ipod hdd in psp... zif to cf to memorystick duo

[d0th3do]

ok so i have a basic idea of what i would like to do.
i have a 30 gb hitachhi ipod hdd and would like to buy
www.cpexol.com/1-8-zif-to-cf-micro-ata-adapter-for-ipod-hdd.html 1.8 zif to CF micro-ata adapter for iPod HDD 1.8 zif to CF micro-ata adapter for iPod HDD
this adapter for the ipod zif to cf and then continue to maybe wire a compact flash to mspd conversion... to the best of my knowledge this should work since the neoflash guys got cf to memory stick to work and the ipod hdd is only 3.3 volts which is the least that a cf card can run on i think i might be able to pull this one off.  also sony has a memory stick to compact flash converter that i guess i can buy and just rewire if no one is willing to help teach me how to convert cf to memory stick but it is completely over priced like :censored:ing 5o bucks for a few wires and plastic. if anyone can help me do this it would be fantastic because i have no clue about anything with pinouts way over my head.  and it might even be small enough to fit inside the entire psp after i rip the umd drive out which is a complete waste of space when i stopped buying umd's... (pandora's battery came out and my psp currently has 4.01 m33 on it).  and with the custom firmwares is it possible to use all 30 gb im just not sure about that part.

[socomhacker239]

pm your idea to gr8npwrfl he is a  :censored:ing genius i dont think this will work but i cudd be wrong gr8npwrfl will be able to tell you if it cudd work or not

[gr8npwrfl]

Even with all the adapters, the hard drive is different than a CF card.

I run a couple of IBM micro drives. They are 1" compact flash hard drives.
The ONLY reason they work is because they appear the the system as CF cards.

You will have to do one of two things:

1. Write your own complete set of disk drivers and integrate them into the CFW
    of the PSP.

2. Write a set of drivers to translate the CF memory card commands to IDE disk
    disk drive commands. You will have to make the Hard Drive appear to be a
    CF card.

Now lets figure the translation. You are going to convert a pro duo to a compact
flash interface. Then you are going to convert the CF interface to an IDE and then
the IDE is going to convert to a spinning hard drive.

So the PSP is going to want a certain file, it goes through its software mapping to
figure out where on the pro duo card the file is. Then it will be translated to the CF
card format, then it will be converted to the IDE format, then converted to the
cylinder, sector format on the hard drive.

That is just one way, you have to do that going back the other way so you can
send data to the PSP.

CF cards have a addressing limit of 32 gig right now. There are no drivers to go bigger
yet. So that means any drive larger than 32 gig is a waste.

So to get around these limits the best route is to do #1. Write you own disk drive
subsystem for the PSP.

Maybe if you talk very very very nice someone like Dark Alex or one of the CFW
developers, just maybe they will let you see the source code they have slaved over to
write your own driver. NOT ! And then when Sony comes out with a new OS and
upgrades their OS, you will have to decode all their software so you would know
how to put your hooks and patches back in to make your software to work.

You should also become a cryptologist so you can break the encoding they are
doing on their firmware.

I am not trying to tell you not to do your project. Everything we do in this life is
a learning experience. By all means GO FOR IT. You just maybe the guy that gets
it to work.

I wanted you to know what you are getting into. I can answer questions for you
and guide you to the locations on the internet that so you can learn what you need
to know to complete your project.

[d0th3do]

hmm... well i was sitting in my nice little bubble of ignorance thinking that if i plug this one into that one and it works like a compact flash card and if i plug my now sudo cf into that one it will work like a memory stick until you came along and popped it and made me cry like a little school boy who dropped his icecream and watched it helplessly splatter all over the floor... i was obviously wrong.  so exactly how hard would it to be to do take it upon myself to try and make my own drivers for option 2? it seems like the easier of the 2 considering that you make option 1 seem completely impossible and since i only have a 30gb ipod hard drive it would be just dandy to be able to do this one with as much finesse and compatability for future firmwares as possible. And i still dont understand why it wouldnt work i mean the converter that is on the link in my post says that you can use this to replace an old ipod's cf with a new (5th gen) ipod's hdd.  therefore it would work as a compact flash card.  or is the problem the memory stick duo to compact flash because correct me if im mistaken but you can use the neo 2 in 1 psp to compact flash converter to work that problem out... sorry please bear with me i am a noob when it comes to hardware.

[gr8npwrfl]

I did not say that it might not work. I was giving you the information on all that was involved.

The adapter may have a cpu embedded in it and may just do what you want.

I just wanted to give you all the facts. Because it is an embedded design there may be
problems that show up if you try to go bigger than it was designed for.

Because Sony has never released the internal design configuration of the pro duo card
there may be limitations internal to that.

It just may be a plug and play operation and not require any software to be written at
all.

Just be aware with so many adapters,  you may have some complications.

As to the size of the project if you were to do software. I have written disk driver software
before. My first personal computer was an Imsai 8080, that only had 8 k of memory
and we had to build a paper tape reader that would contain 8 k basic. We could not
afford  roms as they were hundreds of dollars each for 256 bytes of storage. We had to
toggle the boot strap loader program into binary switches on the front of the computer
to get it to talk to the paper tape reader and load the basic into ram.

