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2x6's DVD or HDD clone to SSD/CF-IDE

The tools were intended for @VS_Lilith to run a test.

If you are curious, most of them can be found in the GCFI archive:

rtw

Thread 'Chihiro/NAOMI/Triforce CF Tools'

Here is a small tool for all of you who use CF cards: gcfi, a command line tool to create CF images.

Supports WinXP to Win10

Maximum card size has been increased to: 2GB (FAT16 does not support larger drives)

Creates images for: NAOMI/Chihiro/Triforce

You must be administrator.

The programs: ataid and listphys are included in the archive

gcfi -r -p -s 0x3244 -d d:\ -l ABC.BIN -g starseek.bin

os version : 10.0 (17134)
logical drive : d:\
size : 955MB
sector size : 512
removing files: done
physical drive: 1
sector offset : 0x3244
game file ...
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I started trying to get one of my 256's to boot Fate Unlimited Codes from a memory card recently, here is what I found:

Media used:
  • 128GB CF card - SanDisk Extreme 120MB/s UDMA7
  • 8GB SD card - SanDisk MicroSD HC
  • 64GB SD card - SanDisk Ultra MicroSD XC I
IDE to CF adapters:

Two different StarTech models were used, they've only ever made two. @VS_Lilith posted on page 3 of this thread that one of the StarTech CF adapters was confirmed working, I didn't have the same luck with the same adapter. I used HDD Raw Copy to burn the .img file I extracted from the System2x6 directory to the CF card
  • As mentioned in the thread, all of the ones I have been finding do not offer Cable Select as an option, only 2 jumper positions... Master/Slave.
  • With Master selected, I get a very brief LED flash of the card being read, then no activity.
  • With Slave selected, I see the LED stays on for a few seconds longer, then stops with no further activity.
  • No jumper at all does the same as Slave.
  • I'm thinking that there is an undocumented feature where NO jumper still allows the adapter to be recognized, and this is possibly the Cable Select mode that it is looking for to boot (this still needs to be confirmed).
  • Both CF adapters offer different jumper options. One allows me to select voltage of the CF card, the other does not. One has a jumper for 'RST and a jumper for 'DMA', the other does not. One has optional 44-pin IDE connector and the jumper to switch to using that to power the CF card, the other does not. Both have 40 pin and 44 pin IDE headers.

IDE to SD adapter:

The adapter I used is actually pictured on page 2 of this thread, posted by @nem , this adapter showed me more progress on the game boot than the CF adapter did. The PCB for the adapter has 'SD35VC0' printed on it.
  • The game actually starts going through Boot 01, Boot 02, Boot 03 screens,. then hangs on Init (SND).. message.
  • I can't tell from this point if it's continuing to try and read from the SD card and hung or if there is an issue with the HDD image I burned to the SD card.
  • I tried HDD Raw Copy tool to burn the .img to the SD card. also tried extracting .chd files using chdman directly to the media
  • I also tried a very old 512MB SD card with a CD game burned to it just to see if it would emulate the drive, didn't work.

If anyone who read all of this can see where I did something wrong or can suggest something to try, please let me know. I have a System 246 and 2 System 256's, and 2 Jamma(B) adapters and an MP07-IONA JVS adapter as well. Both systems have original Toshiba SD DVD rom drives.
 
@magicman just use a straight IDE cable and set the CF adapter to master. Some IDE cables have both a slave and master marking in that case choose master. Some are straight.

The actual disk data is actually only 3GiB so you can truncate it and try a smaller card like an 8GiB.
 
rtw said:
@magicman just use a straight IDE cable and set the CF adapter to master. Some IDE cables have both a slave and master marking in that case choose master. Some are straight.

The actual disk data is actually only 3GiB so you can truncate it and try a smaller card like an 8GiB.
Click to expand...

Ok, I can try that, I have multiple types of IDE cables. When you say a 'straight' cable, do you mean a 40 pin - 40 conductor? or just one with 2 ends as opposed to 3? I've been using 80-conductor cables all this time... and I also tried reversing the connection by putting the blue IDE end into the adapter instead of the motherboard in case that was a possible issue
 
The one with "3" connectors should have labels on it like MASTER and SLAVE.
 
Blue connector should go into the motherboard.
 
So none of my IDE cables have any lettering on the ends that say Master or Slave.

I know that 80 conductor IDE cables, the ones with the blue motherboard header, have a grey and a black end... the grey is slave, the black is master.

40 conductor IDE cables dont have any color coding on the ends.

I have not tried a 40 conductor cable, and also have not tried the 3-ended 80 conductor IDE cable on the Master end.

