Cowon iAudio X5L CF Mod

[saratoga]

Originally Posted by dhp1161

can someone tell me what exactly this mod does

Did you look at the pictures of him removing the hard disk and replacing it with a compact flash card? If not, look at them and take a guess what that does

[CrowdAds]

[dhp1161]

Originally Posted by saratoga

Did you look at the pictures of him removing the hard disk and replacing it with a compact flash card? If not, look at them and take a guess what that does

makes it faster?

[dfkt]

I got the 32GB 233x Ridata CF today... good times. Thanks to no9 for shipping it over!

I'm pleased with the real-life speed of the card:

46 MP3 files, 4 Folders, 284MB
X5 internal:

			Write			Read
Toshiba HDD		14 mbs 	20.40 sec	20 mbs 	14.43 sec
Ridata Pana-Full	13 mbs	22.20 sec	23 mbs	12.25 sec

I tested the card with different formatting options in my card reader and DSLR before putting it into the X5. The write speed differences are quite remarkable between a "good" and a "bad" format. The Panasonic formatter, made for SD cards, sure works wonders on the CF card as well:

46 MP3 files, 4 Folders, 284MB
Hama 1000&1 USB card reader:

			Write			Read
Ridata Standard		8.5 mbs 33.57 sec	16 mbs 	17.73 sec
Ridata Canon EOS	8.2 mbs 34.78 sec	16 mbs 	17.76 sec
Ridata Windows		8.8 mbs 32.36 sec	16 mbs 	17.48 sec
Ridata Pana-Quick	11 mbs 	25.59 sec	16 mbs 	17.43 sec
Ridata Pana-Full	11 mbs 	25.40 sec	16 mbs 	17.36 sec

I assume the read speed of 16 MB/s is the maximum of my card reader, thus no differences there.

[dfkt]

Originally Posted by Jack4L

btw, have you managed to get dualbooting to work on the CF card?

I tried an older dual bootloader (unofficial v2, I think) and got "HDD error" in the OF and "ATA Error -80" in Rockbox.

Too bad that old bootloader didn't work - even for Rockbox alone it would be a bit better than the official one, since it booted Rockbox on a short slide with the power switch, and the OF on a long slide.

The official v4 Rockbox-only bootloader needs a long slide to boot the X5 and displays "shutting down" on a short slide, which is not very intuitive.

I'll have to see if I can compile a dual bootloader with v4... but it's kind of scary and I don't want to brick my X5.

Originally Posted by dhp1161

makes it faster?

Solid state memory, no moving parts, more reliable.
Lower power consumption than a HDD, longer battery life.
Faster random access, faster boot up.

[Gobd]

Done! I put in a new battery and this cf card and it works perfectly! Glad to have a working MP3 player again. Battery lasted for 17 hours and 40 minutes! Not exactly a realistic battery life test since I never touched the player but I gotta say that's pretty good.

[IronFly]

thanks dfkt!
i did the mod and works smooth, i put an 8gb CF since the 32gb here in Italy are extremely expensive.

i'm using the latest rockbox Dualboot release.

[Aevum]

DFKT, i thought this might interest you for your rig,
http://www.photofast.co.jp/index_adapter.html

it puts 4 MicroSD cards in Raid 0 (0 stands for the ammount of data recovered if raid fails, old techie joke) and distributes the load between them allowing higher speeds, now everyone who knows how a raid works knows you´re not going to be getting 4x speed of the MicroSD cards you put in, but with 4 class 6 MicroSD´s with a 10-12MB/sec write speed, you might get 25-30MB/sec,

[kdaniel6217]

hey dfkt.
its been a while since i posted here.
so just a quick question, since you just replaced a hard drive, you think i can do this to my old 30gb video ipod?
eek! i know im on the wrong forum for this question. >.<

[dfkt]

Originally Posted by kdaniel6217

hey dfkt.
its been a while since i posted here.
so just a quick question, since you just replaced a hard drive, you think i can do this to my old 30gb video ipod?
eek! i know im on the wrong forum for this question. >.<

If you read the Rockbox link in the first post of this thread, you'd know it's possible.

[fabarati]

Question: will I need to purchase a X5L backplate, or will my regular one work?

[dfkt]

A CF card is much smaller than a 1.8" HDD, a normal X5 will work just fine.

[fabarati]

Excellent. I just ordered a card and an adapter. Flash X5, here I come.

[dfkt]

Good luck, the X5 sure is still worth it.

[fabarati]

Thanks. It sure is.

I've had mine for 4 years, and the lack of anything I'd replace it with bothered me (there was always something missing), so I just kept mine. And now, for 80 USD, I get a 32GB flash player. one I can upgrade to larger sizes when CF cards get cheaper. I don't even need to change batteries, as I still can use it a full day-ish.

[dfkt]

Just to make sure: this mod only works with Rockbox, it doesn't work with the stock Cowon firmware.

[fabarati]

Yup, I know. I guess its time to switch to Rockbox again. Haven't used it since some time in 2008.

[fabarati]

So I got my CF card and adapter today (amazingly, on the same day, on my birthday). I doesn't look like need a new jumper, since everything seems to fit.

Backing up now, so I can do the swap.

[dfkt]

If you got the same adapter as me, the jumper is pretty long and pointy, and might do some damage to the PCB or battery. But maybe they used a more useful shorter one on that adapter in the meantime...

[fabarati]

Ionno, looks like this. However, it doesn't reach the anything at all, even when pressed hard.





Sorry about pic quality, all I had at hand was my cellphone.

[fabarati]

ARGH, I can't get it to work properly with the 32 GB card. I borrowed a friends 8 GB, and that works.