SSD on X48MK2

[jrojas76]

Hi i have just buy a Tascam x48MK2 and works great but im thinking about how to replace the hard disk to SSD disk.
DO you know how can i change de hhd master ?
Only replace and boot with the cd recovery?
Thanx!

 

[Muziekschuur]

That should work. But for your application, why SSD? Will the unit be on the move? I think I'd then go with 2,5 inch HD's. They can take a beating. If you are thinking it will help save data I think a good backup strategy with common HDD's is better.

We still dunno what SSD's will do once they have been written to too much. And with editing and re-recording you never know when that particular SSD will fail.

There is nothing wrong with using an SSD. But you still need to keep data at two and three locations if you can swing it. And for the price of 1 SSD you can get two 3,5 inch HDD's and one 2,5 inch HDD. And a one terrabyte version will keep you busy for a year.... surely...

 

[jrojas76]

hi, thanx for respond. i think ssd tecnóloga its a lot ok moré stable than physical HD disk, more than 2x speed read ADN write and not problem with future damage physical disk. And the sistem Will boot in a few second.

Its moré expansive but i have a ssd with not used. i Will try Italia and coment the results.

 

[RedBus]

Many SSDs will behave badly in the X-48. None of them are optimized for the data pattern that the X-48 gives it - huge write buffers, lots of interleaved writes (48 files, sometimes 96), and constant access - there is no idle time or let up for the SSD to catch up on background cleanup. SandForce controllers rely on real-time data compression to get their write rate up as well - that has a negative effect when the data is incompressible audio data, especially 24 bit.
None of the benchmarks for SSDs comes close to this kind of access pattern.
The X-48 doesn't do TRIM, so you'll need an SSD that does it's own cleanup.

To be sure an SSD can cope, you'll need to fill it to 100% full with a full track count of sine waves (or other non-compressible audio , not silence), then erase that project, then do it again to be sure to fill up the reserve blocks, then delete that, then finally do another test project to see if the drive can truly keep pace.

Read speed is not even a issue on the X-48, we don't come close to needing any real speed there. It's all about write performance, for HDDs and SSDs.

You don't want your X-48 stopping in the middle of a recording with "Out of Record buffers".

 

[jrojas76]

Hi!

I have just proved the ssd in x48 and these are the results, before nothing commenting on certain things that seem to me to be interesting:

In the version MK2 it is really easy to be able to change the hard disk, in spite of the fact that it has many plates of metal that makes difficult the access to the different parts of x48, it is possible to take from him easily the sata cable of the hard disk and put above other one, since there is sufficient space in order that between.
The motherboard is gigabyte, it has two connectors sata, one dedicated to the principal Hard disk and the other to the extension esata of the part of behind of x48, this connection could be use to connect internally another hard disk or partition the new one with the tool of the system.
The memory that has x48 mk2 is kingston.

Ok, to put the ssd hard disk i have just only open the x48, remove the sata cables and energy cables from the otoginal hard disk and conect to the new one.
With the system recovery disk put into the dvdrom boot the x48. Appers and a error with the host, but the cd becomes to load the installation system.
Its take only 4 minutes.

When finish the installation, without the cd recovery disk on the dvdrom, boot the x48 and all perfect, the noew sytem into the ew ssd works great!

The first thing i do its to recorder 48 tracks at 96 and 24 bits, and works great, no drops, no error buffer problem or other thing. The record is 6 minutes.

I have record on video de boots or the different HD to see the difference in time boot.
With the original Disk, the time to star the system its 1:00 minutes and with the ssd disk 0:49 second.
I think the difference its not to big, I was hoping that I was going down of 20 seconds.

In the tool Drive Benchmarking, i have compared the two units, and in these case the difference are to big:

Original Hard Disk 7200 rpm 1 Tb:

48k 24bits read 190 tracks, write 122
96k 24bits read 95 tracks, write 61

Ssd Disk Ocz Vertex 2

48k 24bits read 768 tracks, write 332
96k 24bits read 384 tracks, write 166


Numbers impressive, but for the usefulness that has x48 they do not concern at the moment of the work.

Summary:

Very easy to put a new drive or replace the original
a second sata connection to a second hard disk conection, the dvdrom its ide port.
Ssd its stable to record and do not give problems to record with the bufer or other inssues while recording 48 track at 96k 24bits
There are no significant differences of speed boot system

 

[althemusicwizard]

Thanks for that info.

Is this the same SSD drive you fitted:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/120GB-OCZ-Ver ... vi-content

I have the Mark 1 machine but it has spare SATA connections and plenty of power connectors inside. I wonder if this would work in a Mark I machine too?

Al

 

[jrojas76]

Hi yes it is, but 256gb. I dont know if the mk1 have installed the sata drivers, but you can use a normal hd sata to verify before buy it.

 

[Muziekschuur]

It is about repeated recording. A HDD can be rerecorded many times. If recorded to a HDD can take over 10 years recorded to every day and still work. SSD's tend to fail after many rerecordings... The system is not setup for SSD maintenance (E.G. trimming).

Redbus in this thread is an Tascam specialist. He is warning you because when you do critical recording.... A failing SSD is the last bit you should have to worry about. Any current HDD is able to sustain over 100 MB/s. So perfect for 48 tracks/96K.

 

[Drumstruck]

fwiw I successfully installed an SSD into an x48 (Mk1) - boot up time was about half of that with standard HD and it was quieter (no HD whine) and generally faster. It was awkward to install - needed an OWC 5.25 to 2.5 adaptor cage and ribbon to SATA cable adaptors.

However, SSDs have limited writes - when they reach the maximum number they will no longer allow writes.

I wouldn't do that again.....