Compact Flash Setup FAQ's

Changeover from Sandisk CF's 5CFCRD.XXXX-02 to Siliconsystem CF's

5CFCRD.XXXX-03

Date: January 25, 2006

We reserve the right to change the contents of this document without notice. The information contained
herein is believed to be accurate as of the date of publication; however, Bernecker + Rainer Industrie-
Elektronik Ges.m.b.H. makes no warranty, expressed or implied, with regard to the products or the
documentation contained within this document. In addition, Bernecker + Rainer Industrie-Elektronik
Ges.m.b.H. shall not be liable in the event of incidental or consequential damages in connection with or
resulting from the furnishing, performance, or use of these products. The software names, hardware names,
and trademarks used in this document are registered by the respective companies.

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I Version information
Version Date Comment Author
1.0 17.01.2006 First edition ROG

Table 1: Version information

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II Table of contents

1 What's it all about?..................................................................................................... 4

2 Products affected ....................................................................................................... 4

3 Restoring Sandisk CF images on Siliconsystems CF’s.......................................... 5

3.1 Commercial disk image products..........................................................................................................5
3.1.1 B&R eMbedded OS Installer V2.00 Build 10 ................................................................................................... 6
3.1.2 PVI Transfer tool ............................................................................................................................................. 7
3.2 Plug and play mechanism in operating systems ..................................................................................8

4 Figure index ................................................................................................................ 9

5 Table index................................................................................................................ 10

6 Index.......................................................................................................................... 11

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1 What's it all about?

B&R's previous supplier for Compact Flash, Sandisk, cancelled the Industrial Grade Compact Flashes
product line.
After extensive evaluation, the Compact Flashes from the company Siliconsystems were chosen as a
replacement.
The following document provides information that should enabled a problem-free changeover from
Sandisk CF's to Siliconsystems CF's.

2 Products affected
Previous Compact Flashes
5CFCRD.0032-02 Compact Flash 32MB TrueIDE SanDisk/A
5CFCRD.0064-02 Compact Flash 64MB TrueIDE SanDisk/A
5CFCRD.0128-02 Compact Flash 128MB TrueIDE SanDisk/A
5CFCRD.0256-02 Compact Flash 256MB TrueIDE SanDisk/A
5CFCRD.0512-02 Compact Flash 512MB TrueIDE SanDisk/A
5CFCRD.1024-02 Compact Flash 1024MB TrueIDE SanDisk/A
5CFCRD.2048-02 Compact Flash 2048MB TrueIDE SanDisk/A
Table 2: Changeover list for the affected Compact Flashes
New replacement Compact Flashes
5CFCRD.0064-03 Compact Flash 64MB TrueIDE SSI
5CFCRD.0064-03 Compact Flash 64MB TrueIDE SSI
5CFCRD.0128-03 Compact Flash 128MB TrueIDE SSI
5CFCRD.0256-03 Compact Flash 256MB TrueIDE SSI
5CFCRD.0512-03 Compact Flash 512MB TrueIDE SSI
5CFCRD.1024-03 Compact Flash 1024MB TrueIDE SSI
5CFCRD.2048-03 Compact Flash 2048MB TrueIDE SSI
5CFCRD.4096-03 Compact Flash 4096MB TrueIDE SSI

As you can see already, there is no 32MB version among the new CF’s. A 64MB CF must be used
instead. Additionally, a 4GB CF is now also available with the new CF generation.

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3 Restoring Sandisk CF images on Siliconsystems CF’s

3.1 Commercial disk image products

Using disk image products that are available commercially such as Norton Ghost or Powerquest Drive
Image to restore images on a Siliconsystems CF, which were created on a Sandisk CF should generally
not cause any problems as long as partition sizes were not modified.
This was verified in a variety of tests with XP-Embedded, NT-Embedded, Windows CE, VX-Works and
MS-DOS.

If partition sizes were indeed modified, than in some cases the restored image will no longer be able to
boot correctly. This problem occurs right away during the first boot procedure and is therefore simple to
test!
The error usually occurs in relation with boot loaders if they are located at the wrong position or are
fragmented because of the partition size modification.

We observed the following phenomenon using the disk image tool "Powerquest Drive Image 2002" and
"Powerquest DeployCenter ImageCenter 5.5" in relation with a VxWorks Image:

When making boot partition sizes, images that were created on a 64MB Sandisk CF and restored on a
64MB Siliconsystem no longer booted if the image was restored without size adjustment. (the boot loader
cannot be located)
The 64MB Siliconsystems CF will also boot with this image without error if the size is automatically
adjusted here.
However, exactly this size modification will cause a problem with a much greater portion of VxWorks
Images.
The 64MB Siliconssystems CF will also boot without having to adjust the partition size if a Disk to Disk
copy is made from Sandisk to Siliconssystems using the same tools.

