Innuos Streamer - Has anyone replaced the hard-drive with a SSD
- Thread starter Whizzy
- Start date
Pretty sure it can't be done - replacement drives have to be configured at Innuos HQ, you can't simply copy the contents from one to the other. It's not the same as the process of mirroring your PC drive when you upgrade to a bigger HDD as there's some complex stuff going on with how it is set up, with partitions and different formats and custom kernels (and that is the limit of my understanding on it!)
chiily
PFM Special Builder
Maybe something like a bitwise copy rather than a system copy.
I've not tried any of these https://www-ubackup-com.cdn.ampproj...ubackup.com/clone/bit-copy-software-8523.html
webster
Listen & enjoy.
I think in the past you said you have a Zenith?
If so that's an expensive bit of kit to be contemplating a spot of diy.
chiily
PFM Special Builder
Wow, they code them that tight together?
Amber Audio
This is the Day
Some EPOS Till software won’t open unless the hard drive with a specific serial number it expects is in the chassis, not much of a stretch to do similar in a Streamer/Server. The old Naim UnitiServe had to go back to HQ for a hard drive replacement. Quite a few bits of software will do a bit by bit forensic clone of a hard drive but that wouldn’t defeat a BIOS/Firmware check on the hard disk serial/firmware.
It is not possible.
You can do a factory upgrade from Zen Mk3 to Zenith Mk3. I was quoted £1,500, which I think was upgrading to 2TB SSD (possibly 4tb, can't remember) and adding the additional linear PSU (Zen has 2, Zenith has 3).
I recall that the reason for the additional linear PSU is because the SSD drive is much more noisy than the SATA drive, so in the Zenith it has a dedicated power supply.
Plus, the discs are specially formatted and it takes many hours to run the formatting and installation.
So a DIY attempt will simply make the unit inoperable and invalidate any warranty.
See above for the reasons why you can't do DIY on Innuos.
Naim was different. The UnitiServe used a piece of SQL software called nServe developed by a third party that was a disaster waiting to happen. Thankfully Naim abandoned it. Sometimes it crashed and had to be returned to get it going again.
Amber Audio
This is the Day
Helped a few Naim US owners get them working over their Network but was never asked to work on a broken one.
The old INNUOUS used Vortexbox which could be DIY’d - tricky/geeky but doable, the new ones have a custom OS and afaik it’s a return to base job.
@Whizzy Unless someone knows/pipes up with different info I’d ping and get a quote from INNUOUS or your dealer for a swap, likely be cheaper if they let you supply the hard disk yourself.
That is not possible either. The cost of the disc is not the issue, it's the upgrade and installation time as well.
For anyone in the UK, you can speak to Innuos direct, Ricard Coleman is the UK sales manager and is very helpful, or contact in Portugal (where they do the upgrade) at [email protected].
It is cheaper to do an upgrade and you get a Zenith Mk3 with warranty.
p.s. Advising anyone to attempt to modify non-user serviceable equipment is bad advice.
In this case it is very bad advice. I have spoken to Innuos about this exact upgrade issue twice and got a quotation.
I've not proceeded as I was advised that getting an Innuos reclocker is money better spent, but it depends on the streamer/DAC you are using and how you are sending the data.
In this case it is very bad advice. I have spoken to Innuos about this exact upgrade issue twice and got a quotation.
I've not proceeded as I was advised that getting an Innuos reclocker is money better spent, but it depends on the streamer/DAC you are using and how you are sending the data.
Amber Audio
This is the Day
Rubbish, if it’s out of warranty/support and/or the manufacturer puts a significant “tax” of the hardware/work, it’s a perfectly valid option.
Most of these things are based around a standard OEM PC motherboard, nothing magical going on, if you know how to setup an OS, know what the difference between EXT4/NTFS/FAT32 partitions means and can resize a partition, you can DIY upgrade an old INNUOS with a bigger disk for £50.
I own a Innuos Zen Mk3 with a SATA drive and have actually been down this route. I have discussed the technical issues with Innuos. Do you own one? Do you know anything about Innuos architecture and software? It does not have an OEM PC motherboard, it has an Innuos designed operating system and it does not use standard formatting because of the way the operating system manages the disc drive.
