X5 Comfact Flash Mod Guide

[antoniost]

1.) Install the latest rockbox bootloader on your iaudio. You can do it manually, but the easiest way is to use the utility here. You can skip this step if you already have the latest rockbox bootloader installed.

2.) Get a CF to 1.8" HDD IDE Adapter like this one here (however others have reported inconsistent build qualities of those adapters, so YMMV). A more expensive, but much better designed adapter can be found here.

3.) Get a CF drive. I have a A-DATA 32GB Speedy Compact Flash, but any should work.

4.) Instructions on how to remove HDD here

5.) The adapter and CF drive install upside down. You may need to bend the master/slave jumper 90 degrees to allow a better fit. You also should cover the pins that stick out of the PCB with something non-conductive (e.g., cardboard, plastic) or the metal backing will short out the board. You might also want to apply some tape to secure the adapter CF drive in place. [This only applies to the adapter mentioned first in step 2, the second adapter mentioned installs like the original HDD]

6.) Run the rockbox utility again to install on the new CF drive. Make sure you delete the x5_fm.bin from the FIRMWARE folder. The rockbox bootloader cannot be flashed from a CF drive, only from a HDD (reason for step 1).

[hweb21]

Very nice, I will use this when bigger CF come out!

+1 Thanks, Sticky?

[antoniost]

Originally Posted by hweb21

Very nice, I will use this when bigger CF come out!

Thanks. Yeah I would love a 64GB CF drive, but have only found 64GB SSDs.

[breakfastchef]

I do not recall if this was mentioned in any of the CF threads. Does the CF drive fit in the X5L where the hard drive is located?

[antoniost]

I don't know the internal layout of the X5L, but I can tell you the adapter is a little bit thicker than the HDD. However it is much shorter and does not need to fit under the metal retaining bracket for the HDD.

[viperman3]

antoniost: Thanks for the guide. I'm quite glad that you got the CF mod working. Perhaps when you get a moment, you can contribute by adding your sucess to the wiki CF mod guide (located here: http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/CFModGuide )

All you need is to register and request to the rockbox mods to activate your account to allow adding/editing the wiki guide.

I'm sure that the Rockbox comunity will appreciate your findings.

ps: in step 1 you mention to install Rockbox, but did you mean to have the latest bootloader installed on the X5 ?

Great job though .... I'll have to revisit the CF mod on the X5 (didn't work for me in the past)

[antoniost]

Originally Posted by viperman3

ps: in step 1 you mention to install Rockbox, but did you mean to have the latest bootloader installed on the X5 ?

Yes, you are correct. I meant install the latest bootloader. I edited my guide.

Originally Posted by viperman3

Perhaps when you get a moment, you can contribute by adding your sucess to the wiki CF mod guide (located here: http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/CFModGuide )

Thanks for bringing that page to my attention. I will add to the wiki my findings. I already have edit privileges from submitting battery benchmark data.

[DonnyHiFi]

Hi Antoniost, I tried the compact flash mod with the same adapter and adata 32GB speedy compact flash card but keep getting *panic* errors when browsing through my directory, also about half the time some of the files/folders would be randomly missing from the directory. Which build version are you using? I'm using V3, thanks.

[antoniost]

The only time I got errors is when I left the x5_fm.bin file in the FIRMWARE directory before the first boot with the CF. Try reformatting the card, and using the rockbox utility. Make sure there you delete the x5_fm.bin file. If that doesn't work, try loading the bootloader onto the HDD, then repeat all the steps again.

[DonnyHiFi]

Thanks for the prompt reply

I'm glad it is working for you, gives me some hope I did flash the Rockbox bootloader again with the original hard disk and followed your instructions but no go. I'm thinking the issue might be my compact flash card which I picked up locally. I'll order the one online from ebay and see how it goes, thanks for your help.

[antoniost]

Are you doing a quick format or regular format of the card?

[DonnyHiFi]

Been doing a regular fat32 format with the default allocation size.

[Nazo]

This looks like a really good idea. I'm wondering though. You're using RockBox for this. I just got an X5L (30GB) and haven't really decided yet whether I'm staying with RockBox or not. I probably am, but I'd like to know if this mod works with the original firmware at all? It seems like it should given that it shouldn't really know the difference unless it's specifically looking, right?

Just curious anyway. If I were going to do this I'd REALLY want it to work with the original firmware anyway as a backup if nothing else. Go ahead and call me paranoid, but I always worry about having a small drive with moving parts in players like these. The idea of a compact flash card in there strikes me as being a wonderous solution.

BTW, just curious, but do the power saving features work via this method? It seems like they should given that it's just using ATA and I'm pretty sure CF allows for at least as much as SD (eg all on or all off) if not more, but I am curious. I'll bet it can use less power for reading since it doesn't have to spin a motor or move a head around (plus I'll bet you could get away with setting it to "spin down" after 1s given that there should be no real "spin up" time.)

[Toxeus]

Originally Posted by Nazo

I probably am, but I'd like to know if this mod works with the original firmware at all?

No, it doesn't. With flash you can use Rockbox only

I'll bet it can use less power for reading since it doesn't have to spin a motor or move a head around (plus I'll bet you could get away with setting it to "spin down" after 1s given that there should be no real "spin up" time.)

According to `Battery Bench` in rockbox i had ~15 h playing time with HDD and ~21 h now with CF (Tested on FLAC level 8)

[Nazo]

Thanks for the info. I'm not at all surprised about the battery time. I am curious though. Is there any particular reason you can't use it with the original firmware? I'm not sure how comfortable I am with the idea of completely relying on something that is still quite buggy and which may never get much better considering that the X5 isn't exactly the newest most popular player on the market...

EDIT: BTW, I had a thought. Has anyone considered a SSD drive for such a purpose? Might they perhaps work a little better for the task even considering that they try to emulate a harddrive a bit more? I won't be going such a route myself (even the 32GB CF card is too expensive, so I'd be looking at no more than 16GB -- maybe even 8GB) but it occured to me that it might be something worth looking into as they do make some that are pretty small with an IDE interface.