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Best CompactFlash SSD to use?

MatthewLTL

MatthewLTL

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jan 22, 2015
1,684
18
Rochester, MN
I can get 128GB CF cards. Which is the BEST speed of CF card to use as a SSD?

My choices are: 300x, 400x, 600x and 800x.

The 600X is listed as UDMA6 and the 800X is listed as UDMA7. What is the difference?
 
weckart said:
At the cost of 128GB CFs - none of 'em.
Click to expand...

Agreed-mSATAs are much less expensive and-for this purpose-are better in every possible way I can think of.

300x=~40mb/s

600x=~80mb/s

900x=~120mb/s

mSATA3=6.0gb/s(and can be found for about $50 in 128gb)
 
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I dont technically NEED 128GB SSD that surely is overkill for Leopard I could do just fine with a 64GB CF card and then i can buy an enclosure and a 750GB SATA drive to store all my crap on I have a 60GB HDD in my MDD aint even using 30GB

I have 260GB worth of HDDs inside my MDD soley 'cause I can. I have no use for that much not on seperate drives anyway I do have all my crap on a 120GB HDD, 160GB HDD and a 20GB IDE Laptop HDD right now just no way to access any of it.....
 
Even 64GB CFs are too spendy. mSATAs are cheaper and better - CFs are not really designed for OS use; more for storage.
 
weckart said:
Even 64GB CFs are too spendy. mSATAs are cheaper and better - CFs are not really designed for OS use; more for storage.
Click to expand...

mSATA drives even at 64GB cost more than a 250GB IDE HDD from OWC or even a 750GB SATA 6 HDD from NewEgg. The price per GB ratio of SSDs just seem too expensive still. Infact, a good FireWire 800/400 enclosure and say a 750GB HDD seem to be the best bet since i tend to restore my OSs frequently its a PITA to back up across LOTS of IDE Drives of various sizes.
 
MatthewLTL said:
mSATA drives even at 64GB cost more than a 250GB IDE HDD from OWC or even a 750GB SATA 6 HDD from NewEgg. The price per GB ratio of SSDs just seem too expensive still. Infact, a good FireWire 800/400 enclosure and say a 750GB HDD seem to be the best bet since i tend to restore my OSs frequently its a PITA to back up across LOTS of IDE Drives of various sizes.
Click to expand...

Are we talking desktops or laptops? If the latter then ssd is the only way to go, now.
 
MatthewLTL said:
mSATA drives even at 64GB cost more than a 250GB IDE HDD from OWC or even a 750GB SATA 6 HDD from NewEgg. The price per GB ratio of SSDs just seem too expensive still. Infact, a good FireWire 800/400 enclosure and say a 750GB HDD seem to be the best bet since i tend to restore my OSs frequently its a PITA to back up across LOTS of IDE Drives of various sizes.
Click to expand...

You started off the question asking about CF cards as SSDs, not IDE or SATA platter drives. That makes me think that you're considering some sort of solid state storage for use in a computer.

I just spent some time browsing Newegg. The least expensive 64gb CF card they have(400x) is $42.50. The least expensive 128gb is $97.50. The least expensive 120gb mSATA drive Newegg sells is $60.

You seem to come here a lot and ask questions, then disregard the advice you are given. Weckart and I both have done multiple mSATA installs in PowerPC Macs.

CF cards are slower, more expensive per capacity, and not designed for continuous read/write use like the things sold as SSDs.
 
bunnspecial said:
You started off the question asking about CF cards as SSDs, not IDE or SATA platter drives. That makes me think that you're considering some sort of solid state storage for use in a computer.

I just spent some time browsing Newegg. The least expensive 64gb CF card they have(400x) is $42.50. The least expensive 128gb is $97.50. The least expensive 120gb mSATA drive Newegg sells is $60.

You seem to come here a lot and ask questions, then disregard the advice you are given. Weckart and I both have done multiple mSATA installs in PowerPC Macs.

CF cards are slower, more expensive per capacity, and not designed for continuous read/write use like the things sold as SSDs.
Click to expand...

I didn't check NewEgg for mSATA drives lol. Thanks for letter me know that. I would most likely the the BARE minimum sized SSD because I would be using a external drive for all storage. I assumen the bare minimum needed for a Leopard install is 16GB?
 
IMO, 16gb is pushing it for Leopard. It feels a lot more comfortable for me at around 30-40gb.

The cost difference between a 60gb and 120gb SSD is really small-often less than $20. I bought some 128gb Toshiba mSATA drives on Ebay not too long ago for $45 each.
 
Of course you need some CF card reader device in order to use them as harddisk replacement. I assume ordinary CF to IDE adapters with floppy power connector will be sufficient (I have not tested!). But USB card readers might be inappropriate because of the low speed and additionally overhead by the talkative USB stack.

As you should know Compact Flash's IO interface looks pretty the same like IDE. In fact it is pin compatible and you can replace IDE devices by CF cards without the driver noticing. Well, there is one problem: CF devices export a bit identifying them as either fixed disk (HDD mode) or removable device (like in USB card readers). Microsoft Windows cannot install to removable devices (but boot from them without problems—no comment) and thus refuses to work with CF cards with the removable bit. In the reality this is no problem at all because 1) I use Linux and other free OSes and recommend you to do the same and 2) you can expect all modern CF cards to identify themselves depending on the port they are connected to. For example a CF card in a PCMCIA adapter reports removable device and the same card identifies as fixed disk when connected to IDE. GNU/Linux doesn't really care about all of that and just lets you install on any device it supports to read/write (generalization).

