What I was looking for was a PC card for an HP 100LX.  I went with CF cards (which this is very picky about without a driver...but how do you get the driver on it without something else that works) and an adapter due to price, plus I could use the cf cards in other stuff I have.

In response to your questions: Compatibility; don't remember; the more complicated you make things the more that can go wrong, so it is best to stick with something that it was designed to work with.

Read write speeds

Thanks for that link. I'll probably pick a few up.

Can someone explain to me the advantage of a cf card vs SD? Is it correct that a cf card is essentially a compact PCI storage card? They also make 2x microsd to cf adapters, what would be the disadvantage of that?

If you're really worried, stock up now: http://dx.com/p/2gb-micro-tf-card-with- … ack-128032

The difference is lifespan. An SD card is more robust technology than a floppy disk. If you buy a brand new floppy disk and a brand new SD card today, the SD card will last ten times as long as the floppy (I'm not talking about bit rot, I'm talking about the usability of the medium).

SD cards (both SD and SDHC) are far more ubiquitous than floppies. Computers, digital cameras and phones are far more popular these days than computers were back in the days of the floppy disk and I'd be willing to bet that far more SD/SDHC cards were made than floppies were back in the day.

This is a perfect example of all the issues I have been having.  For floppies I need double density, preferably 5.25 inch, since I have the drive already, but even a DD 3.25 readily available in stores would make me smile (even if they are in rough shape).  CF cards are available relatively cheap at present, but those are different than the ones for the 20 year old guy I am trying to use them with.  Also SD/SDHC/SDXC and mini/micro are the same problem: with lack of forward compatibility these SD carts are hard to feed in x years.

Yea but the floppies Ive ever bought in stores in the last few years have problem to be really flakey. I suspect everything you see is new old stock and soon will all be pretty much worthless.

sd is the standard on all everdrives though, at least that's been more prevalent than say... smartmedia cards or the parallel ports used by older flashers. I might be proving your point, but on the matter of Floppies, like cassettes I can still run to a pharmacy or dollar store and pick those up along with sd cards. So the residual life beyond their obsolescence is already 15+ years depending on how you look at it. That thought makes me feel a little better in regards to long term availability. Considering how many devices eat sd cards, and there is yet to be a competing format aside from the usb drive.

I was surprised by the trouble of finding the correct CF cards, as they are still in regular use by many people/organisations for a variety of purposes, with new hardware requiring the older type cards still being manufactured.  Those vendors do supply the CF cards, but sometimes not very cheaply, such as with Cisco.

floppies are very fragile, and i am glad they went away in general.  I don't like that the cost of the replacements used with vintage hardware can have a steep initial investment compared to buying disks at a buck a pop, although cheaper (and more durable and reliable) in the long run.  Everyone needs to hurry up and get all the stuff stored on floppies transferred to something else, and share it with the world.

Yea but sd cards are waaaaaay more ubiquitous than some of the other card formats like cf. And probably less prone to bit rot than floppies.

The issue isn't the size of the files, it is the future availability of the required storage media.  Like the ez flash iv and mini sd...

even though it supports sdhc, if those become more difficult to get hands on then the price goes up.  I have recently gone through this while looking for CF (or pcmcia sram/flash) cards. the older stuff is now often more expensive than newer stuff, but the type i needed was very specific, although once the standard, and plentiful. sdhc is readily available cheaply now, but will it be in 5 or 10 years?

edit: think diskettes.

You realize the whole collection can fit on an sd format, not even sdhc, and my guess is it will support sdhc (have not read if it does/does not)

Same here.  I got lucky that my micro to mini adaptor works with my ez flash iv.  DaRkO and kitsch take note of this, as our future selves will thank you.  The less limiting factors (like the EMS and other carts have) the better.  I have an ezfa cart that i have had to replace with the ez flash iv because I no longer have a computer with the proper software for flashing, although the cart itself works fine.  I bought the "new" one at a time when it was already fairly obsolete.

Seems likely? This is what the ez flash iv does correct?

I remember a few years ago there was that guy who rigged up an SD based storage that if I recall correctly used the button input for like game input? Does anyone remember this? And his problem, of course was that saving couldn't be done without additional circuitry.

Legitimately, I'm a little bummed that it's SD based.  Especially if its not sdxc for the simple fact that in 4 years sdhc cards will be hard to find. Same problem I have with my ezflash and r4.