There are currently 48 responses to “iFlash Compact Flash Compatibility - Help Needed…”

Comments? Suggestions? Help? Well here's your chance! Leave a comment.

1. 1 On May 7th, 2008, kc said:

   A-Data Speedy 16GB - Works fine

2. 2 On May 7th, 2008, Tarkan said:

   Thanks kc and the other people who have contacted me directly.

   Seems like people have generally gravitated to similiar cards.

   Working cards:-

   A-Data Speedy 8Gb
   A-Data Speedy 16Gb (some reports of filesystem problems, could be card specific)
   A-Data Speedy 32Gb
   Peak Technology 16Gb
   Samsung OEM 150x (ebay) 16Gb
   Samsung OEM 150x (ebay) 32Gb
   Sandisk Ultra II (all capacities)
   Sandisk Extreme III (all capacities)
   Topram (ebay) 32Gb
   Transcend 133x 8Gb
   Transcend 133x 16Gb
   Transcend 133x 32Gb

   Known not to work:-
   Hama 2Gb
   Samsung OEM 280x (ebay) 4Gb
   Samsung OEM 280x (ebay) 8Gb
   Samsung OEM 280x (ebay) 16Gb
   Topram (ebay) 16Gb

   Quick note about the cheap generic cards found on ebay - it seems they have serious quality control issues, some of these cards work and some don’t. Even if the cards seems to work ok in a card reader it does not mean it will ok in the iPod. That is the risk with these cheap unbranded cards.

   Once I have gathered more data - I will put up a compatibility page as a reference point.

   Thank you and keep the card information coming…

3. 3 On May 9th, 2008, kc said:

   another thing to think about is the filesystem used. i’ve been using the “mac” filesystem on my ipod, and already i’ve had the data corrupted. it only happened once so far… i’ll keep you updated if it happens again.

4. 4 On May 10th, 2008, Tarkan said:

   I would not think the filesystem should matter. My 32Gb A-Data test iPod has been flawless for the last 3 months, I am however using Windows format.

5. 5 On May 10th, 2008, kc said:

   i’m going to try to format my ipod for windows usage (fat32), and then sync it through mac (my primary OS). well let you know in a few days if it is more stable.

   i’m also considering using an older firmware. a recurring theme in other people’s restore loop problem is that they’re using firmware 1.2.1 and later.

6. 6 On May 11th, 2008, Tarkan said:

   Let me know how you get on. I would be interested to know if the filesystem does make a change!!

7. 7 On May 14th, 2008, kc said:

   the filesystem didn’t resolve the restore loop. there’s a weird quirk though: if you let the ipod restart after the restore screen comes up, the ipod finds the database and everything works fine… for a few days. then you have to restore the ipod.

   i just verified all of my mp3s using a prog called mp3val: http://mp3val.sourceforge.net
   it inspected and fixed any and all mp3 files that were “corrupted” or had bad data. i’m putting the fixed mp3s on my ipod as we speak… lets hope that this will resolve the restore loop issue.

8. 8 On May 14th, 2008, Tarkan said:

   You sure the card is ok? Maybe it is worth running some kind of disk checking.

9. 9 On May 14th, 2008, kc said:

   i ran a quick diagnostic on the CF card and no errors popped up. if i get anymore errors, i’ll definitely do a more thorough scan.

   but i think corrupt mp3s are the culprits in the restore loop problem… only time will tell.

10. 10 On May 30th, 2008, Christian said:

    I get that restore screen as well if I haven’t played my iPod in a few days. What I do is turn on the iPod, the restore screen shows up. I turn it off by holding the menu button. I turn it on again and it works fine. I’m running an A-data 32gb CF card in my 5th gen iPod.

11. 11 On June 6th, 2008, Zephyr said:

    Microdia is gonna release a 64GB CF Card! Anyone willing to test it out with the adapter?

12. 12 On June 6th, 2008, Tarkan said:

    I would love to test it out, I did email their PR and Marketing people to try and get hold of a review / demo 64Gb card - but sadly I got no response.

    I will probably have to wait till they start selling them….

13. 13 On June 17th, 2008, scott said:

    i have the Adata 16 gb cf, but its still giving me the folder error. can it be my ipod motherboard thats giving me the problem?