The first disk operating system was CPM and I worked on that project. It was a team
of engineers that worked several years to get it all working.

If you imagine windows with no disks, NONE. How many of the programs have been written
just to deal with things that are on a hard drive ? Imagine having to write every single
program to work with the hard drive yourself. Every single decision on to what bit goes where
and what bits hold what address and and and.

I have done it, I am not saying you could not do it. Nowadays you could go get
most of the source code for a disk operating system source code from the people that
do linux. You would have to compile it to run on the PSP and fix every error
that was created during the compile. You would have to fix every place it would
take to talk to your hardware.

If I was trying to just discourage you, I would not take the time to write you all this.

We take so much for granted the things that we use on a daily basis. The computer
is so embedded in our lives we take for granted the billions of descisions that are
made every second that effect us every minute of every day.

In engineering, most things are developments that are based on developments that were
done yesterday and the day before. The thought of a hand held game the sells for under
$200.00 and has the power that it has, could not even be imagined 20 years ago.

By all means investigate, experiment, tinker. You may find something new, no one else
has thought of.

I have heard some people say they think I am very smart on this board. The work
I do on the mass storage project for the PSP is based on the work of countless
hundreds that have worked on it before. I search the internet looking for answers,
reading every scrap of information that I can find. Just because one person says it
can't be done, I look for reasons that it can. If Columbus had listened to everyone
else that the world was flat, where would you be living now.

If you were not in search of information you would not be here asking the questions.

So if you have the time and money GO FOR IT. We learn by our mistakes and we relish
our triumphs. You may have some information in your possession that I am not aware
of and I may learn from you.

[d0th3do]

well trying surely cant hurt.  im not quite sure if anyone has ever tried doing this method before like the ipod to cf to memory stick thing.  In theory it seems like a great idea and i plan on trying it.  if worst comes to worst i can allways just plug my ipod drive into my xbox or something.  thanks for the help ill just have to cross my fingers and repeat hail mary while i plug it all together .  and i also saw an article about a guy who plugged a 2.5 inch laptop drive into his DS using a nice big pinout chart soldering tools and a spare ide cable which i thought was pretty sweet i guess i could just copy him and use my 1.8 inch hitachi which would seem quite realistic considering it would fit nicely on the back of a ds and wouldnt require any extra voltage like his hdd did.  Has anyone presented my idea to you before? (seems like you may have thought about this before) I just basically want to do something cool with my ipod hard drive cuz my moms computer sucks and the usb plug was all :censored:ed so when i decided to charge it one day i saw a nice little spark and everything smelled like burnt plastic (killed the mobo i hope it was only the mobo at least)... so anything nice and cheap and cool to do with my spare ipod hdd is a nice inviting idea and i figured since noone has gotten one inside a psp before (or at least i do not believe anyone has) i might as well go for it i dont really have much to lose except a few bucks.

[gr8npwrfl]

Yes other people have talked to me about it.

But I never heard back from them whether is worked or not I do not know

[d0th3do]

hmm well first of all i cant even find any kind of converter for cf to mspd that isnt completely overpriced or supports more than 8 gb.  The neoflash one has apparently changed and now has a different circuit board which does not have any kind of 4 gb switch on it, and the datel media dock has a max of 8 gb, and is gigantic.  if anyone knows where i can find a cf to memorystick converter (to use a compact flash card as a memory stick, or knows how to make one??(doubt it probably requires some kind of onboard chipset to convert memory outputs and like that) please point me in the right direction, it would be very helpful and would contribute to me haveing a psp with an internal hard drive 

[four20team]

I tried the datel idea and in the end just a headache. so far the only promise seems to be with the zif to sd adapters. at this moment trying adapters in this config.....

zif hdd> sd > sd micro > ms pro duo. psp detects the 30gb but sometimes has errors writing. dunno quite what is going on? maybe a power issue. what voltage does the MS PRo DUO run at?

[ghost97058]

am i the only one to take apart a 32 gig usb thumbdrive or a 32gig sdch card and 1 ide old or new comp cable & cut and soddir it to the psp motherbord then  just find a good place to put it some  where inside your psp both fat and slim your choice i did this and now i can use the card i put in and the mem duo pro 8 gig  to get them both to work i had to format the psp after i was done  i did ths with a fat and my slim and it dose work 

[SkaLou]

am i the only one to take apart a 32 gig usb thumbdrive or a 32gig sdch card and 1 ide old or new comp cable & cut and soddir it to the psp motherbord then  just find a good place to put it some  where inside your psp both fat and slim your choice i did this and now i can use the card i put in and the mem duo pro 8 gig  to get them both to work i had to format the psp after i was done  i did ths with a fat and my slim and it dose work 

Without an adapter that is not possible. It took me a while to figure out what you were talking about, but now I get it.
Case to share some schematics?

[EliteGamer83]

Has no one else read this?: https://www.acidmods.com/forum/index.php?topic=26574.0

Look I am not trying to be non-helpful so please don't give me another negative. I am trying to help by posting that link a PSP cannot read the way a a hard drive works, it can ONLY read flash memory.