Getting big flash onto motherboards. Will CF work? what will?

[Charles Manning]

> >So, except for the form factor, what is the difference beween these and
> >a CompactFlash (wrt to reliabilty on power failure, etc.) ?
>
> I dont know.  I dont know about CF.  how does cf connect to a system?  what
> happens when cf loses power?  how do you write to a cf system?  can you
> boot from it?
>

We've been through this a few times in this mailing list.

CF conforms to the PCMCIA ATA interface. This effectively provides an IDE 
interface over PCMCIA.

There are basically three ways to hook a CF into your system:
* Through PCMCIA.
* Directly onto the bus (kinda like PCMCIA without the hotplug).
* Directly onto an IDE bus.

The last is perhaps the simplest. You hook the CF onto the IDE bus with a 
simple cable and the system just thinks it is a hard drive. Details for this 
cable are available on the Sandisk www.

-- Charles