14. 14 On June 17th, 2008, Tarkan said:

    Scott,

    I think it is appearing that this card has issues in the iPod. In the comments above kc is using this card and is/was having problems.

    Someone else emailed me yesterday stating that they where having problems getting past the restore screen with this card.

    I doubt it would be the motherboard, but just in case try another card out to make sure the iFlash and iPod are working ok!!

15. 15 On June 18th, 2008, Chris said:

    The Adata 8Gb Speedy is working like a charm for me. Awesome adapter card by the way, they all should have came with one of these

16. 16 On June 24th, 2008, rae myers said:

    Hi Everyone! Just bought 1 of Tarkan’s superb CF Adapters for use in Ipod video(5g). Installation & build quality…supreme! I’ve tried with 2 cards: 2Gb Samsung OEM (blue label/white text.Bought from’fastmemoryman’Ebay,last year) -keeps restarting ‘needs restoring’etc. also,Integral i-Pro 256Mb(!)(6Mb/s 40x) -exactly the same,what a swizz! Windows recognizes both as external drives but won’t display any info(even tried diskmgmt.msc all to no avail).Will buy 1 of those tried & tested cards featured in this article instead!

17. 17 On June 25th, 2008, Tarkan said:

    Hi Rae,

    With the Samsung OEM types sold on ebay make sure you get the slower 150x speed version, it seems that the 280x versions do not work.

    The 256Mb card will not work full stop. The minimum card size that works is 512Mb.

18. 18 On June 27th, 2008, Rock said:

    Hi Tarkan, I’m Rock. from China Shanghai.I saw your video on YouTube and my ipodphoto have some problem with used CF card. it always shows the “bad file”. (my English is so pool probably u dont know what Im talking about anyway.)my e-mail is xyz92002@hotmail.com If you know what’s problem please write back.

19. 19 On June 27th, 2008, kore said:

    hi tarkan, i put a “EXTREMEMORY 16 gb” cf in my 3d gen ipod, it stops working during the progress screen after i started the recovery. do you think thats due to the cf card?

20. 20 On June 27th, 2008, Scott said:

    Is the Transcend 133x a lot faster than A-Data’s Speedy (which is anything but). Writing to my A-Data 32gb is dog slow. I was thinking of going with a different card but if the Transcend is that much faster then it wouldn’t be worth it. Anyone?

21. 21 On June 28th, 2008, Scott said:

    One other question: I know of Ridata’s new 32gb 233x offering to work in a Mini. Is that a good gauge that it would work in a 5g?

22. 22 On June 28th, 2008, Tarkan said:

    The people with the 3g and photo iPods - I really do not know much about CF cards in these, I do however know from email I get that 50% of the problems are because of the very bad quality adaptors and the other 50% due to incompatible cards.

    As I always suggest try another card known to work to rule out the adaptor.

    Scott, working in the Mini does not mean it will work in the iPod, however I have not heard of anyone having any problems with cards from quality manufacturers such as Sandisk and Lexar - From what I have read about RiData cards I would place them in the quality category as well.

    Sadly, we cannot be sure till someone says it works - I am sure people out there are using them as they are quite cheap - but no one has reported back to me.

    Your other question about speeds, yes the Transcend 133x is faster than the A-Data speedy range, I think the A-Data is rated at 80x. Good news is that plenty people are using the Trancsend with the iFlash.

23. 23 On June 28th, 2008, Rae said:

    Hi again. Ive recently ordered an A-Data 4Gb CF card from Ebay & whilst waiting for it to be delivered,noticed those CF to SD/SDHC adapters (normal size CF cards with a slot to use standard SD cards,about £14inc.del). Was wondering if anyone has tried this? (might end the ‘will it/won’t it’ compatability report!). Should be ideal (in theory!)
    Keep up the good work & reporting your CF card experiences -it really is very helpful to us all

24. 24 On June 28th, 2008, Scott said:

    Fair enough and I appreciate the response. I may give the Ridata card a try. If I do, I will most certainly report back. Hopefully, you will be able to put it on your compatible list!

25. 25 On June 30th, 2008, Hayden said:

    I am looking at replacing my iPod 5g hard disk (I hear the click of death approaching (clicks, beeps, and metal scratching noises ocassionally currently)) and I am looking for a 32gb card in the $150-or less range. Are the diffirences between the A-data and Transcend prominently noticable? I’m waiting to see if the Ridata works. I am also waiting to see what the price will be on the Microdia 64gb. Mostly the things I am looking for are speed, price, and reliability (better than my iPod disk atleast.)

