Post your views and questions about the Akai MPC2500
By Maxidingue Wed Sep 05, 2012 9:32 am
Hi to all

I have just bought a brand new 2.5", IDE SSD hard drive for my MPC2500
Image
Here is the description
http://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B000T9QRKE/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1?ie=UTF8&smid=A4GXLMA617J3A

It fitted perfectly on the HDM-10 (but i had to remove the jumper to fit it)

When i booted my MPC after installation
1- the SSD HD is not recognized
2- my CD driver has disappeared

It seems to be an IDE's conflit

Any idea(s) ??

Many thanks for reply

Fabrice

Apologize for my bad english; je suis français
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By JUKE 179r Wed Sep 05, 2012 5:28 pm
Welcome to the Forums Fabrice!

I don't have a 2500 but try these...
- Check the Transcend website for any SSD firmware updates.
- Try and format the SSD drive (maybe FAT32?) on a computer before reinstalling it back in the 2500.
- You might need that jumper to use the SSD drive as "Master" or "Slave".
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By konc3pt Wed Sep 05, 2012 5:43 pm
in addition to Jukes suggestions do you have pin mod done on CD-ROM drive ?
JUKE 179r wrote:Welcome to the Forums Fabrice!

I don't have a 2500 but try these...
- Check the Transcend website for any SSD firmware updates.
- Try and format the SSD drive (maybe FAT32?) on a computer before reinstalling it back in the 2500.
- You might need that jumper to use the SSD drive as "Master" or "Slave".
By Maxidingue Wed Sep 05, 2012 6:25 pm
Dear friends

Many thanks for so fast reply
Unfortunately it is not possible to keep the jumper. You cannot inserted the 40 pins connector (the jumper is inserted on the last 2 pins so i had to remove it) in the HDM-10 if the jumper is insered
According to the SSD manual no pins equal to slave mode
I tried to remove the DVD reader but did not succeed (which screws to remove ??)

I have an old 2.5" hard drive in an older laptop that i'm gonna try to installed

Waiting for successful tips....

Cheers

MaxIdinGue
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By konc3pt Wed Sep 05, 2012 6:37 pm
if you flip over your mpc there's a silver screw positioned towards the center left...it is sitting in an indentation similar like the picture below, undo the screw and the cd-rom drive will slide out if you pull on it.

Image

if the SSD manual states no pins equal slave this tells me your cd-rom becomes a master which would epxlain why you dont see the hard disk...i am also inclined to think that you cd-rom drive dont got the pin mod done to it
By Maxidingue Thu Sep 06, 2012 9:31 am
Konc3pt,

Many thans for the reply and picture. I found the silver screw and was able to un mounted the DVD reader. Unfortunately there is no jumper on the back side of the reader.

My conclusion is that IDE/ATA SSD hard drive does not work in AKAI MPC

I have found a old 2.5 160 Go IDE ATA 100 Samsung 8Mo and it works fine

Image

My SSD HD will go inside my old laptop :lol:
Image

Many thanks for help

MaxIDINguE
By MPCdawk Tue Sep 11, 2012 3:23 pm
jrides wrote:Your conclusion is wrong.


Yeah, I would be a bit careful about using an MLC type memory cell SSD in a laptop as the only drive. MLC memory is only good for about 5000 write cycles before it starts to die.

There are some settings that need to be made on the PC to make sure it doesn't write to the drive constantly for certain things as that will just wear it out quicker. Of course the wear levelling system spreads the write cycles out all over the flash and quarantines the dead cells, so it will still last a good while. Personally I would use an SLC drive as the only hard disk in a laptop, but sadly they cost 5 times as much as an MLC drive.

The jumper settings on the Transcend are what's causing the problem as most drives have a "no jumper" = Master arrangement for the jumpers. I have to assume that the 2500 doesn't use cable select as the jumpering for CSEL is the same on the Transcend as for other drives. Therefore the 2500 is leaving those two jumper pins open as a default which causes the Transcend to appear as a slave. The CD drive is already a slave and with two slaves on a single IDE bus neither of them will work at all.

Seems like modding the HDM-10 to enable you to fit that jumper might be possible or as mentioned trying to set the CD drive to master (although the 2500 manual says the HD should be the master).

Shame about this hassle with Transcend drives as SSDs in an MPC are great - no spin up time and no noise. Can you send it back and get a different brand?
By MPCdawk Fri Sep 14, 2012 7:46 am
I was just looking at some images of the HDM-10 and it looks like there are some solder pads near the drive connector at the side where you would want to put the jumper. It may be possible that you can solder in a link to put the Transcend into master.

Another option is just to cut the link from the drive connector to the PCB and then join it to the link underneath it. That would short the two outermost pins on the Transcend which are the ones that set it to master. It would be better to cut both pins away from the PCB as I dont know what they would be connected to inside the MPC - most likely nothing because the MPC wants only the HD as the master drive.

This would certainly work but check on the data sheet first before cutting anything to make sure that pins A & B are cut and joined and NOT the other pins in the 44 pin interface. Another idea is a solder link added to the relevant pins on the HD and then drill out enough space in the connector for it to still fit normally. This would leave the HDM-10 still able to use other drives in the future.

If I had an HDM-10 in my hands I'm sure it would be possible to do something.

It 's just so stupid that you can't use the drive because it can't be set to master!
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By golfdogz Sun Sep 16, 2012 11:13 pm
jrides wrote:Shame about this hassle with Transcend drives as SSDs in an MPC are great - no spin up time and no noise. Can you send it back and get a different brand?


can anyone point me to a link or confirm of a type of SSD in an MPC that is confirmed to work?

ive been keeping my eye on this thread
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=40243

and was under the impression that there aren't any working - which i thought was wierd since id seen MPC's going on ebay with SSD's installed - but hell if there one that works that would be awesome!
By MPCdawk Mon Sep 17, 2012 9:41 am
Unfortunately I don't have a 2500 anymore, so I can't test any of the SSD drives I have.

Most genuine or true IDE SSD drives should work without issue as long as they can be set to master and still fit into the HDM-10.

There was a period where IDE SSD drives by Kingspec were actually SATA drives with some sort of adapter built in. These didn't work with the E-mu Ultra samplers in spite of the fact that they claimed to be backwards compatible to ATA3. So I'm not sure about those ones in the 2500.

Problem with the 2500 is space - there's no room to fit a SATA to IDE adapter which is what I use in the 4000 enabling the use of SATA SSD drives. Which is good because they are easier to get than IDE SSDs.