CF duplication

C

Carl Johan Jensen

Hello group,

Maybe some one out here knows how to slove the following probem..

Setuo, -an embedded system running Win XP embedded from a 256 MB Compact
Flash card. The triggy part here is that the CF unit must be



set to fixed as the setup needs two drives, one fixed (write protected) and
one containing application and data. The CF unit must be

bootable where XP is located on the fixed drive.The system has no keyboard /
mouse or vdu, e.i. it is a stand alone system for process

control that must maintain a high level of uptime.

Problem: Fabrication of the flash units. So far they have been made by using
a desktop computer running Win2K and an CF/IDE adapter that is located
DIRECTLY in the 2.nd IDE interface on the motherboard.


First the CF unit must be set to 'non fixed' by using a DOS utillity program
and having the CF/IDE adapter located in the main IDE interface and no HDD
connected. System is booted from a floppy disc conatining DOS 6.22. and a
batch job calling the utillity program. Okay so the disc is now ready for

win XP.

When installed in the 2.nd interface (as master) it is possible to make a
NTFS partition (primary) of 225MB and another primary NTFS partition of

19 MB. The XP immage can e coppied to the 225 MB partition and will boote.
However making 120 pcs in this way is werry time consuming as the

computer needs to be closed for each disc.


I then got the idea to mount the CF/IDE adapter in an USB disc container
(Sandberg). However, when formatting my CF unit I can not select the
partition size with the interval of 1MB but in chunks of approx 8MB. When
formatted en ready target will not boot on this CF unit. Taking the disc
made using the USB interface and place it in the CF/IDE adapter and locate
it in the otherboard IDE interface (2.nd) accessing the CF using Partition
Magic 8, I now

is infomed that the CF has disc symmetry error and is marked as bad.

Same thing happens if I use a card reader or place the CF/IDE adapter in an
PCI disc controller. It will only work when located on the motherboard.

I have tried to use an Addonics CF/IDE adapter useed for mounting on the IDE
ribbon cable and get the same problem.

What is the problem here, why can I not use the USB IDE to handle my CF
units....??

Best regards

Lars
 
S

Sean Liming \(eMVP\)

XP/XPe can only see one partition on a removable device. Under XP/XPe, the
USB to CF is treated as a removable device and will not format with the boot
sector. Duplicating with the USBtoCF card is not possible, unless there is
3rd party utility that allows for this. The IDE/CF is needed to prepare the
CF card for XPe boot. Your DOS procedure is the standard way to setup the CF
card to boot.

Regards,

Sean Liming
www.sjjmicro.com / www.seanliming.com
XP Embedded Book Author - XP Embedded Advanced, XP Embedded Supplemental
Toolkit.
 

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