Z1/Z2 HDD Replacement Trial and Error Thread

[jbaird]

I am looking for the safest way to use the Z2 image. I currently have the Z1 with the stock HDD. Is it possible to purchase a new HD and load the Z2 image on it? I would like to use a new drive so I can always put my original Z1 (with the orig Z1 image) back into my unit should I ever need to.

 

Thanks!

[dodgeboy]

I am looking for the safest way to use the Z2 image. I currently have the Z1 with the stock HDD. Is it possible to purchase a new HD and load the Z2 image on it? I would like to use a new drive so I can always put my original Z1 (with the orig Z1 image) back into my unit should I ever need to.

 

Thanks!

 

Yes. That's exactly what I did.

 

Dave

[rage2]

I used Ghost to do a drive copy, using the "Image All" option, which copies even unpartitioned space. Maybe you guys should also discuss imaging tools that you use. It's my belief that the image write/rewrite is part of the problem.

Has nothing to do with imaging tools. I've used ghost and acronis on the stock drive now. I've changed all 4 partition's sizes just for fun, no unpartitioned space, it all works perfectly. 100% sure it's the drive.

[dodgeboy]

I just put another 400 miles on my new toshiba drive today, and it worked perfectly. I think it's safe to assume that the toshiba drives listed in this thread are the ones to go with...

 

Dave

[garrettoomey]

I have also installed the z2 image in my z1 using a toshiba 60gb MK6034GAX. I am not having any reboot issues. I have not increased the music partition yet, but I will try that next week.

Thanks for the tip Dodgeboy!!

 

I was also able to get rid of the Pioneer banner and Tele Atlas copyright notices from the boot / splash screen. I'm not sure if this has been discussed yet...

[dodgeboy]

I have also installed the z2 image in my z1 using a toshiba 60gb MK6034GAX. I am not having any reboot issues. I have not increased the music partition yet, but I will try that next week.

Thanks for the tip Dodgeboy!!

 

I was also able to get rid of the Pioneer banner and Tele Atlas copywrite notices from the boot / splash screen. I'm not sure if this has been discussed yet...

 

That's great! I always disliked having to make my splash screen fit between those banners. What files did you modify/remove to get rid of them?

 

Dave

[garrettoomey]

I have also installed the z2 image in my z1 using a toshiba 60gb MK6034GAX. I am not having any reboot issues. I have not increased the music partition yet, but I will try that next week.

Thanks for the tip Dodgeboy!!

 

I was also able to get rid of the Pioneer banner and Tele Atlas copyright notices from the boot / splash screen. I'm not sure if this has been discussed yet...

 

That's great! I always disliked having to make my splash screen fit between those banners. What files did you modify/remove to get rid of them?

 

Dave

 

In the first partition (LDATA) there are 2 files in \BG\COPYRIGHT

CPYCUSTOM.BMP and CPYDEFAULT.BMP

The first one is overlayed on any custom splash, and the second is overlayed on the default splash. I added .old to rename files. CPYCUSTOM.BMP.old and CPYDEFAULT.BMP.old

I have not tried to completely delete them.

 

I also copied my own custom backgrounds to \BG\PREINSTALL

You can only have a total of 20 images in this folder. I created a new directory \BG\PREINSTALL\ORIGNAL and moved some the factory installed images out of the way to make room for more custom images.

[dodgeboy]

Nice work! Thanks for the info... Now if we could just find a way to pre-load the drive with music and not have to go through the painful process of ripping everything with the head unit!

 

Dave

[garrettoomey]

Does anyone have a Z1 image that I can download?

Thanks!!

[jkawar]

I am using the toshiba 60gb MK6034GAX hard drive and had no reboot issues so far. Thanks everyone for all your help! I now have more music space and the system does respond quicker.

