RNS-510 HDD replacement/SSD swap DIY

[fronty]

My RNS is now in bits all over the dining room table, the display panel came off a bit unexpectedly and pulled the ribbon cable out before I could release the catch, hopefully it's okay. Now just waiting for a couple 44 pin to 40 pin IDE converters to arrive from Amazon so I can attempt to clone the HDD to the SSD using my old steam driven PC. But these converters all seem to have to come from China, so more delays!

[fronty]

So my KingSpec SSD turned up today, came all the way from China. There's a jumper installed setting it as IDE master, pretty sure I read on here that the jumper needs to be taken off for it all to work, which puts the drive into slave mode, so does the RNS expect to find an IDE slave then? Maybe the DVD drive is configured as the IDE master.

Now I just need to find a few hours to give this a go.

[VW Central]

We do 64GB SSD upgrades to any RNS510 stock is strictly limited at present - $200 installed with 3 year warranty.

[fronty]

Evening all, thanks for this thread, I am going to try this so have ordered a KingSpec 64Gb SSD from Amazon (64GB KingSpec 2.5-inch PATA/IDE SSD Solid State Disk (MLC Flash) SM2236 Controller: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories) but it sounds like some people have had issues. Does anyone have any updates on whether this works or not?

I might try and clone the HDD first and see how I get on. I'll post back here.

I'm not bothered about partition sizes, the problem I've got is that I can't access the maps or media on the HDD when the unit is cold. If I go on a drive and let it warm up, then come back 15-30 mins later, it'll work, it's almost like it needs to warm up a bit first else the HDD tab in the media menu is greyed out and the satnav asks me to insert the navigation DVD.

I don't actually know if it's the HDD at fault or whether there are some other electronics playing up (maybe a bad capacitor?). But this SSD was only £40 so thought I'd give it a go.

Cheers,

Fronty

[kamold]

No, only if the radio goes into a different car.

[benny82]

hi do you need the radio code if you unplug the unit for this upgrade because I have lost my code??

[FJ Steve]

my bad....cheers guys.

[arcadelt]

Yes Steve, I did mean VW Watercooled.

[kamold]

He means vw watercooled Steve

No there is no wiki as far as I know, just the forums which serves pretty well alongside other resources like my-gti etc

[FJ Steve]

Well done kamold. That is a resource worth hanging onto. On that matter, does VWW have a wiki to deposit important posts such as that?

VW would not be interested in such 'mods' as it would mean further exposure of their warranty clause etc.

If you don't believe me...ask your local dealer (next time your car is in for a service) if they could check and update the firmware of your RNS. They will not touch it.

1. They have no idea how to do it.
2. VW OEM Firmware is so old, even Noah threw it out in disgust.
3. Firmware freely available over the internet (on a user beware precaution of course), is far beyond anything that VW would consider worthy of marketing or supporting.
4. Same goes for SSD drive replacement.

My local dealer even calls me from time to time to ask questions about RNS/Touareg electronic brake controllers etc. It's not part of their core business model, so they don't waste time on it.

[arcadelt]

Well done kamold. That is a resource worth hanging onto. On that matter, does VWW have a wiki to deposit important posts such as that?

[kamold]

I've fixed up the original posts which had expired pics in them due to the original author unfortunately leaving the active VWW community.

[sharkys]

I read somewhere that it doesn't actually make RNS510 significantly faster?

Not significantly, but slightly yes....faster searching, better touch response, seems to have slightly faster startup. But really no huge difference.

[kamold]

It doesn't. Its meant to give you more space for music.

[sarpk]

I read somewhere that it doesn't actually make RNS510 significantly faster?