External CF Drive
The External CF Drive is an external CF Card reader solution designed for use on the Apple II MicroDrive controller. The External CF Drive however is standard IDE so it can also be used on other Controllers or Platforms.
The project was conceived, created, and designed by Henry of ReActiveMicro and released for sale to the Apple II Community in early 2006.
Project Status: Reopened and under Active development as of March 2017.
Support: Post on the Discussion page (link above) or email ReActiveMicro Support.
Sales: Out of production / No stock. New units planned for release in 2nd Quarter of 2017.
History
The External CF Drive project was released for sale to the Apple II Community in early 2006. As the name implies, the External CF Drive was designed to operate externally from the Apple II Platform. It's essentially a CD Card Reader on a long IDE Cable.
Since the development of CF Card Mass Storage solution like the MicroDrive users have needed to open their Apple II systems in order to access their CF Cards. For many this can be an inconvenience as many system setups have Drives and Monitors on them. Disconnection of peripherals and cables may also be required, adding to the time required.
CF Card access is required when the user wishes to backup or transfer files between the Apple II and PC/Mac.
The External CF Drive was also produced for a short time in 2008 in an aluminum enclosure.
In 2017 the project was reopened and development started once again. A lot had changed since the last time the External CF Drive was offered for sale. Custom enclosures were now possible which allows for a much better solution at a lower cost. Planned release is in the 2nd Quarter of 2017.
Features
The External CF Drive allows for a more user friendly experience when using a CF Card on the Apple II platform.
It looks and acts just like a traditional Floppy Drive. Since the CF Card is located outside of the Apple II (or other platform) the user can more simply access it.
There are no differences or performance decreases compared to a "standard" IDE CF Card Adapter.