iRiver iHP-1X0 mSATA SSD drive mod

[bpfiguer]

It's pretty hard to compare honestly.  I had an issue where the hdd light would come on and freeze up the player for like 10-15 seconds.  After a day of using it that seems to be gone.  USB transfer speed from my computer seems to go at like 12-14 megs a second without slowing down.  Rockbox seems to boot fairly fast.  I'll take a few videos and you can see yourself.  I was scrolling in rockbox and i didn't see any issues.  Again I'll show it off in a video i guess.  Battery i can't tell.  I can turn it on and time it, but it's a new 2200 mAh one, not the original.  It wouldn't be a really good test.
I did notice that after a day of using it through my computer and using it as a hard drive, i noticed it was a bit warm to the touch.  Not hot or anything, but i didn't notice any heat with the original harddrive in it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpInHxTpbwA

Thank you for the useful information and video. Do you know if the mod can fit inside an iHP-120 player or you need a thicker one as the iHP-140 player?

[hypergreatthing]

i didn't measure.  As far as i know, a 5mm drive can fit in a ihp120, 8mm for a ihp140.  I'm fairly sure the msata/adapter combo is smaller than the original 8mm drive.  How much so? I'm not sure.

[cereal_killer]

This was using a crucial msata 256 gig ssd with msata to zif adapter and the zif to toshiba hdd adapter

So on iRivers Rockbox works with mSATA SSDs using adapters???

I wish I had the technical knowledge to understand why that doesn't work on iPods.

[[Saint]]

I wish I had the technical knowledge to understand why that doesn't work on iPods.

Thankfully, you don't have to

It might be news that is somewhat buried in these forums, but, the issue is being actively worked on by Torne. He's quite confident the issue is identifiable, and fixable, the only issue - is time...rather, not having enough of it.


[Saint]

[torne]

It may not be anything to do with the player; maybe you have a different adapter, also

[bpfiguer]

I'll repost from another forum:
and success! rockbox reads it.  Did a battery swap to a 2200 mAh one as well.  That little battery plug is a pain in the ass to get in there.
So apparently my boot loader (version 6?) recognized the drive.  All i did for good measure was to connect the usb, format the drive as ntsb so windows would assign a drive letter, then i used guiformat to format it to fat32 (with 32k cluster sizes).  Copied my backup of the old 40 gig drive back to it and started it up.  Rockbox loaded up.
I'm fairly sure the original firmware doesn't work (confirmed, says check hdd) but with rockbox and usb working i don't mind.
I got some pics, lemme see how to get them on here.
http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/9680/20130221204458.jpg
http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/3562/20130221204509.jpg
thanks again for the inspiration =)
^^
This was using a crucial msata 256 gig ssd with msata to zif adapter and the zif to toshiba hdd adapter
Love it.  If you need a screen shot of total space on the iriver i'll be happy to add one

Could you please post the bootloader version and Rockbox build you are using?

Thanks

[hypergreatthing]

it's in the video at around 1:20 in....
bootloader ver 6
rockbox 3.11.2
at least that's what it says.  I updated it to rockbox when it was first available for the ihp140, updated maybe once or twice since then by replacing the .rockbox directory.  Never fooled around with the bootloader.  Definitely didn't install 7pre4.

[hypergreatthing]

hmm i read something in the ipod thread how a ssd with a lot of music on it (over 100 gigs) was failing to boot.
I'll attempt to recreate that and fill the drive and post the results.

[hypergreatthing]

hmm i read something in the ipod thread how a ssd with a lot of music on it (over 100 gigs) was failing to boot.
I'll attempt to recreate that and fill the drive and post the results.

Ok.  I put on a ton of music.  Free 62.5GB, disk 238GB.  This is version 3.11.2.  No problem starting, able to select music and play.  Checked genre in database, took about 15 seconds but it seems to be working just fine.  USB still works.
I'd say it works.