In short: to use CF cards as boot device you need only a CF to IDE adapter.

A word on SATA: I am fully aware of SATA being state of the art today. Unfortunately SATA is not even similar to IDE and broke compatibility with CF. It was a good decision to eliminate all the cruft coming from the 1980s: SATA doesn't know master/slave stories, jumper settings, single devices occupying the bus etc. Thus you need an intelligent™ adapter—more technically an electronic device—shoveling data from SATA link to the CF and vice-versa. I didn't test this but I read that you can have problems connecting more than one CF to these ports.
 
bunnspecial said:
IMO, 16gb is pushing it for Leopard. It feels a lot more comfortable for me at around 30-40gb.

The cost difference between a 60gb and 120gb SSD is really small-often less than $20. I bought some 128gb Toshiba mSATA drives on Ebay not too long ago for $45 each.
Click to expand...

That's what i thought. I did a Hackintosh Laptop using s 20GB SATA HDD and Leopard hounded me the it was low on disk space just after installing a few programs. I run Leopard on a 60GB HDD at the moment (since the OEM MDD came with a 60GB HDD and i had one on hand)

So i will either get a 32GB mSATA or a 64GB mSATA. Question is what is the best option, Since a SATA card for Mac is actually more expensive than i thing it's even worth these days How faster will the eMac and MDD be using a mSATA on a IDE enclose using the ATA100 Bus vs using SATA 1.5?

I see there is mSATA to 2.5 IDE enclosured but do they have mSATA to 3.5 IDE adaptors? I assume a mSATA will work in a eMac?
 
Taking a look at Newegg, they have an 8gb mSata for around $35 including shipping but for the same price or $5 less they have 30-32gb ones. I do not see a 16gb one in stock.

I try to always buy more space than I think I'll need.
 
MatthewLTL said:
I see there is mSATA to 2.5 IDE enclosured but do they have mSATA to 3.5 IDE adaptors? I assume a mSATA will work in a eMac?
Click to expand...

Look. A bit of stopping and thinking and using your common sense might stem the torrent of questions. The value of mSATA is that it makes cramming a SATA hard drive into the very confined space of a laptop possible. This restriction rarely exists to the same degree with desktop machines like the eMac.

There should be enough room to cram a mechanical SATA laptop drive plus a suitable adapter and any cables required. If you want a bit more pep, then you can have a bog standard 2.5" SSD drive plus adapter. That should more or less max out the IDE bus and speed up opening applications if that matters to you. There is no need to go mSATA and get extra adapters.
 
weckart said:
Look. A bit of stopping and thinking and using your common sense might stem the torrent of questions. The value of mSATA is that it makes cramming a SATA hard drive into the very confined space of a laptop possible. This restriction rarely exists to the same degree with desktop machines like the eMac.

There should be enough room to cram a mechanical SATA laptop drive plus a suitable adapter and any cables required. If you want a bit more pep, then you can have a bog standard 2.5" SSD drive plus adapter. That should more or less max out the IDE bus and speed up opening applications if that matters to you. There is no need to go mSATA and get extra adapters.
Click to expand...

I thought of that too. Is the adapter u refer to a 2.5-3.5 adapter or a SATA to IDE adapter?

----------
bunnspecial said:
I had issues with getting a 2.5" SATA drive+adapter to fit in my Cube, so went the mSATA route in it. Here's how I did it

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1846726/

If you have room for it, a 2.5" SSD+SATA-IDE adapter is a less expenive and probably overall better solution.
Click to expand...

I could even put a 3.5 inch SATA Drive in there (I've done it before) just a bit of destroying the Drive cage and it hooked right up. Unfortunately finding a low profile SATA to IDE adaptor is the problem. Mine was too tall and perhaps if i could fine one that is 1/4 inch shorter than the drive it would work. However a 2.5 drive seems more Ideal as i could literally put it in any position on the drive cage needed to hook it up. Or perhaps not even need the drive cage at all?
 
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weckart said:
You can get flat or raised depending upon what works for you best

http://www.amazon.com/2-5-Drive-SATA-Converter-Adapter/dp/B004D8GMO8

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0096BEJDI

Plenty of manufacturers and sizes available. One of these should do the job. The flat ones would need a gender changer on the IDE port if you can squeeze one in.
Click to expand...

the SATA to IDE adaptor i have is identical to the 1st one you linked. Although it does work in the MDD with the ATA 100 side of the cages and it DOES work on the ATA66 drives it prevents the oven door from closing. It will not work in a eMac.

I actually thought of the second one to put in the MDD to convert it to SATA but the design will not allow the oven door to close on the ATA100 bus and would not allow the second set of HDDs on the ATA66 bus. Ill have to pick up a new version of the 1st one you linked too. Perhaps i cannot get SATA Drives working on my MDD because of my adaptor or it could be the HDD. Either way further testing would be needed as a already verfied it IS possible to use a 3.5 SATA with a SATA to IDE adaptor (Raised verson) in the HDD cage and fits without modification if the HDD is mounted by the CPU.

Perhaps the first adapter will work in the eMac and the MDD for the ATA66 cage if i used one of these with it? http://www.amazon.com/BestDealUSA-G...d=1424004115&sr=1-3&keywords=ATA100+Extension

Ill have to try that and see what my success rate is :)
 
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