don't know if you have seen the tips on this page, or if any are relevant:
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/CompactFlash_boot_drive

another small bit of info, when talking about the sandisk util:

another thought.. why not put in a small SSD?
http://www.amazon.com/2-5-SATA-SSD-Drive-Adapter/dp/B0049D7PCU

or if that doesn't work, there are actually IDE SSD's:

https://www.google.com/shopping/product/5821906990197222014?q=ssd%20in%20a%20ide%20laptop&hl=en&safe=off&rlz=1C1CHMO_enUS468US468&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.41248874,d.dmg&ion=1&biw=1680&bih=937&sa=X&ei=G6b9UIH4BOHI0QGZ4oCwAw&ved=0CIQBEPMCMAI

here is an example of a fixed disk CF:
http://californiapc.com/Industrial-Flash-Memory/SanDisk-CF-OEM-and-Commercial/SDCFAA-004G-F.html
and lastly - before I get back to what I SHOULD be doing:


http://www.mpchunter.com/compact-flash-card-troubleshooting/

old saying, probably these days not PC, but.. there is more than one way to skin a cat

It appears that SanDisk's tool changes the configuration word from 848Ah to 044Ah.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

hehe I was going to RE that util when I got home for a different reason. I did notice it is very, very basic though looking at it in a hex editor.
but you would still need to know something more about the existing firware I would think, and I assume the newr > v9 is a lot more complex and possibly protected.

have to remember to buy a couple

VSCs are 89h, 8Ah, 8Bh.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Thanks Franc.

and looking around, I don't think I would be buying any soon.. way to expensive to just hack around on. I can see why one would want to use it though, a good card.

http://truei.de/

http://wiki.icomp.de/wiki/TrueIDE





a quick look and only found:
http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=TrueIDE

I've reversed the SanDisk tool. It was easier than I thought, computer problems notwithstanding.

Identify Device
Print model number & firmware version
VSC Enable
Get original 0x100 word config (?) block
Modify fixed/removable word
Write new 0x100 word config (?) block
Get new 0x100 word config (?) block
Compare with original 0x100 word config (?) block
Print PASS or FAIL
VSC disable

I can give you my work if you're interested.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

fzabkar - great find! Now... how we can use that information to write a tool, that do just that... but for my CF card type?

What the code says when it report "Fail (error #20)"...? What is wrong there?


Short report:

Once I managed to run the card using the Hitachi CF card driver with DMA and I get pretty nice 20MB/sec speed:

...but on next reboot it fails to PIO mode again and the speed is about 2MB/sec with *HUGE* CPU load

Hopefully could someone help me out, because that suxx



PS: the TrueIDE adapter is a nice find, but crazy expensive and not in stock. Not found even on eBay

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"It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong." - Voltaire

Error #20 can occur at several steps in the program, but in your case it is reporting a failure to execute the Identify Device command. That would suggest that your card is not at either of the standard ISA ports (1F0h or 170h), or that the master/slave jumpering is incorrect, or that the program didn't allow enough time for the drive to report READY.

In fact HDAT2 is reporting that your drive is attached to the secondary controller, not the primary ...


... so the correct command syntax would be ...

atcfwchg.com /S /F

Assuming you get this far, you can capture the output from the drive using the following script:


Write the above lines to a text file named ATCFWCHG.SCR, and then copy this file and DOS's DEBUG.EXE to the ATCFWCHG.COM directory on your boot drive.

The execute ...

debug atcfwchg.com /S /F < atcfwchg.scr > atcfwchg.log

This will execute ATCFWCHG.COM, write the screen output to a log file, and record the drive's data to ATCFWCHG.BIN.

Then upload the LOG and BIN files (in a ZIP or RAR).

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

I forgot one step:

Identify Device
Print model number & firmware version
VSC Enable
*Test whether firmware version begins with "F" or "H"
Get original 0x100 word config (?) block
Modify fixed/removable word
Write new 0x100 word config (?) block
Get new 0x100 word config (?) block
Compare with original 0x100 word config (?) block
Print PASS or FAIL
VSC disable

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.