|
|
The supplier we get our CF's from has warned us that in a matter of months,
CompactFlash flagged or flagable 'fixed' to the OS (as opposed to
removable) will no longer be manufactured.
He can provide us with another device from a different manufacturer after
stock runs out, but that would only be a temporary solution (for the same
reason).
The only alternative would be to switch from CF to solid state disks (at a
per-device cost that's a multiple).
I haven't been following the news too closely, so now I have two questions:
1) How much of what he's telling us is true?
2) Has anything changed at the software side that makes it possible to use
XP with EWF enabled on a CompactFlash with the configuration bit set to
"removable"? Hasn't anyone found a clever hack to make it work?
|
|
Could you tell us which manufacturers you have been using and have been
offered as an alternative? That way we may be able to make some
alternate suggestions!
A.
[Quoted Text] > -----Original Message-----
> From: Luc [mailto:lucvdv[ at ]newsgroup.nospam]
> Posted At: 17 December 2008 11:08
> Posted To: microsoft.public.windowsxp.embedded
> Conversation: No more "fixed" CompactFlash being made?
> Subject: No more "fixed" CompactFlash being made?
>
> The supplier we get our CF's from has warned us that in a matter of
> months,
> CompactFlash flagged or flagable 'fixed' to the OS (as opposed to
> removable) will no longer be manufactured.
>
> He can provide us with another device from a different manufacturer
> after
> stock runs out, but that would only be a temporary solution (for the
> same
> reason).
>
> The only alternative would be to switch from CF to solid state disks
> (at a
> per-device cost that's a multiple).
>
>
> I haven't been following the news too closely, so now I have two
> questions:
>
> 1) How much of what he's telling us is true?
>
> 2) Has anything changed at the software side that makes it possible to
> use
> XP with EWF enabled on a CompactFlash with the configuration bit
set
> to
> "removable"? Hasn't anyone found a clever hack to make it work?
|
|
|
|
On Wed, 17 Dec 2008 14:04:07 +0100, "Ralph A. Schmid, dk5ras"
<ralph[ at ]radio-link.net> wrote:
[Quoted Text] > Luc <lucvdv[ at ]newsgroup.nospam> wrote:
>
> >1) How much of what he's telling us is true?
>
> I have no idea; but from the beginning we were "fixing" our CFs by
> ourselves :-) Sandisk, and a little command shell tool...
Yes, and (according to our supplier) that's the problem: all new Sandisks
you will be receiving in a few months won't be "fixable" anymore.
That tool you're using now will simply not recognize the new devices.
We used to have ours shipped to us "pre-fixed", and they're stopping that
too.
Allegedly, it's because of new firmware for the built-in microcontroller
that handles things like wear levelling etc. A new version was necessary
to support larger capacities, and in it they dropped support for changing
the fixed/removable bit.
|
|
On Wed, 17 Dec 2008 11:16:37 -0000, "Andy Pont"
<andyDOTpont[ at ]sdcsystemsDOTcomNOSPAM> wrote:
[Quoted Text] > Could you tell us which manufacturers you have been using and have been
> offered as an alternative? That way we may be able to make some
> alternate suggestions!
What we used: mostly Sandisk (Ultra II and some 5000 series). There were
some SimpleTech too in early stages of the project, but I don't know if
those were ever used in production.
Alternative offered: Cactus Technologies (some outfit from Hong Kong, I had
never heard of them before).
|
|
Luc <lucvdv[ at ]newsgroup.nospam> wrote:
[Quoted Text] > Yes, and (according to our supplier) that's the problem: all new
Sandisks
> you will be receiving in a few months won't be "fixable" anymore.
>
> That tool you're using now will simply not recognize the new devices.
We use devices from Pretec which we get pre-configured for "fixed" mode
and we haven't heard anything from our UK supplier that this is a
situation that is going to change.
A.
|
|
If this is SanDisk, it is no surprise. They seem to bounce back and forth in
support for embedded systems.
WinSystems, Transcend, and SiliconSystems all offer fixed drive solutions -
http://www.seanliming.com/flashhelp.html
You can use EWF with RAM-REG mode, which eliminates the need for a second
partition.
--
Regards,
Sean Liming
www.sjjmicro.com / www.seanliming.com
Book Author - XP Embedded Advanced, XP Embedded Supplemental Toolkit
"Luc" <lucvdv[ at ]newsgroup.nospam> wrote in message
news:qvlhk45135a62o1l7kq0pko643f5vj8a8r[ at ]4ax.com...
