Cloning an SSD for a Music Streamer

Hello all,

Update on my progress with replacing the Samsung 860 QVO Sata internall 2TB SSD in my Cocktail Audio X45. I purchased a Samsung EVO 870Sata Internal 4TB SSD and a Sabrent USB Type-C Dual Bay SATA Docking Station. 

Steps:

1. I removed the old 2TB SSD from the X45

2. Installed the new 4TB SSD into the X45

3. Went into settings and Formatted the new SSD

4. Once formatted, removed it and inserted the 4TB into slot B in the Sabrent

5. Inserted the old 2TB SSD into slot A (per Sabrent instructions)

6. Turned on the unit and pressed CLONE/COPY (per Sabrent instructions)

7. Process was completed in about 1.5 hours

8. Re-inserted the 4TB SSD into the X45

9. Turned the unit on to test the outcome

10. In one area (I don't) remeber which, it still indicated that I used 1.8TB

      In another location on the unit, it indicated that I used 1.8TB of 4TB

11. Played a few tunes from my database of 700 albums, and VOILA,

      Success.

All of my music was there (including a few duplicates from the original SSD. They were all in FLAC, which is how I had them stored originally.

I hope this information is helpful to others who are considering expanding the capacity of their streaming units.

Two things I cannot comment on:

    1. Cloning devices from other manufacturers

    2. Cloing software (I did not use any)

Thanks and cheers,

Steve

There is a free Windows program called SyncToy.

It will automatically keep two USB/HDD or SSDs identical for backup purposes, like RAID or to use another drive on another system or in the car etc.

Everytime you add files to one drive the second drive gets backed up and checked for inconsistencies when they are scanned by SyncToy.

Your welcome stevenyc... Samsung has clone and management software you can download... I have been using Samsung SSDs for several years now in several PCs and Laptops without issue... I think I have a Vantec SATA to USB adapter... If I remember right it was less than $25.00...  The coctailaudio folks suggest using a Samsung SSD...  You may have to use the Coctailaudio backup utility and the steps should be the same...

ddude003,

Thanks for your recommendation. I will attempt this and let everyone know the results.

Cheers,

Steve

Take a look at the SAMSUNG 870 EVO 4TB 2.5 Inch SATA III Internal SSD...

You can get an inexpensive kit that will host the SSD an external USB drive...

Clone your current internal to the external kited SSD

Remove the internal SSD and replace with the external SSD

Easy peasy...

Greetings all,

 

I'm back with additional questions, but first, want to add that I have some music files on my laptop that I woud like to play through my CA X-45 streamer and not via my computer. My intent here is to get a larger 4/5 TB SSD, copy/back-up the music on the X-45 to it and then move the music files from mu computer to it. I woud then use the old 2 TB SSD as my back-up.

Questions:

1. Is it better to purchase an internal or external 4/5 TB SSD?

2. Can someone recommend a high-quality External/Internal SSD with fast read/write speeds? I saw a few forums mention Western Digital or do you think another option is best?

Thanks and cheers,

Steve

1. 

Yage,

Thanks for your explanation and instruction. You are the best. I will try this method and apprecite everone's input.

Cheers,

Steve

@stevenyc 

Your manual explains how to backup and restore your music database (pp.38-41). Formatting your new drive is covered on p.62. Looks like you'll need an external USB drive with a larger capacity than the size of your music database.

 

Here's how I would do it:

1. Backup music DB to external drive

2. Remove old drive

3. Install new drive

4. Format new drive

5. Restore music DB from external drive

Thanks for your responses. Is there a step-by-step process that I can follow to achieve the cloning to the new SSD? I read that someone used a SATA/USB cable connected to a computer. Once connected they then connected the streamer with the smaller SSD to it, then commenced the cloning process.

Or is is just better to use a cloning program? I'm just not clear on exactly what I need to accomplish the cloning process.

I apprecizate everyone's gudiance.

Cheers,

Steve

I use Carbon Copy Cloner (MAC only program) for that - fantastic program. In default configuration it makes copy identical to original by dealing only with files that are different working really fast. For Windows you can try Acronis TrueImage. I don’t know this particular program, but I heard that it works well and I had positive experience with Acronis backup software for Windows in the past.
 

@deadhead1000 

You knew exactly where I was going with that! Years ago I studied the IRIX operating system when learning 3D software for use on SGI workstations (man that was a while ago!).

I had a music server die that had a Linux based operating system and when I thought about the time it would take to load a machine and wade through it to figure it out I decided to cut my losses and buy a different server! I still have it in a box in the garage.

Agree with @fuzztone , but  ​​​​​​@designsfx makes a good point, many systems use a version of the Unix operating systems to format data as it's a much cheaper license then the Microsoft format of data. Ask Cocktail, they will tell you. If it is a Unix version, have a computer store do it for you. Although you can do it yourself, unless you are very good with computers (moderate isn't good enough, sorry to say) and the right software, it's not worth your time or effort.

Just FYI, I am a retired CIO, so I am very familiar with the process converting Unix data to another format. 

Assuming the cocktail streamer doesn’t have some obscure formatting requirement it should be pretty straightforward. I’ve done this with Naim gear in the past- format the new drive and copy the contents of the previous drive onto the new one.

What does the streamer’s documentation say?

If you clone a 2T to a 4T it will only use 2T.

I would just copy, overnight. Otherwise uses too many.steps.