Lot Of 10 Seagate 4gb Drives

[Greco101]

Can anyone figure out a way to use these?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=170183394520&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=007

[jdbnsn]

you could get a ram bus

[Greco101]

sorry about the dead link.

[mtekk]

That's not flash memory, that's a lot of 10 4GB micro hard drives in the CF (Compact Flash) form factor. They won't be faster than a laptop or desktop hard drive, not really worth it if you ask me. You could use a CF to IDE adapter to use them, or any CF reader.

[Greco101]

good info. I didn't know there was a difference between flash and CF. I figured it was just small...flash memory.

What I had in mind is some how attaching them all together and somehow using through USB. Some people on this site are electronic gurus and possibilities to them - I would have thought to be impossible, so I figured I'd just throw it on here just in case something can be done with them.

Edit: You also came off a bit rude......

[mtekk]

Sorry about that, I didn't mean to come off as rude. I guess my first sentence does come across wrong, sorry about that.

There are a couple ways to hook up a 10 CF array up to USB. What I'd do is get some CF to USB adapters and hook them to a 10 way USB hub, or at least that would be the simplest. The problem with this method is that you'll see 10 drives with a capacity of 4GB each. I'm not exactly sure of a method that would map them as one large drive without software, which I think would be the ideal solution.

If you want to use them in digital cameras or other things that CF is used in, they should work just fine, but your battery life may be slightly less than with CF. They may be thicker than normal CF (There are two types, one is slightly thicker and I think they may be that type).

[jdbnsn]

didn't seem rude to me. now group hug!

[Drum Thumper]

They won't be faster than a laptop or desktop hard drive, not really worth it if you ask me.

I beg to differ. If boot times are not a factor and you needed 4 gigs for OS storage on a SFF build where total weight and/or heat were an issue, then these would fit the bill perfectly.

However, without knowing more about life expectancy of the drives...yes they are/were used in iPods, but I've heard some real horror stories about iPods dying right after warranties expire...

[mtekk]

I beg to differ. If boot times are not a factor and you needed 4 gigs for OS storage on a SFF build where total weight and/or heat were an issue, then these would fit the bill perfectly.

However, without knowing more about life expectancy of the drives...yes they are/were used in iPods, but I've heard some real horror stories about iPods dying right after warranties expire...

Since there is no DOA guarantee for the drives by the seller, you can bet some were pulled from dead iPods, may have been due to battery failure, circuit failure, or hard drive failure. That's why I said that I don't think they are worth it (mainly the hassle of having reliability issues).

Anyways. I think these are of the ST1 drive series, and here is the product page from Seagate (http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/consumer_electronics/st1_series/st1_series/), and more specifically I think its this one (http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?locale=en-US&name=null&vgnextoid=cccd44ab7cffd010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD&vgnextchannel=b35ed21c2f32b010VgnVCM100000dd04090a RCRD&reqPage=Model). So it has a 2MB cache, not bad. Some other highlights are:
3600RPM spindle speed
8.3ms Latency
Seek time:
2ms for reading
3.0 for writing
Transfer:
33.3MB/s max transfer speed through it's CF interface
8.8MB/s maximum sustained transfer

[Drum Thumper]

Since there is no DOA guarantee for the drives by the seller, you can bet some were pulled from dead iPods, may have been due to battery failure, circuit failure, or hard drive failure. That's why I said that I don't think they are worth it (mainly the hassle of having reliability issues).


Fair enough. Worst case scenario: They're DOA. Drill a small hole in each one, and relist them as key fobs. Buy it now price of a $1.60, cheap shipping and attempt to recoup the investment.

[BigJohnson]

Those look like the hds for an 4gb iPod nano. I watched my friends dad take an older 4gb apart the other day and thats what the hds looked like. Seagate 4gb. I think we figured out that they worked pretty closely like a compact flash but I didnt stay long enough to see experiment reach fruition.