Technical questions for the MPC2000xl and the MPC2000
By SvenBoogie Mon May 09, 2011 3:33 am
Decided to go with CF instead of unreliable zip, but just want to check if a) the parts I have in mind will work and b) whether something else for a similar cost would be better. This is what I'm thinking:

For the MPC:

http://www.addonics.com/products/flash_ ... didecf.asp

Theres also this one, which looks to support more types of media, and is hot swappable...

http://www.addonics.com/products/flash_ ... EUDMD4.asp

For my PC:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product

Haven't looked for the actual CF card yet, but suggestions would be appreciated as far as best compatible, economical CF card.

Am I on the right track? Something better for similar cash that I should look at instead?
By SvenBoogie Mon May 09, 2011 7:32 am
mr_debauch wrote:that first link looks good... I am guessing that would work.


What about that second one?
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By mr_debauch Mon May 09, 2011 7:51 am
SvenBoogie wrote:
mr_debauch wrote:that first link looks good... I am guessing that would work.


What about that second one?


dont bother... CF is the most reliable type of card for the XL and many other samplers... much better then SD. sure, some people have had the SD card working but stuff got screwed up on them after a short while.
By SvenBoogie Mon May 09, 2011 8:02 am
mr_debauch wrote:
SvenBoogie wrote:
mr_debauch wrote:that first link looks good... I am guessing that would work.


What about that second one?


dont bother... CF is the most reliable type of card for the XL and many other samplers... much better then SD. sure, some people have had the SD card working but stuff got screwed up on them after a short while.


Appreciate the help. Since the first link/cheaper one uses a standard floppy power connection, will it be essential plug and play?
By Phulk Mon May 09, 2011 9:47 am
Make sure you have installed OS 1.20 before replacing your drive with the CF reader.. Otherwise the XL won't see anything on the ATAPI port.

Also there are two holes to be drilled in the mounting bracket for installing it.
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By mr_debauch Mon May 09, 2011 3:07 pm
SvenBoogie wrote:
mr_debauch wrote:
SvenBoogie wrote:
What about that second one?


dont bother... CF is the most reliable type of card for the XL and many other samplers... much better then SD. sure, some people have had the SD card working but stuff got screwed up on them after a short while.


Appreciate the help. Since the first link/cheaper one uses a standard floppy power connection, will it be essential plug and play?


yes the power connector is a mini molex. you connect that to the same one in the XL that the floppy was connected to.

and yes, as phulk said... change the OS to version 1.20 before taking out the floppy drive because you want the new reader to work. I know some IDE readers work with version 1.14 so you could try it out to see... but dont close up the machine until you are sure because you may need to reconnect the floppy to change it to 1.20 if it doesn't.

also, if you find out it does work on 1.14, keep that one because it is better.
By JVC Mon May 09, 2011 8:04 pm
SvenBoogie wrote:
mr_debauch wrote:that first link looks good... I am guessing that would work.

What about that second one?

The hot-swappable CF reader does not work on XL. I tried.
By JVC Mon May 09, 2011 8:06 pm
By the way, The first Addonics CF reader works with XL. That's the one I use.
By scsicardreaders.com Tue May 10, 2011 1:33 am
I was going to say the same thing that JVC said - don't buy that second one, as it is NOT compatible with the MPC2000XL. The first one is a good, solid ATAPI CF drive and should serve you well. The trickiest part with ATAPI is always finding a compatible CF card. I used to sell the Delkin 1GB CF cards and they always worked very well. All the Sandisk worked and so did the Kingston.

:D Good luck!
By JVC Tue May 10, 2011 2:47 am
Yeah, about the CF card, I use 2GB Sandisk CF card on XL. Although it works with XL (due to XL's imitation, works as 1GB card) I would not recommend it. A few times the card became unreadable (XL would not recognize the card during boot up) on XL. Although it was perfectly accessible from PC / Mac. I guess it is safe to use 1GB or smaller CF cards.
By SvenBoogie Thu May 12, 2011 2:37 am
I appreciate all the feedback on this one. Ordered the simple cf reader as suggested, just came today. Before I open up my MPC, do I really need to drill holes somewhere to install the thing?
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By mr_debauch Thu May 12, 2011 2:45 am
SvenBoogie wrote:I appreciate all the feedback on this one. Ordered the simple cf reader as suggested, just came today. Before I open up my MPC, do I really need to drill holes somewhere to install the thing?


well, you dont have to... maybe you can rig something up to avoid drilling. it's not a hard drive that has moving parts so...

be creative. some people have hollowed out broken floppy drives and used those as an enclosure for loose CF adapters.
By JVC Thu May 12, 2011 2:47 am
SvenBoogie wrote:I appreciate all the feedback on this one. Ordered the simple cf reader as suggested, just came today. Before I open up my MPC, do I really need to drill holes somewhere to install the thing?

Yes, You'll have to make two holes on CF card reader in order to mount the drive.
By SvenBoogie Thu May 12, 2011 2:49 am
JVC wrote:
SvenBoogie wrote:I appreciate all the feedback on this one. Ordered the simple cf reader as suggested, just came today. Before I open up my MPC, do I really need to drill holes somewhere to install the thing?

Yes, You'll have to make two holes on CF card reader in order to mount the drive.


Where? How? This doesn't tell me much...