Going to try in a little while and Ill post back my results. Thanks!
 
My cable has labels, BLUE is system, GREY is slave and BLACK is master.

Set your CF interface to master and try that.

As I also said, try truncating the image to 3 GiB and using a smaller CF card, 8 GB should work,
 
Same results, no differences. I even bought a SD to CF adapter to round out the holy trinity of adapters I have acquired for this project, doesn't work either.

Summary,
SD to IDE: No
CF to IDE: No
SD to CF to IDE: Nada
MicroSD to SD to CF to IDE: lol

For sanity I imaged a 80GB IDE Western Digital HDD, the original model that Fate:UC would have come on and it worked fine on first boot.

All my images have been copied to media in Windows as I don't have a linux system at my disposal and don't care to get back into one just to use DD.

I've used HDD Raw Copy Tool to copy the IMG version of the HDD to the SD and to the CF, neither worked
I've used chdman to extracthd to \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE#, directly from the chd to the SD and CF, neither worked.

So far the only thing that has even come close is the SD to IDE, it gets through the Boot 01,02,03, mostly hangs on Boot 02 or reboots after Boot 03 and hangs at Init(SND)..
 
If/when this new ODE comes out - it will support HDD images, as a note.

twistedsymphony

Post in thread 'ATAPI/IDE ODE Testing'

Dusting off this thread to let you all know that I'm testing a new ATAPI ODE from @electric_monk. this one includes support for HDD images in addition to CD and DVD for a complete Namco 2x6 solution!

Here is what the new device looks like
IMG_20250310_225131566.jpg


and a photo of it running Gundam NEXT (a HDD game) on my vewlix
IMG_20250310_225501983_HDR.jpg


Gundam Next works great and I've also tested Fate Unlimited Codes (another HDD game) with 0 zero issues.

Testing is going well so far with few tweaks to the firmware already I'll report back here with more results as I progress forward in my testing :D
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@magicman nice to see the WD worked, what cables and what settings did you have on the drive ? I.e. were they both MASTER ?

Can you share a picture of your CF adapter ?

And did you try with an 8GB CF card and a trimmed image ?
 
rtw said:
@magicman nice to see the WD worked, what cables and what settings did you have on the drive ? I.e. were they both MASTER ?
Click to expand...
I used an 80-conductor cable with 3 ends, hard drive connected to the black/master connector, and jumper set to Cable Select. I also tried with an 80 conductor cable with 2 ends, it worked fine as well. When I tried with the adapters, I tried them all with jumper set to master and on the master connector of the cable

rtw said:
Can you share a picture of your CF adapter ?
Click to expand...

Here are ALL of the adapters I've tried.

Left to right,
IDE to SD - StarTech IDE2CF (with SD to CF adapter above it) - StarTech 35BAYCF2IDE

IMG20250411095922.jpg


rtw said:
And did you try with an 8GB CF card and a trimmed image ?
Click to expand...
Yes, in fact the trimmed image worked on the HDD... just not on any of the removable media.
 
On your CF adapter with the blue connector how do the LEDs behave ?

edit:
Which type of CF card did you use for the trimmed image ?
 
rtw said:
On your CF adapter with the blue connector how do the LEDs behave ?
Click to expand...

With that one, if I select Master on the jumper, the green LED flashes very briefly, maybe less than a second, then no activity.
If I leave the jumper off, assuming that's the Cable Select undocumented feature, the green LED turns on for longer than a second, maybe 2-3, then no activity. Same for when I set it to Slave.

rtw said:
edit:
Which type of CF card did you use for the trimmed image ?
Click to expand...

So for the trimmed image, I don't have an actual CF card bigger than 2GB or smaller than 128GB. I went with the SD to CF adapter with an 8GB SD card inserted. That is what contained the trimmed image.
 
My experience is that the SD to CF adapters do not work properly so try to get an original Sandisk 4GB or 8GB CF card.

As for LEDs what about the Red one is it on constantly ?
 
Yes, the red led stays on constantly.

I'll try to source an 8GB SanDisk CF card soon and see.

I also just ordered a ZuluIDE adapter... It was a bit pricey but if it works, it may be a solution for a few projects I have that need an IDE device
 
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Following up to say , SUCCESS!!



8GB SanDisk CF I used: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0017QHZ86?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title



I was successful on the first boot using the StarTech 35BAYCF2IDE , the third one/far right in my picture a few posts ago, set to Master on the Master IDE end. Booted Ace Driver 3.

The ZuluIDE adapter arrived today as well, however I haven't tried testing with it yet. This one is interesting, it has Cable Select as a jumper setting. I may be able to emulate a DVD Rom with this device, we'll see.
 
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