Compact Flash as a hard drive

[gazoo]

I'm very seriously contemplating getting an ide -> CF converter and buying an 8GB CF card to use as a hard drive for a windows XP PRO SP2 client machine. I am aware of the limited re-writes issue, but I would do the following to reduce that:

- Get rid of the pagefile
- Get rid of system restore
- Turn off as much logging as possible
- Use S3 standby or not turn off the machine

Remember, this would be a client so no recording on it. I would probably still have to worry about International Cinema plugin updates, weather, webcam, and those types of plugins. I figure that it won't be too much of a big deal.

As it is now, I have a significant portion of storage on a NAS (with the exception of PVRX2 recordings - those are local drive on the server)

I would probably strip out a bunch of stuff via nlite on the windows XP install disk beforehand to help with space. Since it's 8GB, I might not even bother with all that.

Curious to see if anyone's done this and what the results were.

I mainly want to try to keep heat and quiet down since this machine will go in the bedroom HDTV setup. I'll probably also go with onboard video. I know I have been warned, but my bedroom HDTV is a 720p LCD and I've read that those x1250/7050 systems can handle that no problem.

[nitrogen_widget]

I've been looking into doing this.
I've got a guide that involves downloading the evaluation version of XP embedded & using some of the components from that to speed up boot time & stop most OS writes to the CF card.

[gazoo]

I think I read that same guide, and I think it's probably overkill. I also question if it's going to fill up memory and then crash. The guide stated something about if your RAM gets filled before you've had a chance to save anything then the whole thing crashes.

This is the guide I was looking at:
http://www.windowsdevcenter.com/pub/a/wi...index.html

I think that guide works with lower memory stuff like that embedded car MP3 play, but I just don't know with an HTPC.

I figured I would risk it for $48 (price of adapter + 133x 8GB transcend CF card). I could make a backup on DVD once I've got it all working and restore it if it crashes and I have to buy a new one.

I wonder if there's anything else I'm missing that does very frequent rewrites on the system.

Glad to hear you are also looking into this.

[Bathman]

I was thinking about something similar a while back but in the end I opted for the cheapest latop hard drive I could find.

Since then I had a better idea and if I was going to build another client I would buy a broken IPOD off ebay and then a 1.8 inch to 3.5 inch adaptor.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/iPod-1-8-Hard-driv...dZViewItem

[mkenyon2]

Windows Updates? With stuff stripped down, there would be less, and this would definitely a great way to go.

As for I Cinema stuff, I would love to see plugins that download media to allow to set the path where things are stored. That way all those trailers could be on the server.

[K.S.]

pBS has been working on a BartPE version, check out this thread: http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?t=23846

as BartPE is also possible from USB it might be worth a try

[nitrogen_widget]

I think I read that same guide, and I think it's probably overkill. I also question if it's going to fill up memory and then crash. The guide stated something about if your RAM gets filled before you've had a chance to save anything then the whole thing crashes.

This is the guide I was looking at:
http://www.windowsdevcenter.com/pub/a/wi...index.html

I think that guide works with lower memory stuff like that embedded car MP3 play, but I just don't know with an HTPC.

I figured I would risk it for $48 (price of adapter + 133x 8GB transcend CF card). I could make a backup on DVD once I've got it all working and restore it if it crashes and I have to buy a new one.

I wonder if there's anything else I'm missing that does very frequent rewrites on the system.

Glad to hear you are also looking into this.

You make some good points.
If you can get the windows OS size down it may take a while to wear out the remaining space with periodic reads.

I might look into one of these:

http://www.surpluscomputers.com/store/Ma...m=cpm10498

A CF based hard drive.

The guide I read was on a carputer site, but it looks like essentially the same thing.

It may be overkill.
I may go as far as installing the free embedded stuff to limit writes & to deffinetly speed up boot times.

I'm building a set-top Box & want to install a tuner.
I'm not interested in recording all that much, but I would like to time shift.
I wonder if I can use a RAM drive for time shifting purposes.

[gazoo]

I might look into one of these:

http://www.surpluscomputers.com/store/Ma...m=cpm10498

A CF based hard drive.

..

LOL, I was looking at those myself!

The reason I am considering not using those is due to speed. The CF is much speedier and would probably boot up quicker. But I'm still undecided.

I think I'll make up my mind by late next week and order everything from newegg.

By the way, those carputer guys are INSANE. They are essentially building a GBPVR for the car, but instead of video stuff it's GPS, radio, MP3, backup camera, car diagnostics, etc. I was amazed that you could get a picoATX system which is like 4 inch X 3 inch motherboards. That's amazing.

[nkh]

I wouldn't be too concerned about the reliability of the CF card. I've had a linux server running of a 2GB CF card for about a year, until a few days ago that is, when the 2.5" data drive decided to die.... The CF card with the OS is still fine though

The only thing I changed compared to a normal installation was turning off the swap partition.

[bgowland]

I was amazed that you could get a picoATX system which is like 4 inch X 3 inch motherboards. That's amazing.

I'd be interested to know where to get a mobo like this. I've Googled and found various articles about them but I can't find any suppliers.

Any ideas anyone?

Cheers,
Brian