DIY: Upgrade MMI 3G HDD to SSD

[dcchristopher]

... (or any HDD of your choice for that matter; in fact, unless you can find a PowerSafe IDE SSD, you really should just upgrade to a larger automotive grade HDD)

Link to the instructions, with photos (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzqNbVcwdNe_c0lqQzJfU2FTNmc/view?usp=sharing&resourcekey=0-eBO8c_7B8Tgvxb98nAE2fw)

Also, posted here:

Parts

1) Radio removal keys; I went with the Xtenzi‐branded Double‐DIN keys for Audi/VW/Merc: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005IBKI1W, about $10
2) An IDE SSD or HDD of your choice; I went with a 64GB Transcend PSD330 2.5‐inch IDE Internal SSD Solid State Disk (MLC Flash) but had major instability issues with it; I ended up switching to a bigger version of our drive, the MK8050GAC and then its 5400RPM Seagate version, the ST980818AM; please be very careful where you buy either one, there are a lot of scammers out there
3) USB‐to‐IDE connection cables (having two on hand allows for direct drive copying); I went with “Sabrent USB 2.0 TO SATA/IDE 2.5/3.5/‐INCH Hard Drive Converter With Power Supply & LED Activity Lights”: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CPGYNV4, about $15 each
4) A T8 six‐point bit (and driver) to remove all the screws
5) VMWare Player, to run the QNX Rear‐Time OS (free download): https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/free#desktop_end_user_computing/vmware_player/7_0; for OSX, you’ll need Fusion and you can get going with just the trial period
6) QNX 6.5.0 SP 1 “Neutrino” Runtime environment (you don’t need the entire SDP; free download): http://www.qnx.com/download/feature.html?programid=23665 (I realize QNX may have taken this down; either search the web or contact me for a copy)

First, remove the radio from the dash. Insert the radio keys into the slits circled in red:
http://www.audizine.com/gallery/data/500/am3hu-01.png
The notches on the radio keys will need to face inward (each other) and you’ll know you inserted them correctly as they’ll “click” (you’ll feel springs being loaded). Pull on the keys and the head unit will just pop out (at this point it’s mostly held in place with friction from the surrounding dash trim).
As you pull the head unit out, there will be a slew of cables still attached to it:
http://www.audizine.com/gallery/data/500/am3hu-02.png
Not shown in this picture are any cables attached to the trim just below the radio key slits (Audi Drive Select, Stability/Traction Control On/Off, Hill Descent Control, etc). You’ll want to get those disconnected first. The ones shown in this graphic are (from right to left): a fiber‐optic (caution: laser!) in/out cable with corrugated plastic sleeves (important), a multi‐cable/purpose “carrier” connector, a yellow and green four‐prong cable, and the XM/radio antenna. All except the carrier have a small latch  you have to depress before pulling on the cable. Take your time, each is slightly different. You’ll need nails, too (so, nail‐biters need not attempt this). Don’t pull hard on any of them as it means you’re doing something wrong. Pulling too hard on the first cable I described (with the plastic sleeves) can cause the corrugated plastic to pop off even though the connector is firmly in place. So, look for that small latch before you start pulling. Now, the really large multi‐purpose cable is like a lego construction of four different connectors, all in one. They’re held together in a carrier that swivels out. The release is on the bottom of the square and as you lift it up, it comes out of the head unit. When re‐inserting, remember to fully extend the carrier, connect with the head unit, and then swivel it down for it to “lock” into place.

Second, open the MMI head unit. By now you should be looking at this:
http://www.audizine.com/gallery/data/500/am3hu-03.png
Remove the six screws circled in red with the T8 six‐point bit. Notice the darker red circle where the screw has a little neighbor; that’s some sort of a pin that worried me at first; it may just be some sort of reset mechanism but it ended up being inconsequential). Break the seal circled in yellow. I tried to get crafty and avoid breaking it but it wasn’t worth bending the metal flaps in the back. Use your fingers to pry open the front of the cover and work your way back, toward those flaps. You can insert a small flat screwdriver in the areas highlighted in light blue. Only insert a millimeter or two as to not damage any of the electronics inside. Just rock the blade side to side to pop the cover, as if opening a can of paint.

Third, remove the hard drive. By now you should be looking at the insides of the head unit:
http://www.audizine.com/gallery/data/500/am3hu-04.png
That’s the optical drive you’re looking at and it’s not secured at all (as it was held in place by some of the screws that also held the cover in place), so, be careful! There’s a ribbon cable attached to it so gently pick it up and flip it over in front of the head unit (where the plastic dash trim is). Lay it down and out of the way. You should be now looking at this:
http://www.audizine.com/gallery/data/500/am3hu-06.png 
I did not remove the DVD cable (left) or that aluminum ribbon (right) as I didn’t find either to be in the way. Just remove the three screws (circled in yellow) that are holding the hard drive’s chassis down. You’ll need to tilt the head unit up from the rear and unscrew them from the bottom of the chassis. Be mindful of the optical drive, if still attached. Where the green arrow points in his picture above, there’s a little metal “pin” that is sticking out and holding the hard drive chassis down. You’ll want to apply some light leverage with a small flat‐head screwdriver between the screw and the pin and push that pin inward and away from the hard drive chassis. It’s only the third to last thing keeping that drive down. The second to last thing keeping it down is some blue heat spreader stuff glued in four specific places on the bottom of the hard drive chassis. And finally, the IDE angled‐male‐to‐male adapter at the front of the hard drive is holding it down. Once the afore‐mentioned pin (“3rd to last”) is out of the way, you’ll want to gently pry the hard drive chassis out of its little fox hole, careful to not break the IDE connector (not so much the angled adapter but the one soldered to the circuit board that the angled adapter is plugged into). The angled adapter ought to stay attached to the drive.
http://www.audizine.com/gallery/data/500/am3hu-07.png
Finally, remove the hard drive from the chassis by unscrewing the four mounting screws on the sides where the yellow arrows are indicating (don’t touch the ones on the bottom that are actually PART of the hard drive). These mounting screws were T‐T‐T‐T‐TIGHT but you will not need to tighten them that much on the SSD. Push the drive down so that it will disconnect from the angled IDE adapter. The adapter will probably just fall off at this point as there’s nothing else holding it in place. FYI, some of that blue heat spreader stuff may stick to the hard drive chassis and some may stick to the circuit board.

Interesting factoid, once you remove the hard drive, you’ll notice a little flap on the bottom side of the chassis that’s bent inward, right along the narrow edge opposite the angled adapter opening (indicated by the red arrow in the picture). I don’t know WHY they chose to bend it inward but it presented quite the “WTF? “ moment when I inserted the new SSD drive as it blocked it from lying down flush (one of the mounting screw holes was not aligned properly). Just grab some needle‐nose pliers and straighten that flap out. If you look on the circuit board (at approximately the same location), there’s really nothing sticking out that required that flap to point inward. Just make sure it’s flat and not pointing down (and thus not digging into the circuit board).

