So I finally got an IDE SSD working with my MC-80. If you own a HDP88-DLE caddy and purchased an IDE SSD to use with it, and the disk was detected but said "Improper Disk" then this will probably work for you. I purchased several IDE SSD's and they all worked in that the MC-80 could see them, the only issue was that the MC-80 could not format them so they were useless. I could select the HD disk and hit format and it would start to format but then error with "You cannot use this device" and fail.
If you cannot see your SSD at all in the MC-80 disk tools ("Improper Disk" warning) then I don't think your particular SSD is compatible.
I tried copying the files to the SSD and formatting it in several ways but nothing worked.
Then I used Clonezilla to clone an image of my HDP88-DLE 2.5 HDD and write it to the SSD. It works perfectly and I can write and delete data normally in the MC-80 now as if it was a normal HDD. The reason why this works is that Clonezilla is capable of cloning the format type and partition ratio to be an identical copy of the original HDD. This is a little complicated to use and requires some computer expertise but it's not too big of a deal and there are plenty of walkthroughs on the Clonezilla website.
To do this you need:
-Updated firmware to 1.15 (Can't confirm you actually need this but this is what I'm running)
-HDP88-DLE with working MC-80 formatted HDD
-PATA IDE 2.5 SSD with larger GB than your HDD (for this particular test I used a DCP brand 16GB IDE SDD made by "our drives work" on ebay, but I was able to detect a Kingspec(Yansen) 64 gb and SP 32 gb SSD)
-IDE to usb adapter (I use a Unitek I got off Amazon)
-Another drive to copy the disk image to
-A usb thumb drive to boot Clonezilla Live (it is a linux app that boots from usb)
I will attempt to replicate this on my extra SSD's just to confirm they all work and will update here if so, especially because my DCP SSD is out of stock and Kingspec is readily available on amazon. But for everyone who has tried an IDE SSD unsuccessfully it appears that the issue is only in the MC-80's ability to format it and not actual compatibility.
Roland MC-80 with IDE 2.5 SSD WORKING
Re: Roland MC-80 with IDE 2.5 SSD WORKING
Ok so I copied the disk image to 2 other SSD's of different brands and they both work. One thing I didn't mention was I had a few midi files on my original HDD disk. Not sure if this matters but you may want to put a song on your disk if it is empty just not to waste time in case that was a necessary component to making a good image with Clonezilla.
The first SSD is "32GB Silicon Power SSD-I20 2.5-inch IDE/PATA SSD" available from memoryc_deals on ebay.
The other is "KingSpec 32GB 2.5 inch PATA/IDE SSD" available on amazon. (The actual disk says Yansen on it and this was also shipped to me from MemoryC)
Both of these are readily available and I can confirm they worked with my MC-80 on firmware 1.15.
The first SSD is "32GB Silicon Power SSD-I20 2.5-inch IDE/PATA SSD" available from memoryc_deals on ebay.
The other is "KingSpec 32GB 2.5 inch PATA/IDE SSD" available on amazon. (The actual disk says Yansen on it and this was also shipped to me from MemoryC)
Both of these are readily available and I can confirm they worked with my MC-80 on firmware 1.15.