A4000T & Transcend PATA SSD

hiho · 21 March 2013, 16:11

I have an A4000T with OS3.9 and Boing Bag 2.

I'm trying to connect a Transcend 2.5 PATA SSD (TS32GPSD320) to the motherboard IDE connector.

The OS sees the drive. I can install it and partition it. The Max Transfer setting defaults to 0X0001FE00. After partitioning, I can quick format the drives. After a reboot, the partitions appear on Workbench. Everything is fine until I attempt to copy data onto one of these partitions. The copy freezes almost immediately.

I then started over and used PFS3. I was successful again up until the copy. This time though, several files managed to get moved before the freeze. PFS3 defaults to a different Max Transfer. The note I wrote that down on seems to have escaped my desk.

I also tried a Samsung 16GB PATA SSD and had essentially the same results. I even tried with both of them together as master and slave and that didn't work either.

Am I doing something obviously wrong here?

Cymru · 25 March 2013, 00:10

Well it is not obvious! I use a OCZ SATA 128Gb SSD with an adapter without issue, but others have had problems with SSD's that is model specific.

hiho · 25 March 2013, 14:21

My next step is to order an IDE CF adapter.

I plan to use it as the master and the SSD as a slave.

I have vague memories of situations in which I had to swap master/slave relationship on hard drives to get them to work with some controllers.

This may not be the problem here but it is worth a try.

Ami_GFX · 25 March 2013, 14:44

I've never tried a ssd in an A4000. I recently got an A4000T and put a CF adapter with a 4gb CF card in it that I couldn't get working in my A4000D and it's worked flawlessy. I can't explain why. Same adapter, different 4gb card. The card I used before was a 4gb Kingston that has worked for others. I'm using a 4gb Delkin UDMA now. I might try the Kingston card again to see if it works.

With the A4000T, I'm mostly using SCSI and one thing I've thought about trying is an IDE SSD DOM module. They plug right into the IDE header and are fairly inexepensive. No second IDE device but no cables either. There are also DOM CF adapters which are even cheaper.

thomas · 25 March 2013, 17:07

Quote:

Same adapter, different 4gb card.

A CF-IDE adapter is just a dumb 1:1 pin connector. The IDE controller sits on the CF card. So a different adapter would not make any difference but a different CF card surely does.

Ami_GFX · 26 March 2013, 04:38

It could be the CF card. I also wonder if there might be some small difference in the IDE circuitry of the two A4000s. My A4000D is an early Buster 9 Commodore A4000D and my A4000T is a 1995 Amiga Technologies A4000T. I just bought another CF adapter with an transcend 4gb CF card and I have another identical Delkin 4gb card so I can test all possibilities. I also bought a couple of the DOM CF adapters I mentioned. I have a RAID board that had 2 matched 3.5 IDE drives attached, and I want to test it with the DOM CF adapters and identical CF cards.

Cymru · 26 March 2013, 12:21

Adding a CF card will not fix the fact that some SSD's just won't work with the Amiga. I tried to get folks to come up with a list of working drives, but no one contributed to the thread.

The A4000T seems to have a more robust IDE interface than the A4000D and A1200's. I only have A4000Ts from Amiga Technologies though. The 4091 SCSI in the A4000T is very robust as well, giving the T an advantage of working with a wide variety of devices. As this has been my only Amiga since 1996, my comments on drive compatibility is slanted.

Ami_GFX · 27 March 2013, 01:50

I'm having a remarkably easy time getting things to work with my A4000T in comparison to the A4000D. The IDE and SCSI are indeed robust. When I pulled out the original SCSI drive and examined the SCSI chain, I found it was incorrectly terminated and, obviously, had been working for years that way. Another thing I've found is that my A4000T with no boards or extra drives installed draws around 60 watts. My A4000D, 84 watts. For all it's size and capacity compared to the A4000D, this is remarkable. Quite nice for doing a Toaster/Flyer system. 24 watts is just about what the 2 146gb Flyer drives I'm putting in the bottom drive bays in removable SCSI racks draw. I've moved all the video boards from the A4000D to the A4000T plus a Flyer card that came with it, and it draws less wattage with a 10,000 rpm SCSI drive active than the A4000D did with just the Toaster, TBC and s-video board. In many ways, this is, indeed, the best Amiga ever made and not all of the ways are obvious.

hiho · 28 March 2013, 22:15

I tried a second IDE SSD with similar failed results.

I've now installed a double compact flash adapter on the IDE port. It seems to be working very well.

Ultimately, my goal is to migrate over to the compact flash cards and then redo my hard disk (attached to SCSI via an IDE-SCSI adapter) with PFS3. After that, who knows.

Cymru · 30 March 2013, 01:37

If you check the Miggy forums you find lots of issues with SSDs. I just lucked out and got one that doesn't care what it is connected to.

21 March 2013, 16:11	#1
hiho Registered User Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: San Antonio, USA Posts: 76	A4000T & Transcend PATA SSD I have an A4000T with OS3.9 and Boing Bag 2. I'm trying to connect a Transcend 2.5 PATA SSD (TS32GPSD320) to the motherboard IDE connector. The OS sees the drive. I can install it and partition it. The Max Transfer setting defaults to 0X0001FE00. After partitioning, I can quick format the drives. After a reboot, the partitions appear on Workbench. Everything is fine until I attempt to copy data onto one of these partitions. The copy freezes almost immediately. I then started over and used PFS3. I was successful again up until the copy. This time though, several files managed to get moved before the freeze. PFS3 defaults to a different Max Transfer. The note I wrote that down on seems to have escaped my desk. I also tried a Samsung 16GB PATA SSD and had essentially the same results. I even tried with both of them together as master and slave and that didn't work either. Am I doing something obviously wrong here?