26. 26 On June 30th, 2008, Tarkan said:

    I would say the Transcend is the better buy in the budget range. I think the A-Data and Transcend are at a similiar price point, so go for the Transcend.

    How much is the RiData 32Gb? I would like to hear some feedback about this card as well.

    Have you considered the cheapo Samsung 150x OEM cards they can be a bit hit and miss but at around $120 worth looking at.

    I have tried and tried to get something out of Microdia about their 64Gb card and they don’t even respond to the emails. I think this is another case of vapourware just like Pretec and Sandisk before with the promise of 48Gb and 64Gb cards….

27. 27 On June 30th, 2008, Hayden said:

    The RiData is $140.00 on Newegg but had 2 out of four comments that were bad. It seems to have a problem with curropting data but the manufacturer said it was a problem with his/her camera.

    I will end up using the Transcend card.

    Thanks for all the help.

28. 28 On July 1st, 2008, rae said:

    Hi again! Just got 4gb A-Data speedy CF card from Ebay…my Ipod now working brilliantly! Has anyone tried a CF > SD adapter yet? Are they compatible with ANY SD cards?? (hope I dont start a new compatability report..!) Bye for now

29. 29 On July 2nd, 2008, Tarkan said:

    Hi Rae,

    I tried a CF > SD adaptor few months back and it did work ok.

    Someone else did some testing with the newer SDHC CF adapters with the Trascend 16Gb SDHC card. The iPod did not see the card.

    It may work with another card, so it might be still worth trying out…

30. 30 On July 3rd, 2008, Scott said:

    Okay, tried replacing my A-Data 32gb with RiData’s 32gb. At first it looked like things were going to work fine. I went through the restore process with iTunes. It was definitely communicating with my iPod and it rebooted it but then went directly back into the restore screen. I’ve tried 3 times all with the same results.

    Then, for the heck of it, I tried installing Rockbox. Again, it seemed to communicate with my iPod and load all of the files but I can’t boot into it. I just keep getting the restore screen.

    Any suggestions?

31. 31 On July 3rd, 2008, Scott said:

    An addendum to my post above:

    I can see the iPod under Windows Explorer when it is plugged in via USB. I can also see the Rockbox files so it definitely installed. I just can’t boot into either the OEM firmware or Rockbox.

    So close, yet…

32. 32 On July 3rd, 2008, Tarkan said:

    Scott,

    Try and delete the partition table on the CF card, and then re-attempt the installation of rockbox (using rbutilqt to install the bootloader).

    Give that a go and report back.

33. 33 On July 3rd, 2008, Scott said:

    Already tried that. The Rockbox utility won’t detect my iPod for some reason. I looked and the USB id is correct and WinXP sees it so I don’t understand why Rockbox isn’t. It keeps saying to manually input the “mountpoint” but I’m not seeing where to do that under “Configure”.

    One other note. Before I did the restore, my iPod did boot into the OEM firmware and showed my previous library so I feel I am close and this still may work. I’m running out of ideas though.

34. 34 On July 3rd, 2008, Tarkan said:

    Ok, connect the usb lead to your PC and force it in to diskmode. method :- reset the iPod (menu+select) when black apple logo appears quickly switch to play/pause+select.

    In rockbox utility under file/configure/device, click on browse and find the iPod drive.

35. 35 On July 3rd, 2008, Scott said:

    Still not happening. I can easily Browse to it and select it but when I click on “OK”, I get the Configuration error of “Your configuration is invalid. This is most likely due to a new installation of Rockbox Utility or a changed device path. The configuration dialog will now open to allow you correcting the problem.” It then just loops back into the Configuration screen.

    Another detail, if it helps: If I do the iTunes Restore, though it doesn’t work, the Rockbox Utility will then detect the iPod correctly and install the files. But, again, it won’t boot into either firmware.

36. 36 On July 3rd, 2008, Scott said:

    One other thing: The iPod has no problem going into Disk Mode when it gets plugged in via USB. So if I wanted, I can easily use the iPod as an external drive. It just won’t recognize installed firmware.

