Upgrading/Replacing Micro-ATA Drives - Toshiba, Failures, and SSD's (CF-07)

I've been trying to replace the hard drive in a CF-07, which has the "micro-ATA"-style connector for the 1.8" drive, and am looking for some recommendations. At the bottom of this post is a picture of this type of drive and connector, courtesy of Addonics.

This CF-07 had a ~5 GB hard drive. This hard drive form factor isn't as common (it's easier to find 1.8" drives with ZIF connectors), so I initially tried to replace that drive with a compatible Toshiba hard drive I found that was new but "old stock."

Unfortunately, the drive that was shipped to me was no good. I attempted to request warranty service from Toshiba, but their response was that they considered the warranty period to start from the date of manufacture but not the date of purchase. Given this rather absurd and non-standard interpretation of the warranty period, I eventually contacted the Better Business Bureau that covers Irvine, CA. That went no better, and Toshiba's response was the following:

Up to a point we always determine warranty based on either the manufacture date or the purchase date whichever works to the customers advantage. This drive however was just to old. The age of the drive also indicates it was sold second hand or used and not from and authorized Toshiba distributor [emphasis mine].​

Note that they didn't use actual customer data such as serial numbers, registration information, etc., but blindly made these assumptions based solely on the age of the drive. In response to this, I provided Toshiba with the Toshiba Authorized Reseller ID of where I had purchased this drive, which disproved their presumptive purchase claim.

Toshiba response to this, which was the final step in the BBB's standard process, was a snippy, "Please refer to our intitial comments on the matter" that completely ignored the refutation of their initial claim.


So, I'm none too pleased with Toshiba right now, but I still need a new drive. I've looked to see what solid state options might be available. I've seen that Samsung made some compatible drives at one time, but though I've seen one seller claim these were SLC, I've yet to see any documentation either way on whether these were SLC or MLC. RunCore has a drive that might work, but it's MLC (and RunCore?).

Any suggestions on drives of this type that might still be available?

 

Well... if you find a good deal on any Magellan RoadMate 760 GPS, they use that very drive. Should be pretty cheap on eBay right now. I've got one sitting in my drawer, but the HDD is what died in it... after I punched it off the dash.

mnem
Spastic ostrich.