http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/ Engadget Comments for Sans Digital's CS1T and CR2T turn CF cards into 2.5-inch enclosures http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2010 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/ IDE -> SATA in one???]]>May 24th 2008 5:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/May 24th 2008 7:38PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/May 24th 2008 5:41PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/May 24th 2008 5:17PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/
What I don't really understand is why Flash memory in the form of CF cards is cheap while flash in the form of SSDs is super expensive. This product is clearly designed to take advantage of large price gap between CF and SSD - why is there such a large price gap?]]>May 25th 2008 6:30AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/It's all about performance, CF can get you 15MB/s so raid0 that and you get 30MB/s (and about half that in write speeds). The high end SSD's get 120MB/s.]]>May 25th 2008 9:53AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/May 24th 2008 5:21PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/
SATA interface means faster reads, faster writes, with minimal processor load compared to USB. Also, it more readily allows for booting, and it's internal - so you can do a permanent install in a laptop with no dangly-doos. I hope this helped.]]>May 24th 2008 5:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/But only if the cards support that speed AND USB2.0 was the limiting factor. In this case, yeah, faster. Still slower than industrial SSD, but faster than, uh, CF reader. Maybe.
"with minimal processor load compared to USB"
Possible but yet to be proven in tests.
"Also, it more readily allows for booting"
I can boot XP from my usb flash card. No problems with that.

"and it's internal - so you can do a permanent install in a laptop with no dangly-doos"
And thats the only thing we wanted - install-and-forget, no need for external readers ect.

"I hope this helped"
It did, thanks :)

PS: using 2x32gb CF cards will either make this thing too slow to be of any practical use compared to HDDs, or will put them in same price category with SSDs if you decide to use ultra-fast CF cards. The thing we should be waiting for is: more and more options for flash! This way we'll see price drops. There is a rule in business - if the product is not bought, the price drops. So don't buy SSDs just yet :)]]>May 24th 2008 6:53PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/
That's not really how it works. The price goes down because they are bought, not because they aren't. Not in electronics.

Eventually, they get to the point where R&D is paid for and they starting making more profit or a break through occurs.

If something is not selling, they tend to not make it anymore if the R&D is not being returned.]]>May 24th 2008 8:30PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/May 24th 2008 5:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/
gizmodo reviewed one that took 3 cf cards this week. looked beeter, but got a lame 10mb/s in raid.]]>May 24th 2008 5:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/
:)]]>May 24th 2008 7:06PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4255

bare in mind usd 2.0 max = 480 kbps that means theoretically the speed is max out @ 60 MB /s

]]>May 24th 2008 5:47PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/
your link was OLD NEWS. they've had single cf-ide ones for YEARS. I bought one for an old notbook 4 years ago. which was already late to the party. cf-sata isn't anything more special. it's the same thing.

this one is a dual cf, thus different as it allows more capacity.

either way it doesn't matter and both are a shit product.]]>May 24th 2008 6:11PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/
For nearly the same money, I don't see why I'd want 1/4th the performance.]]>May 24th 2008 10:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820609304

Found it cheaper to get my XPS1330 with the 320gb drive and buy this than to get dell's 64gb ssd, plus i end up with a 320gb drive to put in an external case for extra storage.]]>May 24th 2008 6:57PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/May 24th 2008 8:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/2. Make sure everyone is still hot for SSD
3. Profit!]]>May 25th 2008 9:58AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/
It could also make a cool boot device.

I wonder if the seek times might offset the bandwidth limits in some applications.

I've been Googling for a solution to literally stack all my old memory sticks and smaller SD cards etc. into a thing that I imagine would probably look like a lot of memory slots that dynamically adapt to handle different card types. Just stuff it all in there (within reason, give or take the performance of each memory card) and bingo -- you've got 500GB of memory stuffed into a single box and acting like a HDD.]]>May 24th 2008 6:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/
I am assuming that the ones in manufactured SSD's are likely far higher quality than a couple of old SD cards we might have lying around to go into one of these.

With how an SSD would be used are you expecting these to die in ten years or six months?]]>May 24th 2008 6:38PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/
They have been in constant use for over three and a half years, far more use than a home computer system would use them for although I'd say it's all reads and not writes, but the OS CF card probably is written to at some point.

Only now three and a half years later are some starting to fail, usually with an "MBR read failed" type of failure and nearly always the OS card, although a game card failed once too.

I like the idea of putting two CF cards in a box and off you go. It would be nice to be able to use four or more cards.]]>May 25th 2008 1:04AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/May 24th 2008 6:53PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/May 24th 2008 6:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/
1. Be useful for using up those CF's.
2. Using in a device that favours no moving parts over speed.
3. Questionably, less energy draw.
4. Devices that require only a low capacity storage.

If all of the above, then this is spot on.
If you want cheap and fast, go with HDD.
If you want expensiv and fast, ho with SSD.
]]>May 24th 2008 7:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/Interfaced makes sense, but SATA shaped and sized? WTF?

"Both utilize IDE"
Um, yeah, okay.

Anyway, this is a really great product. Might pick one up for my lappy if the price is right.

]]>May 24th 2008 8:55PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/May 25th 2008 12:35PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/
How bout some CF lovin for us old guys who can not afford to throw money at new machines but want the solid state goodness of CF cards.

What about a Dual or Triple Raid card setup for use 2.5" PATA guys!!]]>May 25th 2008 12:44AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/May 25th 2008 4:22AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/May 25th 2008 4:39AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/24/sans-digitals-cs1t-and-cr2t-turn-cf-cards-into-2-5-inch-enclosu/May 30th 2008 11:10PM