37. 37 On July 3rd, 2008, Scott said:

    Bit of progress. I formatted the drive (it is one partition currently) and Rockbox Utility will actually get past the Configuration error but when I try to do a “Small installation”, it can’t find my iPod which is currently plugged in and in Disk Mode.

38. 38 On July 4th, 2008, Tarkan said:

    Scott, I am really surprised you are having problems with the RiData, but it really is pointing towards a card which is just not compatible with the iPod.

    Looks like iTunes and Rockbox are having problems creating and reading to the 40Mb boot partition, as a last ditch attempt maybe you can restore on to your A-Data card, install Rockbox then using a diskimaging software copy bit for bit on to the RiData.

    If this fails try and get a refund on the RiData and get the Transcend instead.

39. 39 On July 4th, 2008, Scott said:

    Yeah, it is unfortunate but I knew it was a risk going in. I find it really odd that it doesn’t work but d’em da breaks. I guess I’ll get myself a Transcend. I really would like to gain faster write speeds and be able to use Rockbox (not able to with my A-Data).

40. 40 On July 4th, 2008, Tarkan said:

    Scott,

    Maybe you have not noticed but there is a fix for Rockbox and the A-Data cards.

    http://www.tarkan.info/20080702/tutorials/iflash-and-rockbox

41. 41 On July 4th, 2008, Scott said:

    I didn’t see you modified a July 3rd build. Excellent! Thanks for all your help! I will definitely give that build a try.

42. 42 On July 4th, 2008, Tarkan said:

    Obviously, nothing on the planet will make the ’speedy’ A-Data ….. speedy…..

    The Transcend is fast than the A-Data so it may be worth changing…

43. 43 On July 8th, 2008, Robert Paulson said:

    I’ve had the adapter running for about a month now and I love it - My 5g is lighter and I’m less worried about dropping or otherwise scaring the HD - plus it’s faster in accessing songs.

    A few minor problems - if it’s been left unused for a couple of days, I get a ‘restore’ screen as startup - that’s fairly easily cured by turning the hold switch on/off and waiting a minute for reboot - but if there is a fix, I’d really like to know about it. Please advise.

    thanks.

    Transcend 8GB Compact Flash CF Ultra 133X

44. 44 On July 9th, 2008, Tarkan said:

    Hi Robert,

    This has been covered before - basics of it is the apple firmware is using very agressive timings coming out of deep sleep which is just too fast for certain cards.

    The cards which seem to be affected are the slower types like the Transcend and A-Data.

    For a work around, just let the restore screen dissappear and then press menu again - this should boot the iPod up ok.

45. 45 On July 10th, 2008, Michael Katkin said:

    Hi Adam,

    I’m having problems getting my ipod to start up with you nifty adapter. Previously I enjoyed a few months of ipod service using a 16 GB ADATA card and your awesome flash adapter. And no, I’m not being sarcastic I think it rocks. However, my ADATA card failed. I have no idea why.

    Now, I’m trying to get a Sandisk Extreme III 8 GB card working. Seems to restore fine. After my ipod reboots, it goes back into restore mode. Seeing that this problem was similar to Scott’s, I tried booting the ipod into disk mode and formatting the drive. The drive showed up, disk mode apparently works, and I was able to format it. But, alas, after the ipod restore, the ipod reboots into the restore screen.

46. 46 On July 10th, 2008, Tarkan said:

    Michael,

    This Sandisk you have is it the newer faster version of the extreme III (I think they have a label with 40MB/s tranfer boast) ?
    Someone else did get in touch that they were having the restore loop issue with the newer extreme III 16Gb card, sadly they never reported back to me with anymore info.
    Last thing to also think about, is the card real - there are lot of fake Sandisk cards and they do look very real.

47. 47 On July 11th, 2008, Michael Katkin said:

    Thanks Tarkan!

    I think your right about the fact that it may be counterfeit. The card boasted 30 MB/Sec transfer rate, but I only realize about half of that. Makes me raise an eyebrow…

48. 48 On July 13th, 2008, Tarkan said:

    Michael, The guy with the 16Gb gave me a visit - he left the card with me - I checked it over and I am pretty sure it is original (serial no. checks out, transfer speed checks out, but the price he paid for it does not!!)

    Sadly it is looking like Sandisk have messed about with these 30MB/s (2008) models they do not work in the 5g iPods and they also seem to have issues with certain cameras.

Leave a Reply