Xbox with CF Mod - Compact Flash to IDE adapter

[retromonger]

This would be good if you were making a super slim xbox.

Its something in my mind. But first i will get more into the Coin OP thing. Set up a nice Gaming Machine were everything all up to PSone is running.

Ones software is ready, "resizing" is an option.

[xman]

My approach to using an SD card to IDE adapter ended when I couldn't find a correct gender adapter. The idea was to plug the adapter direct into the mother board and use a non DVD bios however I could only find male adapters that won't suit the male pins coming off the mother board. Ok I thought, I'll go a 90 degree female twin row adapter, now that can plug onto the mother board male pins, give me a 90 degree bend and using it's other female side to plug in the adapter and best of all, the adapter and SD card will sit parallel to the mother board however I can't find female twin row bends either, only more males like these...

[retromonger]

When using SD to IDE adapters you should look for a Solution with a Master/Slave Pin Layout.
U will find a lot of them without this function and may end up with errors.

[xman]

I personally use only "Cable Select" myself for every combo I run. If that doesn't work then I go Master but I'd be happy if I could just get the gender combo right ATM. I've had a SD to IDE adapter here for months but if I "have" to use a cable to connect it and not be able to plug it in direct to the mother board, I'd just of sooner go a small laptop HDD I have and bought for miniaturizing the whole system and that is 320Gb in size and not limited to just 64GB using a very expensive SD card.
I think the whole thing of using a card over a HDD for me is solely because it would look cool looking like another modchip.

[whufclee]

This looks like a very interesting mod, I don't know enough about CF cards to comment on how stable they are but I would imagine they are similar to SD cards? With this in mind I wouldn't suggest stressing it too much, I've had many SD cards become corrupt due to over-stressing - they really aren't designed to work as base for an operating system. Hope it works out for you though and I look forward to seeing your progress with this project

[retromonger]

This looks like a very interesting mod, I don't know enough about CF cards to comment on how stable they are but I would imagine they are similar to SD cards? With this in mind I wouldn't suggest stressing it too much, I've had many SD cards become corrupt due to over-stressing - they really aren't designed to work as base for an operating system. Hope it works out for you though and I look forward to seeing your progress with this project

SD cards are a no go , because reasons you mentioned. CF Cards are more reliable.
Every test you make you can clearly see an IOPS advantage for CF.

Though there are differences. I would not go that far and buy an SLC version. How many Times do you really load in a game ?
I loaded in a couple Xbox game i play and some ROMS will find a place also.
Ones done i delete and play something new. So this way it will stand about 10 Years or more. Until than its time to move on.
With 30 gigs you can put in about every game from a Cartridge up to N64.

For me it was just a handy solution. And im Happy with the results.
It will became a silent knight of gaming for me XD

It worked out for me.

[Munch]

what could speak against to a CF MOD in SOFTMODDED systems?

I mean the biggest card you can get is 128gb... no one needs more space than that really In terms of gaming?!

Is the setup much easier because you don't have to keep in mind the hdd locks?

I'm completly a newbee in terms of changing the original hdd so I wonder should I go directly for this CF to Ide solution?

[fxmech]

no. if you run into any problems you don't have experience with fixing a normal HDD mod. just my thought since CF is expensive.

there are also microSD to IDE adapters. they are usually marketing them as raided setups holding 2 or 4 microSD cards

[Tom M.]

If you look at the prices of CF cards and compare them to SATA SSDs there is no argument really. CF cards are several times more expensive. Full stop.

Also people claiming that there is no speed advatage over regular magnetic hard drives. Well, yes and no IMO. Of course in sequential streaming hardly any. But in many many cases the Xbox copies large amount of small files from one folder to another and I am pretty sure this is the case when SSD will clearly outperform any magnetic harddrive because of its "non existent" seek times. I guess!

[Geeba]

Yep I have to agree - high performance drives definitly make the xbox feel 'snappier' even though they are obviously bottlenecked by IDE standards...

[TeleTubby666]

Has anyone tried already to lock a CF card on an XBox?

[Skaught]

I keep thinking that I might run an IDE to SD adapter with the slot on the outside of the case. This way, the "Hard Drive" could be replaced by just pulling the SD card and putting in a different one. The other thought was to use an IDE to SATA adapter and a SATA to eSATA adapter so that I could plug in an external SATA drive.

[Friko]

What did you use to format/clone the CF card?

[hawsey]

I keep thinking that I might run an IDE to SD adapter with the slot on the outside of the case. This way, the "Hard Drive" could be replaced by just pulling the SD card and putting in a different one. The other thought was to use an IDE to SATA adapter and a SATA to eSATA adapter so that I could plug in an external SATA drive.

I like that idea

[mwaterbu]

Would there be a superior alternative between a CF and a PATA SSD? Neither would need a SATA adapter, which is an advantage over a SATA SSD, but would one of these two be better than the other? Looking online it's easier to find CF cards from known manufacturers, but they are more expensive (I'm looking at 256GB).

[simbin]

I agree that SD is a more cost effective solution, especially for smaller sizes like 32GB.

Got one of these for a retro DOS PC - works great!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/301628708794

SD cards larger than 64GB get expensive so I decided on SSD for my XBOX.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/141951989539

[mwaterbu]

that card is quite pricy what is the cut off speed before it fails 200X? as the slower cards don't meet the speed requirements and fail to boot I brought a 64 gig card and it would not boot but it was only 16x

there is also no wear levelling with the cache partitions you can get a cheap ssd and sata to ide for around the same price these days they are getting cheaper.

The cutoff may be 200x...I found an old 200x (30MB/s) 8GB card, and tried it out, but am getting error 09, and it will not boot. I haven't formatted a drive with xboxhdm in years, but I believe I did it correctly.
Error Code 09
Problem: Hard drive parameters are missing or incorrect.
Cause/Solution: Very uncommon error. The hard drive might be in the wrong transfer mode (PIO/DMA) or, if it's a debug console, the size isn't correct (minimum size is required for debug). Replace the hard drive.

Could the speed be the issue? I've been scratching my head on this for a while, but just now saw your post.

[mwaterbu]

that card is quite pricy what is the cut off speed before it fails 200X? as the slower cards don't meet the speed requirements and fail to boot I brought a 64 gig card and it would not boot but it was only 16x

there is also no wear levelling with the cache partitions you can get a cheap ssd and sata to ide for around the same price these days they are getting cheaper.

The cutoff may be 200x...I found an old 200x (30MB/s) 8GB card, and tried it out, but am getting error 09, and it will not boot. I haven't formatted a drive with xboxhdm in years, but I believe I did it correctly.
Error Code 09
Problem: Hard drive parameters are missing or incorrect.
Cause/Solution: Very uncommon error. The hard drive might be in the wrong transfer mode (PIO/DMA) or, if it's a debug console, the size isn't correct (minimum size is required for debug). Replace the hard drive.

Could the speed be the issue? I've been scratching my head on this for a while, but just now saw your post.

I believe the speed of the card was indeed the issue. I picked up a 64GB card on sale on Black Friday (120MB/s), and it works great. My XBOX boots much faster, and I assume is ever so slightly quieter, and more energy efficient now.
I don't know what to do with all the extra space inside the case now