The whole purpose of Innuos design, hardware and software, is to run at very low power and low heat. That also informs their use of the Intel NC4200 chip, old and slow but much more efficient that i3/5/7. You cannot do this with OEM boards and disc management. If you want a unit with a user replaceable drive, buy a Roon Nucleus, that uses standard formatting etc and replacement drives are plug-and-play.
Even if you could replace the disc and get it to work, which is extremely unlikely and I'm led to believe impossible, it will be inferior to where you started because to perform at the Zenith level it needs the additional LPSU.
If, as is almost certain, you trash the machine, Innuos will not fix it.
Innuos will do the upgrade whether or not the machine is in warranty. Mine is no longer in warranty, but they are happy to upgrade it.
p.s. I have found the pricing. This was from an email from Innuos in October 2021:
Many thanks for the info.
The cost to upgrade to a 1TB ZENith Mk3 is £1,100 and the 2TB option is £1,600 plus £40 shipping. The turnaround time is usually 2 weeks.
If you compare the prices of Zen and Zenith, and as I have a 4tb SATA, the upgrade is only £100 more than the difference between the current new Zen price of £2,499 and the price of the resulting Zenith model I would get back. So they are basically charging the difference between the new prices. That seems pretty fair to me.
The bonus for me is that my Zen cost £1,900 new 3 just over years ago, prices have gone up steeply.
Amber Audio
This is the Day
The old Zenith machines used bog standard Supermicro OEM motherboards and the Vortexbox software - like I said £50 and some geekery x - bigger disk, done deal.
Their newer machines have OEM motherboards (off the shelf) which have been “optimised” for EMI (they tested a buch and picked the best measuring) and fancy PSU and USB daughter boards (OCXO clocking) stuff in the box. I expect the usual CA sites will have the model numbers and pics.
I don't own any of their kit cos I use Roon and their kit didn’t float my boat.
I bought my Innuos device because I moved over to using Roon, I think I have something like 10 or 11 zones with about 30 Roon Ready devices. If no one else is using it and I'm listening to my main system, I sometimes switch over to using their in-house Sense streaming software. I've also used it for non-Roon Ready devices using uPnP and Airplay.
One of the reasons for using it is that it has an ethernet data output in addition to usb.
The reason why I bought the Innuos rather than Nucleus or Sonicorbiter was because I spoke to Innuos and they explained the low power objectives of the design. I explained I was buying it for Roon and Innuos told me on the phone that, if I wanted to run Roon with multiple zones and DSP, buy a Nucleus+. They said the Zen Mk3 series uses a modified low power board with a chip below the power of the i3, which is Roon's minimum specification. Rare for a manufacturer to be so honest.
I run multiple Roon zones, without using DSP. Don't need to. It does various bitrate conversions automatically. I have never had a problem.
There are reviews like this one, complaining that the motherboard is not powerful enough to run Roon. Well, I beg to differ. Some people are obsessed with power, Innuos are obsessed with noise, or the lack of it.
Anyway, trying to modify a Mk3 Innuos is a very bad idea. I have no idea about Mk2.
Amber Audio
This is the Day
When I looked at them as a Core/Server option they didn’t have the horses to do DSP/EQ/DSD upsampling, which are features I wanted so I could compare with alternatives like HQP and dedicated hardware EQ. After a good few different setups/servers/core at present I’ve ended up running ROCK on an i7NUC10 which has worked without issues. Main endpoint is a Bartok.
We have a dozen ceiling speakers and different players/zones plus a couple normal AV/HiFi systems. Totally agree that Roon is great, it marries together all sorts of makers kit, basically SONOS on steroids, we can control every room from our iPads, control App is King, if it’s crap to use doesn’t matter if it sounds better, Roon levels the playing field when choosing hardware. Supplied Apps are improving but over the years there have been some awful control points, Cyrus and early Pioneer stand out as truly crap.
alanbeeb
pfm Member
Innuos used to be a company that made a sensibly priced ready made music server based on Vortexbox. I got one of their machines in 2014, cost about £500, and in 2020 I had no issues changing the HD to a large SSD and simply re-installed public Vortexbox and restored my music files from a backup drive. Easy. Result is a physically quiet machine - no annoying spinning disc noise and no disc head movements. Performance is exactly as good as it always was.
Their prices now - ouch. And a lot of foo to go along with it.