I’m going to assume that you are going to use this in PC since you are posting here.

Lexar and Sandisk are two popular names, but the large capacity CF devices usually have firmware and buffers that prioritize large file transfers over application style work loads. AKA storing a few dozen large image and video files, focusing on higher throughput but with higher seek times, smaller buffers since buffers dont help much when streaming large files.

The best performing CF’s I’ve seen have been the 2gb to 16gb “industrial” cf’s that tend to be more likely to be tuned for general purpose storage use. They have performance profiles comparable to pata DOM’s.

I’ve never seen a PC ide controller that could do UDMA 7. PC’s moved to SATA after UDMA 6. If you figure out how to get a PC to connect to the device using UDMA7, please let me know how you did that.

Anyway, what vintage of PC are you planning on pairing it with?

as mentioned CF were tuned for single stream storage, fastest IO would be sata/mpcie ssd + sata/mpcie-to-PATA converter

UDMA 7 was developed for CF cards and only implemented in card readers and digital cameras. It isn't used in PC storage and is not part of the ATA spec. Use a PATA/IDE flash module or a low-end SATA/mSATA SSD with ATA adapter.

douglar wrote on 2022-05-22, 17:45:

I’m going to assume that you are going to use this in PC since you are posting here. […]
Show full quote

I’m going to assume that you are going to use this in PC since you are posting here.

Lexar and Sandisk are two popular names, but the large capacity CF devices usually have firmware and buffers that prioritize large file transfers over application style work loads. AKA storing a few dozen large image and video files, focusing on higher throughput but with higher seek times, smaller buffers since buffers dont help much when streaming large files.

The best performing CF’s I’ve seen have been the 2gb to 16gb “industrial” cf’s that tend to be more likely to be tuned for general purpose storage use. They have performance profiles comparable to pata DOM’s.

I’ve never seen a PC ide controller that could do UDMA 7. PC’s moved to SATA after UDMA 6. If you figure out how to get a PC to connect to the device using UDMA7, please let me know how you did that.

Anyway, what vintage of PC are you planning on pairing it with?

I'll probably use it on 430hx and mvp3 mobos If I direct connect.

But I had actually planned on putting it in this cool thing which I have and love.

So there aren’t any larger capacity ones that will operate best for pc use?

I guess, how do I find the best 16gb one though… just simply look for “industrial” and that’s the one?

16gb might be too small, was really hoping for 128gb

Do you have a link for the adapter in the above pictures?

Sphere478 wrote on 2022-05-23, 07:53:

So there aren’t any larger capacity ones that will operate best for pc use?

I guess, how do I find the best 16gb one though… just simply look for “industrial” and that’s the one?

16gb might be too small, was really hoping for 128gb

Why would you want such large capacity?
I don't know where you are located but over here you could buy up to five 256GB SSDs from good brands for the price of one 128GB CF card from a reputable brand!
What's your use case?

Sphere478 wrote on 2022-05-23, 07:29:

But I had actually planned on putting it in this cool thing which I have and love.

What's the make and model for that device?

Looks like it might have a Silicon Image SiI0680 ATA-133 (ATA-7) controller on it.

Looks like it is slotted for 3.3V, but it might work on a 430 HX mobo. Shouldn't hurt anything to try.

Any chance you can you dump the BIOS?

As for the CF, doesn't look like WD/SanDisk has CF's in their current industrial product stable any more: https://www.westerndigital.com/c/memory-cards … al_comm_storage

I'd probably go with the San Disk Extreme Pro.

Be sure to avoid the "CFast" devices, because electrically, they are SATA, as well as "CF Express" devices, because they are PCI Express and neither will work with your adapter.

chiveicrook wrote on 2022-05-23, 09:38:

Why would you want such large capacity? I don't know where you are located but over here you could buy up to five 256GB SSDs fr […]
Show full quote

Sphere478 wrote on 2022-05-23, 07:53:

So there aren’t any larger capacity ones that will operate best for pc use?

I guess, how do I find the best 16gb one though… just simply look for “industrial” and that’s the one?

16gb might be too small, was really hoping for 128gb

Why would you want such large capacity?
I don't know where you are located but over here you could buy up to five 256GB SSDs from good brands for the price of one 128GB CF card from a reputable brand!
What's your use case?

So I can put more stuff on it,

So it will fit in a cf slot.

mihai wrote on 2022-05-23, 09:04:

Do you have a link for the adapter in the above pictures?

http://www.cablesonline.com/pcito4coflca.html

douglar wrote on 2022-05-23, 12:03:

What's the make and model for that device? […]
Show full quote

Sphere478 wrote on 2022-05-23, 07:29:

But I had actually planned on putting it in this cool thing which I have and love.

What's the make and model for that device?

Looks like it might have a Silicon Image SiI0680 ATA-133 (ATA-7) controller on it.

Looks like it is slotted for 3.3V, but it might work on a 430 HX mobo. Shouldn't hurt anything to try.

