H120 with 128GB SSD -> IT WORKS!!!

[jeff]

03-18-2010
McMusic
Join Date Mar 2010
Location South Germany

Guys, I'm so happy to state, that my new 128GB SSD from Kingspec runs like a charm in my H120. I received the SSD today and installed it immediately. Was no big deal at all:

1) Hooked up rockboxed H120 to my PC and copied over the .rockbox directory to the PC
2) Open H120, remove old 20GB HDD and put 128GB SSD in instead.
3) Hooked the H120 up on my old WinXP Notebook with Swithknife on it
4) Deleted preinstalled NTFS partition and created FAT32 partition instead
5) Hooked up the H120 to my PC and copied over the previously saved .rockbox directory
6) Restarted the player: there it is without error messages!
7) Put some music on it for testing -> works like a charm!

Of course this solution is quite expensive, but I have really the ultimate H120 now with 128GB.

(PDF Attached) Thank jumbuck

[jeff]

03-18-2010 12:04 PM
jeff


Join Date Dec 2003
Location Las Vegas

Congrats!!! any chance you took photos or could post some of the new drive inside your H1128 ??

[jeff]

03-18-2010 12:19 PM
jumbuck


Join Date Apr 2006
Location Northern N.S.W Australia

That's way cool!! Congratulations from me as well.

[jeff]

03-18-2010 01:14 PM
tigertom2003uk

Join Date Mar 2007
Location Hertfordshire, Uk

Hi McMusic,
Nice one!
I also would like to see some pictures? I like to see this mod!
Regards Tom.

[jeff]

03-18-2010 08:04 PM
Muse______

Join Date Feb 2007
Location Berkeley, CA

What exact SSD did you get, from where, and how much did it cost you?

[jeff]

03-19-2010 02:03 AM
McMusic

Join Date Mar 2010
Location South Germany

Hm, I don't know if I can provide pictures. For that I would have to disassemble the whole player again. Basically it looks like the standard HDD. The SSD is only a little bit smaller (length, not width).

Also the installation process was fairly easy and exactly the same, as to change the HDD. The further process to make the player operable I have stated already in my initial post. It is important, that Rockbox is installed on the player prior to the change, as you need the Rockbox bootloader (USB mode) for the FAT32 partitioning. Once you then have the .rockbox directory back on the player, it looks exactly the same, as with a HDD.

I have to experiment a little with the rockbox option "Disk spindown time". Yesterday I changed the setting to the lowest (3s - thought that might be better with an SSD), the player was not recognized by my PC anymore. So I changed it back to 5s and now everything works perfect again. Any thoughts on the ideal setting here? Should I rather put it to max?

The SSD I use is this one:
eBay: kingspec 128gb ssd cf, Computer

[jeff]

03-19-2010 06:11 AM
BBD


Join Date Dec 2004
Location Harvard Graduate School of Flameology

Even without pics, well done! I've never heard of Kingspec before, though.... Trusted brand? They're very reasonably priced....

[jeff]

03-19-2010 07:49 PM
pachinkoman

Join Date Apr 2005
Location God's green earth

very cool

[jeff]

03-20-2010 04:23 PM
mattcalf

Join Date Oct 2006
Location Cairns, Australia

Just looking at prices, about AU$420 for the same one used here. Looks like I'll be waiting a few years to upgrade. :P

[jeff]

03-21-2010 03:20 AM
McMusic

Join Date Mar 2010
Location South Germany

As said before, it's not a cheap adventure. Everyone has to decide for himself, if it's worth the money.
As I need the disc space for my flac collection, it was worth the effort for me.

[jeff]

03-21-2010 01:56 PM
jamato8

Join Date Dec 2007
Location Santa Rosa, CA USA

Nice but yes, we must all figure out how much to invest and that is a bit steep for me. I like my H140 with a 120gb hard drive, well two of them and my H120 with a 80gb drive. The cost isn't bad at all but the SSD would be nice. I wonder how long it will take for them to come down in price.

[jeff]

03-23-2010 03:40 PM
Arj

Join Date Jun 2004
Location Texas

What 80GB drive do you have in your H120? I currently have the 32GB CF mod in mine, but am always looking for alternatives for expanding its capacity.

[jeff]

03-23-2010 10:27 PM
McMusic

Join Date Mar 2010
Location South Germany

I think it works with this drive: eBay: MK8025GAL, Computer

But you need this adapter, too: ZIF HDD,SSD to 1.8 inch TOSHIBA type converter,zender - eBay (item 280416830517 end time Mar-28-10 22:43:56 PDT)

[jeff]

06-20-2010 03:22 AM
mr_qno

Join Date May 2010

Hi McMusic,

What is your feedback now since you've changed your HD for an SSD in your H120? Everything is OK?

[jeff]

07-01-2010 09:53 PM
McMusic

Join Date Mar 2010
Location South Germany

First of all: it still works. I have a few complaints concerning reaction time and battery life. The reaction time is not that fast as I expected it to be. Depends also on the Rockbox option "disc spindown time". To be honest, I haven't figured out the optimal setting for this option yet. I you select a very long spindown time, the database reaction when choosing an artist is quite slow. If you select only lets say 5s, Rockbox freezes sometimes and cannot be resetted (I have to wait until the battery is empty!). Maybe someone with H1XX-flash-experience can help me with this?

Another thought was, that maybe the processor-power of the old H1XX might be too low to handle such a big database (>10.000 mp3s).

The battery time seems to be reduced compared to the usage with HDD-drives. This may also be related to the "disc spindown time" option.

All in all, as I said: it works. But I think the settings might not be optimal at this time.