MS750 SSD Drive Upgrade

[jdandy]

Fritzcurtis.......Thanks for taking the time to post all of this useful information about your SSD upgrade and the drive duplicator operation. This is valuable information for anyone seeking to follow your footsteps with their McIntosh MS300 or MS750 music server.

[mcintoshmagic]

Originally Posted by fritzcurtis

No need for the Golden disk as long as your MSXXX is currently working. This update simply moves every file off of your current drive on to the new one.

I may have to try this myself though I do wonder if there will be trouble down the road since the MS750 does not support the TRIM command for SSDs that a modern OS would.

[Mfirst]

considering that other than loading on the files, most the time is reading - does TRIM impact things that much?

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by Mfirst

considering that other than loading on the files, most the time is reading - does TRIM impact things that much?

Michael.......The TRIM function used with SSD is to facilitate faster write speeds to any area of the solid state drive that has been marked "not in use", as when a file is deleted. SSD's don't erase deleted files until new files are written to the space marked "not in use" in 512k blocks of memory. This slows down the write process for areas of the drive that are not erased clean (as in new). The TRIM function is a command that is sent along with the delete command to erase those areas of SSD storage and leave that space marked "not in use" so that fresh writes can happen immediately without an erase function taking place first.

On a music server where files are generally written and not moved or deleted the TRIM function becomes less important because you will have nearly no drive space previously deleted and marked "not in use". New files will not need to erase "not in use" space because you will be continuously writing to new drive space.

This is a simplistic explanation of the TRIM function but I think you get the picture. For TRIM to function it must be supported by the SSD and the operating system software (Windows 7 / Windows 8). Using an SSD in the McIntosh MS750 music server without the TRIM function enabled should not be an issue.

[Thedo]

Dan, you always amaze me with your knowledge. Of course, we all are not sure if the SSD is 100% compatible with our beloved MS300/MS750 until someone or a few of us tries it out for an extended time. But your answer is very logical I myself have two extra Seagate 750GB hard drives to back up my MS750 so I will stay on the fence for the SSD for now.

[jdandy]

Henry.......Like you, I have a spare Seagate 750 GB hard drive with the operating system preinstalled as a back up. I also have a spare Sony CDRW transport. I am considering purchasing a hard drive duplicator to copy my functioning MS750 hard drive to my spare so that all of my music files will be available without having to go through a restore process. I like my MS750 music server and want to keep operating as long as possible.

[quinlanmw]

I am also considering purchasing the hard drive duplicator, especially if it is as simple a procedure as fritzcurtis described. Hopefully some more AA members will try this and report positively, as well as perhaps provide a detailed step by step procedure for those (like me) whose computer expertise falls far short of some of you guys with 500 pound brains...

[fritzcurtis]

gents...still no issues with the SSD drive. I have imported about 100 cds onto it and still no issues. Will report back minute I see something that is suspect. I too have two 750gb drives with all my music loaded on them so makes me feel much better if I have to go back to hard drive world. So far so good on SSD.

[jericho]

Can someone give me the exact specifications of the sony drive in the MS-750???

[Thedo]

Originally Posted by jericho

Can someone give me the exact specifications of the sony drive in the MS-750???

It is the Sony CRX230EE CD-RW Drive with standard IDE interface.