Any chance you can you dump the BIOS?

As for the CF, doesn't look like WD/SanDisk has CF's in their current industrial product stable any more: https://www.westerndigital.com/c/memory-cards … al_comm_storage

I'd probably go with the San Disk Extreme Pro.

Be sure to avoid the "CFast" devices, because electrically, they are SATA, as well as "CF Express" devices, because they are PCI Express and neither will work with your adapter.

It does work on my 430hx.

I’m using it now. But the cards I have are slow.

I do believe that it is a sil0680 but they may have changed the hardware IDs or something I haven’t loaded the driver yet. It works though

Bios is soldered. Would have to find a program to dump it.

Sphere478 wrote on 2022-05-23, 12:15:

I’m using it now. But the cards I have are slow.

Bios is soldered. Would have to find a program to dump it.

Make sure you have the Option Rom region shadowed. Makes a difference if you are running the code from a slow ROM over the PCI bus or from main memory, especially on a system < 200mhz.

You can use the mem /d command to view your upper memory blocks to find where it is located.

You can use the debug command to dump your rom once you figure out where it is. This example starts at F000, but yours might be different.

1C:\> DEBUG
2-N MyDump.BIN 
3-R BX 
4BX 0000
5:0000
6-R CX
7CX 0000
8:8000
9-M F000:0 8000 0100 
10-W 0100 
11Writing 8000 bytes
12-Q

If your Rom is at C000, you would change the -M line to -M C000:0 8000 0100

Here are reviews of some high end CF cards--
https://www.cameramemoryspeed.com/reviews/cf-cards/

Here's a review of the 32GB SanDisk Extreme Pro card:
https://www.cameramemoryspeed.com/reviews/cf- … o-32gb-cf-card/

Although I suspect that the bottleneck is not between the Sil 0860 and the CF, but between the computer and the Sil 0860.

So I can put more stuff on it,
So it will fit in a cf slot.

I guess then that you are not really going to use them for OS related tasks but static storage, which is at least somewhat reasonable use case in this scenario (In one other post about CF cards I posted two links, which explain why CF cards, especially those advertised as high speed, might be a bad idea for general OS usage on anything faster than 486).

It would still make more sense economically to just buy SSDs + SATA-IDE (Cheaper and better performance and longevity is guaranteed.) but I see that you just want to use that card of yours, period.

In that case just find cheapest 128GB CF card you can find. Maximum theoretical PCI bus throughput is 133MB/s, which is shared between all devices on the bus. So you are not going to get really good speeds. Not to mention CPU bottleneck in anything but pure file transfer.

douglar wrote on 2022-05-23, 12:40:

Make sure you have the Option Rom region shadowed. Makes a difference if you are running the code from a slow ROM over the PCI […]
Show full quote

Sphere478 wrote on 2022-05-23, 12:15:

I’m using it now. But the cards I have are slow.

Bios is soldered. Would have to find a program to dump it.

Make sure you have the Option Rom region shadowed. Makes a difference if you are running the code from a slow ROM over the PCI bus or from main memory, especially on a system < 200mhz.

You can use the mem /d command to view your upper memory blocks to find where it is located.

You can use the debug command to dump your rom once you figure out where it is. This example starts at F000, but yours might be different.

Copy code to clipboard

1C:\> DEBUG
2-N MyDump.BIN 
3-R BX 
4BX 0000
5:0000
6-R CX
7CX 0000
8:8000
9-M F000:0 8000 0100 
10-W 0100 
11Writing 8000 bytes
12-Q

If your Rom is at C000, you would change the -M line to -M C000:0 8000 0100

That’s above my head.. if you wanna pm me maybe we can set up a video chat. Or you could order one they aren’t that expensive. Then you would have the rom and a card :p but I’m willing to help, command line isn’t my strong auit though. Pm me.

douglar wrote on 2022-05-23, 13:05:

Here are reviews of some high end CF cards-- https://www.cameramemoryspeed.com/reviews/cf-cards/ […]
Show full quote

Here are reviews of some high end CF cards--
https://www.cameramemoryspeed.com/reviews/cf-cards/

Here's a review of the 32GB SanDisk Extreme Pro card:
https://www.cameramemoryspeed.com/reviews/cf- … o-32gb-cf-card/

Although I suspect that the bottleneck is not between the Sil 0860 and the CF, but between the computer and the Sil 0860.

If talking about in my case. I also have sata cards and ssds. They are faster. I am making a minimalist build in a small case, which Is why I’m trying to go the CF route.micro drives are slower than sata and good CF cards never expected a whole lot of speed from the tiny disk 🤣.

Sphere478 wrote on 2022-05-23, 20:13:

That’s above my head.. if you wanna pm me maybe we can set up a video chat. Or you could order one they aren’t that expensive. Then you would have the rom and a card :p but I’m willing to help, command line isn’t my strong auit though. Pm me.

You can find a good description of Shadow RAM here:

https://documentation.help/The-Hardware-Guide/bios.htm