[bpfiguer]

I'll repost from another forum:
and success! rockbox reads it.  Did a battery swap to a 2200 mAh one as well.  That little battery plug is a pain in the ass to get in there.
So apparently my boot loader (version 6?) recognized the drive.  All i did for good measure was to connect the usb, format the drive as ntsb so windows would assign a drive letter, then i used guiformat to format it to fat32 (with 32k cluster sizes).  Copied my backup of the old 40 gig drive back to it and started it up.  Rockbox loaded up.
I'm fairly sure the original firmware doesn't work (confirmed, says check hdd) but with rockbox and usb working i don't mind.
I got some pics, lemme see how to get them on here.
http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/9680/20130221204458.jpg
http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/3562/20130221204509.jpg
thanks again for the inspiration =)
^^
This was using a crucial msata 256 gig ssd with msata to zif adapter and the zif to toshiba hdd adapter
Love it.  If you need a screen shot of total space on the iriver i'll be happy to add one

I performed the same mod as you did. It works with Rockbox. However, when the battery charge (Cameron Sino, 2200 mA) is lower than 4 volts the player freezes when it is booting up (at the stage when the battery charge check point is displaying). Then I get ATA error -11. If I use the full charged battery or AC power everything works fine. I tried with different iHP-140 players and the low battery/booting up problem is still there. It is possible that the mSATA card + SDD use to much battery power?

Could be possible that your mSATA adapter (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/mSATA-SSD-to-40-Pin-ZIF-Adapter-Card-as-Toshiba-or-Hitachi-ZIF-HDD-/261099926502?pt=US_Drive_Enclosures_Docks&hash=item3ccac4b3e6&clk_rvr_id=457203716124) it is not identical to mine (http://www.amazon.com/Micro-SATA-Cables-Adapter-Toshiba/dp/B009BA5JU6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354716013&sr=8-1&keywords=msata+zif).

Could you please check your modded player with a partially charged battery (< 3.9 Volts)?

I tried the SSD mSATA mod with the iHP-120 player and unfortunately it can not fit with the thick Cameron Sino 2200 mA battery. I need to test a slim battery.

Thanks

[hypergreatthing]

no we have the same msata ssd adapter.  the ebay uk link was for someone who said something along the lines that he was from the uk and wanted options to purchase the components.  I'm from the US and got the adapter through amazon.

To be honest i haven't tried low battery operations.  I mainly use it as a portable harddrive and a backup to my phone (64 gig micro sd + bluetooth phone/headset is great for music, but i like connecting my iriver to my computer at work for music while being able to listen to voicemail, windows sounds, etc).

I'll attempt to recreate your conditions and just leave it connected without power until the battery gets low, then try booting up.

[lolalalol]

Hi,

How did you plugg the ZIF adapter t the ATA dock ?
I bought this mSATA TO CE (ZIF) on EBay. And the connections betwenn the ZIF and the IHP doesn't match...

Damned...

[lolalalol]

I bought this one :
http://www.ebay.fr/itm/New-cable-Adapter-f-Sandisk-PCI-E-MSATA-50MM-3-3V-SSD-to-1-8-CE-ZIF-PATA-40pin-/281031469501

And I saw this one :
http://www.amazon.com/IDE-Pin-Micro-SATA-Adapter/dp/B004FD5BNE/

Last can do the trick ?

[bpfiguer]

You need this ZIF to IDE adapter:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ZIF-HDD-SSD-to-1-8-inch-TOSHIBA-type-converter-zender-/281099104230?

[lolalalol]

I received the adapter today.
I tried and same error as bpfiguer.
Battery power is 4.12v or 3.9v. No error but Rockbox boot loader v6 stay at battery voltage.

The IRiver firmware boot and say "check hdd connection". My mSATA drive isn't formatted...

--- edit ----

I have found how to format my drive !
it works fine without battery. I have used RockboxUtility to setup all the things on the drive.

--- edit ----

battery at 3.94v, system does not boot.