CF-U1 anyone?

I was going to PM you, but you don't have enough posts.

 

its sad. can you mail me on dontaskmeforhelp at yandex dot ru?

 

I agree that the Transcend 64Gbyte SSD is horribly slow. It is a pity that Samsung only go up to 32 gigs. Yet for me the extra disk space just about outweighs the slowness.

I have coaxed slightly more performance out of the CF-U1, running Windows 7, with the third party program PrimoCache. This adds a layer of disk caching over and above Windows's built-in disk cache. You can configure the cache as write-back so that disk writes will be buffered in memory and written out some minutes later. This obviously introduces the risk of data loss if there is a crash or power failure in the meantime, but I haven't had blue screens on the CF-U1 and since it has batteries there is less risk of a sudden power outage. With 400 megabytes of RAM configured for disk cache (out of 2 gigs total RAM) the disk slowness is mitigated a bit.

I have also used Windows's built in disk compression (run 'compact' from the command prompt) which should reduce disk access a little bit at the cost of some CPU usage. The CPU on the CF-U1 isn't that quick either, but it is not nearly as slow as the 64 gig SSD. Apparently PrimoCache is able to cache the compressed file data, while Windows's built-in cache stores data uncompressed, so turning on compression should help the 400 megs of cache go further.

Other steps to reduce disk access are turning off the disk cache in Firefox and disabling the Windows swap file. I would like to also configure Microsoft Outlook not to use its on-disk database (so making it fetch all messages direct from the server) but that would mean I could no longer use it in offline mode when going out of reception.

One trick I have not yet tried is to use an SD card as additional cache. PrimoCache lets you set one device as a read cache of another; the normal use for this is to use a small SSD as a cache for a larger but slower spinning disk. However, I need to benchmark carefully to see if an SD card in the CF-U1's card reader is any faster than the SSD in its disk slot.

 

I will be back soon playing with my U1's again. I got a Mk2 with busted screen and 64gb SSD from the factory I will be fixing and test running. Also a Deluxe model Mk1 with Cameras.

I did run bench marks on the SD card I used in the CF-U1 Mk1 but it seems I didn't log it. This is my thread that has the bench marks of the standard 16gb SSD in the U1.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/panasonic/700414-28-days-cf-u1.html

 

Can you please check the manufacturer and model number of this factory-installed SSD?

 

I am on the rig right now. I get home on the 23rd. Just "remind me" and I will look it up.

 

/poke

 

Poke seen, Let me dig it out of the shed and see what we have.

 

Model Number:CF-U1GQGUG2M
Status ISCONTINUED
MSRP:$4,053
Description: WinXP (Win7 COA), Intel Atom Z530 1.60GHz, Ultra, 5.6" WSVGA Touch, 64GB SSD, 2GB, Intel WiFi a/b/g/n, Bluetooth, No Drive, TPM, No Pass Through, 2D Bar, 2MP Cam, Gobi, No Drive, Toughbook Preferred

It left the factory this way.

TRANSCEND
TS64GAZP6140M3
TS64GSSD10-M

So it looks like the only 64 gb ssd drive is the Transcend one, this should be factory unless someone swapped them, but I highly doubt that. We will just have to wait till I can benchmark it with windows 7 to compare. I will have to do one of the factory 32gb ones as well.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/safjist_nipnog/

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Thank you! But actually that's sad, because I have same SSD and it's damn slow. I hoped Panasonic will install another one, which is at least as fast as original 16GB samsung.

Also if anyone interested, Option's GTM671WFS works perfectly in CF-U1, providing WiFi+3G+GPS just in one card. The only problem is that you will need to disassemble device to change the SIM card, huh. It could be easier with a half-size GTM671W and a long enough SIM adapter to put it into SSD caddy space, but I had only a full-sized card here.

 

If I remember right Transcend on there original PDF listed it as a 30mb cap speed. Testing will be the only way to see if they released a second SSD under the same part number. The 32GB is the highest you can get from the factory on the Mk1, maybe the speed isn't capped as bad on a Mk2 motherboard.