Fourth, clone those drives! You can start VM Player by double‐clicking on the .vmx file in the 650SP1‐ VM folder (I used WinRAR to extract the files from the .tar archive). In order for the QNX RTOS to boot up, you don’t have to do anything. Just let it go through all its motions until you end up with this:
http://www.audizine.com/gallery/data/500/am3hu-08.png
You will want to connect the two drives to the USB/IDE adapters and then the adapters to your computer. Make sure those featherweight drives don’t go flying from any tension in the cables. Your computer will try to recognize the new drives, just ignore the messages that pop up. In the VMWare Player window above, just click the Player dropdown, select Removable Devices, find the cryptically named USB/IDE adapter name (e.g., “JMicron/JMicron USA USB to ATA/ATAPI Bridge”; mine wasn’t obvious for the adapters I used either, don’t worry), and click “Connect (Disconnect from Host)”. This will transfer control of those USB devices to the QNX VM.

NOTE: If you don’t see any USB devices, simply go to Player ‐> Manage ‐> Virtual Machine Settings, and in the Hardware tab click Add to add a USB Controller to the profile. You may need to restart the VM for that change to take effect. Then retry the previous instruction.

At this point it may behoove you to unplug and reconnect the USB adapters to your computer. The control will again go back to the VM. In fact, any time something isn’t quite right, I found that reconnecting the drives helped the QNX OS recognize them better.

Click the Superuser icon. There’s no password and you’re immediately logged in. Mouse and keyboard control are now passed to the QNX VM. If you need to return control to your computer, simply press the combination Ctrl‐Alt. Click the Launch (“Start”) menu in the bottom left, then select Utilities, then Terminal. This will start a Korn shell session. Type
mount and press Enter. You’ll see the partitions currently mounted and their mounting point. Most likely you’ll only see the partition for your QNX VM (mine was “/dev/hd0t179 mounted on / type qnx6”). If you type
df however (and press Enter), you’ll notice that there are more devices visible. You should see the device the above partition is a part of (e.g., /dev/hd0) as well as a couple of other devices for the hard drives connected via USB.
http://www.audizine.com/gallery/data/500/am3hu-09.png
(NOTE: If you see /dev/hd10 and /dev/hd20 instead of /dev/umass0 and /dev/umass1, disconnect and reconnect the USB<‐>IDE adapters). One set (umass0) is for the MMI hard drive and the other is for your new SSD (umass1) but the order or naming will differ depending on your setup. You’ll be able to tell them apart by the sheer size (expressed by default in cylinders unless you enter the command
df –h in which case it will be expressed in bytes/MB/GB). First things first, look at your existing hard drive’s partitions. Type
fdisk followed by the device path that points to your hard drive, e.g.
fdisk /dev/umass0. You will see something like the following:
http://www.audizine.com/gallery/data/500/am3hu-10.png
You should see the following values for your Audi MMI drive:


1
QNX
77
0
3002
3003
*


2
QNY
78
3003
4381
1379



3
QNZ
79
4382
4487
106



4
Ext'd
5
4488
4863
376



4.1
nonQNX
187
4488
4816
329



4.2
nonQNX
187
4817
4823
7



4.3
nonQNX
187
4824
4863
40



Whatever your values are (and they really should match the above), write them down (scroll all the way down by pressing N(ext) or the down arrow. Notice there are three QNX6 partitions (despite their QNX4‐ style type), then an extended partition holding three other non‐QNX partitions). For more information on partition types, check out Keldo’s information sheet here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/221492426/Understanding‐Hard‐Drive‐Partitions
Now press Q to Quit. Run fdisk for the new SSD drive. The first time, you’ll need to run it with the –z argument to zero out the partition table: e.g.,
fdisk ‐z /dev/umass1). The fdisk screen will probably show one big partition taking up the entire drive. Just D(elete) it or C(hange) it and create something that looks like the following:


1
QNX
77
0
3002
3003
*


2
QNY
78
3003
7300
4298



3
QNZ
79
7301
7406
106



4
Ext'd
5
7407
7782
376



4.1
nonQNX
187
7407
7735
329



4.2
nonQNX
187
7736
7742
7



4.3
nonQNX
187
7743
7782
40



The goal is to work your way to the middle of the hard drive to determine how much room can be allocated to the Jukebox (partition 2). Partitions 1, 3, 4 (and therein, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3) will need to be the same as before. The remaining space in the middle will be used for the new Jukebox partition. For each partition you need to create, just press C(hange), enter the partition type (number), then the starting cylinder and the ending cylinder. Don’t forget to press B when on the first partition to make it bootable (an asterisk will display in the Boot column). Press S(ave) and Q(uit). Now on to the fun stuff. For each partition that’s not the Jukebox (i.e., 77, 79, 187, 187.1, 187.2), run the following command:
dd if=/dev/umass0t77 of=/dev/umass1t77 bs=8192k
This will copy each raw partition (e.g., 77) from the old hard drive (e.g., /dev/umass0) to the new SSD (e.g., /dev/umass1) (and 8MB or 8192k at a time). If you mess up the order (umass1 ‐> umass0) or the partition numbers (t77 ‐> t78), you’re SOL (especially if you overwrite the original hard drive). So ... be VERY careful with this.
The tricky part comes when copying the Jukebox partition (78). First you need to format it:

mkqnx6fs –T media /dev/umass1t78
Once that’s done mount the original Jukebox partition as read‐only:

mount –r –t qnx6 /dev/umass0t78 /mnt/jukebox0
and then mount the new Jukebox partition as read‐write:

mount –rw –t qnx6 –o sync=optional /dev/umass1t78 /mnt/jukebox1
and then copy the files over

cp –R /mnt/jukebox0/* /mnt/jukebox1

Finally, put it all back together ... in reverse order!


[dcchristopher]

Reserved for various thoughts on all this *updated 5/16/2015 09:00AM CDT*

It was at parts a challenge but overall fairly simple. There's just so much room for things to go South. When removing the HDD, you're touching against the MMI circuit board. Yikes.

I largely followed Keldo Gliana's instructions on Scribd. The bulk of it is re-creating the partitions on the SSD and then copying each raw partition over with "dd" ... and then waiting! I had to follow a slightly different process for the Jukebox partition as it requires that you mount both partitions and just copy the files over.

I finally got the Jukebox partition to copy over (instructions PDF document has been updated to reflect that)!! Importing tracks from CD or SD is still iffy. There are also issues that arise when the system turns off and back on for justifiable reasons (car turns off / on, etc). It seems to want to rebuild the library every time and it eventually gets corrupted. I tried doing a direct clone of the Jukebox partition and it didn't make a difference. I switched to a bigger automotive hard drive. The SSD I chose was not a good candidate for this operation. A larger automotive-grade (whatever that means) hard disk is the way to go. There's an 80GB version of the one we have in our MMIs (MK8050GAC vs MK40xxGAC for 3G vs MK60xxGAC for 3G+) and then there's a Seagate equivalent that spins at 5400 RPM instead of 4200 RPM (model ST980818AM).

Which brings me to this conclusion ... I would warn anyone trying this to consider the risk/reward proposition here. The Nav feels slightly peppier (route (re)calculations, zooming in/out, etc) but it's nothing mind-blowing. I think the processor is so feeble that the hard drive was definitely not the limiting factor. FYI, if you go into the Green menu, there are some mildly interesting screens with facts about the hard drive attached (look up S.M.A.R.T.). I also found a screen for Java stuff where I was able to trigger garbage collection. FYI, the head unit has 16M of memory. There are also some options to mess with the CPU's clock frequency but I wouldn't f*** with it. :)

[greenturbo]

very cool mod!

[pooker]

Have you ever been able to access the extended partition? I have always been able to open up the QNX partitions, but the Extended partition seems to be where the potential image directories are stored for the system.

