Boot any OS on Earth from a CF card or Microdrive

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Product: ADIDECF adapter
Company: Addonics Technologies
Price: $26.99
Web Site: www.addonics.com

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BOOTING FROM FLASH is nice, that is, if your system's BIOS specifically supports booting from "USB Mass Storage" devices. I found the hard way that plenty of systems do not. And then there's the issue of the limited R/W life of flash memory, making flash devices unsuitable to place an OS's swap file or even temp files on it, thus making real "spinning drives" much more appropriate for the job.

Another point in favour of Compactflash based storage -which applies both to CF Microdrives and memory cards- is the drivers/software issue: every OS needs drivers or tweaks to carry on the boot process from removable media as opposed to a true hard drive. The more obscure the operating system, the harder it'll be to boot from anything that is not a "real hard drive".

Addonics adapter on top of a 3.5-inch diskette drive

The answer to these problems is once again the compactflash interface. By using a CompactFlash memory card or a CF microdrive, you simply need to use an inexpensive CF-to-IDE adapter, plug a 40 pin parallel ATA ribbon cable from your desktop PC's onboard IDE controller to the "adapter", and you have just eliminated possibility of software hassles. The beauty of the CF interface is the plugged devices are seen as IDE devices, down to the electric level. Even memory cards -when operating in "True IDE" mode- are mapped as heads, tracks and sectors. That's why all CF-to-IDE adapters are passive devices. There's no need for any ICs or other electronics to do any signal tweaking, and no need for drivers, either. As far as the PC and operating system is concerned, it's talking with a hard disk.

All plugged and ready to go

Look ma! No drivers. Low-level access to the CF card from BIOS.
As far as the software side is concerned, it's an IDE HD.

However, one of the problems is that plenty of CF-to-IDE interfaces on the market target the "embedded solutions" niche, and thus are "internal" adapters designed to be hidden inside information kiosks, ATMs, industrial control applications, etc. Addonics, however, is aiming this at the average desktop PC user. As such, one of the unique features of this IDE-CF reader is that it packs both a sturdy metal chassis for a 3.5" front by and also a full-height PCI bracket. If you don't have room in the front of your desktop PC, you can always install it in the back. Also included is one "Y-cable" to supply power to it without leaving an existing peripheral without it.

The same adapter with 3.5" bay chassis removed and placed into the included PCI bracket

Since there are no electronics in this adapter, we can only evaluate the quality of construction and design. And it's very good. A jumper in the circuit board sets the CF card to "Master" or "Slave" on the IDE bus. A soldered trace which can be cut with a wire cutter reads "3v / 5v", but not explanation is given in the printed leaflet as to why would one cut it to change it to 3v -most CF microdrives I know work at five volts, go figure-. Also included is a 42 pin IDE connector, in case your system features one. The only bad point I see is that the master/slave jumper is internal. It would have been trivial to turn that internal jumper into an external switch.

Installed into my transparent desktop PC.
Notice it's the one at the bottom. A PCMCIA reader is on top

The verdict

The adapter's construction is good, the price is right, and the ability to turn it from a front side bay adapter to one hidden in the back via the included PCI bracket is a nice bonus. The company sells directly from its web site and shipped my unit by FedEx, without problems. Please note that while a Seagate microdrive is pictured in this story, no actual Microdrive testing has been performed. That will be the subject of an upcoming story.

CF Type I and II memory cards are supported, and IBM/Hitachi microdrives.
Here, a Seagate "photo microdrive". Will it work? Stay tuned...

I give this unit four and a half Fernandos in my one-to-five rating scale. It does what it says in the web site. ?

See also:
Boot Windows XP from a CompactFlash drive
Using Compactflash cards in your Embedded Linux system