Life, the universe & everything...Atari (well, mostly)

[JezC]

Managed to locate the IDE to SD adaptors tonight...but having never used one before I'll need to see what steps to take to set it up (partition/format whatever) - I don't even know if there is a maximum size SD card that would be supported

Time for some google-fu I guess

[JezC]

Well, I didn't end up having the time to search long enough to find the info I was after last night...but I do have a 256 Meg CF card (that works Ok with a TRUDIE card in my Mongrel/H4 system) & I've found a surplus 4 G SD card...

So, is there an easy way (in Windows) to effectively copy the 256 Meg CF card onto the 4 G SD card?

I''m taking the view that it's not going to work if I just copy the files from one to the other...but will listen out for any suggestions to get this running!

TIA

[Higgy]

I think you just use Win32 Disk Imager to make an image of the 256Mb card then write this image to the larger card.

[JezC]

I think you just use Win32 Disk Imager to make an image of the 256Mb card then write this image to the larger card.

Ah, fantastic - thanks for the speedy reply!
I'll have a quick check into that & give it a go...

[JezC]

Well, copied the 256 Meg CF card to a 4 Gig SD card in PC using that app...tried it in the Falcon & nothing, nada...so I gave up for the night (My wife's Dad used to say "If at first you don't succeed, give up!").

Just managed to try the CF card and SD card in my H4 & both work/boot fine, so it's not the image...must be something on the Falcon side.

I'll put the SD Card into the Falcon again but make sure to reset the NV contents & then run HD Driver from floppy & take it from there...maybe this evening?

On a totally separate point, is there an easy way to 'grow' the partition on that SD card while preserving the contents?
If not, then I'll just wipe the SD card first & re-install things from there...otherwise I might try it with a small CF card first, then get that working before I go back to the SD card...

[russellnash]

You could try Gparted on any Linux live CD or USB. I have never lost data after resizing partitions, but never used it for anything for an Atari.

[JezC]

You could try Gparted on any Linux live CD or USB. I have never lost data after resizing partitions, but never used it for anything for an Atari.

Thanks for the suggestion...I'll try to dig out a recent live CD (probably last burnt one 3 years ago or so...might be time to get a later one maybe? )

It's a direct copy of the other CF drive at the moment, so no risk of losing precious data even if it does go wrong - but I appreciate the warning too!

[kodak80]

I have some 44 pin IDE to CF card adapters that work in my H4/H4 but not in my Falcon. I think there are different version adapters around.

[russellnash]

Your 3 year old Linux distribution will do the job fine. I still use my Ubuntu 10.04 on a 21 year old computer for some things.

[JezC]

I have some 44 pin IDE to CF card adapters that work in my H4/H4 but not in my Falcon. I think there are different version adapters around.

That's a bit worrying...I'll have to get something working on the Falcon IDE first & then I might have something to compare against.

Any details on the IDE to CF adapters you've found to exhibit this behaviour?
I bought one from the exxos store & have another (looks to be identical) from fleabay...no observable difference in behaviour between them.

Having said that, if I run HD Driver from floppy it does detect the CF card (or SD card) so maybe it's not that giving the problem...but I can't get the system to boot off the IDE.

NVRAM is definitely a possibility here...but I've not managed to find a reliable way to reset the contents. Anybody with a reliable method to force the NV settings?