256GB mSATA SSD for iPod 5g/5.5g - possible with current release of Rockbox?

[DMinor]

Hi,

I am a newbie to the forum and please be easy on me if I am asking stupid questions.

First let me say thank you for making the amazing Rockbox available. It has certainly raised my experience to another level in enjoying  my music.

Here is what I am intending to do. I am going to try to replace my ipod 5g/5.5g HDD with a 256GB mSATA SSD using an adapter (mSATA to 40 pin ZIF). Technically can this be even possible to work with current Rockbox install? I love Rockbox (can't live without it) and also want to put in a 256GB SSD in my ipod.

You feedback and help is much appreciated.

Respectfully,

DM

[cereal_killer]

I love Rockbox (can't live without it)

Same for me!!! 

You can find discussions regarding the iPod Video and SSDs here and here too

The linked head-fi.org-thread is huge, so you might want to use the search feature there.

But from what I read, mSATA wont work with rockbox and the SSD drive that should work best would be the Super Talent DuraDrive ZT2. You don't need an adapter for this drive.

Good luck with your mod.

Greetings,

c_k

[DMinor]

Thanks for the reply and info.

Yeah from what I have read so far no one has successfully installed Rockbox to a mSATA drive. But I am wondering if that has anything to do with the specific adapter (mSATA to ZIF) used or it's generally conflicting with the mSATA SSD.

[Rave]

Hello,

I am trying to do the same thing with my ipod video.

I have used a zif to MSATA adapter from ebay, and it works perfectly with the original ipod firmware (no fun)
But it does not work with the rockbox firmware, and gives a sata -11 error.

I am happy to send the adapter and MSATA drive to the devs if they can figure it out.

I'm sure its not too complex, and suspect it might be a PATA command that the MSATA doesn't have or doesnt like.

Thanks,

Rave.

[wodz]

One of our devs got device with converter + mSATA SSD drive and is looking at the issue so there is hope in resolving the issue eventually.

[Rave]

Brilliant!

Many thanks for replying and i will await hopefully.

Thanks,

Kai.

[simfight]

Hi =)
I found your post while using google to find something about "does an ipod work with 256gb"... Therefore I am maybe posting too late...

At first:
Why do you want a mSATA SSD?
Today this is built in my ipod (thick 5G): http://www.ebay.de/itm/181016077430

I am planning to use this now: http://www.supertalent.com/datasheets/6_10053.pdf (Super Talent DuraDrive ZT2 256GB )

It has the same kind of adaptor (ZIF)

Because of 240GB works (I am now using it...) the question is: Does this flash drive work?

It looks like it would FIT but it should WORK, too...

In Germany it is a little bit too expensive to try it with the risk it does not work =)
Price: http://alturl.com/6iwrk (now >230€)

[torne]

An SSD with an ATA ZIF connector is more likely to work as it eliminates the SATA->ATA converter that seems to be the problem I'm investigating for the other people here, but unless you can find a report from someone who has used the exact same drive before we can't guarantee it will work.

[[Saint]]

It occurred to me that those having issues should check the voltage of the SSD they are using.

There's no way the iPod can drive a 5V SSD, 3.3V - yes, 5V - nuh-uhhhhhh.


[Saint]

[DMinor]

An SSD with an ATA ZIF connector is more likely to work as it eliminates the SATA->ATA converter that seems to be the problem I'm investigating for the other people here, but unless you can find a report from someone who has used the exact same drive before we can't guarantee it will work.

Torne any progress in your debugging on the mSATA issue?

[torne]

Haven't had time to look at it more, sorry.

[DMinor]

Haven't had time to look at it more, sorry.

  Do you think if the problem could be due to the hardware (i.e. mSATA drive and/or the adapter)?

[torne]

Not if it works in the Apple firmware, by definition.

[Sigies]

I presently have an 256GB mSATA on a iMOD and eagerly waiting to have it Rockboxed, as well.  THANKS!

[torne]

OK, I have it booting and able to play music and generally operate, by just disabling the sanity check for whether the ATA registers are writable/readable correctly. It looks like the SATA interface doesn't implement reading back of the four address registers properly, and this is not normally important in usage of parallel ATA devices that aren't cdrom drives, which is why the original firmware works.

It still doesn't work properly, though: writing to the drive in Rockbox mostly doesn't work. It manages to save its settings, playlist control files, etc, but initialising the database hangs when it tries to write the database to disk, and while reading the device over usb works fine, you can't write to it.

So, I'll need to look at it some more, but this is a good start

If you want to try this on your own device, comment out the call to check_registers() in firmware/drivers/ata.c and build; that was enough to get the one I have here to boot. But, don't expect it to work properly.