[poweredbyaudi7]

Nice!!

[dcchristopher]

Have you ever been able to access the extended partition? I have always been able to open up the QNX partitions, but the Extended partition seems to be where the potential image directories are stored for the system.

Per Keldo's instructions (and I have confirmed this works):
mount -r -t qnx6 /dev/umass0t187 /mnt/system
mount -r -t qnx6 /dev/umass0t187.1 /mnt/backup
mount -r -t qnx6 /dev/umass0t187.2 /mnt/recovery

He claims the third sub-partition (recovery) within the extended partition is not mountable but it worked for me.

[zhclvn]

Cool, will it make it faster?

[dcchristopher]

Cool, will it make it faster?

It's weird, I'm not seeing much improvement where I'd like to see it (initial Nav load time) but the UI is a lot less "sticky". I also see an improvement when calculating routes. All in all though, nothing extraordinary (like making the same upgrade in a laptop). If I can get my Jukebox working again, it would definitely be nice to have that extra space. Did I mention I have Video-in-Motion enabled? :)

[pooker]

I haven't tried this mod yet, but I have been thinking about it for awhile! I don't use a QNX run time environment to access the partitions, so maybe that is why I haven't been able to get into the extended. I have always been interested in modifying the images on the system itself, such as the boot screen.

[dcchristopher]

I haven't tried this mod yet, but I have been thinking about it for awhile! I don't use a QNX run time environment to access the partitions, so maybe that is why I haven't been able to get into the extended. I have always been interested in modifying the images on the system itself, such as the boot screen.

I know you can choose the boot splash screen from a predefined list by simply choosing your model and generation in the Green menu. For completely custom ones, you may be able to copy it from the SD card using a startup script. A gentleman from APR once did that for someone on this forum or A5OC. Next time I'm in the hard drive, I'll look for these images. I'd hope one wouldn't have to open the damn thing just to update the splash screen.

[poweredbyaudi7]

I have a HDD replicator....do you think this could be a one stop shop replication?

[dcchristopher]

I have a HDD replicator....do you think this could be a one stop shop replication?

Some folks on other auto brands which also use QNX for infotainment claim that they're able to replicate the hard drives with G4U (Ghost 4 Unix) but they still have to use a different solution for the partition resizing and that may preclude keeping the files you already had. I also can't vouch for your replicator's "understanding" of QNX partition types. It's definitely possible. My proposed solution seems to work pretty well so far except for the song import issues (which I was "kind of" having before). It doesn't take long to get the QNX stuff set up. You can always try the replicator first and then fall back to the QNX method. Good luck, either way!

[pooker]

I know you can choose the boot splash screen from a predefined list by simply choosing your model and generation in the Green menu. For completely custom ones, you may be able to copy it from the SD card using a startup script. A gentleman from APR once did that for someone on this forum or A5OC. Next time I'm in the hard drive, I'll look for these images. I'd hope one wouldn't have to open the damn thing just to update the splash screen.

I am using an A7 MMI unit in an S4, so even if you modify the options in the green menu, it just brings up a black image, because there isn't an image for the S4 in the A7 system. I didn't realize someone from APR had modified the start script before. I will have to see if I can find the thread.

[dcchristopher]

I am using an A7 MMI unit in an S4, so even if you modify the options in the green menu, it just brings up a black image, because there isn't an image for the S4 in the A7 system. I didn't realize someone from APR had modified the start script before. I will have to see if I can find the thread.

I think this is your guy:

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showthread.php/448002-MMI-Navigation-map-updates?p=10661973&viewfull=1#post10661973

He hooked someone up with an APR splash screen, thus my confusion. I'd swear I saw something about him being an APR rep in the other site's post's signature though.

I'm about to hit him up for updated maps for my setup ... and that B&O splash screen would be nice too! :)

UPDATED: forgot to mention, if you search for playlist scripts, you'll find that if you place a specifically named .sh script in the SD card and plug it in after the unit has booted up, it will run it (first line is #!/bin/sh, etc). There a few cookie cutter commands (mount | grep, etc) for figuring out the path for the SD card and the path for the other partitions. Once you know where those images are, overwriting them should be a cinch. Good luck!

[alexza4]

Very nice! Looks very similar to the Tivo drive upgrade process, I've done quiet a few of them over the years.

How big of HD will MMI support?

[dcchristopher]

Very nice! Looks very similar to the Tivo drive upgrade process, I've done quiet a few of them over the years.

How big of HD will MMI support?

I don't know but I can't imagine it would have any issues with drives up to 1TB (2GB x 512), driver-permitting, per the QNX OS specs. The addressing space is the same (32-bit). Each individual file can only be up to 2GB.

Heeeeey ... since YOU have done this before, can you tell me why my flippin' Jukebox partition is wigging out? Even after doing a "cp -R", it will occasionally recreate the Jukebox track list upon start-up. It must be that something is missing that would have been caught as part of a raw partition copy. Unfortunately there's no indication that you can resize a QNX4/6 partition without needing to reformat it.

After one of these reboots, the Jukebox finally got jacked up and is currently greyed out. At least I still have the original hard drive. I'm thinking of just doing a straight raw partition copy (dd) and keeping it at 10GB until I can figure out what it is that's missing.

UPDATE: Even the raw partition copy didn't resolve the issue; there's just something about the SSD drive. Either the MMI is not fond of it or the drive itself lacks a feature that is key.

[dcchristopher]

I reverted back to the original hard drive for now until I get a hold of a MK8050GAC (same as our hard drive but 80GB). The instructions will be the same (just adjust for the larger Jukebox partition when in fdisk).

In the meantime, Philip0001 hooked me up with the latest MMI/Maps updates. He is an awesome dude and a lifesaver!

[seventeenapg]

I know you can choose the boot splash screen from a predefined list by simply choosing your model and generation in the Green menu. For completely custom ones, you may be able to copy it from the SD card using a startup script. A gentleman from APR once did that for someone on this forum or A5OC. Next time I'm in the hard drive, I'll look for these images. I'd hope one wouldn't have to open the damn thing just to update the splash screen.



Many thanks for this. I have always wanted to put in a bigger hdd because I have over 40gb of music files and I want to have it all in jukebox, now I can (hopefully)

[seventeenapg]

I reverted back to the original hard drive for now until I get a hold of a MK8050GAC (same as our hard drive but 80GB). The instructions will be the same (just adjust for the larger Jukebox partition when in fdisk).

In the meantime, Philip0001 hooked me up with the latest MMI/Maps updates. He is an awesome dude and a lifesaver!



Just saw this. I will go this route because I only want more space for my music. I use HERE Drive on my Lumia 930 for nav , I find it way better and easier to use. What is the make of the drive and do I follow the same instructions that you gave for the SSD?
Thank you

[dcchristopher]

Just saw this. I will go this route because I only want more space for my music. I use HERE Drive on my Lumia 930 for nav , I find it way better and easier to use. What is the make of the drive and do I follow the same instructions that you gave for the SSD?
Thank you

Toshiba MK8050GAC, it's the next step up from ours (MK4036GAC). They can be found online for about $150-200. Watch out for spare part sites that are selling used drives but it's only mentioned in the fine print. If you give me about a month, I will try my instructions with this new drive and update this thread. It should be the exact same process with the only difference being the new start/end cylinders for the partitions that come after the Jukebox. Their overall cylinder count will be the same though. If you do give this a try, let us know how it went! Good luck!