[rage2]

OK, we know the original works fine. I never heard of a rebooting issue when the z1 image. So what happens when you use the same drives that were rebooting with a z1 image. If it's a hardware issue, shouldn't they reboot on a z1 image? and if it is only on a z2 image, then what is demanding the greater power. just a couple of questions for thought to maybe help out.

So, I got a Z1 image last week. Turns out a buddy of mine had the Z1, bought the Upgrade DVD and wanted me to help him upgrade the sucker. Talk about perfect timing. Paid the $40 to unlock his drive and now I have a well used Z1 image for testing.

 

First thing I did was do a copy to my 7200rpm Seagate drive and pop it in my Z2. After the firmware upgrade, err, downgrade, it booted up fine and the testing began. Ripped a CD while driving around and using the Nav (Z1 maps suck BTW haha) and lo and behold the thing rebooted. On the drive home it locked up once (had to stop the car, shut it down and turn it back on to get the thing to respond), and later on it rebooted again. So ya, every 15 min reboot, same as Z2. So, the difference between Z1 and Z2... the Z2 always reboots on a problem. The Z1 will lock up or reboot when a problem occurs.

 

Now, I found a whole whack of HDD's at work from old retired laptops. Here's what I have, with power draw numbers:

 

Manufacturer, Model, Size, RPM, Seek, Read, Write, Standby, Idle

 

Seagate ST910021A 100GB 7200RPM 2.6W ???W ???W 0.26W 1,30W

Seagate ST9100823A 100GB 5400RPM 2.3W ???W ???W 0.20W 0.99W

Fujitsu MHT2060AT 60GB 4200RPM 2.3W 2.0W 2.1W 0.25W 0.65W

Toshiba MK4025GAS 60GB 4200RPM 2.6W 2.3W 2.3W 0.25W 0.90W

 

Stock Drive Power Consumption:

Toshiba MK3029GACE 30GB 4200RPM 2.3W 2.0W 2.0W 0.25W 1.00W

 

After testing these drives, I should have a clear answer if the problem is a power draw (too high) problem causing the reboots, or if the Z2 has a security check to only use Toshiba drives.

 

If the Fujitsu works fine, it's a power draw issue. If the Toshiba MK4025GAS 60GB works fine, it's a security check, since it uses the same amount of power as my 7200rpm drive, which reboots quite often.

 

Hopefully will have answers in a few days...

[rage2]

Oh ya, power draw for the 2 drives in this thread that work so far...

 

Toshiba MK4032GAX 40GB 5400RPM 2.2W 1.9W 1.9W 0.18W 0.75W

Toshiba MK6034GAX 60GB 5400RPM 2.2W 1.9W 1.9W 0.18W 0.75W

 

Both are lower than stock.

[stryk3r]

OK, we know the original works fine. I never heard of a rebooting issue when the z1 image. So what happens when you use the same drives that were rebooting with a z1 image. If it's a hardware issue, shouldn't they reboot on a z1 image? and if it is only on a z2 image, then what is demanding the greater power. just a couple of questions for thought to maybe help out.

So, I got a Z1 image last week. Turns out a buddy of mine had the Z1, bought the Upgrade DVD and wanted me to help him upgrade the sucker. Talk about perfect timing. Paid the $40 to unlock his drive and now I have a well used Z1 image for testing.

 

First thing I did was do a copy to my 7200rpm Seagate drive and pop it in my Z2. After the firmware upgrade, err, downgrade, it booted up fine and the testing began. Ripped a CD while driving around and using the Nav (Z1 maps suck BTW haha) and lo and behold the thing rebooted. On the drive home it locked up once (had to stop the car, shut it down and turn it back on to get the thing to respond), and later on it rebooted again. So ya, every 15 min reboot, same as Z2. So, the difference between Z1 and Z2... the Z2 always reboots on a problem. The Z1 will lock up or reboot when a problem occurs.

