I tried putting a CF card into the MR-1 last night.
Didn't work. I turned it on, and it locked up at the start up screen. I couldn't turn it off, so I had to disassemble it and hot plug back in the hard drive. From there, it booted up normally.
The details:
The hard drive in the MR-1 is a Hitachi ZIF drive in a plastic case for shock protection. There is a small hole for the ZIF connector, so you can easily detach it.
I ordered a ZIF > CF card adapter from eBay, and used a cheap pqi 2 GB card. I copied over the files from the MR-1 onto the CF card.
Taking apart the MR-1 is pretty easy. It is held together by 4 screws. The sides come off and then the back panel comes off easily. If you are going to attempt this, I suggest to tape the switches on the top to the back panel. These are not secured in, and will fall on the floor. They are easy to place back, but taping it is simpler.
The battery on mine isn't bolted in, unless the connector is soldered. The connector is plugged into one of the logic boards and a gentle tug didn't unplug it. I would have to unscrew the logic boards to see if the connector is permanently soldered on.
I'm open to suggestions! If someone knows of an easy way to shut down the MR-1, let me know.
Ted
update: 1. Found the reset switch! It is a small hole on the side, and powers down when you insert a push-pin.
2. I cloned the MR-1 hard drive using Acronis True-Image. The CF card now looks and acts like an HD when you mount it on a PC or Mac, but still no luck when I install it in the MR-1. Will keep trying!
Has anyone tried sticking a solid state drive in one of these yet? That should improve the run time on the stock battery and reduce heat quite a bit. I remember some talk of doing that last year.
Later,
pjdavep