Evergreen converts Compact Flash cards into a solid state disk drive

Evergreen is selling in Japan a 2.5” “CF to SSD” case that houses two adapters for Compact Flash cards. In essence, the device provides a very simple opportunity to build a solid state disk (SSD) drive. There is no performance data available, but Gekkstuff4u.com, which sells the device, says that data transfer speed depends on the CF card that are being used in combination with the CF to SSD drive.

If you have a few CF cards laying around, the product may be the foundation for a relatively cheap SSD ; however, if you plan on buying CF cards extra fro this device, don’t expect any significant price advantages. Gekkstuff4u.com sells the case for about $215. 8 GB CF cards currently sell in the range between $60 and $120, which brings such a 16 GB SSD to about $375 - $500, including shipping.

A quick check of Pricegrabber.com and Google’s Product Search reveals that regular 16 GB SSDs, including devices from Transcend and Super Talent are available for as low as $350.

The Evergreen case gets more interesting with higher capacity CF cards, since 32 GB SSDs are virtually non existent in the U.S. retail market at this time. We found 16 GB CF cards on Pricegrabber.com for as low as $130, which brings a 32 GB CF to SSD device to about $500, including shipping.