SSD Questions

[xmixahlx]

So the hard drive in my h320 is dying, not to mention my battery life is constantly shrinking - so i'm putting some upgrades in order...

* battery
* hd (cf? ssd?)

where are all the 50 pin 1.8" SSD drives? where'd they go? anyone have a source for them? can anyone confirm these are working? (the CF wiki page mentions SSD, but no info)

i am only find photofast g-monster drives at ridiculous prices, a bit cheaper here, tho:

http://translate.google.com/translate?prev=hp&hl=en&js=y&u=http%3A%2F%2Fshopping.pchome.com.tw%2F%3Fmod%3Ditem%26func%3Dexhibit%26IT_NO%3DDGAG1N-A39724243%26SR_NO%3DDGAG1N%26ROWNO%3D2&sl=ja&tl=en&history_state0=

http://shopping.pchome.com.tw/?mod=item&func=exhibit&IT_NO=DGAG1N-A39723891&c=A05

-michael

[froggyman]

AFAIK, not all SSD work with all players. They also tend to be more expensive than the CF card, and adapter combined. Because of that, most people tend to use a CF card.

Feel free to correct me if I am wrong though.

[xmixahlx]

no i completely agree - CF+adapter should be cheaper.

i was interested in a 32GB 1.8" SSD if possible.  So far i've found a few samsung, photofast and kingspec units that are not adapted/converted which would be much faster than CF (or cheaper than the CF models at a similar speed) and are just more desirable to me if i can swing it. i don't mind used if necessary, either.

here are some edited quotes from kingspec support:

-----
hi, our 1.8" CF SSD can match your IRIVER H320.It can also work with H340.
-----
our 1.8" CF SSD is IDE(50pin ATA), but not a conversion from CF to IDE.
-----
it is IDE 50pin Female.
-----
The 1.8" CF SSD specs are as below:

Module No KSD-CF18.1-xxxMJ
Factor 1.8"
Capacity 32GB,64GB,128GB
Interface CF(IDE 50pin)
Average Access time 0.2ms
Sustained Read 65MB/s
Sustained Write 47MB/s
input Voltage 3.3V+/_5%
Idle 0.5W
Active 1.0W
Length(mm) 74.6mm
Width(mm) 54mm
Height(mm) 5.0mm
Weight(g) 23g
Operating Temperature 0～70℃

The data sheet is under review now, and will be uploaded in several days.
-----

-michael

edited: updated kingspec correspondence

[peteswensson]

Check the specs on sector size before you spend a lot of money buying an SSD.

About a year ago I bought a Samsung 32GB SSD for my iriver H340.  It is the right physical size (identical in dimensions to the original 40GB Toshiba hard drive), and it uses the same 50-pin IDE connection.  I could get my computer to recognize it and load files on it when connected directly to the motherboard, but once installed in the iriver, neither RockBox nor the player's firmware would recognize it.  It was a waste of $350.  Probably would be cheaper now, but still a waste.

I suspect that the Samsung SSD does not use the 512-byte sector size that iriver needs on its drive.  There may be a way to reprogram the RockBox firmware to communicate with an SSD with a different sector size, and someone else in this forum might be able to help you do that.

My solution was to use 32GB compact flash cards.  There is a lot of information on this site, and I have had success with both the Transcend 133x card and the RiData 233x card.  They are both more than fast enough in use.  I recommend that you load your music, etc. on them using a card reader before you install them, since the card reader will be MUCH faster than the USB cable to the iriver.

If you can find a suitable SSD, that would be excellent.  But if not, the CF cards do work just fine.

[xmixahlx]

If you can find a suitable SSD, that would be excellent.  But if not, the CF cards do work just fine.

this is my idea exactly.  thanks for the tip on sector size (and that is depressing that a samsung unit did not work. bummer)

[Chronon]

I suspect that the Samsung SSD does not use the 512-byte sector size that iriver needs on its drive.  There may be a way to reprogram the RockBox firmware to communicate with an SSD with a different sector size, and someone else in this forum might be able to help you do that.

You should be able to change the code to handle that.  This is something that has to be done for certain HDs already (such as the 80GB 5.5g iPod, if I recall correctly).  There's a define: "MAX_PHYS_SECTOR_SIZE" that might let you use that SSD, if you are interested in hacking on it further.

[Multiplex]

There's a define: "MAX_PHYS_SECTOR_SIZE"

Wouldn't that need doing in the boot loader too?

Building and flashing the bootloader on H100/H300 players requires some nerve (or specialised hardware to recover the player if it all goes wrong).

[torne]

Yes, you would also need to do it in the bootloader, and it appears that on at least some h300s the current svn version bricks the device (requiring special hardware to reflash), so this is probably not a good idea to experiment with until the regular unmodified bootloader has been proven to be stable

[Chronon]

Yes, you would also need to do it in the bootloader, and it appears that on at least some h300s the current svn version bricks the device (requiring special hardware to reflash), so this is probably not a good idea to experiment with until the regular unmodified bootloader has been proven to be stable

Is there a known stable bootloader version that could be modified?

[torne]

Somewhere, I assume, but i'm not an iriver user, I was just cautioning having seen people bricking their irivers on the dev ML.

[Multiplex]

Is there a known stable bootloader version that could be modified?

It appears that even the current SVN code is dangerous
http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php?topic=23239.msg158650#msg158650

[Chronon]

Yes, torne said that already.  However, the bootloader that gets installed by Rockbox Utility is working and was built from a particular revision of the code.  There are stable versions of the code out there.  It's just not a good idea, apparently, to go experimenting with the current SVN code.

[Multiplex]

Yes, torne said that already.

Yes - sorry, I'd read torne's post too.

I saw the comment in the other thread and just rushed to warn folk in this one and didn't remember - never mind check :-(

[xmixahlx]

A new 32GB CF available in the USA in January: Newegg and other sources have it listed at $41 for 32GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820157031

[xmixahlx]

it doesn't seem like anyone is following this thread anymore so i'll end it:

mods are done. a great $60 spent so far... i lost interest in the SSD search and went with CF

* IDE to CF adapter from ebay (digitalzone88, $2 shipped)
* Dane-Elec 32GB CF from newegg ($43 shipped)
* CS-H110XL 2200mAh battery from ebay (licketysplitauctions, $15 shipped)

the Dane-Elec 32GB card has 15MBps read according to hdparm. i didn't benchmark write, but it copied 20GB of data quickly and without issue - i'm extremely happy with it so far.