 

Now, I found a whole whack of HDD's at work from old retired laptops. Here's what I have, with power draw numbers:

 

Manufacturer, Model, Size, RPM, Seek, Read, Write, Standby, Idle

 

Seagate ST910021A 100GB 7200RPM 2.6W ???W ???W 0.26W 1,30W

Seagate ST9100823A 100GB 5400RPM 2.3W ???W ???W 0.20W 0.99W

Fujitsu MHT2060AT 60GB 4200RPM ???W 2.0W 2.1W 0.25W 0.65W

Toshiba MK4025GAS 60GB 4200RPM 2.6W 2.3W 2.3W 0.25W 0.90W

 

Stock Drive Power Consumption:

Toshiba MK3029GACE 30GB 4200RPM 2.3W 2.0W 2.0W 0.25W 1.00W

 

After testing these drives, I should have a clear answer if the problem is a power draw (too high) problem causing the reboots, or if the Z2 has a security check to only use Toshiba drives.

 

If the Fujitsu works fine, it's a power draw issue. If the Toshiba MK4025GAS 60GB works fine, it's a security check, since it uses the same amount of power as my 7200rpm drive, which reboots quite often.

 

Hopefully will have answers in a few days...

 

I look forward to seeing the results, good job in rounding up all this info. From your experience when the 7200rpm drive is not rebooting (which sounds to be very often) does it seems any faster then 5400? is it worth trying to a find a 7200 rpm drive or is the 4034 or 6034 going to be the best stable performance drive?

[rage2]

I look forward to seeing the results, good job in rounding up all this info. From your experience when the 7200rpm drive is not rebooting (which sounds to be very often) does it seems any faster then 5400? is it worth trying to a find a 7200 rpm drive or is the 4034 or 6034 going to be the best stable performance drive?

The 7200rpm is much faster. Everything responds instantly. I've been trying to get the Z2 to do EVERYTHING at once, rip a CD, listen to library, set a route for every drive, and bluetooth phone trying to get the HDD to seek as much as possible (seek is the biggest power drain).

 

Yesterday I tested my Seagate ST9100823A 5400rpm drive. Remember the stock drive is rated at 2.3W seek, same as the spec on the Seagate. It took over an hour of testing before it rebooted on the drive to work this morning.

 

I just finished prepping the Toshiba MK4025GAS 4200rpm drive, which is rated at a whopping 2.6W seek. It's in my car now, should have results tomorrow.

 

Results so far:

 

Seagate ST910021A 2.6W max - reboots within 15 minutes.

Seagate ST9100823A 2.3W max - reboots within 1 hour.

[stryk3r]

I look forward to seeing the results, good job in rounding up all this info. From your experience when the 7200rpm drive is not rebooting (which sounds to be very often) does it seems any faster then 5400? is it worth trying to a find a 7200 rpm drive or is the 4034 or 6034 going to be the best stable performance drive?

The 7200rpm is much faster. Everything responds instantly. I've been trying to get the Z2 to do EVERYTHING at once, rip a CD, listen to library, set a route for every drive, and bluetooth phone trying to get the HDD to seek as much as possible (seek is the biggest power drain).

 

Yesterday I tested my Seagate ST9100823A 5400rpm drive. Remember the stock drive is rated at 2.3W seek, same as the spec on the Seagate. It took over an hour of testing before it rebooted on the drive to work this morning.

 

I just finished prepping the Toshiba MK4025GAS 4200rpm drive, which is rated at a whopping 2.6W seek. It's in my car now, should have results tomorrow.

 

Results so far:

 

Seagate ST910021A 2.6W max - reboots within 15 minutes.

Seagate ST9100823A 2.3W max - reboots within 1 hour.

 

That's great, so if the 4025 reboots as well we know it has to be a current draw issue and can begin to research 7200 rpm drives that meet the current specs and they should work great... that's is if it's even possible to find such a 7200 rpm drive with such low power draw. Anyways your testing progress is awesome, and I thank you for all the testing, it will definetly help us find the "uber" drive for running our systems on. Please post back with your results.