Compact Flash Suggestion & Compatability

[schwartznet]

Im going to switch from my usb setup to a compact flash like suggested, but was wondering whats the best one to grab off ebay and do i need a certain type ext. Is it better to use compact flash or a small ssd? I'm building a new server and have never used compact flash before. Any suggestions or links to items off ebay to make this happen would be appriciated. Thanks

 

[jgreco]

What specific advice are you referring to? Booting off a USB flash drive is perfectly acceptable. Compact flash is essentially just an older variation. It's pretty easy to hook up a CF reader to an IDE port on a motherboard, but IDE ports are uncommon these days. There are CF-to-SATA adapters, but that's burning up a SATA port, which is kind of bad. If you were going to do that, better to use a cheap small SSD. There are CF-to-USB adapters, but then you have a glorified USB flash drive. There are CF-to-PCI-card adapters, those could be useful.

 

[schwartznet]

So usb is better than cf? It said CF over usb i thought in the wiki

 

[jgreco]

No, USB isn't better than CF. And CF isn't necessarily better than USB. They're just different. *Name brand* flash is probably better than generic flash, especially if it comes from a company that has a reputation for quality and reliability in memory products.

One edge for CF is probably that you're less likely to inadvertently yank out a CF card, especially if it's buried in the machine. USB thumb drives are a little scary that way. However, some boards have internal arrangements for internal USB storage.

Another edge for CF might be that it tends to be slightly older tech, and may be a bit more reliable. I believe the primary use these days is by pro photographers, who typically don't like it if they lose stuff, and so there may be a bit of bias towards better components, etc.

The problem is that CF is a bit hard to leverage on modern computers - you may not be able to go to the corner computer store and make that happen.

 

[survive]

Hi schwartznet,

I boot off CF via a SATA to CF converter on my motherboard SATA ports but I only do that because I have 8 drives and an 8 port SAS controller. On the previous board I used an adaptor that plugged directly into the IDE port which was pretty darn slick, but good luck finding an IDE port on a new motherboard! That said, I do this pretty much because I had all the parts to do it already....it's not worth spending the $40 the card and converter cost if you haven't already (have them sitting on the shelf). That said, booting off CF is surprisingly fast, much faster than any of the USB keys I have, but that might very well be a reflection on the quality of keys I have around.

-Will

 

[schwartznet]

Thanks for the info and personal experience! Learned a lot and will move on from here!