Most CF-IDE adapters just screw into a expansion slot and you access it from the back of your PC. Simple as that.

I know Startech sells a front bay CFIDE adapter. I had one once and it worked pretty good. Came with a bracket to convert it to a regular ol' rear mounted adapter too.

SodaSuccubus wrote on 2020-08-29, 22:17:

Most CF-IDE adapters just screw into a expansion slot and you access it from the back of your PC. Simple as that.

I know Startech sells a front bay CFIDE adapter. I had one once and it worked pretty good. Came with a bracket to convert it to a regular ol' rear mounted adapter too.

Aye I looked at them too, didn't like the CF sticking out the back of the computer idea. Will probably be the way I go though if I can't find a more HDD-like solution.

I don't have experience of CF-IDE yet, but surely a connector with pins, as on a motherboard, is the male, and the female has the holes the male slots into?

I'll soon be looking for an adapter I can slot into a FDD bay, so I can easily swap cards for different OS and other needs. It'll be easier for me to have a separate boot disk for every graphics card I will be testing in my VLB system.

What adapters are you all typically using?

I designed up one to fit some old dual-slot CF adapter to fit the back of my 386 PC and it works very well for the task. I could design up something to fit a 3.5" bay or floppy bay if there's a common type you'd recommend

debs3759 wrote on 2020-08-30, 00:33:

I don't have experience of CF-IDE yet, but surely a connector with pins, as on a motherboard, is the male, and the female has the holes the male slots into?

I'll soon be looking for an adapter I can slot into a FDD bay, so I can easily swap cards for different OS and other needs. It'll be easier for me to have a separate boot disk for every graphics card I will be testing in my VLB system.

Just checked, yup you're right. I always remember it as "you know what one the male is because it has the nuts". And for things like coaxial connectors that works fine. But I just assumed that because the plug goes into the socket, that the plug would be male and socket female.

I guess I assumed its gender...

Sadly all my front bays, both 3.5 and 5.25 on the case I'm trying to find are already spoken for already, although how often I'll use the zip disk is questionable...

Thermalwrong wrote on 2020-08-30, 00:56:

What adapters are you all typically using?

I designed up one to fit some old dual-slot CF adapter to fit the back of my 386 PC and it works very well for the task. I could design up something to fit a 3.5" bay or floppy bay if there's a common type you'd recommend

The recommendation I've seen on here is "the cheapest you can find on the bay of fleas" because CF is pin compatible with IDE so it's literally just an adaptor. Sometimes with pretty lights.

I found something like what I'm hunting for here:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1026187

I'm honestly surprised it's had to gone the way of the 3D printer to make something so simple.

CF adapters - attach to cable type, plug directly into motherboard type, dual CF type, back plate type, I have ‘em all. I personally prefer the back plate type, as the card could be easily removed for files transfer from a modern PC. It doesn't really protrude that much out from the back, and more like flush with the back of the case. Only catch is you'll need a ide cable that's long enough. For the internal mounting type, you can get a 2.5 to 3.5" tray, and drill the mounting holes on your own. Or 3D print one yourself.

If you have a spare 5.25 bay, a removable HDD rack would work too, can either use CF2IDE or SD2IDE. And it is easy to transfer between PCs if you have multiple racks.

But yeah the type that directly plugs into the IDE without using cable is most space saving. That 3D printed 3.5" IDE adapter mount is pretty neat as well.

I like having front access to the drives. I was able to dig up a 3.5 CF2IDE bracket and mount that into a 3.5 to 5.25 bay on my Win95 and DOS rig. There is also an ebay seller who does 3d prints for a similar bracket but for SD cards as well. If you have a 3d printer I believe he listed the project online.

Here is another pic of my 486 (right) and SS7 (left). The 486 has CF and the SS7 has SD. The seller on ebay that does the 3d printing for the SD cards also has them in other colors but they didn't really match my cases.

as all your front drive bays are spoken for and you don't want them sticking out the back...
You could get the I/O mounted bracket style and mount that to the HDD bay with cable ties or whatever?

Although as you have to open the case anyway, I'd prefer the ones that mount directly to the motherboard header and remove the need for a IDE cable altogether

chinny22 wrote on 2020-09-03, 11:26:

as all your front drive bays are spoken for and you don't want them sticking out the back...
You could get the I/O mounted bracket style and mount that to the HDD bay with cable ties or whatever?

Although as you have to open the case anyway, I'd prefer the ones that mount directly to the motherboard header and remove the need for a IDE cable altogether

Main problem with doing it that way is I'm not a massive fan of things leaning out the motherboard without support even if they don't weigh much. I'll also be using a PCI Promise ultra100 ATA controller. Coupled with the ribbon cables for the floppy/zip drive, the large (possibly RAID'd) spinnies for Disk images, and the cables for the CD/DVD drives, it's just easier to try to mount one in an internal drive bay rather than try to have something sticking out the MoBo anyway.

If you want it in a hard drive mounting location in an old case, just use any 3.5" to 2.5" SSD converter tray and use some velcro to stick it to that. (or better, use standoffs to mount it.. requires a drill, 2 m3 standoff risers, and 4 m3 screws)

In my systems I prefer the back mounting plate. This way I don't see it at the front, keeping it as original looking as possible.

In a few cases I had no back plate space left, so I put it loose in the case, hanging on its wires, leaning to another. In my IBM ps/Valuepoint for example.

In one case I bent the back plate straight and bolted it onto a free hole on a hard disk.

wiretap wrote on 2020-09-04, 14:36:

If you want it in a hard drive mounting location in an old case, just use any 3.5" to 2.5" SSD converter tray and use some velcro to stick it to that. (or better, use standoffs to mount it.. requires a drill, 2 m3 standoff risers, and 4 m3 screws)

This is the best solution I've seen out them all tbh, probably the way I'll go. I've never had success with velcro (it comes off absolutely anything I try to stick it to!) so drill it is.

Vaudane wrote on 2020-09-04, 22:25:

wiretap wrote on 2020-09-04, 14:36:

If you want it in a hard drive mounting location in an old case, just use any 3.5" to 2.5" SSD converter tray and use some velcro to stick it to that. (or better, use standoffs to mount it.. requires a drill, 2 m3 standoff risers, and 4 m3 screws)

This is the best solution I've seen out them all tbh, probably the way I'll go. I've never had success with velcro (it comes off absolutely anything I try to stick it to!) so drill it is.

Sounds good. If you were to use velcro (adhesive backing), you need the actual Velcro brand. Off-brands seem to never work that great. Velcro brand actually makes some awesome stuff - we have seismic rated adhesive backed Velcro at work, and we stuck a laptop to a desk in our control room.. We'll we needed an actual pry bar to remove it and it ruined both the laptop and desk. 🤣

Got a few compact ones directly inserted into the IDE port of the motherboard, and a couple with rear bracket mounts - pros and cons to both. 😀

I have ebay cheapies mounted on the rear plate in a couple of machines.

In my Aptiva system (which came without the original HDD/ODD brackets) I use a 5.25" bay adaptor along with one of the 3.5" Startech units. The most expensive of my CF setups by far - twice the cost of the machine itself, heh. But I had to kill two birds with one stone here, and the Startech is great quality.

In my 386, I've got one in a caddy:

Now THIS is a good idea ! The hdd caddy option I mean... 🤗
Solved both the bay adapter and sticking-out part very well.
And easily reachable from the outside as well.

I use 5,25" drawer too. It is convenient, secure and you do not need to drive IDE cable across the case.