Is it possible to use an IDE hard drive with a CF interface?

[cheesehead]

Does anyone know if it is possible to attach an IDE interfaced device (such as a 2.5" laptop hard drive) to a CompactFlash slot? They appear to use a similar interface; CF to IDE adapters are common. Of course, an external power source would be needed, but that's not terribly hard to do.
(And yes, I'm prepared to solder the silly thing myself.)

Why would I want to do this?
Many cheap-0 digital video recorders use CF, and require large amounts of it. A 40GB laptop HDD is about the same price as a 1GB CF card. I'm not picky about size.

 

[PottedMeat]

At a glance, I dont see why not. CF-> IDE adapters I believe are cheap because CF cards have an integrated IDE interface so the cards just route pin for pin signals.

I would guess that powering it may be a problem, maybe the drive has to be powered up first, then the interface enabled?

Also you would need to make a card that attached to the CF interface pins, extend it out of the slot, then have a cable or socket for the drive. Maybe just use a regular IDE hdd, I dont know if they make cables for laptop hdds.

 

[Bassyhead]

Originally posted by: Cheesehead
Does anyone know if it is possible to attach an IDE interfaced device (such as a 2.5" laptop hard drive) to a CompactFlash slot? They appear to use a similar interface; CF to IDE adapters are common. Of course, an external power source would be needed, but that's not terribly hard to do.
(And yes, I'm prepared to solder the silly thing myself.)

Why would I want to do this?
Many cheap-0 digital video recorders use CF, and require large amounts of it. A 40GB laptop HDD is about the same price as a 1GB CF card. I'm not picky about size.

A problem that immediately comes to my attention is that most devices that typically use CF cards have addressing limits. You'll need to check with the product to see the maximum size card (or drive) it can address. Typically for a consumer CF device this will be somewhere around 1-4GB.

 

[cheesehead]

Good point. However, a 4GB 1.8" laptop HDD is still pretty cheap, all things considered.

 

[irwincur]

Hell, I just got a 5GB, 1.5" HDD for less than $100.