SAN JOSE, Calif. — Addonics Technologies has announced a family of CF Hard Drive Adapters, which allow users to replace 2.5-inch IDE/SATA hard drives with shock/vibration resistant and less power-hungry Compact Flash (CF) media.
This new family of hard drive to CF adapters enables Compact Flash (CFI/II) media or Micro Drive to be used as a direct replacement for the 2.5″ IDE or SATA hard drives for Notebook systems.
Addonics is also offering an embedded version for processor boards on industrial PCs.
With these new Addonics adapters any equipment, such as a notebook computer, that uses a 2.5″ IDE or SATA hard drive can be easily converted to use the more reliable CF media. Once installed, the CF card appears as an ordinary hard drive to the system BIOS and operating system and can also be configured as a boot device. No special device drivers are required. The adapters are compatible with Windows, Mac, Linux and Solaris Operating Systems.
With the increased capacity and lowering costs of flash media, replacing the hard drive with CF as a boot drive is now a viable and advantageous alternative because CF offers lower power and no moving parts.
Replacing a notebook hard drive with CF media for example is a simple procedure. Users just need to locate the 2.5″ IDE or SATA drive door and remove the screws; remove the 2.5″ IDE or SATA hard drive from the connector; attach the Addonics CF Hard Drive Adapter with CF card onto the same connector matching the key pins; replace the door and the device is ready to use.
The primary products in the Addonics CF adapter family include the IDE – CF Hard Drive Adapter and the SATA ˆ CF Hard Drive Adapter. The IDE version comes with choice of single slot or dual slots to accommodate up to two CFs for more storage capacity. MSRP for the single slot is $24.99 (all prices U.S.) and for the dual slots is $29.99. The SATA version has a single CF slot and is MSRP for $35.99.
The Embedded 44-pin IDE-CF adapter, also with choice of single slot or dual slots, is an ideal solution for industrial PCs, embedded systems or applications that require a simple and economical bootable CF slot. The solution plugs directly into the 44-pin IDE port of any processor board. The small form factor of this adapter can be easily mounted inside any system. MSRP is $24.99 for the single slot and $29.99 for the dual CF slot adapter.