SSD on Amiga?

[dirkies]

I wonder with the prices of SSDs coming down and Amiga not needing much space, I wonder how eg a 40GB Intel V SSD (about 75 euro, new) would behave if connected to some IDE2SATA adapter. The speed of this SSD is low in PC terms but probably unseen on Amiga IDE anyway.
I did read some issue with such setups that it would not boot, maybe solved also in the meantime.
Also, these are SATA2 drives, I had some IDE2SATA1 adapters but these do not work on SATA2 drives, so also something to be aware of I guess...

Any ideas or maybe someone who tried it already?

[Jope]

It'll be faster than needed. A compact flash card is also fast enough but a lot cheaper.

If you already have the parts, go for it. If not, then perhaps you might want to consider a CF card instead.

[dirkies]

got an A4000, not sure if it is easier to mod it to a CF or use IDE2ATA instead?

[Jope]

There's no modification needed. You can get IDE -> CF adapters that plug into just about any kind of IDE connector, the A4000's 40 pin male connector included.

[dirkies]

anyone has an idea what the raw max read & write speed is of an A4000?
I got a 060 CSII + SCSI in it, but with an SSD I obviously will use the (now unused) IDE port.

[Hewitson]

Get a SCSI > IDE converter. It'd be a real shame to use onboard IDE instead of the SCSI controller of the CSII.

[Jope]

Seconded.. DMA SCSI is so much better than motherboard IDE that it's worth spending the money for a SCSIDE bridge.

[alexh]

Originally Posted by dirkies

anyone has an idea what the raw max read & write speed is of an A4000?

It's dependant on the speed of the CPU.

[Photon]

We all know the differences between CF cards, many work great but some are unusable for various reasons. I'd hate to buy an SSD and it didn't work BUT: It might be that SSDs are naturally more compatible for use as harddrives and would just automatically work. In fact, it's likely.

There isn't much to choose from in either SCSI or IDE, but Hong Kong dealers on eBay sell KingSpec 32GB IDE 2.5" SSDs for $100 that could potentially be perfect for Amiga use. I bought one for my laptop, and it's worked fine for 16 months. Thought about getting one for an Amiga, but figured it was overkill. Which it is.

Get a 2GB SanDisk Extreme III, they're perfect and super fast

[dirkies]

for speed, I got a "stock 68060/50 CS II". What can we expect? less 5MB/s ?

and SCSItoIDE adapter would not work, as the newer SSDs are all SATA2/SATA3.

You would need a SCSI - IDE and then an IDE - SATA.
A lot of converters but best way to get the speed.

[Mr B]

For some reason i think even a "older" PATA based SSD will do just fine for "any" Amiga needs, meaning he might be limited to 64GB or so, but only needs one converter. For the 44pin IDE interface he'll still need a passive adapter, but then the selections grows slightly again.
B!

[Photon]

Originally Posted by dirkies

for speed, I got a "stock 68060/50 CS II". What can we expect? less 5MB/s ?

and SCSItoIDE adapter would not work, as the newer SSDs are all SATA2/SATA3.

The IDE SSDs I referred to supported 70MB/s read and write, very fast. If you get a too modern SATA SSD it might require "TRIM" software (unavailable for Amiga of course) or go slow in a few months. Some SSDs have it built into the electronics.

I don't remember exactly, but I think the theoretical maximum someone had on his Blizzard SCSI was 20MB/s and he achieved 8-9MB/s on his 68060/50.

It's also very much about the access speed, which is the only main difference between different CF cards (and SSD have just as fast access speeds). So even 1MB/s with fast access speed will feel extremely fast, 2.5 MB/s is possible with just the CPU (SCSI DMA not needed) and with a good SSD/CF card you will boot to Workbench in 4 seconds DMA could be good if you play mp3 in the background on the Amiga.

[Jope]

There are also scsi to sata converters by acard.. No point in making it too difficult..

[ajk]

I have such a SATA-SCSI converter, and get around 21 MB/s on the CyberStormPPC (according to SysInfo anyway, haven't done any in-depth benchmarking). Only problem is that they are really expensive, particularly if you want to pair it with an SSD (I just use a regular 2.5" SATA hard drive).

[rkauer]

21,254,918 bytes per second is 20.2MB/s

[ajk]

Hmm... the point being? Sometimes the result is higher, sometimes lower. I don't think Sysinfo is the best program for exact results anyway.

[orange]

perhaps he wants you to use standard LoC/s units..

[NovaCoder]

I tried it, it doesn't work I'm afraid.

If you want to use an SATA SSD with an Amiga 1200 (using an IDE to SATA adapter) you need to use it on the secondary port of something like a FAST-ATA or IdeFix Express, you can't use it as your master (boot) device.

[dirkies]

so I will drop the idea and just keep using the SCSI drive in it, although it has been at least 8 years since I powered up my amigas!