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Replacing HDD with a Compact Flash Card

Try one more thing. Put the Install OSX DVD in and boot to EFI. Do you see the CF there or just the DVD? If just the DVD then the installation medium is loading a driver or two during its boot sequence that activates the adapter. In other words, the adapter is not supported by your Macbook's EFI and is not bootable.

Your Mac Mini has a later EFI and possibly a SATA III controller. Your Macbook only has a SATA I controller and there are some incompatibilities with some SATA III SSDs, for instance. I don't know if this extends to CF adapters but it is one more avenue to explore.
 
Looks like the above is correct. When the DVD is in I can access the CF card and see it in System Profile under the SATA section. I can even select it to be the boot volume and reboot the machine...but then it does not boot to it. Further, if I start in TD Mode it cannot be seen by another machine.

Looks like a no-go for this adapter. I am ordering another one from Ebay that will hopefully work. If not it is not too big of a deal, I can use them in other ways.
 
pcuser01 said:
now,it is not good idea to replace HDD or SSD with CF card,mSATA SSD and NGFF SSD are better because of faster speed: NGFF adapter as 2012 macbook SSD .
Click to expand...

Speed is of little concern for what I do. I mostly use the internet and use some office programs. Replacing the HDD on a Mac is easy, I have done it many times. Replacing the HDD with a CF/SATA adapter is more of a project for me than anything.

Plus this combination is still cheaper (would have been even cheaper if I had the right SATA adapter in the first place).
 
Didn't I read somewhere that CF-cards are not good as an OS-Drive, because they wear out faster than SSDs? *???* (On the other hand, cameras have fotos re- and overwritten several times,... and then again little system files may get even more often be deleted and rewritten...)
 
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Reviving an old thread for other googlers, reviving an old PowerBook G4 with a 128gb SanDisk 128gb compact flash card+dual CF adapter is working great so far. Will update the thread if I have any issues.
 

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highvoltage12v said:
You have any ideas for PPC software to check?
Click to expand...
forums.macrumors.com

Post Your SSD/CF SATA/PATA PowerPC Benchmark Results

It would be interesting to compile a collection of real world PowerPC benchmark results with different configurations of solid state drives from factory sealed 2.5" PATA SSDs, mSATA and the various adapter caddies and CF solutions. There is a lot of information floating around, but nothing that...
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com

(1st post has links)
 
Amethyst1 said:
forums.macrumors.com

Post Your SSD/CF SATA/PATA PowerPC Benchmark Results

It would be interesting to compile a collection of real world PowerPC benchmark results with different configurations of solid state drives from factory sealed 2.5" PATA SSDs, mSATA and the various adapter caddies and CF solutions. There is a lot of information floating around, but nothing that...
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com

(1st post has links)
Click to expand...
Decent results for a compact flash card.
 

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highvoltage12v said:
Reviving an old thread for other googlers, reviving an old PowerBook G4 with a 128gb SanDisk 128gb compact flash card+dual CF adapter is working great so far. Will update the thread if I have any issues.
Click to expand...
This is awesome to see success. I have been waiting for a resurrection for almost half a decade!
I have:
A1055 (2x)
A1095
A1107
A1138
A1181 (just like tampasteve, but not a PPC).
All of the G4s PPCs ended up working...except their hard drives were audibly failing.

I *JUST* bought brand new 32gb CF cards along with a 44pin "cf to ide adapter" for each of them. But exactly like tampasteve, I'm getting the flashing folder when I tried this in my A1138. I dont want to waste time with each machine if one of the two pieces I put in isn't letting it boot. It installed on each of the cards just fine, when inserted from the PCMCIA port and no other HD was available. But now that the IDE to CF adapter ("CF-IDE44/2.0mm ADAPTER V.H2) is attached to the IDE cable with the fresh install of panther on the 32gb card, it just won't boot off of it and gives the flashing folder.

Is it even possible to get it to boot off of it at all (open firmware)?

I'm reticent to trying it on all the other machines if its going to be like this.

Having a small form (and being lightweight) is important in this scenario, so a large form adapter wouldn't work.
 
