DIY SSD packs in CompactFlash card pair RAID rig

Want to replace your system hard disk with an solid-state drive? Want to take advantage of RAID? Want to use the cheapest Flash? Thanks to Taiwan's Raidon, you can. It's rolled out what it calls the "RAID ready SSD enclosure", and you can't get a more apt moniker than that. Raidon RAID SSD enclosure Raidon's RAID-able SSD …

[Anonymous Coward]

Brilliant

Brilliant idea!

But then, people buying the cheapest CF cards will moan how slow they are.

I'm sure they will make their own way into Europe, via ebay... from Hong Kong

[Anonymous Coward]

Good idea but...

Over here a 16gig CF card is ~300$. That means it would cost me 600$ for a 32gig drive or a 16gig RAID, that's excluding the cost of the device. Uh... this is ridiculously expensive. The idea is neat, but until the cost of CF is down, it won't take off.

[Mike]

DIY?

You can do a similar thing on desktops by just pairing up IDE->CF adaptors with onboard RAID on most modern mobos. (Or SW RAID if you want to run Lunix)

[Steve]

but... but... but...

Over here (UK) I just very quickly found 16GB CF cards from crucial for <£80, so it ain't that expensive.

Presumably though, the performance of this device will be somewhat lacklustre, probably not even equivalent to first generation SSD's. So it's only advantage is low power?

[Graham Wood]

@Steve

The idea of RAID1 in a single 2.5" caddy is quite appealing for anyone that has really really really important data on their laptop.

And/or is just anal - like me.

[Joe Kraska]

OCZ SSD's would be better

Check out the OCZ Core Sata 2 SSD drives. ~$300, 120MB/s read, 80MB/s write, lots of IOPS.

[Malcolm Weir]

Same deal is available now...

For $79 plus the CF cards:

http://www.addonics.com/products/flash_memory_reader/ad2sahdcf.asp

Plus that gives you USB as well as SATA connectivity.

(No relation with Addonics beyond that of a customer).

[Anonymous Coward]

Cool

Now I have a small compartment with my harddrive I can use to smuggle my lil' baggy through customs and they'd never be the wiser :)

[Anonymous Coward]

wear leveling

I wonder how the RAID impacts the built-in wear leveling of flash storage. It may well lead to a higher wear on the flash memory.

[Anonymous Coward]

@steve

Crucial CF cards are nice, but expensive.

I've seen 16 GB cards other places for 40 quid.

[David Gosnell]

Re: Crucial CF

Curiously unavailable from the GB£-priced site (SD/microSD only), though still there on the US$-priced one.

Very peculiar.

[Anonymous Coward]

RAID?

Can someone please explain how RAID is a benefit (or even needed) for SSDs?

"anyone that has really really really important data on their laptop"

important data on a laptop? - that would be NHS or MoD then?

Does this mean I can use the old CF format HD from my Creative MuVo in this?

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmmmmm nice idea... bit small tho'

I think this is excellent... only wish the cards were $5 each and at least 1 TB in size....

Now that would be pretty good.

I am still looking for the day, when a PC has an atomic battery the size of a peanut, runs for a thousand years on one charge and the whole PC is the size of a matchbox, with a holographic 21" screen..

I'd keep my old buckle spring IBM keyboard tho... it's a champion.