Phil Meyer wrote:
I don't know if I can add much to this discussion, but installing to CF
is something that we do here allot.
We have one 8GB CF card that when installed into the on board IDE
controller of either Mother Board we use, the system will not pass post.
I think we have some that hang in Linux. past POST which need ide=nodma
added. Sandisk was the brand with 16 MB and 32 MB sizes. The hang during
POST I get occasionally with bad IDE disks but not so far with CF cards.
We have three types of 2GB CF cards that we currently use in production
systems. We use two different mini-ITX motherboards. Neither
motherboard can boot all three types of CF cards. Each can use two of
the three.
Our Power PC embedded devices work with a very narrow range of cards. It
is luck when a reliable card is found.
In the case of the 'common' CF card, it is very hit and miss. Usually
the CF throws lots of errors during the install (or any heavy writes
after the install) and often fails the install. In that case we avoid
that CF card type in those Mother Boards.
Good call! They only seem to deteriorate from the initial conditions.
Many hours of research has revealed that CF are not all alike, and that
NAND devices in general all have a 'controller' embedded on the card
itself. These controllers are classified by type. To simplify, they
are easy to think of as fixed disk, removable disk, and generic.
Thanks for the info. I knew the cards had a built-in controller but not
that removable, fixed or generic were possible classifications.
Most of the CF cards that are labeled 'Industrial' are specifically made
with a fixed disk type controller.
We're supposed to start using the "Industrial" cards and performing some
modification which switches off and on power to the CF cards. The
Industrial CF cards do not work without the modifications. Since it is
surface mount and very low mil devices, we let the production facility
on Norway deal with the modifications.
Secondly, not all IDE/CF devices are the same. Some are made to handle
generic and removable media types, and some are not. It is unclear if
these can be corrected in BIOS.
So for our requirements, we have to purchase CF cards in a batch, test
the batch, and return and re-order a different brand if necessary.
Its a pain. Brand and model number does not mean anything over time.
We have some product that uses USB Flashes which have a similar
predicament. I tried to get two parts for test equipment from one
ordering system into an ordering system where we could acquire the parts
when I found out about their hit and miss batch ordering.
Many vendors would produce only 'fixed disk' type CF cards on a new
card. Almost all 2GB cards, when that size was new, were 'fixed disk'
type. Now days its almost impossible to find a 2GB CF card that is not
'removable disk'.
It will be interesting to find out what the devices are recognized with
those having problems installing on 4GB and 8GB CF cards in IDE
adapters. Hopefully they can figure out how to select the mode detected
for these cards.
Wikipedia here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Flash
Lots of good info and performance measurement here:
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007
Check the "CompactFlash programming" section of this article:
http://www.compuphase.com/mbr_fat.htm
Good links!
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