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CFast card reverse engineering
  • Pedro_MiguelPedro_Miguel

    sata 2.5 hard drive connected to atomos cfast usb card reader today i was able to conect an sata 2.5 hard drive to a atomos cfast usb card reader, just because the data transfer pins are the same as a sata drive, so easy. now is simple to plug your sata drives to Atomos ninja star, just make and female to female sata cable . and no more exepensive cfast cards, just unexpensive sata 2.5 hard drives.

    Power just add a sata power plug , or make an female to female sata power cable.

  • 7 Replies sorted by
  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Well, how about pictures and more precise details.

    Otherwise it has nothing to do with "reverse engineering", as CFast cards already use SATA.

  • Pedro_MiguelPedro_Miguel

    ok but i never saw someone using sata 2.5 hard drive on a atomos ninja star , because manny people say cfast cards are too expensive , i share this because i has able to record prores HQ in a atomos ninja star directly to 2.5 sata hard drive, and this is good news. just need to get external power to sata hard drive because the cfast slot only have 3.3v. in this oictures i use sata power from a computer and pluged sata cable directly to ninja star. the sata connector need some custs in the plastic part just to make shure in fits good.

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  • Pedro_MiguelPedro_Miguel

    final solution , tested and working

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  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Cool, please scale images to normal size (800-100x width is pretty good).

  • peterdewolfpeterdewolf

    Hello Miguel, this is a really great experiment, thank you for sharing. I just committed to buying a ninja star but was very disappointed to find I was stuck with CFast cards. I'm wondering if the SSD could be powered by an off the shelf usb power source, the kind that are used to power iphones, gopros etc.

  • peterdewolfpeterdewolf

    just been doing some more research on this Miguel as I'm going to try it. Apparently from what I have learned, there is no reason why the sata drive cannot be powered by taking power from the battery on the Atomos, or simply make an enclosure/caddy that holds the drive and a second similar long life battery as a unit.

  • peterdewolfpeterdewolf

    OK came across this. Haven't got one yet but it looks promising, http://www.microsatacables.com/cfast-data-breakout-cable-to-22-pin-sata-female-connector-cfast-brk-892 So it looks like it will do the data transfer but I wonder how it draws power from the CFast connection. PS. Power from the CFast port will only be 3.5 v and the drive needs 5v so no need to buy this, as Miguel says you just need a sata to sata cable then a 5v power source like an iPhone charge unit.

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