[Quoted Text] > The supplier we get our CF's from has warned us that in a matter of
> months,
> CompactFlash flagged or flagable 'fixed' to the OS (as opposed to
> removable) will no longer be manufactured.
>
> He can provide us with another device from a different manufacturer after
> stock runs out, but that would only be a temporary solution (for the same
> reason).
>
> The only alternative would be to switch from CF to solid state disks (at a
> per-device cost that's a multiple).
>
>
> I haven't been following the news too closely, so now I have two
> questions:
>
> 1) How much of what he's telling us is true?
>
> 2) Has anything changed at the software side that makes it possible to use
> XP with EWF enabled on a CompactFlash with the configuration bit set to
> "removable"? Hasn't anyone found a clever hack to make it work?
>
|
|
Luc <lucvdv[ at ]newsgroup.nospam> wrote:
[Quoted Text] >Yes, and (according to our supplier) that's the problem: all new Sandisks
>you will be receiving in a few months won't be "fixable" anymore.
Oops, this does not sound very promising.
>That tool you're using now will simply not recognize the new devices.
OK, I have to go to my boss and discuss this. Right now :-)
-ras
--
Ralph A. Schmid
http://www.dk5ras.de/ http://www.db0fue.de/
http://www.bclog.de/
|
|
On Wed, 17 Dec 2008 07:37:02 -0800, "Sean Liming \(MVP\)"
<sean_liming[ at ]sjjmicro.com> wrote:
[Quoted Text] > You can use EWF with RAM-REG mode, which eliminates the need for a second
> partition.
AH - Digging a bit deeper on that I see that there's something I didn't
know. I thought all kinds of EWF always required fixed disks.
RAM REG wasn't a choice initially, but I switched to it when it was added
(with SP2 or something like that).
So I don't need fixed CF's anymore...
|
|
RAM-REG was always possible, but there was a manual work around to get it
enabled. An option was added when FP2007 came out.
Regards,
Sean Liming
www.sjjmicro.com / www.seanliming.com
Book Author - XP Embedded Advanced, XP Embedded Supplemental Toolkit
"Luc" <lucvdv[ at ]newsgroup.nospam> wrote in message
news:0hakk4l5gfs8s60hihefpupm6ld5qltodm[ at ]4ax.com...
[Quoted Text] > On Wed, 17 Dec 2008 07:37:02 -0800, "Sean Liming \(MVP\)"
> <sean_liming[ at ]sjjmicro.com> wrote:
>
>> You can use EWF with RAM-REG mode, which eliminates the need for a second
>> partition.
>
> AH - Digging a bit deeper on that I see that there's something I didn't
> know. I thought all kinds of EWF always required fixed disks.
>
> RAM REG wasn't a choice initially, but I switched to it when it was added
> (with SP2 or something like that).
>
> So I don't need fixed CF's anymore...
|
|
On Thu, 18 Dec 2008 09:00:24 -0800, "Sean Liming \(MVP\)"
<sean_liming[ at ]sjjmicro.com> wrote:
[Quoted Text] >
> RAM-REG was always possible, but there was a manual work around to get it
> enabled. An option was added when FP2007 came out.
Yes, I remember. Wasn't it Slobodan Brcin who sort of "invented" it?
But I don't remember ever hearing that it didn't require "fixed" disks back
then, I always thought the EWF system simply refused to work on removable
ones.
|
|
Yes, it was Slobodan who found the best work around.
As far as removable, I guess RAM-REG just implied a solution.
--
Regards,
Sean Liming
www.sjjmicro.com / www.seanliming.com
Book Author - XP Embedded Advanced, XP Embedded Supplemental Toolkit
"Luc" <lucvdv[ at ]newsgroup.nospam> wrote in message
news:8hlmk4thci1c8i1ihmtafo3sbhji65b2eb[ at ]4ax.com...
[Quoted Text] > On Thu, 18 Dec 2008 09:00:24 -0800, "Sean Liming \(MVP\)"
> <sean_liming[ at ]sjjmicro.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> RAM-REG was always possible, but there was a manual work around to get it
>> enabled. An option was added when FP2007 came out.
>
> Yes, I remember. Wasn't it Slobodan Brcin who sort of "invented" it?
>
> But I don't remember ever hearing that it didn't require "fixed" disks
> back
> then, I always thought the EWF system simply refused to work on removable
> ones.
|
|
|