I'm thinking about picking up a 60 GB SSD for this. Has anyone done this yet? Is the power from the USB enough to power the SSD?

 

The Sync USB ports have the standard USB power (pins 3 and 4 I think).

Just a thought; you could Google 'USB power' and then compare it to the SSD power requirements.

 

From what I've read, the SSD's use less power than regular hard drives. I was just hoping to find someone who has already done this before I spend the $ on the drive.

 

Hello Mr. Brain!

Wellsir - IF the SYNC ports confrom exactly to the USB spec for POWERED ports, you will have 500ma @ 5vdc available (2.5w)

I had a quick look at 2 sample drives - both need under 500ma (~2w claimed) to run.... HOWEVER, please ensure the drive is a 5vdc unit! Some are actually 3.3vdc.

Pinouts & USB standard specs:
http://pinouts.ru/Slots/USB_pinout.shtml

Sandisk:
http://www.sandisk.com/media/501837/...d_brochure.pdf

OCZ
http://www.testfreaks.com/blog/revie...-2-5-60gb-ssd/

IMHO - it should work - just not a whole lot of excess capacity to account for temperature and manufacturing variances.

Post a linky to yer chosen drive if you already had one in mind.

Also - you realize these have limited life - writes do take a toll on flash technology. Reads are okay, though.

I hope this helps in an miniscule way ...


MGD v4.2

 

Thanks, MGD.

This is the one I was considering.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...113&CatId=5300

 

Hi again sir.

Okay - here is the spec sheet: http://www.corsair.com/products/ssd_...r/default.aspx - (Click on the Resources tab)

This one is a 5vdc, 2W (400ma) drive.

So - as long as the Sync port supplies the bona-fides, should be fine.

Anyone got Sync specs for the USB's?

Good luck sir!


MGD v4.2

 

Any reason you are looking at this one over a WD passport or something similar?

 

I would guess it is because it is a SSD, which is Solid State Disk, these types of disk do not have any moving parts which would be ideal for a vehicle environment. Normnal hard drives have motors and platters that spin and if jogged around to much could crash easy.

 

Hello!

Yes - WD does not currently make a Passport SSD - all the Passports are rotating media at the moment.

Here is what they do have: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=787

Note that the WRITE current will exceed the formal USB spec ( 3.5w = 700ma).

This is very interesting actually as the other examples did not publish write current specs.

Also - another BIG Caveat - these are all native SATA interface drives - as such they will need to be in an enclosure that supplies the SATA <--> USB interface conversion, which will also consume some nominal power.

I'd very much advise a 'try-before-you-buy' approach here. I really don't like the numbers ...


MGD v4.2

 

Once again Dr. MGD has provided a plethora of valuable and timely information.



{Question to self: Is there anything that he doesn't know something about?}

By far the easiest and least expensive method is using a USB flash drive. Obviously this does depend on the size of your music collection, but Sync will have difficulty indexing more than 12K (that's 12,000 MGD) songs.

If you added up all the songs from Waylon Jennings, Charlie Rich, Ronnie Milsap, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams (Jr and Sr), George Strait, Randy Travis, Alan Jackson, Reba, Wynonna (and her mother) would that be more than 12K?

Something else to ponder...

 

Exactly...that and SSD's have a better tolerance to temperature extremes...so I've heard.

 

I'm speachless! And thirsty!

Yep - Kingston fer instance makes 64 & 128 GB UFD's;==> http://www.kingston.com/press/2009/flash/06b.asp

But, in general UFD's are slower than SSD's since the latter uses fast ram buffering. Likely not important for audio.


MGD v4.2

 

I decided to go with a 64GB Kingston flash drive. Pickled it up on eBay for less than $100.