Solid State drives for RISC OS computers
These are memory cards as used in digital cameras. There are two basic types, Compact Flash or CF, and Secure Digital or SD. There is also 'mini' or 'micro' SD, which are a miniature version of the standard SD card primarily intended for use in phones. Adaptors are available to enable these miniature versions to be used in a standard SD card reader.
CF cards are designed to look to the computer like a normal IDE drive. This makes the interface very simple but introduces difficulties because the IDE interface on most Acorn computers has problems with many modern hard drives, and this also applies to CF drives. SD cards need a more complex (and expensive) interface but this isolates the card from the computer and makes it more 'Acorn compatible'.
Use on Acorn computers
For models such as the A3000, A3010, A3020 and A4000 there are great advantages in using CF or SD instead of a normal hard drive. CF and SD cards are completely silent and require only a fraction of the power of a normal hard drive thus putting much less strain on the small power supply in these models and this also means they generate less heat. As small hard drives are no longer manufactured this is an ideal and low cost way to fit a hard drive to older models or as a replacement for an existing drive.
Similar advantages apply to the A4000 and A5000 models or an A300 or A400 machine which has been fitted with a 3rd party IDE interface. Although these models can have a 3.5" IDE drive they are limited to just 512MB (unless the interface supports partitioning) and the smallest drives now available are 40GB.
For the A7000 and RiscPC the advantages aren't so obvious. However, as the smallest replacement drives available are 40GB and larger drives which will work with Acorn hardware are getting hard to find solid state drives are becoming increasingly attractive, especially if you only need a few GB of storage space.
Solid State Drives from APDL.
If you already have an interface in your A30xx and just require the CF adaptor and drive then we can supply this for just £13.90. This will appear as 2 x 500MB partitions if you have an APDL, Baildon Electronics or Simtec interface but other interfaces may not support partitioning so you may see just a single 500MB drive. This can be used as a replacement drive on any interface with a 2.5" IDE drive.
We can also supply kits for the A3020, A4000 and A4 models. For the A4000 this replaces the bulky (and noisy) 3.5" hard drive with a noiseless 500MB Solid State drive. As the A4000 does not have a 'proper' connection for the hard drive activity LED this will no longer work. For the A4 or A3020 where you are replacing an existing drive a kit without the data lead is available; for the A3020 where there is no existing drive there is a kit which included the necessary leads. Normally an SD card is used as we have found CF usually won't work on these models but we may supply CF where a compatible type can be obtained. In each case the price is just £18.90 plus £2 UK carriage except for the A3020 version plus leads where the price is £22.90 plus carriage.
We can supply a kit with a CF card for the A5000 for just £13.90. This plugs directly into the motherboard socket so you don't need to physically remove the old hard drive, saving a lot of work as you would otherwise need to remove all expansion cards, backplane, etc. Alternatively you can use the A4000 kit previously mentioned.
For all of these the standard RISC OS 3 Utilities and Applications will be installed on the disc so it's ready to run on your machine.
An adaptor with 2GB CF card for the A7000 or RiscPC is available for just £16.90, with a 4GB CF drive £19.90 or with an 8GB card for 24.90. In each case these will be supplied formatted to RISC OS 4 (long filenames) format. If you want the older (pre RO4 format) please inform us when you order.
We can also supply 40 pin and 44 pin IDE to CF or SD adaptors if you want to supply your own cards.
Please add £2 for delivery in UK (including CI), £4 outside UK.
500MB SD kit for A3020 or A4, replace existing drive (no leads),
£18.90 + post |
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500MB SD kit for A3020 with leads
£22.90 + post |
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500MB SD kit for A4000
£18.90 + post |
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500MB CF kit for A5000
£13.90 + post |
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2GB CF kit for A7000/RiscPC
£16.90 + post |
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4GB CF kit for A7000/RiscPC
£19.90 + post |
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8GB CF kit for A7000/RiscPC
£24.90 + post |
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1GB CF drive + adapter for existing A30x0 3rd party i/face
£13.90 + post |
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IDE to CF and SD adapters
These are the bare adapters with no memory card. If you choose to supply your own card you should be aware that not all will work with RISC OS (especially CF) and that formatting the card for the first time using !HForm can be problematical. Because of this we do not accept returns on these items unless the interface itself is faulty.
40 pin to Compact Flash adapter.
Suitable for RiscPC, A7000 and most third party interfaces fitted to A300 and A400 models to replace a 3.5" IDE drive. Will fit the A5000 or A4000 but we advise against owing to compatibility problems with these models.
£4.90 + post
44 pin to Compact Flash adapter.
Suitable for most third party interfaces fitted to A30xx models to replace a 2.5" 'laptop' IDE drive. Will fit the A4 or A3020 but we advise against owing to compatibility problems with these models. Also ideal for IDE interfaces for the A300 and A400 models made by Beebug and Watford which were designed to mount a 2.5" drive on the card.
£4.90 + post
40 pin to Secure Digital adapter.
Suitable for A5000 or A4000 or as an alternative to CF on the RiscPC or A7000 to replace a 3.5" IDE drive.
£15.90 + post
44 pin to Secure Digital adapter.
Suitable for A3020 or A4 to replace a 2.5" 'laptop' IDE drive or third party IDE interfaces on A30xx models. Also ideal for IDE interfaces for the A300 and A400 models made by Beebug and Watford which were designed to mount a 2.5" drive on the card.
£12.90 + post
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