Date: Fri, 30 Aug 2002 06:58:13 +0000 From: "Matthew Hanson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Hack a CF Type I PC Card adapter to fit Type II+/Microdrive
After I got my IBM 340MB microdrive the other day, I discovered I only had a CF Type I PC card adapter, so I couldn’t read it in my L70. After a salesman at CompUSA pulled their adapter out of its packaging, I found out that the standard $10 - $15 CF Type I/II adapters won’t accept the microdrive. Shoot... even IBM tech support didn’t know that. I finally called Microtech and confirmed what the guy at CompUSA spotted. It seems the CF+II identifier on the back of the drive means the microdrive is classified as a bit fatter than the standard 5mm Type II CF card. Of course that means that the special CF+II PC card adapters are hard to find for one, and when they are found, they start at $20 and go up from there. Early on, another CompUSA saleskid turned me on to the fact that his friends had successfully hacked the standard Type I adapter to fit the microdrives. I kind of forgot that fact in the confusion, until I started aggressively searching for a supplier for a CF+II adapter nearby. During that process, I stumbled onto this web page that documents the very simple process of hacking a Type I adapter: http://camerahacker.tripod.com/CompactFlash/Type_II_to_Type_I/ My Delkin adapter was slightly different from his, and had no tabs to break off. But the top metal lid popped off easily. The two ‘flanges’ responsible for holding the top of the card down against the bottom metal plate (the bottom plate I didn’t need to remove) were a little bit too long, and bumped into the fat topside of the drive. But they were part of the plastic frame, and whittled down like a bar of soap. A little less than 1mm on either side did the trick, and the drive slid right in purrfectly. The adapter is basically a bunch or wires on the circuit board connecting the drive to the PCMCIA interface plug, so there wasn’t much risk of messing anything thing up. I slid the whole deal into the L70, windows recognized the microdrive, and prompted me for the Windows driver files which I keep on the HDD. The whole process from attacking removal of the metal lid, to having it in the L70 ready to transfer files, took all of about 5-6 minutes. Easiest hack I’ve dealt with! I think it was good that the bottom side metal didn’t have to be removed, as it acts as a skin the keep the plastic frame rigid. I don’t see any huge reason to replace the top, but if I can find a Dremel, or something to trim the lid back (suggestions?), it look a bit nicer, and protect the exposed circuit board. I sense there’s not a whole lot of involvement with microdrives amongst list members at this point (nor 99.999% of the Tampa Bay electronics/camera stores). But maybe someone searching the archives might find the info useful at some point in the future. ShMatt _________________________________________________________________ Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com ************************************************************** http://libretto.basiclink.com - Libretto mailing list http://www.silverace.com/libretto/ - Archives -------TO UNSUBSCRIBE------- Reply to any of the list messages. The reply mail should be addressed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Then replace any text on the message's subject line: cmd:unsubscribe --------TO UNSUBSCRIBE DIGEST------ Do above but with this on subject line: cmd:unsubscribe digest **************************************************************
