Does anyone know if there is any posible product that is able to hook up a hard drive to the axim?(not the microdrive)

Not at this time. There is a CF card that allows your Axim to be a USB Host, but that card is at least $170 and even then it doesn't allow your Axim to see Mass Storage drives, its just to connect to mobile phones or GPS units. Some have pointed to a Mass Storage driver for Toshiba PPC's but I doubt it works with this CF card.

I doubt we'll ever really see a USB Mass Storage Driver for the Axim X5 and even if we did, the USB connection is too slow for streaming even MP3s...

Later,
James

  

There's a CF card that will give you a USB port. That card is ~$140 (a forum search for USB should find it). There is also a USB mass storage device driver taht you can use with this. Then all it takes is an HD and an USB enclosure.

Axim Std / Ambicom wifi / 256 Simpletech SD / Brando protector / Piel Frama case

Curses! Beaten by a minute!

The device driver is here and mentions nothing about being Toshiba-specific, only that it was fixed to work with the Toshiba.

Axim Std / Ambicom wifi / 256 Simpletech SD / Brando protector / Piel Frama case

True, what I meant was its not for a CF card... The driver is meant to work with any PPC that is a host device. That Axim is not that so this "patch" wouldn't work.

Later,
James

  

This probably isn't what you wanted. (Me neither, but it was the best I was able to do.) I got a Toshiba 5GB PC Card drive (works with either 3.3V or 5.0V -- need 3.3V to be powered by Axim) and a CF/PCMCIA adapter (from Semsons). So I do have a 5GB hard drive attached to my Axim, when I need it. Drive is low-power, but will cut your battery life in half (if being constantly accessed).

It works. Can easily share files with a laptop (or, in my case, a USB2.0 PCMCIA drive attached to my desktop).

gaffer

"... don't try to cynical. It's perfectly easy to be cynical."
"My dear fellow, it isn't easy to be anything nowadays. There's such a lot of beastly competition about." -- Oscar Wilde, TIOBE

How about something like this one?
CF USB, the others above say they dont
support mass storage, but this one says
it does support mass storage, and says
its compatible with the Axim,
http://www.ratocsystems.com/english/...ges/cfu1u.html

Then just go buy a USB hd for 200 bucks, and
have an instant 80 gb ..

More great reviews!

   

USB certainly is not too slow for mp3! I have a USB hard drive that I use specifically for listening to mp3s. Since mp3s max out at 320kbps, the transfer rate for even USB 1.0 is fast enough. In fact, I watch videos from my usb drive at 1.4-1.6mbps all the time (mpeg-1 and mpeg-2) and they play just fine.

Now USB IS too slow for playing DVD files ripped to a hard drive, for instance, or for capturing video at DVD speeds. But that's why God invented Firewire (and that's exactly why I bought my AcomData Firewire drive, which works perfectly for capturing even high-res video (720 x 480) at 8mbps.

Or just buy a USB enclosure for ~$30, grad a HD deal (usually 40-80 gigs for $30-50) and you've got the same for less than half that price.

Axim Std / Ambicom wifi / 256 Simpletech SD / Brando protector / Piel Frama case

Yes on the Desktop, but if the Casio that I had my hands on a couple months ago is any indication, the USB connection is going to be too slow. PDAs are not optimized for using USB as Mass Storage. MP3s played off the internal memory of the Casio, but it was unable to keep up with the connected hard drive.

Later,
James

  

uhm wouldn't that plg for the USB 1.1 Host Adaptor CF Card need to be female in order to accept direct hard drive connection... man this could get ugly fast... hehe...

seriously... the usb plug they show looks like the standard usb male plug one would use to connect the device to a computer or hub - maybe that's what they were expecting?

i would figure you would want a female connector on the ppc end so you can plug any device directly into it...

Too bad that USB1.1 CF card costs $140. I'd really like to try to hook up my bus-powered USB drive to an Axim. Don't want to shell out that much money for something that might or might not work, though.

Is that right, though? it can output 100mAh at 5V from the Axim?

Concerning:

Guess I don't see why USB1.1 (esp. Full mode) should be slower than my CF / Toshiba hard drive combo (mentioned in earlier post)? I can listen to MP3s or watch videos from it same as from CF memory.

gaffer

"... don't try to cynical. It's perfectly easy to be cynical."
"My dear fellow, it isn't easy to be anything nowadays. There's such a lot of beastly competition about." -- Oscar Wilde, TIOBE

Looked at the online manual for the USB1.1 CF adapter. Couple of interesting notes that apply to comments in this thread:

1. When you run some applications which put heavy load on CPU such as MP3 player, data transfer rate may get slow or the performance of the applications may get poor.

Looks like cageyjames is probably right. Also,

2. Storage devices such as hard disks don't run with the CFU1U.

Reading elsewhere, what they mean by mass storage are USB Flash drives. Not terribly useful since you have to give up your CF slot to get this.

gaffer

"... don't try to cynical. It's perfectly easy to be cynical."
"My dear fellow, it isn't easy to be anything nowadays. There's such a lot of beastly competition about." -- Oscar Wilde, TIOBE

As I said, it totally different when you have a fast PIV doing the work. My comments were never about the speed of USB...
That and you can get a 1gb CF card for less than $200 now...

Later,
James

  

Does anyone have a know of a better hd than this? http://www.wdc.com/en/products/usb80gb.asp