If the same Sandisk image is cloned with Norton Ghost then the 64MB Siliconsystems CF will boot
without any problems, even if the image is restored without size adjustment.

Therefore, it can be assumed that Powerquest Image Tools does not function 100% free-of-error in all
cases if an image is restored on a data carrier with modified disk geometry.

Important:
B&R recommends not adjusted the size of the boot partition when restoring images because this
will cause problems in most cases.
Although problems can occur when changing the partition sizes, some problems can also be
solved this way as seen in the case described above.

Important:
In some cases, restoring images on a data carrier with a different type/manufacturer can also
cause problems with commercial disk image products.
Therefore, the boot procedure for a restored image should always be tested after switching over
from a Sandisk to Siliconsystems CF.

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3.1.1 B&R eMbedded OS Installer V2.00 Build 10

The "B&R eMbedded OS Installer" V2.00 Build 10 is the first version allowing you to manually assign the
disk geometry for Compact Flashes.
This function is required for Windows CE to boot correctly on a 64MB Siliconsystems CF 5CFCRD.0064-
03. To do this, the following manual setting must be made when creating a Windows CE CF:

Figure 1: B&R eMbedded OS Installer - Manual Disk Geometry

Select the data carrier in the B&R eMbedded OS Installer and click on the "Properties" icon in the toolbar.
Select the "Geometry" tab, activate the "Manual disk geometry" checkbox and enter the following
geometry for the 64MB Siliconsystems CF 5CFCRD.0064-03:

Sectors per Track (Sectors): 32

Tracks per Cylinder (Heads): 4
Bytes per Sector: 512

Only this setting will allow Windows CE to boot correctly from a 64MB CF 5CFCRD.0064-03 on a target
system.

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The disk geometry of all other Siliconsystems CF sizes is compatible to Sandisk CF’s, so that Windows
CE will also boot correctly without manually changing the disk geometry.

Note:
64MB Siliconsystems CF’s will also be supported in the next version of the B&R eMbedded OS
Installer without having to manually adjusted the disk geometry.

3.1.2 PVI Transfer tool

If the B&R PVI Transfer Tool is used to generate/restore images for Siliconsystems CF’s, then the version
from the PviRS Setup 2.5.2.3002 or higher must be used.
Siliconsystems Compact Flashes are only supported correctly starting with this version.

Important:
The following limitations apply to 32MB and 64MB images from Sandisk CF’s:
Due to the changed disk geometry, only Automation Runtime images created with 32MB or 64MB
Sandisk CF's can be restored on a 64 MB SiliconSystem CF.

Figure 2: Changed disk geometry with the PVI Transfer Tool

Important:
Other operating system images will no longer function if this message appears when restoring!

Problems of this nature did not occur with sizes from 128MB to 2GB because the disk geometry of both
CF manufacturers starting at this size is compatible enough that we were not able to determine any
problems.

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3.2 Plug and play mechanism in operating systems

When using operating systems such as Windows XP and Windows XP Embedded, a new data carrier is
identified by the Plug and Play mechanism.
The new data carrier is located just once during the initial boot procedure after the image has been
restored and then functions without any problems.
If a Windows XP Embedded operating system is booted with enabled write filter, then the new data carrier
is detected during each boot procedure until it has been booted at least once with disabled write filter.

Important:
If manual device changes were made, e.g. switching off the disk cache for the Sandisk CF, then
these settings are lost and must be set again manually for the Siliconsystems CF.
This behavior also occurs if the CF Firmware version string is changed.
Because this has already happened once before for Sandisk CF’s at the beginning of 2005
(Firmware HDX 2.15 to 2.25), it should generally be known whether or not manual changes must
be made.
This problem does not usually occur because changes are generally not made to the default
settings for the data carrier.
Similar behavior must be expected in the event that other Plug and Play operating systems also
detect a new data carrier.
If this is the case then you also have to check whether manual changes must be made or not!

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4 Figure index
Figure 1: B&R eMbedded OS Installer - Manual Disk Geometry..................................................................6
Figure 2: Changed disk geometry with the PVI Transfer Tool ......................................................................7

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5 Table index
Table 1: Version information .........................................................................................................................2
Table 2: Changeover list for the affected Compact Flashes .........................................................................4

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6 Index

F T
Figure Index..........................................................9 Table index .........................................................10
Table of contents ..................................................3
I
Index ...................................................................11
V
Version information...............................................2

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