MV8800 CF drive to micro SDXC adapter Mod

I replaced my faulty Zheino 128GB pata SSD with a CF drive & micro SDXC adapter mod. I have two PNY Elite-X 64GB (class 10) micro SDXC cards installed. This mod has the same project save and load times as the Zheino pata SSD. The sdxc cards are slightly faster at previewing sounds and loading Patches. No heat or noise since there is no moving parts. The micro sdxc cards can be easily removed because they slide out from the bottom of the CF drive instead of the side.

Can you access the card without opening the MV?

Can you access the card without opening the MV?

Not yet. I still need to remove the bottom of the MV8800 to access the micro sdxc cards. Although, it is faster than having to remove a HD or SSD (& then having to plug the drive into an adapter into a computer). I haven't decided if I want to cut a hole into the MV so that I can access the sdxc cards without removing the bottom.

You might have given up on the Zheino too soon also. Did you ever try it directly connected with a usb adapter to your pc? I had the same issue with my zheino as you described in the other thread, but after a cable reseat, finally got the mv to format it and have had zero problems since. I also had usb connectivity issues on my new mv, but know the drive is good because I bought a Sabrent usb 2.0 pata ssd drive enclosure which lets you pop the top off and just connect up to the Zheino while still screwed into mv mount. Was able to read contents of drive I had loaded from mv disks then and transfer about 60 gb of samples on it pretty quickly.

Good luck on the dual drive. Its an awesome mod. Would be cool to have a nice smaller panel on the bottom to give easy access to change out cards.

Wormhelmet wrote:Would be cool to have a nice smaller panel on the bottom to give easy access to change out cards.

That´s what I am going to do. In fact I am going to cut a hole on the front, next to the cd drive, to have easy access to the CF card...

I like the CF to micro sdxc mod so much that I'm thinking about replacing the DVD Rom drive on my MV8800 with a STARTECH.COM 3.5 BAY CF to IDE COMPACT FLASH CARD to IDE. I can put a CF to sd card adapter in it too. That way I can just front load samples using sd cards. I just need to do more research to see if the Startech (MPN: 35BAYCF2IDE)drive is hot swappable.

chino wrote:I like the CF to micro sdxc mod so much that I'm thinking about replacing the DVD Rom drive on my MV8800 with a STARTECH.COM 3.5 BAY CF to IDE COMPACT FLASH CARD to IDE. I can put a CF to sd card adapter in it too. That way I can just front load samples using sd cards. I just need to do more research to see if the Startech (MPN: 35BAYCF2IDE)drive is hot swappable.

It won't work together with your hard drive and a CF card reader on the same Pata cable. You can only use one or the other with the CD/DVD player. I've tried it on my 8000 and 8800.

chino wrote:I replaced my faulty Zheino 128GB pata SSD with a CF drive & micro SDXC adapter mod. I have two PNY Elite-X 64GB (class 10) micro SDXC cards installed. This mod has the same project save and load times as the Zheino pata SSD. The sdxc cards are slightly faster at previewing sounds and loading Patches. No heat or noise since there is no moving parts. The micro sdxc cards can be easily removed because they slide out from the bottom of the CF drive instead of the side.

Is this what you did for your MV? Both are 128GB cards,

^^^ I did what is pictured on the right pic except I purchased a micro sdxc card adapter that loads from the bottom of the CF drive instead of the sides.

Im currently only using the MASTER slot of the CF drive and I have two 64GB micro sdxc cards in the sd card adapter to give me the 128GB total storage space( a little less storage after formatting).

I don't plan on using the slave slot of the CF drive because then it will read as the DVD drive because its on the same power ribbon.

If I completely remove the DVD drive and use another CF drive instead, will it work? The new CF drive I was looking at has a separate power ribbon & there is an empty power slot on the PC board (right- hand side) where it looks like it can be connected.

chino wrote:will it work?

No.

I´ve tried it with a cardreader as slave. The MV would function normal, but when trying to access the CD aka memory card it would say "No CD in drive" (or something like that).

Maybe it would work if you physically eject/insert the card before loading/saving onto it, but I haven´t tried that.

It won't work together with your hard drive and a CF card reader on the same Pata cable. You can only use one or the other with the CD/DVD player.

I currently have the dual CF drive & DVD Rom working together. I was able to do this by ONLY using the Master slot of the dual CF drive.

My plan now is to install a SEPARATE CF drive on a SEPARATE power ribbon in place of the DVD Rom drive. There are two open power slots on the right side PC board. The slot that is now being used to power the DVD Rom and one that is completely unused. I believe that since the MV8000 & MV8800 uses the same boards- the empty power slot is used to power the floppy drive on the MV8000.

The Startech CF drive only costs $25 & has a 30 day return policy. If it doesn't work I can just return it with nothing lost but my time. My major concern is if the CF drive is hot swappable or not. I will find out and try it out this week.

I´ve tried it with a cardreader as slave. The MV would function normal, but when trying to access the CD aka memory card it would say "No CD in drive" (or something like that).

Did you try using two separate CF drives AND only using the MASTER slot?

The MV won´t boot with the slave drive disconnected.

Just a quick update…. My dual CF drive to micro sdxc adapter mod has worked out really well!
No issues at all unlike my Zheino pata SSD mod.

I'm still researching & working out all the details to determine if I will be able to also replace the DVD Rom drive on my MV8800 with a CF to micro sdxc drive.