The Lifedrive Revisited: Lifedrive News 2010

Palm LifeDrive Mobile ManagerPalmOne 3218WW Aluminum Hard Case for LifeDrive Mobile Manager 
A non-nostalgic look at the Lifedrive news for today.  All information is current as of June 21st, 2010.

I will try to do a few updates to keep many of you abreast of information in the Lifedrive Universe.  It still exists, can you believe that?   Right now, I am still wondering if anyone is running Linux on the Lifedrive or if that effort has been abandoned?  I hope you find some of the information below helpful.  I will try to make a repository for Lifedrive news as time permits.  It's still an interesting device.

A quick roundup of Lifedrive news:



Noted a few 4gb Compact Flash Sites.  Appears that adding a Compact Flash card is big business in some parts of the country.  Still a little pricey, but at least people seem to care:

Unity Electronics is offering the card with installation for $79.

Site (http://www.unityelectronics.com/products/5196/Palm_LifeDrive_4GB_CompactFlash_Drive_Upgrade_Plug_and_Play_SanDisk_Ultra_II_CF_Memory_Card_New)


o  A blast from the past,  Sammy's PalmAddicts 2006 article that started the craze, written and performed by Vincent Torralba, Jr.  A How-To guide on replacing the hard drive in the Lifedrive with a CF card.

Site (http://palmaddict.typepad.com/palmaddicts/2006/09/my_lifeflash_fo.html).


o  How-to-Wikia has a very good article on doing the same.  It's pretty much the same information as Vincent's but included here for your perusal.

Site: ( http://how-to.wikia.com/wiki/How_to_replace_microdrive_with_compactflash_in_Palm_LifeDrive)


o  Palm, the company, is having a firesale on Lifedrive and other Palm accessories.  Now through June 30th, you can pick up a Lifedrive leather case (I used to have one of these), previously $30, now for $7.

Site:  (The Palm Store (until June 30th, 2010))


o  There is now a Wikipedia site devoted to the Lifedrive.

(Site:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LifeDrive)


o  The Kingston Cards are now selling at Firesale prices again,  although I wonder about this ad?  States that it is an 8GB Kingston CF card, but as far as I know, the Lifedrive can only handle 4GB memory.  I could be wrong, but for $20 it looks like a steal.  But some photographers are having some issues with it.  Read the reviews before buying.

Site:  Amazon Kingston 8 gig CF





o  The Lifedrive is still chugging along, as witnessed by a few Forum posts.  Note the date June 10, 2010:

Site:  http://forums.palm.com/t5/Support-Downloads/LifeDrive-Manager-HardDrive-Crashed/m-p/304252



o  Lifedrive Used Parts:

Site:  http://usedpdaparts.com/Lifedrive.html


o  OKAY, so I saved the best for last.  I ran into this ad a few days ago while surfing the web.  It's a pity that I cannot put it on my site selectively as an ad.  I really want to.   There is a company out in Mankato, Minnesota that will sell you a used Lifedrive with a 4gb CF card installed for about $160.  They can also replace the glass on your lifedrive with what they call a glass digitizer, which is an additional $25 if you want it installed on your CF unit.

Site:  http://www.palmdr.com/cart/palm-lifedrive-mobile-manager-palm-os-garnet-54-416-mhz-p-3.html


The company also repairs Lifedrives, which may come in handy for some of the defunct Lifedrives being toted around on Ebay.


LDD.