RNS-510 HDD replacement/SSD swap DIY

[johnc]

You can replace the drive in any model, so yes, but you need to use the right type of drive. I don't know of any 120GB drives, only 128GB. Check the first page for HDD specifications.

And no, it won't make the processor any faster, but it will improve the speed of the scrolling through the music menus. The speed of the unit is limited by the units processor, not the HDD.

Hope that helps!

[SuperMario]

Hey all...
I have RNS 510 unit B model running firmware 3970 and, i was wondering if can replace the HDD with 120 GB and will it make my unit faster. Does it work with fimware 3970?

Thanks

[johnc]

Hey Johnc,

I'm thinking of replacing the fan on my unit with one of those really quiet fans used in PC's. My fan can get pretty noisy at times (and makes me yearn for the whisper silence of the old rcd 210 unit I removed).

Your step 8 photo is very clear... it looks relatively simple to remove. Do you recall any potential difficulties? Is it as easy as it looks?

thanks!

CK

Hey CK. Yeah, it's easy to remove, but I recall Ben thinking the same thing about 6 months ago. He looked for a replacement that matched the same spec, and the one already in the unit seemed to generate the lowest noise reading.

The reason the fan kicks in so much is from the heat of the HDD. You never hear the fan with the SSD. And you don't hear the whirring of the HDD either. If you're going to go to the effort of pull it apart, I'd recommend taking those few extra steps for the full benefit of more capacity and quieter operation without replacing the fan.

[cktsi]

Hey Johnc,

I'm thinking of replacing the fan on my unit with one of those really quiet fans used in PC's. My fan can get pretty noisy at times (and makes me yearn for the whisper silence of the old rcd 210 unit I removed).

Your step 8 photo is very clear... it looks relatively simple to remove. Do you recall any potential difficulties? Is it as easy as it looks?

thanks!

CK

[Ryan_R]

If you've got 90GB of music there must be a lot of sub-great tracks on there (not saying he's filled it up though).

After I wiped my RNS when upgrading the firmware I stuck less music on it. The RNS is also really bad at Mix mode, always playing the same songs (doesn't remember what it's played).

[johnc]

I guess you'll be pressing the Skip > button a lot then

I don't get this. Why would you skip tracks that you picked to load? Unless you have it set to "Mix", but even then, why would you put music on the unit that you disliked, and an even bigger question is, why do you own music you'd want to skip to put on the drive in the first place?

[Ryan_R]

I guess you'll be pressing the Skip > button a lot then

[kamold]

Just an update, I installed a Kingspec 128GB PATA SSD yesterday and partitioned using the 90/5/5. This gave just over 100GB of usable space for music.

[kamold]

I think that you would have trouble fitting an adapter in between the connector on the board and the hdd. It all fits together pretty snugly so you would maybe have to get a bit creative.

I doubt speed would make any difference as even an ssd doesn't appear to copy music much faster. It is faster when scrolling through music but my suspicion is that the onboard controller is only capable of pio mode rather than dma for hdd access.

And using a consumer grade sata hdd is a bit of an unknown quantity due to lower temperature and shock resistance. Hence use of an ssd.

[Ferni]

Has anyone tried just using an adapter like this with a (cheaper and faster) SATA SSD?

SATA 15+7 Pin Female to 44-Pin Male Adapter - Free Shipping - DealExtreme

[Stonemage]

gasb, did you ever get it fixed?

Quite interested to know.

[gasb]

Hi The unit is made in Czech Republic SW2680 built date jan 2010 and its LED screen. I have done as per your explanation. There isn't anything that i could have done to damage motherboard or anything else. Im just puzzled that once removed and put together the unit won't power up. I just asked here if anyone experienced similar problem and may have fixed it. I am pulling it appart as we speak and rechecking all connections and it all looks good. Very strange.

[johnc]

Sorry to hear that gasb. So where do you think (if at all) you went wrong?

I made the DIY as simple as possible and did warn people of the (slight) risk. Unless you had static charge and/or somehow damaged a part of the circuit board, I have no idea where you could have gone wrong. I can only assume you checked and rechecked every single connection before you initially put power to it. I've pulled these things apart a good handful of times and not had any issues. And I'm not 'skilled' in this area in any way.

Where did the unit originally come from? is it an LED or an LCD version. Any additional info on it like a build date or HW version etc?

[gasb]

Hi Guys thank you for your replies. However i did everything you mention above and still no luck. No power to the unit. I even tried my friends RCD510 and that works ok. Looks like i will have to buy new one on ebay now.

[Ryan_R]

While we're not stating the obvious, did you firmly connect the power cable and all other cables? I presume you've since reconnected the car battery if you disconnected it earlier.