Failed 600X SSD-experiment

[Grey Area]

Meh, here I had hoped to turn my 600X into a bizarre chimera of yesterday's and tomorrow's technology by installing one of the new Samsung 32GB Solid State Disks, but to no avail, all I get is a 174 error code. It is not the BIOS version's fault - I have flashed the 600X with the latest firmware, and normally it seems to accept pretty much anything I put into it, including the Seagate 160GB, which actually should be too large for the old machine (I have not tried to run an OS from that one, though).

My X41 does not accept the SSD in the Ultrabay tray either, so there is a chance the device I got is faulty. It is now back in its box, waiting for the post office to open on Monday so that I can send it back to Amazon. I guess I could try another one, but I am not really in the mood for further experiments, as I want the 600X running properly as soon as possible. Unless anyone here knows a really good trick to make the current SSD work, it will be replaced by the boring but proven Hitachi 7K100.

Björn

[spikex34]

This is extremely interesting. I want to do this at the very least with my T43, although the 600x would be cool as well. Please see if it was just a problem with the disk! Hopefully that's the case... perhaps its some kind of driver thing or just the bios needs an update (meaning it probably will never work in a 600x).

[Rob Mayercik]

Probably too late, but have you tried this unit through a USB adapter, or a 44-40 adapter to a desktop PC's IDE controller?

Another way of verifying the state of the unit.

This does sound interesting - let us know what you learn.

[Grey Area]

Indeed, the unit has been returned and refunded. I did try it in a USB-case, though, it actually came with one. The case's LED flashed nicely, and XP recognized that something was plugged in, but I never got it to show the drive. I suspect it merely recognized the USB-case, and that the drive was dead.

In hindsight I should have asked for a replacement instead of a refund, but I was quite annoyed with the thing - never had a problem with a conventional hard drive, and now I pay about $800 to get something even more reliable, and it turns out to be a dud. I will be a bit too busy for tinkering until Christmas, but I plan to give the SSD another try and order another one after the holidays. I will let you know how it works out.

Björn

[cmarti]

I plan to give the SSD another try and order another one after the holidays. I will let you know how it works out.

Björn

Can you provide a link form where you buy it?

[Grey Area]

Can you provide a link form where you buy it?

I got it from the German Amazon.com, here. You can probably get it cheaper elsewhere, though.

Björn

[Grey Area]

So, another SSD, another failure. The one I got this time seemed to be a return, as the box had been cut open and resealed with tape, and it was not packaged as neatly as the first one - apparently someone else also had trouble with the device. (It was not the one I sent back, though, I kept track of the serial numbers.)

Not a good sign, I suppose, but it started out well: in the USB-case it worked fine (at least in the short test I did, as I did not plan to use it externally anyway), confirming that the first one had been faulty.

In the 600X it produced the same old 174-error though. In the Ultrabay-tray of the X41 it showed a somewhat random behaviour - XP would recognize it sometimes, sometimes not. When it was recognized, I could sometimes write onto it, but on other occasions I was told I did not have the rights to access the drive. Acronis TrueImage always recognized it as being there, even if it did not appear in the normal Windows Explorer, but it also always refused to write anything onto it, even when the Explorer could. Reformatting and repartitioning did not improve the situation.

So the SSD is on its way back again. I won't make another attempt, at least not in the foreseeable future. I am not sure who is at fault here - SSDs are pretty new technology, while the 600X is of course ancient, and the Ultrabay-setup of the X41 may also be a bit (too?) exotic. But on the other hand I use all sorts of old and new conventional hard drives in both, and I never have a problem. Maybe both SSDs were faulty, in that case I would be seriously disappointed in the quality control. As I am still interested in this, I may try another brand one day, but right now the others are too expensive per GB.

Björn

[farna]

With 4GB USB drives available, maybe you can rig a mini hub in the ultra-bay or use an IDE to CF Card adapter (don't recall what the biggest card is). Then stick four 4GB USB drives in. That would give a 16GB SD ddrive, but not all one drive. Will XP load and boot off 4GB? I doubt it...

[farna]

I've just come back from a local computer store. Small "micro drives" (1.8") of 6-8GB capacity are $129-$149. Set your 600 to boot off a USB drive, then move the USB port to the HD bay. Use one of thse in place of the 5-6GB original drives. It would be nice if the chip supports a 2nd USB port and leads could be soldered in, but a cord run out of the bay that needs to be plugged in migth be okay, or better yet solder a new cord piggybacked on the existing port. Might disable the port that way, but if you replace the HD in the bay one or more USB ports could be added to the front of the machine. Maybe disassemble/modify a four port hub to run the drive and two ports in front, modify the HD cover as well. I haven't took one apart to see just how hard this would be.

[Stargate199]

Set your 600 to boot off a USB drive

I do not think the 600 is capable of booting off USB.

[farna]

Another SSD source: http://www.memorydepot.com/ssd_disk.asp. Not sure if it's the same Samsung drive or not, they do have pics.

These guys have a CF card compact motherboard adapter, and a laptop to standard IDE adapter that would fit in a 600 drive bay. Those combined cost only $40. Large CF cards aren't cheap though -- 4GB runs $650 from the same company. Might be able to get a better deal on those. You'd be limited to 4GB though.