[seventeenapg]

Its all pretty intricate, ill wait the month lol. I did read up about the drive on Toshiba website. It seems only difference in automobile drives is the fact it runs at higher temperatures, better shock resistance and impervious yo high altitudes. Not sure why the SSD did not work correctly.

[dcchristopher]

Oh, I wholeheartedly agree. This has been the bane of my most recent existence. Nevertheless, I have to believe that the SSD somehow is missing some feature present in regular HDDs. I have to ...

[alexza4]

I don't know but I can't imagine it would have any issues with drives up to 1TB (2GB x 512), driver-permitting, per the QNX OS specs. The addressing space is the same (32-bit). Each individual file can only be up to 2GB.

Heeeeey ... since YOU have done this before, can you tell me why my flippin' Jukebox partition is wigging out? Even after doing a "cp -R", it will occasionally recreate the Jukebox track list upon start-up. It must be that something is missing that would have been caught as part of a raw partition copy. Unfortunately there's no indication that you can resize a QNX4/6 partition without needing to reformat it.

After one of these reboots, the Jukebox finally got jacked up and is currently greyed out. At least I still have the original hard drive. I'm thinking of just doing a straight raw partition copy (dd) and keeping it at 10GB until I can figure out what it is that's missing.

UPDATE: Even the raw partition copy didn't resolve the issue; there's just something about the SSD drive. Either the MMI is not fond of it or the drive itself lacks a feature that is key.

hey, not sure, if I can be of much help to you... as like I said I did for the Tivo drive replacements, which is similar, but never for the MMI. Let me dig into this though when I have a minute and maybe I can see something.

[The Outrage]

I would think the slow Parallel ATA connection would negate most of the speed advantages of the SSD.

[dcchristopher]

hey, not sure, if I can be of much help to you... as like I said I did for the Tivo drive replacements, which is similar, but never for the MMI. Let me dig into this though when I have a minute and maybe I can see something.

No rush, thanks for being willing to check into it though. I'll give the 80GB HDD a try in a few weeks and will update this thread.

[seventeenapg]

No rush, thanks for being willing to check into it though. I'll give the 80GB HDD a try in a few weeks and will update this thread.



I have installed the VMware 7.0 and the QNX software as well although I have not run either yet in case it begins a trial period. I did see Fusion in the VMware catalogue; do I need to install it as well? About to order the 80GB drive on Amazon so I have all ready. I can follow explicit instructions but am not that tech savvy!! This is a mod I have been looking to do for a long time now and so looking forward to having all of my music on tap and through voice control...

[dcchristopher]

I have installed the VMware 7.0 and the QNX software as well although I have not run either yet in case it begins a trial period. I did see Fusion in the VMware catalogue; do I need to install it as well? About to order the 80GB drive on Amazon so I have all ready. I can follow explicit instructions but am not that tech savvy!! This is a mod I have been looking to do for a long time now and so looking forward to having all of my music on tap and through voice control...

Are you on a Mac or PC? The former requires Fusion which will be on trial basis (read: countdown). The latter only needs Player which is freeware. Be very careful as some of those Amazon listings are for used drives. I found a couple options for new drives around $220 at sites like AllHDD and UpgradeBay or something like that. Use Google Shopping and you'll see them. Good luck! If you need me to shadow you while you do it, I can watch/guide you over TeamViewer.

[seventeenapg]

Are you on a Mac or PC? The former requires Fusion which will be on trial basis (read: countdown). The latter only needs Player which is freeware. Be very careful as some of those Amazon listings are for used drives. I found a couple options for new drives around $220 at sites like AllHDD and UpgradeBay or something like that. Use Google Shopping and you'll see them. Good luck! If you need me to shadow you while you do it, I can watch/guide you over TeamViewer.



Thanks, I have a surface pro 3 running win 8.1 and have teamViewer installed . So I guess I will not need Fusion then. Also, will make sure I get a brand new drive. I love in N Ireland so will do a comprehensive search before I push the button on a drive. Hmm, just thinking, I have only one USB3.0 port on the tablet....

[dcchristopher]

Thanks, I have a surface pro 3 running win 8.1 and have teamViewer installed . So I guess I will not need Fusion then. Also, will make sure I get a brand new drive. I love in N Ireland so will do a comprehensive search before I push the button on a drive. Hmm, just thinking, I have only one USB3.0 port on the tablet....

You may be able to use a USB hub. Try with a keyboard and mouse first, just to verify that it works. If you get the USB-IDE adapters I recommended, they have an external power option. You will want that or one like it as the single USB port on the Surface 3 may not be able to power both drives at the same time as you copy 37GB. Just my two cents.

[seventeenapg]

You may be able to use a USB hub. Try with a keyboard and mouse first, just to verify that it works. If you get the USB-IDE adapters I recommended, they have an external power option. You will want that or one like it as the single USB port on the Surface 3 may not be able to power both drives at the same time as you copy 37GB. Just my two cents.


Thanks, I have a spare laptop and I will put the software on it I think. Will also buy 2 adaptors as you rightly suggest with power supplies. I am reading your detailed instructions just now and I have a few questions..
I see only 10GB for partition 2, the jukebox. I always thought there was about 15GB allocated for music files.

After I create partition 4 do I then move on and create a partition 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 or do I have to create these 3 from within the extended partition?

For the new jukebox (78) I understand that it will have to be seperately formatted. As I have no music on my current HDD do I just mount it as read only and then read/ write or can I go directly and mount as read/write?

And finally, I have a 2013 S5 but I cannot see the small slits for the keys. I will look more closely later tho.
Thank you so much for your valued help.

[dcchristopher]

Thanks, I have a spare laptop and I will put the software on it I think. Will also buy 2 adaptors as you rightly suggest with power supplies. I am reading your detailed instructions just now and I have a few questions..
I see only 10GB for partition 2, the jukebox. I always thought there was about 15GB allocated for music files.

After I create partition 4 do I then move on and create a partition 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 or do I have to create these 3 from within the extended partition?

For the new jukebox (78) I understand that it will have to be seperately formatted. As I have no music on my current HDD do I just mount it as read only and then read/ write or can I go directly and mount as read/write?

And finally, I have a 2013 S5 but I cannot see the small slits for the keys. I will look more closely later tho.
Thank you so much for your valued help.

You have many questions, Mr. Sparkle! (sorry, gratuitous Simpsons reference)

1) Only 10GB to my knowledge and experience ... at the end of the day though, what you want to do is run fdisk on the current hard drive and establish what the current cylinder counts are for each partition; recreate the same structure on the new hard drive except the Jukebox will take up all the remaining space; since it's in the middle (more or less), you'll have to push the partitions that come after it to the end of the new drive and that's how you'll know how much room you're left with ... it's a fun and easy puzzle to solve

2) You'll create 4, then 4.1, 4.2, etc. The system will know that the sub-partitions are part of the extended partition by virtue of the cylinder counts. Recreating the partitions in the new hard drive is really easy, don't worry. Just enter the information as you have computed it from the previous step

3) For the Jukebox partition, I would say just go ahead and run the copy command anyway. It will create any existing folder structure, etc. Bear in mind, you mount the original as read then the new one as read/write. You don't first mount (anything) as read and then read/write. One is read, the other is read/write. Just to be clear.