Maybe choosing CF card as being IDE native allows for cooler temps because I remember some IDE-SATA adapter getting quite hot (or was it the mSATA flash itself, or both?).
 
Love to see this thread ... I have two old 12” iBooks (G4 - one 2004, the other the final release), a 12” PowerBook G4 (final release), and a 17” PowerBook G4 (2003) that I want to do this to. Waiting on the CF to IDE adapters off eBay, went with compact flash because I had a USB adapter already on-hand to clone an already configured iBook’s Leopard install (used SuperDuper to clone the drive on said device). It appears to have cloned the drive completely, but I haven’t been able to boot from the clone from the CF card via the USB dongle through OpenFirmware (just to test it’s bootable before tearing into any of the machines). The drive is showing up in OpenFirmware, but the boot command just errors out. Any one have any pointers?
 
Can anyone confirm that SD to CF to IDE would work in PPC-Machines?
I've just set up my first gen MacBook Air this way, but I can't tell if this would work on older machines.
The big benefit of SD over CF is the hugely better GB/$ ratio.
 
Applicator said:
Can anyone confirm that SD to CF to IDE would work in PPC-Machines?
I've just set up my first gen MacBook Air this way, but I can't tell if this would work on older machines.
The big benefit of SD over CF is the hugely better GB/$ ratio.
Click to expand...
This was probably true 10 years ago but not anymore. A 128GB mSATA can be had for like $50 or less.

Also SD cards can barely handle being used as phone storage for a few months without dying. A couple OS X bootups and it’d be done. CF cards are a little better but still not made for that.
 
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Project Alice said:
This was probably true 10 years ago but not anymore. A 128GB mSATA can be had for like $50 or less.

Also SD cards can barely handle being used as phone storage for a few months without dying. A couple OS X bootups and it’d be done. CF cards are a little better but still not made for that.
Click to expand...
The only real issue here is that mSATA is on the way out. The drives don't cost a lot now, but they will in time. It's not the end of the world, SATA NVMe to IDE adaptors should be in the perfect position to take over. There won't be a speed boost, but the last thing you want is a used SSD, or an old SSD.

But either way, you do not want to use an SD card for anything even remotely resembling a modern operating system.
 
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Damn! You are right. I didn't know that mSATAs became that cheap. I will definitely choose them for my next projects!
thanks for the advice
But anyway, I regret nothing regarding my MacBook Air. I knew about the read/write speeds, but what's more important to me, is the latency/ access time. I'm not copying large files on it or do serious work. I'm using it occasionally for surfing, streaming or simple office tasks and it feels super fast now.
r/w speed is around 35-45 MB/s which is about the same as its 1,8" predecessor.
 
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Just a cheapo ZIF IDE to CF and a CF to SD adapter from AliExpress.
IIRC the SD Card is a SanDisk Extreme MicroSDXC with 64GB A2 whatsoever in the original MicroSD to SD adapter.
I had the card laying around anyway, so this upgrade was less than 10€ for me.
 
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Applicator said:
had the card laying around anyway, so this upgrade was less than 10€ for me.
Click to expand...
I have several cards lying around as well so have been considering getting one of these "crazy" four-microSD SATA RAID boards and seeing whether it'll all blow up.
 
Project Alice said:
This was probably true 10 years ago but not anymore. A 128GB mSATA can be had for like $50 or less.

Also SD cards can barely handle being used as phone storage for a few months without dying. A couple OS X bootups and it’d be done. CF cards are a little better but still not made for that.
Click to expand...

In France, on Amazon you can find a YUCUN 128Gb for 22€ which I installed in my PB G4 12'' and TiBook 667Mhz. I also installed in my Dual USB iBook G3 a 32Gb branded SUNBOW one which is similarly priced.

I never did any benchmarks but each time I installed a SSD in those PPC-machines, I saw massive speed improvements in app launching and reactivity and also video-playback. The only computer where the boot-time improved was with the iBook (both in Tiger and OS 9, but especially in OS 9); otherwise I never found my PPC computer, even with the most scratchy HDD take too much time to boot (except with 10.2 which for some reason has really a slow boot).
 
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