Toshiba F40 drive swap for 32gb CF

[os10]

The 1.8" 40gb drive in the F40 is so damn slow that it was just too much of a hassle to use it. Always had to wait a second or two after clicking on something in the menu. So to speed it up I swapped in a 32gb CF card ($60) along with a $5 CF adapter that I previously used in a G4 iPod. Works fine. Put a bit of foam around it to keep the card from rattling. The GUI is more responsive now and the player is much lighter.

The only thing that tripped me up at first was that I had to put the GBSYSTEM files on the card before the player would boot up. All the files I needed were conveniently here on the site. Thanks guys.

This F40 is several years old now but the battery still seems to be in pretty good shape.

If I was going to do this from scratch I would have picked an F10 or F20 chassis since I believe they are thinner.

[Chronon]

If you were experiencing slowness while browsing files then this could have been improved by enabling Directory Cache.  Similarly, loading the database to RAM helps database browsing to be more responsive.

[os10]

thanks for the tip, i don't recall using that feature when the HD was in. i'm happy with the performance and weight now that its running on the CF card.

[Chronon]

Great!

If you want to read about these features, please consult the manual.