4) Aaah, this may explain your first question too ... mine is a 3G, yours is probably 3G+. Besides the partition sizes being a little different, there may be OTHER differences in the steps. Please proceed with extreme caution! In fact, my recommendation would be to stay put and not mess up that beautiful new(er) car of yours. Mine is already paid off and I'm just asking to hose it up so that I can justify getting something newer, like yours! :)

[seventeenapg]

You have many questions, Mr. Sparkle! (sorry, gratuitous Simpsons reference)



1) Only 10GB to my knowledge and experience ... at the end of the day though, what you want to do is run fdisk on the current hard drive and establish what the current cylinder counts are for each partition; recreate the same structure on the new hard drive except the Jukebox will take up all the remaining space; since it's in the middle (more or less), you'll have to push the partitions that come after it to the end of the new drive and that's how you'll know how much room you're left with ... it's a fun and easy puzzle to solve



2) You'll create 4, then 4.1, 4.2, etc. The system will know that the sub-partitions are part of the extended partition by virtue of the cylinder counts. Recreating the partitions in the new hard drive is really easy, don't worry. Just enter the information as you have computed it from the previous step



3) For the Jukebox partition, I would say just go ahead and run the copy command anyway. It will create any existing folder structure, etc. Bear in mind, you mount the original as read then the new one as read/write. You don't first mount (anything) as read and then read/write. One is read, the other is read/write. Just to be clear.



4) Aaah, this may explain your first question too ... mine is a 3G, yours is probably 3G+. Besides the partition sizes being a little different, there may be OTHER differences in the steps. Please proceed with extreme caution! In fact, my recommendation would be to stay put and not mess up that beautiful new(er) car of yours. Mine is already paid off and I'm just asking to hose it up so that I can justify getting something newer, like yours! :)


Lol, thanks for info. Still determined to di this. Really shouldn't be much difference to that which you have detailed. Now to figure out how to remove the head unit. At least I can firstly interrogate it to see what's its make up!

[dcchristopher]

Lol, thanks for info. Still determined to di this. Really shouldn't be much difference to that which you have detailed. Now to figure out how to remove the head unit. At least I can firstly interrogate it to see what's its make up!

No problem! I admire your persistence. Here's a picture of a similar unit. Notice where the radio keys go:

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showthread.php/506824-let-the-MMI-3g-conversion-begin-)?p=8091112&viewfull=1#post8091112

I like your approach ... at least examine the hard drive and get the partition information. I have to say though, opening up that head unit is like Russian Roulette. The fewer times you need to pull the trigger, the better!

[seventeenapg]

I have just ordered all the bits and pieces I need so hurdle one completed!

[dcchristopher]

I have just ordered all the bits and pieces I need so hurdle one completed!

May there always be work for your hands to do,
May your MMI always hold an SD card or two.
May the sun always shine warm on your windowpane,
May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain.
May the hand of a friend always be near you,
And may God fill your Jukebox partition with music to cheer you.

[seventeenapg]

I know He will lol

[seventeenapg]

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/05/26/b2df35bc1667a0c74f82dd0e3393bbf7.jpg...ordered!!

[dcchristopher]

Very nice! ... you crazy man!

[KickAss]

I am keen to see seventeenapg's progress as I am going through a similar project out of necessity on my 2012 A6 MMI 3G Plus

I was also wondering why a raw HDD clone would not work using a software like Paragon or partition magic.

[seventeenapg]

I am keen to see seventeenapg's progress as I am going through a similar project out of necessity on my 2012 A6 MMI 3G Plus

I was also wondering why a raw HDD clone would not work using a software like Paragon or partition magic.


I'm guessing it might work but, for me, I need a bigger partition for the jukebox. I have ordered all the parts I need. I seem to have 18 gb for music but its not enough!

[tomoff]

hello everyone,

I have a problem with connecting to the mmi 3g+ by terminal based on the Keldo's description https://pl.scribd.com/doc/225614389/How-to-recover-a-bricked-Audi-MMI-3G-or-3G-Plus
in a terminal window I have only unreadable characters
mmi is working not locked I connecting to the rs232 on panasonic CF19
can someone tell what I'm doing wrong

http://s8.postimg.org/cwmqg3ibl/image.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/cwmqg3ibl/)

[dcchristopher]

hello everyone,

I have a problem with connecting to the mmi 3g+ by terminal based on the Keldo's description https://pl.scribd.com/doc/225614389/How-to-recover-a-bricked-Audi-MMI-3G-or-3G-Plus
in a terminal window I have only unreadable characters
mmi is working not locked I connecting to the rs232 on panasonic CF19
can someone tell what I'm doing wrong

http://s8.postimg.org/cwmqg3ibl/image.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/cwmqg3ibl/)

It sort of looks like a transmission encoding issue. Have you confirmed the COM port settings, per Keldo's instructions? I could see how the wrong speed/data/stop/parity settings could cause such a garbled output. Enter benign commands and look for predictable and repeatable responsiveness. That would confirm my suspicion. The output you posted reminds me of the good old modem days and connecting to spectrographers via RS232. *Barf!*

[qianjizhao]

waooo
This is cool.
I hope I could have chance to do this.

[seventeenapg]

My parts are arriving this week. Hope to attempt this upgrade with you help soon!

[seventeenapg]

d
I reverted back to the original hard drive for now until I get a hold of a MK8050GAC (same as our hard drive but 80GB). The instructions will be the same (just adjust for the larger Jukebox partition when in fdisk).

In the meantime, Philip0001 hooked me up with the latest MMI/Maps updates. He is an awesome dude and a lifesaver!

Did you manage to get the 80Gb HDD yourself yet or are you still using the original again?

[seventeenapg]

Help!!http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/06/19/6389f6ca9251d27405f5f9bf6e1c5fbe.jpg

[ak_siberian]

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> #fdisk/dev/umass0

You need a space between fdisk and /dev/umass0

as in

#fdisk /dev/umass0

siberian

[seventeenapg]

Got it thanks, here is my MMI. I have 4.1 to 4.5 in the extended partition.

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/06/19/e61e6fd442f657c57795f148f2209426.jpg

[seventeenapg]

I am now copying over the files after partitioning the drive. I have a question for the extended partition. Extd is designated the number 5 and thereafter its 187. Do I enter 187 instead of "5" when copying over the extended partition and then 187.1 through to 187.5 for the remainder? Thank you.

[seventeenapg]

Can anyone please give me direction on this? I don't want to mess up what I have done so far!

[seventeenapg]

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/06/20/85daa8f2bf2a3225bc69a91eb422130b.jpg
This is story so far. You can see that l have partitions 187 then a further four as 187. Now my drive has extd partition 5 and, within that, I have 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4 and 4.5 . Now I know that these aforementioned make up the extended partition but I don't know what command tree to use to copy them over. Hoping someone can point me in the right direction soon :-)

[seventeenapg]

Well, I have copied over all the files and I hope correctly but now I am really stuck. I began reformatting of t78 and I get the message failed to write boot loader - bad file descriptor. Totally lost now, please help :-)

[stonner]

hello everyone,

I have a problem with connecting to the mmi 3g+ by terminal based on the Keldo's description https://pl.scribd.com/doc/225614389/How-to-recover-a-bricked-Audi-MMI-3G-or-3G-Plus
in a terminal window I have only unreadable characters
mmi is working not locked I connecting to the rs232 on panasonic CF19
can someone tell what I'm doing wrong

http://s8.postimg.org/cwmqg3ibl/image.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/cwmqg3ibl/)

I had a similar problem. It was down to my FTDI usb to serial converter. The send TXD and receive RXD need to be inverted in the converters bios using in my case the FTDI chip flashing software. Sounds daunting but I downloaded the flashing software found section with tick boxes next to invert TXD etc pressed "program". Done.

