TwinMos Ultra-X CF vs. Sandisk Ultra2 / Extreme 3

**Iceman_jkh** · 04-25-2006, 08:37 AM

Hey all,

Just wanted an opinion on this Compact Flash card:

TwinMos Ultra-X Compact Flash (probably 2GB)
http://www.twinmos.com/flash/flash_p_cfc_140x.htm#t

It seems faster than both the SanDisk Ultra2 and Extreme3 - so I'm really just looking for people to back me up on that theory.

I was using a 20MB/Sec USB 2.0 drive, but there is too much hassle involved in getting it to work with windowsXP, so I want to start with a drive that already appears as a FIXED DRIVE to the OS

.

I'll be using a CF-IDE adapter (with DMA feature), so it should present the CF card as a non-removable HARDDRIVE to the OS. and from there.. should be a simple matter of GHOSTING onto or installing Win XP to the disk, and running EWF.

and thats all

Thanks for reading.
Ice

**LagunaICE** · 04-25-2006, 11:00 AM

How the CF will appear to OS depends on factory card setting, not on CF/IDE adapter. I have been asking Twinmos support for utility to change their CF card from removable to fixed state, but they refused to provide such to public. They offered to produce "batch" of cards set in fixed state for me instead

**faichiu** · 04-25-2006, 05:27 PM

Transcend have INDUSTRIAL CF that are Fixed mode.

http://ec.transcendusa.com/product/p...d=4&indexnum=2

**LagunaICE** · 04-26-2006, 04:20 AM

How do you know these are set to fixed mode?

**Iceman_jkh** · 04-26-2006, 09:10 AM

Pity these are so expensive... gave me an e-hardon!

http://www.m-sys.com/site/en-US/Prod...tion_Guide.htm
http://www.m-sys.com/site/en-US/Prod...TASelGuide.htm

Saw a UK group who sold very similar models (possibly same items)... base model IDE was approx. 300 UK Pounds

**faichiu** · 04-26-2006, 11:31 AM

Originally Posted by LagunaICE

How do you know these are set to fixed mode?

Did you spend time to look at the page?
It said "fixed mode" on the product description if you scroll down.

**dyne** · 04-26-2006, 04:35 PM

Originally Posted by LagunaICE

How the CF will appear to OS depends on factory card setting, not on CF/IDE adapter. I have been asking Twinmos support for utility to change their CF card from removable to fixed state, but they refused to provide such to public. They offered to produce "batch" of cards set in fixed state for me instead

I have a 512mb twinmos 140x card. Using a cf -> ide adapter, the card won't show up in the BIOS. My other, old crappy lexar card shows up as a normal hard drive

is this being caused by the fact that the twinmos card isn't fixed?

**Iceman_jkh** · 04-26-2006, 06:14 PM

From what Ive read... I didnt think BIOS detection was determined by FIXED/REMOVABLE. It should detect it eitherway. Its just that XP doesnt like installing to a removable drive, and then things like ACPI/Hibernate wont work on a removable drive either.

**SFiorito** · 04-26-2006, 09:09 PM

the "removable" vs "fixed" is an XP issue. the utility for ExtremeI and UltraII is available. ExtremeIII uses a different controller and SanDisk decided to get out of the industrial card business all together so it can't be set to fixed mode at all, no utility exists (last I checked).

ghosting isn't necessary. just use BartPE or another XP installation and just copy and paste your OS drive from the HDD to the CF card. be sure to use a good quality CF-IDE adapter such as the LogicSupply ones...you can also try using the Hitachi Fixed Drive storage filter driver to make any removable drive appear as "fixed" in XP. On a USB thumbdrive ACPI still didn't work for me though. Might want to give it a try anyways.

**LagunaICE** · 04-27-2006, 02:54 AM

Originally Posted by faichiu

Did you spend time to look at the page?
It said "fixed mode" on the product description if you scroll down.

so you are talking about these 45x cards? I thought you are talking about 120x ones. Why would I go for 45x Transcend while UltraII is 66x and can be set to fixed too (thanx Silvio)?