Anyone use solid state flash drive on Classic Amiga?

[cpfuture]

I have some info regarding the A500. I'm currently using a Kingston 1GB Compact Flash card with an Alfa Data Alfapower 500 IDE Controller, by employing a CF to IDE adapter. Can't really comment on anything long term, because I've only been using this setup for 3 days, but until now it works great! Enjoying a totally silent A500. Will be adding another GB soon as these cards are dirt cheap (28 euros)

My experience is that different IDE controllers prefer different CF cards. I also have an Apollo AT500 IDE controller and that one was pretty picky. It only talked to a 512MB Sandisk CF card. The 1GB Kingston and a 256MB Danelec were not recognized by the Apollo.

[cpfuture]

CF cards have come a long way, nowadays allowing for *many* write operations. The low energy consumption, no mechanical parts and total silence is what makes them ideal for me personally. Oh and they're dirt cheap.  :lol:

[cpfuture]

Hey, mr_a500. Wicked A500 setup you got, BTW. Regarding CF-IDE adapters. Try eBay. I got one from Hong Kong for 5 euros. That's including shipping. Finding the right CF card can be a hit and miss affair depending on your controller. Good luck!

[cpfuture]

mr_a500 wrote:

Thanks. It looks like you've got a pretty nice A500 yourself. Is it just for games or do you do other stuff? I use mine for everything.

I'm still in the process of actually making a comfortable working environment on my A500, after coming back to it for the first time since 1995 (not my original A500 ofcourse). First thing I did was to get it online by hooking the null modem cable up to my iMac using ppp (AmiTCP/AmiPPP). Very handy if you want to browse or download Aminet stuff straight to the A500. Currently I'm looking into making several boot partitions on my CF card for each Kickstart (1.3, 2.0 and 3.1), each having its corresponding Workbench installed. I know most people hate 1.3, but it's the one I grew up with and somehow it has its charm. Ofcourse it can't hurt to have 1.3 for some of those old games.

Recently I also managed to score an original copy of Steinberg Pro 24 for the Amiga, including dongle. Although I do have Cubase on my Mac and PC, I'm betting the thrill of actually making music with my A500 will get my creative juices running. Ofcourse I'll be installing all the old stuff I used to play around with too, like ProTracker, DPaint, AMOS. I have amassed a ton of UK Amiga mags and cover disks which I plan to sort out one day and ofcourse play games.

I really want the CF to IDE adapter that has 2 slots. I wanted to put in two 4Gb CF cards - one for main usage, one for backup. That would solve all the annoying problems I've been having backing up my stuff.

You mean like this one?

Link

I bought that one as well, when I was still figuring out why my first CF card didn't work with my controller (process of elimination, try a different adapter  :-D  )

[cpfuture]

@mr_a500: Wow!! Thanks for that brilliant suggestion using WHDload and virtual floppies. That does sound like it will save me lots of trouble, while allowing me to dip into 1.3 whenever I get the urge. :-D

BTW, just yesterday I found a stack of floppy disks while going through my parents' attic. They were my very first ProTracker music disks from 1991. All but one still worked! Amazing. I really thought those disks were lost forever. Funny to be confronted with your 15 year younger self through these time capsules.... Wish I had saved all my stuff from back then....

[cpfuture]

LOL, I can see we're both pretty like minded about our A500's. Here's to many more decades of enjoying them. :-)