4GB Hitachi Microdrive

[dbdynsty25]

Everyone,

A friend of mine broke his Ipod Mini. I took the Microdrive from it and I want to use it my laptop (via PCMCIA) and then eventually get music on it and take it with me in the car (my Nav system has a PCMCIA slot). The Nav system works fine with a Type I adapter and a compact flash card, but for some reason it will not read the Type II adpater I have with the Microdrive. Same thing holds true for my PC. Is there something I'm missing?

I've also got the Dell 24" monitor with the compact flash reader on the side and I can read the drive fine through that...same thing with my printer that has the CF slot. Is there a driver or something in the PCMCIA that is preventing me from using it in a PCMCIA slot?

Any help or experiences would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Mark R]

Edit.

Not all devices designed for type 1 cards are fully compatible with microdrives. Some also don't seem to be able to cope with drives larger than 2 GB, and just don't detect them correctly.

 

[Jiggz]

Just get a USB card reader. If you can read it from you monitor slot reader I'm sure you can read it with a usb memory card reader.

 

[dbdynsty25]

Jiggz,

I mentioned that I can already read it. My question is, I want to read it with my PCMCIA slot, how do I do that? My car doesn't have a usb port and that is ultimately the main goal...but I can't even read the thing on my laptop with the PCMCIA Type II adapter.

Mark,

That is kinda what I'm figuring. The PCMCIA adapter and the device they go into just don't recognize it at all...I am assuming that it's because of the size, but I was just hoping someone figured out a way to get it recognized.

Thanks guys.

 

[bruceb]

If you can read it on your pc, why not just copy the music or whatever to a card that is compatible
with the PCMIA Slot ? ? ... perhaps an SD or somethin similar

 

[dbdynsty25]

I must not have explained my intentions well enough.

My entire point is to use the 4gb Microdrive in my navigation system which has a pcmcia slot in it. I can copy all of the music I want via the reader on my monitor and printer...but as soon as I stick it in the pcmcia adapter, it won't read it (not on my laptop or in my car). My goal is to be able to play my music from my microdrive in my car. For some reason, neither it, or my laptop will read it when it's docked in the pcmcia adapter.

 

[Jiggz]

I guess we will have to iterate what you got first. You have a microdrive with what interface? USB? PCMCIA Type II?
You want to use the microdrive using a PCMCIA I slot. If the microdrive interface is USB, I would think you will use a PCMCIA I card to USB adapter so you can plug in your microdrive. Obviously, you will need a PCMCIA I since this is what you have in your Nav Sys in your car.

Now you mentioned you can already read the microdrive with your CF slot reader, so this tells me that the microdrive has a CF interface. so to be able to read this on a PCMCIA I slot, you will need a PCMCIA I ->USB adapter and a USB CF card reader. Unless, you can find a card reader slot with PCMCIA I interface. I'm not sure this is what you mean but I tried.

 

[bruceb]

See here ... they may ? ? have what you need

http://www.memorysuppliers.com/smarflasread.html

 

[corkyg]

PCMCIA C/F readers are commonly available. That's all you need.

 

[Joony]

Look for this one, it's a lot faster than the PCMCIA version. It also support Type II cards, which is the size of microdrives.

 

[dbdynsty25]

I have tried 3 different compact flash Type II adapters, none work. That's not the issue...I don't think. Oh well...I'll just buy a 2gb CF.

 

[Joony]

That's a 32bit cardbus type reader, vs the much older and slower PCMCIA (ISA based). Your nav system might support it. info on the differences

Try formatting it to regular old FAT instead of FAT32. Some stuff just doesn't like the FAT32 partition.

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: Joony
Look for this one, it's a lot faster than the PCMCIA version. It also support Type II cards, which is the size of microdrives.

Right - the current PCMCIA types commonly used are CardBus. You picked exactly what I meant.