Mass Storage for the Zaurus

[papercrane]

I've been looking at the HD based mp3 players recently and I just realized that it would be much more cost-effectice (probably) to just add some storage to my Zurus somehow. However, all I can find if Microdrives, which are simply not big enough for what I want (I'd like 40+GB, store all of my music in one place).

The best possibility I've found so far would be to use a CF-USB Host adapter with an HD USB enclosure kit, but I haven't seen anyone actually doing anything of the sort. Plus, those CF-USB devices are $130+ on their own. Has anyone gotten anything like this working?

BTW, I have an SL-5500.

[Martin]

Hi ...

Have you seen this? I hope to get one ... living in germany :-)

http://www.twin-paradox.com/

http://www.twin-paradox.com/SEPDA.html

Thanks
Martin

[akpoff]

I don't know how well the CF USB host adapters work but I can say I've had good luck getting a 2.5" drive working with a 6000.  I put the drive in a USB enclosure, plugged it in, mounted it from the command line and it just worked.  Since it came from a laptop I had already created a swap partition and large root partition.  I typed in 'swapon /dev/hda2' (I think it was on hda -- well, probably not since it was on the USB port -- must have been something else) and immediately had 512 MB of swap space.  I mounted /dev/hda1 and began transferring files.  One downside I noted was that the stock sharp ROMs do not have the Reiser FS installed so I couldn't mount /dev/hda3 which I had formatted as Reiser.  I'll have to reformat the root partition to ext2 or ext3 to be able to use it.

I haven't tried booting from it -- I don't even know whether it's possible.  My goal for now is to use it as a portable depot to which I'll transfer digital images from my camera so I don't have to take a full-size laptop with me on the road.  I'm leaving on a week long trip tomorrow so I'll be able to report back on my success -- or lack thereof.  ;-)  If I find the time before I leave I may rip a few movies to the drive and see how well they work over a USB connection.

I think the USB support in the Sharp ROMs is well integrated enough to give one hope for the CF USB hosts adapters.

--Aaron

[papercrane]

Hi ...

Have you seen this? I hope to get one ... living in germany :-)

http://www.twin-paradox.com/

http://www.twin-paradox.com/SEPDA.html

Thanks
Martin

I did see that, but they don't list any Linux or Zaurus support. I also only saw *one* CF-USB driver when searching the web and it's still beta. Anyone have any word on that?

I don't know how well the CF USB host adapters work but I can say I've had good luck getting a 2.5" drive working with a 6000. I put the drive in a USB enclosure, plugged it in, mounted it from the command line and it just worked.

That's encouraging. Are you using an enclosure with an external power adapter or does it pull power from the USB bus? How's your battery life been when using it?

[akpoff]

That's encouraging. Are you using an enclosure with an external power adapter or does it pull power from the USB bus? How's your battery life been when using it?

Sadly, yes, it does require an external power adapter.    By luck, however, the same power supply that can drive my portable hub can also drive the hard drive.  So I can either power the hub and have extra power for any USB peripheral or I can plug it in directly to the hard drive.    Trying to power the HD off the Zaurus results in the HD pulling so much power the Zaurus shuts down very quickly.

--Aaron