Naomi / Triforce / Chihiro Compact Flash

Sega recently released a Compact Flash device compatible with Naomi 1 & 2 / Triforce (Type 3) and Chihiro (Type 3). The idea is to replace the very unreliable and no longer supported GDROM drives with something a lot more reliable. It uses a custom Compact Flash reader which is pretty basic and a 512MB CF card to store the game(s).

Seeing how basic the reader was I decided to see if I could make my own using a PC CF reader. I wanted my version to be in a drop in replacement for the GDROM drive just like Sega's version. This means I had to add a SCSI-2 port for the data to go to the DIMM board and a 6 pin power connector to attach to the power splitter.

The project took about 3 days, 2 days to document everything and another day modding and soldering 40 odd wires to complete.

Here you can see my CF reader hooked up to a Triforce (Type 3).

I picked this Unitek CF reader even though it is sold as a SATA CF reader because it is about the only one that comes in a case that isn't USB. Also it has an unused IDE connector on the PCB which is ideal to solder the SCSI-2 connector to.

I have written a guide for this project and will be uploading it here once I have the time to finish it. Keep in mind you will need a official CF card for Triforce / Chihiro games to work. Naomi on the other hand does have a hacked DIMM firmware floating about which allows other CF cards to work.