Just wondering if anyone could help me with a small adapter im looking to work on to enable me to connect a NAND flash module that has a 44 Pin ATA connector on it, to your standard 40 Pin, so I can wipe off the XP Embedded that is on there, and replace it with Backtrack 2 -_-. Now this is bit-tech, so I refuse to use adapters from places like maplin, there is no point if it can be done for pennies with a soldering iron and some scrap parts. So, I've done abit of hunting around and found a nice pinout sheet which is here. Now going off what that points out I took a stab at a wiring diagram (Im no picasso so excuse the poor attempt) So my question is, would this work fine for what I want, which is basically, copy, paste, run syslinux, remove, and put back into a thin client? Thanks in advance guys. Hope someone can advise me on this before I go damaging anything. BTW, Anyone wants to know where you can salvage NAND Flash from then look for T30 Evo Thin Clients, because if this works and I can get hold of enough of these modules, im thinkin RAID array of NAND flash heh...
Assuming those flash modules are ATA compatible (i.e. not just using the same connector ), it looks OK to me? As long as you make sure the ground of the 40-pin end is common with the ground of the 44-pin end. Though, if you plug this into a PC/Laptop you'll probably take the 5V and GND from there anyway so you should be good. But suppose you were running it from batteries or something, then join the grounds.
http://www.unitechelectronics.com/ide44pinout.gif found that with a quick google search. If you have the pin headers/connectors you can use why not give it a shot, just use some heat shrink on each little wire to keep it neat on each end.
One thing is puzzling me about this atm though... Would I need to leave out the 5v motor pin... Just this is Flash memory... there is no motor, the whole things is just logic.
Right ok, wired it up perfectly, pin 1 to pin 1, etc... Then wired up the 5v from PSU to 5v of module, etc... Wont run, im thinking it because of the lack of jumpers on the module to say whether its master of slave, or possibly just that the controller on the module is specific to the motherboard of the thin client I cannabalised it from. Gonna read through the datasheets for the module and then try and find a solution from there. Shame, a RAID array of 4 or so of these little 1gb modules would be ideal for the windows page file since NAND is obviously faster for certain applications. Plus, the only decent sized consumer NAND drive ive seen is in the newest Alienware laptop and thats only 64Gb.
There are problems with using flash memory as a page file, namely that they dont survive long. Every time a flash cell is written it degrades I seem to remember that a standard life time is about 10,000 writes for consumer flash and up to 100,000 writes for some other forms, this works fine for storing normal files but when its used as a page file being written to almost constantly it gets wrecked pretty quickly, I've read an article about someone who had their linux page file on a CF card and it didn't survive a single day. Compact flash cards also have a ATA interface the adapters you can buy are only physical, theres no change in protocol. Flash memory can be used in embedded systems or similar applications because they're set up so as not to write to it too often. Moriquendi
I wouldnt fiddle with any of the ATA pinout, the motor doesnt get power from the pin there on a normal HD, most likely its just an enable pin, (I.E. it would go inactive when the drive went to sleep, etc...)
Well th 44 pin connector makes sense to me power wise. Becau you need the extra 4 pins in such a small FF to provide what molexes do. But my pont is would you really need t waste sending power to what would normally be the motor power line when there is no motor to power? The drives essentially get their power the same way as a regular 40pin drive, just they get it from the motherboard instead of the PSU. I actually cant wait or NAND memory to take off properly, its gonna save power and speed some things up. Happy Times
Not sure I understand your last post entirely - What do you mean? Are you saying theres a 4-pin Molex or Floppy connector as well as these additional 4 pins? Flash/Nand memory still needs power to operate (the memory controller chip or whatever is inside it does, and the memory chips probably do when they're being addressed, even if they are non-volatile [i.e. don't forget when the power goes off]). If there is no discrete power connector, the chips will run from the 5V on pins 41 and 42. (or was it 43 and 44 :s) Interested to see the results of this
people say that but I have run systems from flash for weeks at a time with no problems... with moden wear leveling the drive should outlast an normal disk drive.
I agree that flash modules can outlast a mechanical hdd. This module got cannabalised from a Compaq EVO T30, and is what they load the OS onto. So as far as read/write lifetime, its lasted alot longer than any hdd ive had in the main computer.
Im not suggesting that flash isnt very good in many situations, many embedded systems use flash specifically because of its longevity. What im saying is that its not as simple as plugging a CF-Card/Nand disk into an ATA channel and sticking the page file on it, the OS has to be set up to reduce the number of write cycles and allow for wear leveling. Moriquendi
