Hi,
 
I have a very specific preference to swap out IDE HD's in two DAW PC's that are quite old (running W2K and XP - don't laugh).  I would like to use SSD's dedicated only for Sonar projects, not for the OS.  I only record one track at a time (or at most a stereo track) so the load would be primarily reading many tracks and mixing.  By using SSD's it should in theory be much higher DAW performance and lower the strain on the PC power supply when playing back many tracks.  One sub-type called a DOM (Disk On Module) seems the most plug-n-play but the capacities are very small in the < 10GB range.
 
It would be tremendously helpful if some of you tech geeks could give me a quick basic brain dump on what type of drive I should look for and any other helpful hints and/or obstacles I should be aware of.  I know of SSD's only in theory, no experience, but am rather technical with PC's.   (And please control any urge to flame me or advise buying new computers, there are reasons I prefer to keep these systems alive)
 
Thank you for any help,
 
Sonic

Nobody?? ....

Does your motherboard have any PCIe slots, or is it PCI only with IDE headers for the drives?
 
If you have PCIe slots, then you can get an adapter for the SSD drives (which will be SATA), e.g. https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816115072&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-Skimlinks-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3987228&SID=1402X558040Xc45208ed901669de28c2d9a5e71328f0
 
I strongly doubt you'll be able to boot from them though in that configuration; storage use only.
 
If you don't have any PCIe slots, then IDE-SATA adapters are available but note that the SSD's performance will be severely hampered by the IDE interface (and possibly non-bootable), e.g.
 
https://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006519%2040003022&IsNodeId=1&Description=sata%20to%20ide%20adapter&name=Hard%20Drive%20Adapters&Order=BESTMATCH&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-Skimlinks-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3987228&SID=1402X558040X72d7d1d586f66ec2fa7b71e280f85955
 
In all honesty, the degree of ballache you're going to face getting modern SSDs working on such an old motherboard will be significantly higher than getting a modern motherboard and also upgrading your system.  Also, the performance will probably suck.  Your choice though.

I have to agree, even if you can get it to work somehow (which is iffy at best) you won't really gain anything as you would be using old IDE speed with a SATA device (in other words the SATA device will work at IDE speed thus nothing is gained).

You would get more benefit running your OS on an SSD than projects.

Thanks guys.  No PCIe, just PCI.  I won't need the drive for OS, just for project work.  I figure if I'm going to have to replace the drive then rather than put a standard HD in there, why not use an SSD that will probably be able to stream more tracks at once (if for no other reason there will be less head seeking) but also be more reliable and consume a bit less power as well. And generate less heat inside the system.   I see only positive reasons in using an SSD over standard HD in this situation.  If my thinking is incorrect please let me know.
 
Thanks,
 
      Sonic

You don't have a SATA-III controller on that motherboard.
Without PCIe slots, you can't add a SATA-III controller.
With SATA-II, you'd max out at ~300MB/Sec with SSD.
A current generation conventional SATA HD will sustain ~200MB/Sec.
 
If the motherboard has PCIe slots, you'd have better options for SSD.
 
 
 

Jim Roseberry

You don't have a SATA-III controller on that motherboard.
 
Without PCIe slots, you can't add a SATA-III controller.
 
With SATA-II, you'd max out at ~300MB/Sec with SSD.
 
A current generation conventional SATA HD will sustain ~200MB/Sec.
 
 

 
All this as compared to what at the moment with the standard 7200 HDD?  (About 100-130 MB/Sec range?)  I guess what is being conveyed in some replies is that the bottleneck is still going to be the IDE bus.  BUT surely if I'm streaming playback of something like 2 or 3 dozen tracks then the SSD would at least be a clear efficiency gain since there would be zero latency on the head seeks, right?    I can't recall for sure, but when I last tried to do large projects I think I was getting drop-outs and it took a few seconds for the playback to spin up (buffer up).  I'm guessing with SSD's I'd at least be able to come closer to the max IDE bandwidth with other minor performance improvements & efficiencies.  If nothing else heat reduction.  A standard IDE HDD can almost cook an egg when it is being hammered after a while.  lol

Well, IDE supports rates up to 133MB/s, so that's all you'll get if you use an IDE-SATA adapter.  Hmm, thinking about it, IIRC then PCI = 33Mhz x 4 bytes (32 bits) = 133MB/s (also).
 
If you go PCI to SATA II, I've not found any internal adapters yet.
 
If nothing else, you'll have an SSD which you can use later on when you've got an interface that properly supports it :-)
 
[edit]
 
Regarding your point about the efficiency gain due to lack of seek time, that is true but you may need to factor in a little latency caused by whatever adapter you use.  It probably won't be much, but probably worth checking out.
 
Is your OS 32-bit or 64-bit btw?

Since you will be stuck with using an IDE/SATA adapter to attach an SSD to your motherboard, this table shows the max transfer rate (MB/s) for each ATA controller revision. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UDMA
 
The version of PATA interface on your motherboard will limit how fast you can move data no matter what type of SSD you install.  Yes, your access time should decrease, but that is not the biggest factor in performing sequential reads.  Can your ATA mode support the number of tracks you intend to playback?