Worth Googling it because I found an article that explains it better.

[dcchristopher]

I had a similar problem. It was down to my FTDI usb to serial converter. The send TXD and receive RXD need to be inverted in the converters bios using in my case the FTDI chip flashing software. Sounds daunting but I downloaded the flashing software found section with tick boxes next to invert TXD etc pressed "program". Done.

Worth Googling it because I found an article that explains it better.

Great post, stonner. This will be immensely helpful to a lot of people interested in un-bricking their MMI.

[dcchristopher]

Well, I have copied over all the files and I hope correctly but now I am really stuck. I began reformatting of t78 and I get the message failed to write boot loader - bad file descriptor. Totally lost now, please help :-)

As an update to all on this thread, seventeenapg and I are working on this. There is something possibly wrong with the hard drive he got. We can format partitions on other drives but not the MK8050GAC he got specifically for the MMI. I ordered the Seagate equivalent of our Toshiba automotive-grade drives because it's slightly faster and has a better warranty. If that one works better, we'll get another one for him to try out.

I'm so sorry I was never notified of all the emails where he was having issues with getting the commands to work. The good news is we're back on track and should have an update within a week or two.

[stonner]

Does anyone know how to create the hd0t187.1 and hd0t187.2 partition?

I'm replacing a hard drive on my MMI 3GP and am stumped.

[dcchristopher]

Does anyone know how to create the hd0t187.1 and hd0t187.2 partition?

I'm replacing a hard drive on my MMI 3GP and am stumped.

It's all in the instructions, in the first post. The extended partition needs to be created in fdisk first (eg, 4), then partitions will be created within it (within its cylinder range, that is) and will be automatically numbered (eg, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3). The actual file systems will vary slightly. Partition 4.1 becomes /dev/hd0t187, 4.2 becomes /dev/hd0t187.1, etc.

[dcchristopher]

This being a thread frequented by many people from the UK, I just wanted to take a minute to observe a moment of silence for the 34 fallen heroes at the Milton Keynes incident: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-33135061

For six of them, our thoughts and prayers are with the prospective owners.

[stonner]

I forgot to mention I'm trying to rebuild my hard drive after destroying the partition tables. Mine doesn't seem to automatically create the logical partitions in the extended partition.

Alas the fallen!

[ak_siberian]

This being a thread frequented by many people from the UK, I just wanted to take a minute to observe a moment of silence for the 34 fallen heroes at the Milton Keynes incident: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-33135061

For six of them, our thoughts and prayers are with the prospective owners.

Wow, not as bad as the sink hole in FL that swallowed those Vettes (value wise of course)...

siberian

[dcchristopher]

I forgot to mention I'm trying to rebuild my hard drive after destroying the partition tables. Mine doesn't seem to automatically create the logical partitions in the extended partition.

Alas the fallen!

"Pic or it didn't happen!" Please provide a screenshot of fdisk. I don't need the first page's worth. Just scroll down to the extended partition where the cylinder ranges will overlap.

[dcchristopher]

I just received a used Seagate ST980818AM (80GB, 5400 RPM) and I was able to format the t78 partition just fine (something that for some crazy reason didn't work on the hard drive seventeenapg received). Next step will be to copy all the files from my existing hard drive and hope this flies (with regard to the MMI booting and running at least as well as it did with the Toshiba, unlike the SSD). I will keep you all posted. If it does, seventeenapg will order a new Seagate drive and see if it will all work for him as well.

Stay tuned, folks ...

[stonner]

Hello,

Managed to finally solve the extended partition issue. My copy of QNX 6.5 was unable to deal with logical partitions (QNX 6.5 service pack 1 supposedly can??). I created partitions 77, 78 and 79 in QNX and used a copy of Linux to create the extended partitions. I formatted the logical partitions in QNX.

[dcchristopher]

Hello,

Managed to finally solve the extended partition issue. My copy of QNX 6.5 was unable to deal with logical partitions (QNX 6.5 service pack 1 supposedly can??). I created partitions 77, 78 and 79 in QNX and used a copy of Linux to create the extended partitions. I formatted the logical partitions in QNX.

6.5.0 SP 1 is just a small and free download away, my friend! Again, it's all in the first email.

P.S. I just noticed the link to the RTOS is redirecting to the main QNX download page. The f***ers took it down. If folks can't find it elsewhere on the web, I will share my copy with you.

P.P.S. The RTOS is included in the SDP. It's just stupid that you have to download a gigabyte or two just to get a 100MB image.

[dcchristopher]

I just received a used Seagate ST980818AM (80GB, 5400 RPM) and I was able to format the t78 partition just fine (something that for some crazy reason didn't work on the hard drive seventeenapg received). Next step will be to copy all the files from my existing hard drive and hope this flies (with regard to the MMI booting and running at least as well as it did with the Toshiba, unlike the SSD). I will keep you all posted. If it does, seventeenapg will order a new Seagate drive and see if it will all work for him as well.

Stay tuned, folks ...

Pardon the delay as it has been a very crazy week but I finally got the time to try cloning the hard drives and it worked as expected. In fact, the head unit is so far showing no issues, unlike with the SSD. I will give it a few days to test all aspects of use (reboots, etc) and report back. By upgrading from a 40GB (37GB effective) drive to 80GB (75GB effective), I upgraded my Jukebox from 10GB to 47GB.

I will post again when I have tested CD ripping, SD imports, etc.

[dcchristopher]

Pardon the delay as it has been a very crazy week but I finally got the time to try cloning the hard drives and it worked as expected. In fact, the head unit is so far showing no issues, unlike with the SSD. I will give it a few days to test all aspects of use (reboots, etc) and report back. By upgrading from a 40GB (37GB effective) drive to 80GB (75GB effective), I upgraded my Jukebox from 10GB to 47GB.

I will post again when I have tested CD ripping, SD imports, etc.

"Good news, everyone!" The MMI is booting and rebooting just fine, no issues. I was also able to import new tracks from the SD card without any issue. Performance is at least as good as before. I think we have finally proven that this process works and that there are viable hard drive options (namely, the 80GB version of our Toshiba drive and its Seagate 5400 RPM equivalent, the latter being the preferred choice to me). As always, please be careful where you buy your drive from. Many sites are selling drives they pulled out of industrial or automotive equipment that failed. The drives may be fine but they're hardly "new". If you can obtain the serial number or manufacture date code prior to them shipping it to you, you can confirm the drive's manufacture date / warranty expiration date here: http://support.seagate.com/customer/en-US/warranty_validation.jsp

[keldo]

Hi dcchristopher,

Very nicely written and informative, well done and thank you!
The only thing I would like to add, is that I use Macrium reflect to clone the drives, easy, fast and free!

not every ssd will work, Transcend has been reported to be slow. the replacement drive should support SMART, and jumper config should align to standards (http://www.pccables.com/images/00504b.jpg) too..

nothing works as good as ssd, but only when it works.


regards to all.

