Setting up 120gb SSD

[AshtonPete]

Recently bought the FastIDE Mk4 controller and previously an IndAGAmk2cr for my 1200 desktop.

I am trying to use a 120gig SSD Agility3 but its having none of it.

When I go into HDToolbox I get all ghosted buttons. It has no trouble setting up an CF card and seeing as I now have large drive support surely it should recognize the presence of an SSD. Any ideas please?

[dlfrsilver]

which workbench are you using ? 3.1 ? Try OS 3.5 instead

[thomas]

Originally Posted by dlfrsilver

which workbench are you using ?

Doesn't matter. The HDD needs to be recognised by the ROM driver, otherwise you'll never be able to boot from it.

@AshtonPete:

Are IDE drives recognised?

Do other SATA devices work on this adapter?

Does the SSD work in a PC? Is a firmware update available?

Does the SSD + IDE adapter work in a PC?

Does the Adapter have a master/slave jumper?

Is the IDE cable connected to the correct channel on the FastATA?

Is the IDE cable connected in the correct direction?

[rare_j]

Is that an ide to sata adapter? Have you tried another sata device? Perhaps the adapter has compatibility issues with such an old ide interface.

Edit; thomas beat me to it, and asked better questions as well.

[supaduper]

pasted from elsewhere something I was thinking myself:

PIO and UDMA are different transfer modes: how the drive communicates with the rest of the system. In essence, they determine how fast data can travel to and from the drive. PIO modes are very old modes with limited transfer rates. UDMA modes are newer, with higher transfer

problem I think is mode related and have you changed the drive from GPT to MBR ? just something else into the mix !

[thomas]

Originally Posted by supaduper

have you changed the drive from GPT to MBR ?

Neither will work on the Amiga. It has to be changed to RDB and HDToolbox is exactly the right tool to do this, if only it could see the drive.

[supaduper]

Originally Posted by thomas

Neither will work on the Amiga. It has to be changed to RDB and HDToolbox is exactly the right tool to do this, if only it could see the drive.

Thanks for the info
perhaps its just like the CF card situation where some work some dont ,pot luck ?

[Amiga1992]

Little bit of overkill to put this in the Amiga though... You're just asking for a bit of trouble, what with the huge size and SATA interface/adapters/whatnot. Not really surprise it wouldn't work.

[AshtonPete]

Wow! I never expected such responses in such a short time....please keep it coming.
@Thomas...I have a couple of high end PCs but they don't have IDE so I can't test the adaptor, but yes the SSD does work very well in a pc direct to a sata lead. However I will set up an old pc system I have with IDE and try it.
I have to say that I would have assumed the adaptor of which I bought from Amigakit would have been flawless with jumpers set up ready, maybe I shouldn't overestimate hardware to be set up correctly all the time. I'll look into jumper settings.
@ Dlfrsilver...I am using 3.1

And while I am nattering on I did try a 10 gig IDE HD I had knocking about which I know to be a goodun. I never got ghosted buttons with that and was able to get to partition drive...BUT! the partition tool was all over the place highlighting blocks randomly...I'll have to make a little video of it happening. But my priority is this SSD.

@Akira
I know exactly where you are coming from...There is probably no more than 15 gig of Amiga stuff ever developed (Someone correct me if I am wrong) But with me its a kind of greed, its something I want because I can have it. I have 10Terrabyte of swag on my PC and I need more, I just want to make sure I have enough space on my miggy. If they made a 20 gig SSD I would use that.

[fitzsteve]

@AshtonPete

I think you are using the secondary IDE channel and this wont be active without first running the ATA3 driver. Try on the primary channel.

Also your HDD will need to be jumpered for 'master' (via the adapter I presume)

[Thorham]

Originally Posted by Akira

Little bit of overkill to put this in the Amiga though... You're just asking for a bit of trouble, what with the huge size and SATA interface/adapters/whatnot. Not really surprise it wouldn't work.

I'd be really surprised if it diddn't work. It's just an HD with SATA to IDE. Nothing fancy. Bluray drives work, so why not an HD?

[Retrofan]

Make the install on WinUAE using PFS3 and it will magically work, I tell you.

[lukassid]

New sandisk cf cards are 120mb/s that is IDE limit or close to it. I doubt SSD make sense in Amiga. You gonna be lucky if you fill 5% of your disk plus not using it's full potential.
If you make it work can you run some benchmark and check what speeds you're getting on your miggy? Good luck

[Thorham]

Originally Posted by lukassid

I doubt SSD make sense in Amiga.

It makes sense for people who want it for their hobby

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by AshtonPete

If they made a 20 gig SSD I would use that.

There are smaller SSDs for sure, probably 32GB. But I found that even filling up 4GB is asking for WAY TOO MUCH. A 16GB CF would be your best bet for use on something like this. Also it's smaller, produces less heat, etc. etc. and it's quite a reliable thing, as lukassid says.

Yes, ok, you CAN put it there, but personally, I want to be more practical and not overdo things for no reason (and specially I *hate* wasting resources).

[Thorham]

Originally Posted by Akira

But I found that even filling up 4GB is asking for WAY TOO MUCH.

Four gigs is way too easy to fill up I find. WHDLoad packs, lots of 24bit BMP files, huge 700 mb WAV files (CDs). You can't have too much storage space.

[AshtonPete]

Its one of them things with me...call it nostalgia?...many have said to me why the hell are you bothering with old crud when there are bigger newer and better things. To me its akin to my line of work...I have just finished restoring a 28 ton WW2 tank and took me 2 years, I would sooner restore a 1940 tank than a modern day'ish one. With the Amiga 1200 I loved it, but PC took the world market and 20 years ago I was forced to go with the flow and I sold my Amiga. But now its brilliant to see so many people who still love their Amigas and are bouncing back. And to see that some companies are actually producing hardware to up grade the Amiga is awesome...Hopefully one day someone with lots of dosh will resurrect what we all love.

[fitzsteve]

Whether or not it's practical isn't the question here, the OP is looking for advice on getting his SSD working.

Theoretically it should since the FastATA can even support drives over 128gb.

Retrofan makes some sound advice, setting up on WinUAE would be an advantage however if the drive isn't even seen at hardware level that wont make a difference to the issue on hand.

Something isn't hooked up or setup correctly, once that's rectified it will work. I have an adapter for my SSD from 44way-40way and it's very unreliable, sometimes my Amiga just wouldn't see the drive attached at all, refitting would fix it.

I imagine a similar issue is the cause here. I would suggest trying another SATA HDD to see if that's picked up.

And of course double check Thomas' earlier suggestions

[AshtonPete]

I bought one of them 4 gigs CF's off eBid and the system partition is ridiculous. Its only about 51 meg which is a joke...the rest is filled up with games of which a lot do not work anyway.

[Retrofan]

Well I said "Make it on WinUAE and it will magically work"... hehe. Well, what happens making it on the Pc is that you'll have more possibilities to discover -and fix- that for example you've got already a primary partition there that you don't want to be there.

On the Pc you can run diskpart, and with it:

Originally Posted by thomas

Do not use Assign and Format. Use Clean, Create Partition Primary and Delete Partition. This should leave an empty MBR on the card which can be used by WinUAE. WinUAE does not allow to write to the disk if drive letters are assigned.

Later you can run WinUAE as administrator and add the harddrive.