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Chat => Entertainment & Technology => Topic started by: Kunal on February 26, 2008, 14:51:38 PM

Title: Has anyone run XP from a Compact Flash card?
Post by: Kunal on February 26, 2008, 14:51:38 PM
How would XP run if installed on a 4Gb CF card using a CF to IDE adapter?

Would I be better off keeping my laptop as is - normal 120Gb drive and DVD writer ultrabay, or do the following:

Replace DVD writer with a 2nd hard drive ultrabay. Fit CF to IDE adapter with 4Gb card into it and use that as a boot drive for XP and program files, while using the 120Gb for file storage.

Ive got a 4Gb card kicking around, would just need to buy the adapter and ultrabay which I could pick up for £20.
Title: Re:Has anyone run XP from a Compact Flash card?
Post by: Eggtastico on February 26, 2008, 14:59:42 PM
CF card would be s-l-o-w

Whats the write speeds? Maybe compare them to a microdrive, they are the same size as a CF card
Title: Re:Has anyone run XP from a Compact Flash card?
Post by: Kunal on February 26, 2008, 15:15:26 PM
The card I have: Sandisk Ultra II 4Gb

Turns out it is pretty slow, quick google shows " minimum sustained write speed of 9Mb/sec and read speed of 10Mb/sec..."

Ill have a look into what the fastest CF cards are. Dont think Ill need more than 4Gb (might get 8Gb if its cheap enough).

On Microdrives: If its just a small 1" hard drive, wont it lack the benefits of flash/ssd?


Another thought - instead of using the 2nd drive ultrabay, use a PCMCIA CF/Microdrive reader, that way I can keep the DVD writer.

Title: Re:Has anyone run XP from a Compact Flash card?
Post by: Kunal on February 26, 2008, 15:22:35 PM
Fastest CF I could find is 45Mb/sec for read and write.
Title: Re:Has anyone run XP from a Compact Flash card?
Post by: Eggtastico on February 26, 2008, 15:37:24 PM
a microdrive is the same as a compact flash except its internals are a hdd.. they wont write at anywhere near 45mb though as normal flash have replaced them.
microdrives was in use when CF cards was average size of about 128mb -D
Title: Re:Has anyone run XP from a Compact Flash card?
Post by: Mark on February 26, 2008, 19:21:51 PM
I thought this was a practical impossibility due to the corruption issues that arise
Title: Has anyone run XP from a Compact Flash card?
Post by: knighty on February 26, 2008, 21:17:17 PM
^^^ yeah, limited write times and all that....
Title: Re:Has anyone run XP from a Compact Flash card?
Post by: Eggtastico on February 26, 2008, 21:18:48 PM
Just get 4gb of Ram & create a RAM Drive... just never switch the computer off -D
Title: Re:Has anyone run XP from a Compact Flash card?
Post by: lac on February 26, 2008, 22:05:28 PM
What is ur purpose in running xp on ur cf card? if u just want a faster boot time or faster program load time then probably ur best bet is the gigabyte iram, boots windows in just a few seconds check it here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PiYgBhAkAM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01zgSiXS794
Title: Re:Has anyone run XP from a Compact Flash card?
Post by: Eggtastico on February 26, 2008, 22:31:25 PM
Quote from: lacWhat is ur purpose in running xp on ur cf card? if u just want a faster boot time or faster program load time then probably ur best bet is the gigabyte iram, boots windows in just a few seconds check it here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PiYgBhAkAM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01zgSiXS794

which is basically what I said, but without the sata bottleneck ;-D
Title: Re:Has anyone run XP from a Compact Flash card?
Post by: Kunal on February 27, 2008, 00:04:35 AM
I havent really got a reason to do it.... just pissing around :P

Limited writes will probably turn me off doing this in the end I suspect.