Keldo

[dcchristopher]

Hi dcchristopher,

Very nicely written and informative, well done and thank you!
The only thing I would like to add, is that I use Macrium reflect to clone the drives, easy, fast and free!

not every ssd will work, Transcend has been reported to be slow. the replacement drive should support SMART, and jumper config should align to standards (http://www.pccables.com/images/00504b.jpg) too..

nothing works as good as ssd, but only when it works.


regards to all.

Keldo

Brushes with greatness! Thank you for stopping by this humble thread and, above all else, for all your awesome contributions, some of which inspired my DIY.

Best to you as well,
DCC

[roadkillrob]

Hi dcchristopher,

Very nicely written and informative, well done and thank you!
The only thing I would like to add, is that I use Macrium reflect to clone the drives, easy, fast and free!

not every ssd will work, Transcend has been reported to be slow. the replacement drive should support SMART, and jumper config should align to standards (http://www.pccables.com/images/00504b.jpg) too..

nothing works as good as ssd, but only when it works.


regards to all.

Keldo

I had a transcend kicking around one of the severe duty ones that is good for the temps the car operates in and it does not work well, boots slow to 25% then just says initializing and never finishes (maybe it would if I waited long enough, but gave up and went back to OEM drive).

[seventeenapg]

Well guys,
As DCC knows I have tried not one but two Toshiba MK8050GAC HDDs and I simply cannot get the t78 (jukebox) partition to format. I always get the erroe "FAILED TO WRITE BOOTLOADER - BAD FILE DESCRIPTOR" I have tried a smaller HDD and not a Toshiba one and I was able to format the t78 on it ok. SO I dont know whats up. I am using QNX6.5SP1 and VW ware 7.1.2 build 2780323.
I am also running windows 8.1 (and now windows 10). I have also tried on another machine running Windows 7 Prp bur still the same.

Sending disk over to DCC to analyse!!!


I just received a used Seagate ST980818AM (80GB, 5400 RPM) and I was able to format the t78 partition just fine (something that for some crazy reason didn't work on the hard drive seventeenapg received). Next step will be to copy all the files from my existing hard drive and hope this flies (with regard to the MMI booting and running at least as well as it did with the Toshiba, unlike the SSD). I will keep you all posted. If it does, seventeenapg will order a new Seagate drive and see if it will all work for him as well.

Stay tuned, folks ...

[dcchristopher]

Well guys,
As DCC knows I have tried not one but two Toshiba MK8050GAC HDDs and I simply cannot get the t78 (jukebox) partition to format. I always get the erroe "FAILED TO WRITE BOOTLOADER - BAD FILE DESCRIPTOR" I have tried a smaller HDD and not a Toshiba one and I was able to format the t78 on it ok. SO I dont know whats up. I am using QNX6.5SP1 and VW ware 7.1.2 build 2780323.
I am also running windows 8.1 (and now windows 10). I have also tried on another machine running Windows 7 Prp bur still the same.

Sending disk over to DCC to analyse!!!

Just to update everyone ... the Toshiba drive was sort of a dud. I can't tell if it's just that drive or all of them. All I know is, I couldn't get it to format qnx6 to save my life. QNX 4 (dinit) and FAT were not an issue. We ended up ordering a new Seagate and that one partitioned and formatted just fine. In fact, it only took one second to format qnx6, per my instructions.

17apg should have it by now and he'll post an update on how the copying and actual "fitment" turned out. *crossing fingers*

[Westyfield2]

Has anyone tried any other IDE SSDs? I'm looking at the OWC Mercury Pro http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Mercury_Legacy_Pro.
Or what about an mSATA drive in a 2.5" IDE mSATA Flash drive adapter? http://www.addonics.com/products/adms25ide.php That retains the actual form factor unlike the usual SATA adapters.

[laurentiuro]

I just bought a head unit from ebay(8R1035746) and the hdd has bad sectors, can any of you guys provide me with a hdd image so i can write it to a new hdd ?

[pegues]

Very awesome threat. It never crossed my mind to upgrade the hdd to ssd. I would imagine this would significantly increase performance.

[dcchristopher]

Very awesome threat. It never crossed my mind to upgrade the hdd to ssd. I would imagine this would significantly increase performance.

You'd be surprised, as was I. Some things improved, others got buggy. It has to be an automotive grade drive, whether SSD or not. Also you have to scour the web for ways to populate the drive with more than the max number of songs as it was hard coded in firmware (10,000, in my case, I believe). Someone did it with an SD card and a bootup shell script similar to the ones used to update maps, etc. The script basically manually copies the files over to the jukebox partition.

[kmarei]

I found this drive
looks good

128GB
http://www.ebay.com/itm/KingSpec-2-5-IDE-PATA-SSD-MLC-Hard-Drive-44pin-128GB-NEW-/150850174917?hash=item231f5effc5:g:HqQAAMXQgfZRCjB 9

64GB
http://www.ebay.com/itm/64GB-KingSpec-2-5-inch-PATA-IDE-SSD-Solid-State-Disk-MLC-Flash-SM2236-Controller-/331797737528?hash=item4d40afb038:g:i4AAAOSwU-pXtM2v

I have always used this tool, and it has never failed me yet UNLESS the original drive has bad sectors etc
but if the original is good, it does a bit by bit copy
so it doesn't care what the data is
it sees 100010 it writes 100010 on the new drive

https://jet.com/product/detail/3b11bbea13124926914d3d3545e2420c?jcmp=pla:ggl:nj_d ur_cwin_electronics_a2_b2_c1:electronics_accessori es_computer_components_a2_other:na:PLA_659496621_4 0278688544_pla-161718820380:na:na:na:2&code=PLA15&gclid=CjwKEAjwy8bABRD5osXMovTHpmQSJACfZY0FmzraGfDr mcinV31C8ptMmLtjWQbixoU3AfAEC40sFxoC9Z_w_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

[filou96]

Hi dcchristopher,

Very nicely written and informative, well done and thank you!
The only thing I would like to add, is that I use Macrium reflect to clone the drives, easy, fast and free!

not every ssd will work, Transcend has been reported to be slow. the replacement drive should support SMART, and jumper config should align to standards (http://www.pccables.com/images/00504b.jpg) too..

nothing works as good as ssd, but only when it works.


regards to all.

Keldo


Hello everybody

Its a pleasure to read your contributions

I notice Keldo use Macrium Reflect ? Is it an easier way for cloning MMI 3G+ ( or other ) hard drive ? Is it useful to have a backup in case of MMI HD crash ?

How do you do when HD crashes ?

Regards

[filou96]

Up ^^

Thanks [:)]

[Audi 4 Life]

how hard is this to do ? csn someone with little to no experience with stuff like thks accomplish this? i am not a newb to audis have compelted many oem+ mods but messing with HD cloning is not something ive ever done so i am not sure if its worth it.

also i have
8R1 035 746 H

MK8050GAC is this or thr 128gb drivr posted above for 179 better to use?????



Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk

[Jeff V.]

csn someone with little to no experience with stuff like thks accomplish this?

I wouldn't recommend it. It's a lot of work for not much benefit. Most of the MMI's operating system doesn't live on the hard drive. The main OS boots from flash and then runs from RAM. That's already faster than any SSD. The only stuff that lives on the hard drive is your music jukebox and the map data. Putting an SSD in won't give you a noticeable speed boost in day to day use. The bottleneck is the CPU, and there's no way to upgrade that.

