Last updated on October 20, 2024
As part of setting up my LC 630 DOS system I wanted to replace the IDE drive with something faster and more reliable. After some experimentation with various SD2IDE adapters, which I could not get to work, I decided to use a CF2IDE adapter. My first try was with a standard consumer CF card, that didn’t work. So I decided to purchase an Industrial CF card, and that has been working perfectly.
For my LC 630 DOS system I am using a Transcend Industrial 32GB CF170 card, a StarTech 40/44 Pin IDE to Compact Flash SSD Adapter, and a 5.25 Inch to 3.5 Inch Internal Power cable adapter. What I’ve learned is most CF cards identify themselves as removable drives. The Industrial CF cards are designed to be hard drive replacements (pre set in Fixed Disk mode vs. Removable Disk mode) and provide True IDE support (for DMA and PIO) to better emulate an actual hard drive.
The table below describes how the Transcend Industrial cards can be configured in a computers BIOs as if they are an actual hard drive.
| Capacity | Cylinders | Heads | Sector | User LBA | Capacity (bytes) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 512MB | 987 | 16 | 63 | ||
| 1GB | 1974 | 16 | 63 | ||
| 2GB | 3949 | 16 | 63 | ||
| 4GB | 7785 | 16 | 63 | 7847280 | 4,017,807,360 |
| 8GB | 15538 | 16 | 63 | 15460704 | 8,019,099,648 |
| 16GB | 16383 | 15 | 63 | 31293360 | 16,022,200,320 |
| 32GB | 16383 | 15 | 63 | 62537328 | 32,019,111,936 |
| 64GB | 16383 | 15 | 63 | 125044736 | 64,002,424,832 |