There are smaller CF-to IDE adapters out there, but saving space inside a laptop won't actually offer any advantage. Instead it may force you to have to secure the adapter to keep it from danging. This one, on the other hand, matches dimensions of a typical mini hard drive and has mounting holes in the right places. When 2 CF cards are inserted, they will show up as 2 separate drives inside the operating system, if the motherboard IDE controller is capable of processing master/slave arrangement. If dual cards don't work, just use one, leaving the 2nd socket vacant. Additionally, the ability to boot off the device will depend on the motherboard as well as the flash card type. Most late generation CF cards do not have UDMA mode necessary to make them appear as non-removable storage. I tried the device with about a dozen laptops from late 90's early 2000's and only half of them worked with non-UDMA flash cards. Better success rate with Toshiba's and Dell's. Less success with Sony branded laptops. Tested as an internal hard-drive replacement on a Roland MIDI sequencer and it did not work at all, as it expected a very specific drive type. Speed-wise the drive is comparable to a mechanical hard drive. Read and seek times are on par, write times are often slower. To alleviate the issue, disable any sort of caching to the drive, which will also help prolong the lifespan of the CF card. Great device when it works. When it doesn't, can't really blame the manufacturer, as it has more to do with whichever thing this adapter gets put into. The best part is that it gives the ability to accommodate 2 flash cards in a place that can only physically fit a single mechanical drive.Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
Pata drive ports have a pin missing. I tried bending it out of the way on this drive so i could plug it into my adapter. Both cards came up, a pleasant suprise! Works great but maybe too fast for some applications depending on the card? Anyways seems to work great on my semi locked/corrupted sd cards
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
Deal is fast and good. I can recommend
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
The pins are so close to the circuit board you cannot slide on an IDE cable.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
As a replacement for the hard disk of a retro computer had the best value.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Best Selling in Drive Cables & Adapters
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Save on Drive Cables & Adapters