25 March 2013, 00:10	#2
Cymru Registered User Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Dorathea/AT Posts: 376	A4000T & Transcend PATA SSD Well it is not obvious! I use a OCZ SATA 128Gb SSD with an adapter without issue, but others have had problems with SSD's that is model specific.

26 March 2013, 12:21	#7
Cymru Registered User Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Dorathea/AT Posts: 376	A4000T & Transcend PATA SSD Adding a CF card will not fix the fact that some SSD's just won't work with the Amiga. I tried to get folks to come up with a list of working drives, but no one contributed to the thread. The A4000T seems to have a more robust IDE interface than the A4000D and A1200's. I only have A4000Ts from Amiga Technologies though. The 4091 SCSI in the A4000T is very robust as well, giving the T an advantage of working with a wide variety of devices. As this has been my only Amiga since 1996, my comments on drive compatibility is slanted.

30 March 2013, 01:37	#10
Cymru Registered User Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Dorathea/AT Posts: 376	A4000T & Transcend PATA SSD If you check the Miggy forums you find lots of issues with SSDs. I just lucked out and got one that doesn't care what it is connected to.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Clearing out a lot of stuff, A4000T & Zorro Boards, BPPC&Bvision , A1000 etc	fitzsteve	MarketPlace	3	29 January 2013 00:03
My new SSD! Transcend 4Gb IDE Flash Module	Mrs Beanbag	Hardware pics	48	14 December 2012 23:05
Refurbished A4000T, PicassoIV & A1200 for sale at Amibay	fitzsteve	MarketPlace	1	19 January 2012 12:17
New 2.5" PATA SSD from WD	alexh	Amiga scene	1	18 June 2009 00:12
Ultimate A4000T with Video Toaster & PowerMac	Pyromania	MarketPlace	0	23 June 2002 16:27

25 March 2013, 14:21	#3
hiho Registered User Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: San Antonio, USA Posts: 76	My next step is to order an IDE CF adapter. I plan to use it as the master and the SSD as a slave. I have vague memories of situations in which I had to swap master/slave relationship on hard drives to get them to work with some controllers. This may not be the problem here but it is worth a try.

25 March 2013, 14:44	#4
Ami_GFX Registered User Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: USA North America Posts: 211	I've never tried a ssd in an A4000. I recently got an A4000T and put a CF adapter with a 4gb CF card in it that I couldn't get working in my A4000D and it's worked flawlessy. I can't explain why. Same adapter, different 4gb card. The card I used before was a 4gb Kingston that has worked for others. I'm using a 4gb Delkin UDMA now. I might try the Kingston card again to see if it works. With the A4000T, I'm mostly using SCSI and one thing I've thought about trying is an IDE SSD DOM module. They plug right into the IDE header and are fairly inexepensive. No second IDE device but no cables either. There are also DOM CF adapters which are even cheaper.

26 March 2013, 04:38	#6
Ami_GFX Registered User Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: USA North America Posts: 211	It could be the CF card. I also wonder if there might be some small difference in the IDE circuitry of the two A4000s. My A4000D is an early Buster 9 Commodore A4000D and my A4000T is a 1995 Amiga Technologies A4000T. I just bought another CF adapter with an transcend 4gb CF card and I have another identical Delkin 4gb card so I can test all possibilities. I also bought a couple of the DOM CF adapters I mentioned. I have a RAID board that had 2 matched 3.5 IDE drives attached, and I want to test it with the DOM CF adapters and identical CF cards.

27 March 2013, 01:50	#8
Ami_GFX Registered User Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: USA North America Posts: 211	I'm having a remarkably easy time getting things to work with my A4000T in comparison to the A4000D. The IDE and SCSI are indeed robust. When I pulled out the original SCSI drive and examined the SCSI chain, I found it was incorrectly terminated and, obviously, had been working for years that way. Another thing I've found is that my A4000T with no boards or extra drives installed draws around 60 watts. My A4000D, 84 watts. For all it's size and capacity compared to the A4000D, this is remarkable. Quite nice for doing a Toaster/Flyer system. 24 watts is just about what the 2 146gb Flyer drives I'm putting in the bottom drive bays in removable SCSI racks draw. I've moved all the video boards from the A4000D to the A4000T plus a Flyer card that came with it, and it draws less wattage with a 10,000 rpm SCSI drive active than the A4000D did with just the Toaster, TBC and s-video board. In many ways, this is, indeed, the best Amiga ever made and not all of the ways are obvious.

28 March 2013, 22:15	#9
hiho Registered User Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: San Antonio, USA Posts: 76	I tried a second IDE SSD with similar failed results. I've now installed a double compact flash adapter on the IDE port. It seems to be working very well. Ultimately, my goal is to migrate over to the compact flash cards and then redo my hard disk (attached to SCSI via an IDE-SCSI adapter) with PFS3. After that, who knows.

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)