Portable Media, apple, cf, flash, hard drive, ipod, mini

DIY: Convert the iPod Mini to a Flash-Based Player

Why would someone want to replace the iPod mini hard drive with a compact flash card? Well, why not? Compact flash cards are becoming readily available in larger and larger capacities (16GB iPod mini anyone?) and it requires much less battery power than a hard drive. If you have a large CF card laying around and want to revive that iPod mini, hit the link below and get modding. –Travis Hudson

turn your iPod mini into a flash based iPod [geek technique]

6:35 PM on Tue Feb 27 2007
By Travis Hudson
8,113 views
11 comments

Comments

diverguy at 07:52 PM on 02/27/07
Reply by Email
*

Maybe I missed something...

The pinout for the microdrive is exactly the same as the CF Card?

I didn't see any detail on converting the connector from teh microdrive to work with the CF card...
Big B at 09:10 PM on 02/27/07
Reply by Email
*

Yes, CF cards and microdrives are almost exactly the same. The only difference is that a microdrive is about 2 mm thicker. I had this idea a while ago... but I figured why bother.
canfezplay at 11:09 PM on 02/27/07
Reply by Email
*

that is not a bad idea...t'would almost make the ipod worth buying, but between my zune and 512mb samsung YP-17...i'm good, and have at least three days of battery life.

man...my comments are useless
El Guano at 01:52 AM on 02/28/07
Reply by Email
*

Very cool, but I just wanted to point out that this is far from a given. Some microdrives (like Seagate's USB Pocket Hard Drives) use a proprietary, non-IDE interface to defeat modders who rip out the drives to use in their digital cameras or mp3 players.
Silvadragon at 06:27 AM on 02/28/07
Reply by Email
*

My mate did this ages ago. Old News. Tho, now he can go jogging without being paranoid the microdrive will get damaged.
StackyBotrus at 06:40 AM on 02/28/07
Reply by Email
*

Creative flash palyers were capable of this long ago. So its the reverse here. got me a 512 player, and stuck a 4GB MD in it... cost about 80 bucks over 3 years ago. Maybe longer.
soldierboyadam at 07:08 AM on 02/28/07
Reply by Email
*

Ever notice how he never shows the mini put back together?
vodka at 07:16 AM on 02/28/07
Reply by Email
*

do u work for the cia adam?????????

give it a break ,,,,im sure it works with a cf card,,,,, he doesnt have to tell ya that u gotta put it back the other way round,, it the same way he ripped it.
zeiche at 10:14 AM on 02/28/07
Reply by Email
*

This will work as long as you use an ATA-compliant CF card. Some off-brand companies cut the feature so you need to check before you buy. Non-ATA-compliant CF will not be recognized by Apple's updater.
Worf at 12:38 PM on 02/28/07
Reply by Email
*

They shouldn't cut the feature - TrueIDE mode is a required part of the CF spec for memory cards.

The microdrive in the mini is basically the same as a regular CF microdrive, except that the internal firmware was crippled to not support CF mode (i.e., it's stuck in TrueIDE mode). So it was just a hard drive in a CF formfactor using TrueIDE pinout.
tankboyben at 07:00 PM on 04/19/07
Reply by Email
*

hi all, i recently bought a non branded 4gb cf and it didnt work (sold it on) also iv'e heard it needs to be a cf II?
anyhoo im gonna buy a branded one and see if that works, would be nice if people who have sucsessfully done this mod could post what brand of card they used, would help us newbie modders a bunch.
=o) x