Meg partitions on the CF used in a IIe is to place the card in slot 5, create 2 partitions (5-1, 5-2), then try to partition 2 more for slot 7 (7-1, 7-2). I attempted it. Failed. Decided that 2 partitions are better than none and went on ahead and placed the System Utilities Disk on the first partition in slot 7 and Viola! Instant Boot! Using a Transwarp card meant that the Boot Speed is fantastic.

IIe's aside, There are several sites to look at for CFFA Adapters, and other auxilliary parts (ie: having the card come out the back of the IIgs so they can be changed without having to open the case).

Scope this out:

http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/08/18/accelerated_compact_flash/

Enjoy!

Offline
Last seen: 2 years 10 months ago
Joined: Sep 21 2008 - 17:13
Posts: 6
Which one?

Thanks Steven...which one do you have? (I looked at that article and it doesn't seem to have anything to do with CF drives for the Apple)

Much appreciated!

littlejohn's picture
Offline
Last seen: 1 year 12 months ago
Joined: May 18 2005 - 13:11
Posts: 114
Re: CF Hard Drive Opinions Wanted

According to Rich's manual the only way to get 4 32 Meg partitions on the CF used in a IIe is to place the card in slot 5, create 2 partitions (5-1, 5-2), then try to partition 2 more for slot 7 (7-1, 7-2). I attempted it. Failed.


On the CFFA card, you have this reversed, first slot 7, for partition 1 and 2, and then slot 5 for partition 3 and 4.

gsmcten's picture
Offline
Last seen: 6 years 5 months ago
Joined: Oct 4 2005 - 18:52
Posts: 2629
CF Hard Drives

I knew I messed up somewhere. lol

Well, I'm running 2 partitions on my card, but it's enough to keep me operating. 64 meg is a lot of space. lol
The site I sent was supposed to be an extention that attaches to the IDE interface so that you can place your CFFA Card at the back of the computer for easy switch out (if you want to). That way you can run a ProDos Disk and swap it out with a DOS 3.3 Disk.

Log in or register to post comments