A couple of things ... if I use an MCU that's ethernet-capable, the problem goes away, since I can then UDP the data from A to B without involving Windows. My problem appears in that in my otherwise stabile and useful HP machines, the USB interface goes idle for on the order of half a minute at a time during these transfers. I have to move the 500 MB and do something with 'em at the PC end before the next hourly transfer from my downlink comes on.

The logic is all 5-volt compatible SPARTAN-2 because the interface is 5-volts. The hardware seems to work, but I have little confidence in Windows/USB managing it within an hour, or even three.

The notion of a DOS box talking to a CF module through an IDE interface is appealing. Turbo C can talk to a file on the CF "drive."

I've got the adapter, though I haven't been able to convince DOS, or Windows, for that matter, that it is a drive. If I plug the CF module into an adapter via USB, it sees it just fine. Plug the module into the IDE adapter, and it's not "seen."

RE