Anyone tried using one before? I want to know how much noise the thing makes, since I've never had one before. Considering that Hitachi plans on coming out with a 4 gig one by fall of 2003, it could, potentially, be used as a main hard drive for "modern" operating systems. (Windows, Linux with X, etc.)

If it's really quiet, that could be the "stopgap" solution between going solid-state vs. normal HDs. (Price is still higher than normal HDs, but it's currently $250 for 1 gig, which is waaaay cheaper than real solid-state.)

Yes good idea, but I think the problem it's not bootable but you can always use it as a second HD.

Great for transporting files to another laptop though.

Silent? No idea but I guess because its enclosed in metal, and then nearly enclosed again once you insert the card into the laptop, I don't think it will make much noise.

Unless I'm confused, I believe you can boot Linux from compact flash:

http://www.embeddedx86.com/support/linux/TSlinux3.php

This site also seems to have some useful information:

http://www.magicram.com/

(Hmm ... bootable USB flash drive) http://www.magicram.com/usb-flash.htm

That's a common miscoception, but that is not true.

Compactflash standard requires the "cards" follow the IDE standard for accessing drives using PIO mode 3 exactly. The only reason it's not bootable "normally" is because the reader doesn't allow it. If you get a Compactflash to IDE cable conversion kit, (usually about $10-$15), you can plug a compactflash card into your computer the "normal" HD way, which makes it not hot-swappable, but it'll act like a normal HD. (Meaning, bootable, formattable, read/writable, etc. etc.)

Thanks, I knew someone would come up with the answer it is bootable by some means, that's why I said 'think'.

Thank you for your reply.

The performance might be interesting. I doubt these things are particularly fast.

Does anyone know how noisy a microdrive is compared to a normal laptop hd?

Nope, it doesn't I just switched hd from a IBM OEM 2.5" to a Fujitsu MHS2030AT 2.5" and I can't believe the diffrence.

Yes -- as CompactFlash's memory is in cells, and are only rated at 100,000 writes under normal usage. What this means, effectively, is that, if you use it as a hard drive, once parts of the partition table becomes read-only, your drive is toast. There are better flash memory out there, but those aren't used for CompactFlash as far as I know.

Normally, it shouldn't matter too much... though I know of one person who uses one for logs on Linux, and it eventually went bad from the near-constant writes...

Then again, if you actually bought CompactFlash with a lifetime warranty, you can prob. just exchange it if that happens.