Hitachi 4gb microdrive

[cyt0plas(at)gmail.com]

I'm going to take a stab at this:

Microdrives tend to come in two styles - ATA/IDE and IDE.  When you buy a standard microdrive, it's the ATA/IDE style, which lets you use it in a CF-IDE adapter, or on a CF-PCMICA (ATA) adapter.

Some devices (MP3 players, etc) have a 4GB microdrive in them, and are sold for less than the cost of the bare drive.  To avoid people using them as memory cards, the OEM can cripple the card, and make it only support IDE mode.

So, if you have an IDE-Only drive, it won't work in a PCMCIA adapter, or devices that are based off the ATA standard.  Sorry.

[Ex-Navy]

You could be right. A good example is the PDA market. Depending upon the type of processor used in a PDA there is a different ATADSK.DLL used to recognize processor/microdrive combinations.

Hitachi has different utilities to install the ATADSK.DLL for MIPS, SA1100 processors running Windows CE for instance.

I think if Neuros staff have tested a Hitachi to 6GB, then I would stick to the Hitachi brand. Probably a firmware issue.

quote:Originally posted by cyt0plas(at)gmail.com

I'm going to take a stab at this:

Microdrives tend to come in two styles - ATA/IDE and IDE.  When you buy a standard microdrive, it's the ATA/IDE style, which lets you use it in a CF-IDE adapter, or on a CF-PCMICA (ATA) adapter.

Some devices (MP3 players, etc) have a 4GB microdrive in them, and are sold for less than the cost of the bare drive.  To avoid people using them as memory cards, the OEM can cripple the card, and make it only support IDE mode.

So, if you have an IDE-Only drive, it won't work in a PCMCIA adapter, or devices that are based off the ATA standard.  Sorry.

Ex-Navy

[Ex-Navy]

For the guys with the microdrive problems, and you have a access to a multimeter, if you can, take a sewing needle and gently insert it into pin 9 of the microdrive connector.
Measure the resistance between the needle and the casing of the microdrive.
If pin 9 shows a resistance of around 1.5k ohms, the drive maybe disabled in CF mode. IDE drives do not work in PCMCIA slots as PCMCIA only uses ATA disks. This is disabled by the manufacturer.
Another way is to get an microdrive to IDE adaptor for your pc.
Connect it as a regular hard drive. If it works, then it is strapped to be an IDE drive, nothing more.




Ex-Navy

[Ex-Navy]

For the developers at Neuros,
Maybe this link might help solve the problem;

http://www.tjotala.com/hardware/storagebrick/#Software

Ex-Navy

[Ex-Navy]

More interesting news: Manufacturers of microdrives purposely disable  them..................from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microdrive

Maybe you guys are getting these microdrives..........

    * Microdrives are found in the recently discontinued iPod mini and Zen Micro mp3 players, among others. Companies making such players order the Microdrives in large quantities, which can mean that it is cheaper to buy a mp3 player with an integrated Microdrive than a separate Microdrive to add to an expandable mp3 player. An example is the Creative MuVo; many of these were bought up by those interested in purchasing a Microdrive and stripped for their Microdrive which was then replaced by a lower capacity CompactFlash card.

    * When combined with a PCMCIA adaptor and used in a laptop Microdrives can be a viable alternative to USB flash memory sticks purely due to their price. The use of Microdrives over chip-based CF cards is unlikely to make any notable difference to the battery life of the laptop, and any impact that would damage the Microdrive is likely to break other components of the laptop as well. However these cannot devices cannot be used with ordinary desktop PC's unless they are fitted with PCI PCMCIA adaptors or CF card readers.

Sometimes when a device with an integrated Microdrive stops working the device is taken apart and stripped of its Microdrive, which is then sold on. Unfortunately Microdrives taken from such devices may not work in digital cameras. The device must be accessed using ATA mode and therefore such drives do not fetch anywhere near as much as CF-enabled Microdrives as they cannot be used in devices that do not support ATA mode.

Ex-Navy

[Ex-Navy]

Page 89 of http://www.compactflash.org/cfspc3_0.pdf

the specs for CF1ⅈ tell how to disable the True IDE mode

[8D]

Ex-Navy

[Hookset]

That’s a lot of information thanks.
Now back to the question for this hard head guy.  Can I buy a 4 or 6GB drive that will work?
If so what drive?

FJ: What neuros saying?

Thanks
JB

[Ex-Navy]

A word from Hitachi directly.................




It has come to our attention that many others selling on eBay are offering bare 4GB Hitachi Microdrives that were actually removed from OEM equipment such as the Creative 4GB Muvo2, Samsung's 4GB YEPP or pre-release versions of Apple's mini-ipod. The version of the Hitachi 4GB Microdrive found in these OEM devices is NOT generic and these modified drives will NOT reliably work in most other CF based equipment despite the claims of these sellers. The reason for this is that many OEMs using Hitachi 4GB drives in their products are doing so with proprietary firmware written to their specialized OEM hardware implementation . In the case of Creative's Muvo2 product it not only has proprietary firmware, but it also uses a different CF connector pin out and operating voltage than the CF industry standard supports. Any unknowing buyer who purchases and uses one of these hybrid Muvo2/Hitachi 4G microdrives in their CF equipment for prolonged periods of time will destroy both the Hitachi 4GB drive and their CF based equipment. For other OEMs using proprietary firmware in their Hitachi 4Gb Microdrives, you will experience intermittent read/write problems if you use their hybrid 4GB Microdrive in other CF devices. If buying elsewhere on eBay, please be sure to ask the seller the origin of their 4GB Hitachi Microdrive before buying or you may be making a costly mistake! In contrast, all our Hitachi Microdrives are guaranteed fresh OEM product direct from Hitachi and have not been modified in any way from the Hitachi supplied specifications stated below. If you have any doubts about our special OEM warning statement above feel fee to contact us and we will gladly provide legitimate buyers with our Hitachi OEM reseller ID so you can call Hitachi OEM and verify our statement as well as our reseller status or you can contact Hitachi Storage Technologies OEM directly @ 1-800-801-4618 to verify anything we have stated in our warning statement above. Buying a OEM drive removed from any of the OEM equipment stated with proprietary firmware will ruin your Hitachi Microdrive as well as CF based equipment.


Ex-Navy

[Ex-Navy]

Read FJ's comment (his own topic listed) about Datatel.....yes you can buy a 4GB that works..

PSP fans will be happy to hear that the Neuros MPEG4 Recorder 2 works will Datel 4GB Hard drive. Insert the Duo connection of the Datel HD in the MS slot and ...record...you have access to 4GB of storage for your favorite videos.

quote:Originally posted by jerry.bell(at)guidestone.org

That’s a lot of information thanks.
Now back to the question for this hard head guy.  Can I buy a 4 or 6GB drive that will work?
If so what drive?

FJ: What neuros saying?

Thanks
JB

Ex-Navy

[akts(at)sbcglobal.net]

I have the datel 4 gb hd.. and my recorder does not recognize it at all.. yet when plugged into my psp.. it works flawlessly.. I have 8 movies on it that I just watched. So it cannot be the microdrives.. the seagate 5 gb also does not work... I just tried my friends datel 4 gb drive as well th epro duo connector slot does not as mine, see his datel 4 gb. sigh..