so I have to use a bunch of 6 and 8Gbyte microdrive units and they come with a ZIF connector where there are 35 contacts in a staggered 18+17 layout, and of course, this 35-pin is not compatible to any 40-pin ribbon cable used, and the pinout is not compatible to regular 40-pin ZIF-ATA.
I cannot find any documentation from Hitachi or Seagate: anyone?
And this is not a CompactFlash card interface? Which did have ATA mode.
not clear, but it should be ATA_CE interface on a custom connector.
Pinout + connector part number. Making a FPC adapter for these microdrives seem like a lot of hassle for only 8GB when CF cards have surpassed that.
Supposedly some of these microdrives have non-standard firmware on them so only the CE versions have a PATA interface.
CF cards
flash is no good for certain applications, and I don't want to use flash
Supposedly some of these microdrives have non-standard firmware on them so only the CE versions have a PATA interface.
the firmware should be pATA.
Anyway, at the moment I have bought also a bunch of 4 GByte micro-drives. They have a common CF+ interface and pATA protocol. But ... they are only of 4Gbyte of capacity for the application so I am trying to adapt the application software.
6Gbyte was the minimal, 8Gbyte was really helpful.
Anyway, I cannot understand WHY Seagate and Hitachi did that weird ZIF custom interface.
For what? Cameras are *ALL* CF+, MP3 Players are *ALL* based on Flash, so ... it makes no sense.
but the real point is: really isn't there any public documentation for that?
weird, but it really seems so because I cannot find it
Anyway, at the moment I have bought also a bunch of 4 GByte micro-drives. They have a common CF+ interface and pATA protocol. But ... they are only of 4Gbyte of capacity for the application so I am trying to adapt the application software.
Seagate definitely did CF interface 8GB microdrives. I used to have some of them but they all failed at one point or another.
Anyway, I cannot understand WHY Seagate and Hitachi did that weird ZIF custom interface.
It is just smaller. Seagate offered CF, 40 pin ZIF and 35 pin ZIF on their microdrives. Hitachi did something similar.
For what? Cameras are *ALL* CF+, MP3 Players are *ALL* based on Flash, so ... it makes no sense.
This is going back years now but that isn't true. There were quite a few devices back then which had microdrives even though CF was around. Several high end DSLRs, some MP3 players and some PDAs all had microdrives in them. There were a bunch of portable USB drives that had microdrives in them also. They used the ZIF connectors and/or locked down firmware to discourage people from buying the cheaper portable drive and removing the microdrive inside for camera usage.
but the real point is: really isn't there any public documentation for that?
weird, but it really seems so because I cannot find it
What documentation do you need? The small PDF above has the pinout + connector. The full datasheet for a Hitachi 3K8 is far too big to upload to the forum.
Seagate definitely did CF interface 8GB microdrives. I used to have some of them but they all failed at one point or another.
which model? edit: perhaps the Seagate ST1.2 8GB ST68022CF?
The Seagate ST1.3 08GB ST612708DE Microdrive has the same interface as the Hitachi HMS361008M5CE00: ZIF
Good Microdrives (tested):
- Hitachi HMS360606D5CF00, 6GB, CF: does not even work in PCMCIA-ATA mode, it works with ATA hosts
- Hitachi HMS360404D5CF00, 4GB, CF: does work in both PCMCIA-ATA mode and with ATA hosts
- Western Digital WD60WP-32LPV0, 6GB, CF: does not work in PCMCIA-ATA mod, it works with ATA hosts
This one was used by Apple in their iPod line. Weird but it works with ATA hosts
Verbatim Store'n'Go 12GB
ZIF35 microdrive, it's unknown if the firmware is locked or not
which model? edit: perhaps the Seagate ST1.2 8GB ST68022CF?
Yeah. That was it. The later ST1.3 range which were higher capacity were all DE which is ZIF.