[Audi 4 Life]

.....

[Audi 4 Life]

I wouldn't recommend it. It's a lot of work for not much benefit. Most of the MMI's operating system doesn't live on the hard drive. The main OS boots from flash and then runs from RAM. That's already faster than any SSD. The only stuff that lives on the hard drive is your music jukebox and the map data. Putting an SSD in won't give you a noticeable speed boost in day to day use. The bottleneck is the CPU, and there's no way to upgrade that.i was just upgrading it for more space i wanted a bigger HD like perferably like at LEAST a 1TB or more so i can save movies and stuff on it.

is that possible? i am gussing not since nobody else suggusted a HD of that size.

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[Jeff V.]

There's a couple problems with that. You're limited to an IDE interface, and I don't know if anyone makes a 1TB IDE SSD. Even if you go with traditional disks, you'll really want it rated for automotive temperatures and vibration. I'm not sure anyone makes a 1TB IDE automotive drive either. If it exists, it'll be expensive. I'm also not sure there's a tested method for resizing the partitions.

[the_duke]

Best solution I've found is to use an external HDD connected via AMI. The unfortunate part is that it takes several minutes to "boot up" the external drive.

[jnrdavo]

Hi Guys, reviving an old thread.
Has anybody swapped out a HDD on their 3G unit recently? If so, what drives are you using?

[maxeffect]

Look up a mSATA to IDE Adapter then a msata ssd drive. mSATA SSDs are available in industrial temperature ratings. And an IDE clone dock. I'm looking at this myself.

[AudiFourRings]

To the folks in recent posts, the listed recommended HDDs still hold true. It needs to be a 2.5” IDE Automotive disk drive that is rugged (heat, vibration, electrical [safe mode-that’s why extended partitions]).

If you decide to research a newer drive capability with those ‘automotive’ specs, kudos to you. More kudos for trying them and reporting back.

This is an awesome thread! I’m stuck because I don’t have a license to download and use QNX RTOS software. I registered with an account but didn’t gain any ground on this. I downloaded 6.5.0 version as spec’ed, not SP1 as required, and cannot log into the environment.

So I don’t have a solution to create QNX and more importantly extended partitions that are required. Still thinking of just replacing the drive with an equivalent drive and use Ghost4Unix, if this would work at all.

Looking for some experienced advice and/or even access to the right tool.

For OS X users, you can use virtualbox(.org) for your virtual environment needs. You may need an extension for virtualbox to use IDE/USB interfaces. I haven’t gotten that far because I am still seeking exercised advice.


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[AudiFourRings]

Anyone looking for QNX 6.5.0 SP1 iso, it’s located here:
https://archive.org/download/quantumqnx/qnx6/

File:
qnxsdp-6.5.0SP1.iso

[emoji41]


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[AudiFourRings]

Hopefully I can get some responses to my situation. I was able to partition a TOSHIBA 80 GB drive to replace the TOSHIBA 60GB drive but the dd command for the RAW transfer failed - see attachment. My drive works but I was seeing Media files disappear and come back. In one case I deleted files and they came back. So the drive is starting to fail and that is why I attempted this. Also not sure if SiriusXM presets are stored on the drive but those disappeared after some time but the FM stations are still there. So why would I be able to partition the drive but not be able to complete (dd) RAW copy?

Any recommendations?

Is it true the all the Toshiba replacements don't work? I was able to get this 80 GB drive new but the Seagate was only available as refurbished which I decided not to do.

Why can't we run check disk in QNX? Is it because it is a "umass" data store?

162454

[CiD]

Hi All,

I don't know if people are still interested on this subject as the thread is quite old.

I was able to get my MMI working with solid state memory instead of a mechanical hard drive. It was able to load up navigation, did a couple routes, and played jukebox music files.

If there is interest, I can post what I did to make it work.

CiD

[Brozee]

Assuming similar to others, the benefits of the upgrade to SSD were almost nil - correct?

[CiD]

The navigation search and route features you do see increased performance. The cost of the conversion is a lot cheaper then trying to find a "automobile" hard drive which seems to be in the $120+ range and does avoid the Audi $3000 solution. Also increases longevity of the unit as flash memory would last longer to the point where the failure would be either the MMI unit itself or the car. Part wise, investment is around $60 USD to do.

[tiptronic]

Hi All,

I don't know if people are still interested on this subject as the thread is quite old.

I was able to get my MMI working with solid state memory instead of a mechanical hard drive. It was able to load up navigation, did a couple routes, and played jukebox music files.

If there is interest, I can post what I did to make it work.

CiD

Thanks for Sharing do you have detailed write up for the SDD upgrade? my 5f (f5?) module has failed to boot up for the 3rd time, and instead of getting restarted by the dealer (diagnostic fee) and eventual complete failure of the HDD, a friend will be helping me "clone" my existing HDD to a new HDD replacement that i'm about to order. but upon reading your recent post-- how did you get the SDD to work? i seriously dont care much for the Nav system on this car as it is outdated (trusty iphone will do the work on nav) i just want a working mmi - radio/stereo/sat and bluetooth....and i'll lbe happy.. If we stick to the HDD- any tips/suggestions for my friend (@brungold) to do the cloning...

[tiptronic]

Hi Guys, reviving an old thread.
Has anybody swapped out a HDD on their 3G unit recently? If so, what drives are you using?

i'm about to order a toshiba Hdd replacement and a friend will assist with the cloning of the existing/ failing HDD.. (which currently has failed to reboot and i'm not going to spend $ diagnostic fee for the 3rd time to get it to work again).. then i read above someone was succesful with an SDD... i just want my MMI to work so i can have a stereo/BT/ and car options ...

What's your progress?

[tiptronic]

Got my 5f (HDD) cloned and replaced

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200626/173ba6af9f07bc05a3f508648e037b82.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200626/6e5aa91fb3d894357795f483a2424610.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200626/6ee53b5812272c6c78b780c38c0bea0d.jpg

[NinjaActionJean]

Great thread thank you!!!! This helped me diagnose that it is indeed my hard drive that has failed since I was able to use the instructions to removed the failed hard drive. My RNS now functions at least partially again since the radio and backup cam works again.

Now the question I have is how do I replace a failed hard drive? I see in this thread you guys seem to be cloning the old drive and copying to a new drive is that correct? The old drive is completely pooched just grinds and snaps sounds awful and I think there is no chance of recovery.

Anyone know what my options might be?

Thanks!

[chriiz74]

Hello, a friend of mine has this radio MMI3G. Media and Navigation don't work anymore so he went to Audi and they asked 4800 euros to replace the unit.
They tried to install the software and they didn't succeed, he told me they said the error was related to "clusters".
So I told him, ok it's probably an HDD problem. He came home and we removed the unit. I removed the drive which is a mk6050gac and tried to plug it through ide to usb adapter to my pc.
The hard disk doesn't power on. I thought, ok the pcb is fried and suggested him we can find the same drive (or the 40 or 80 GB versions) and swap the pcb (I know about the bios chip).
So I went to amazon and ordered one but then the seller told me he couldn't promise he would send the exact same model as advertised (really ? wow).
Anyway now I am thinking something else. I can't dump this drive because it doesn't turn on but what if I download the software and install it on a new blank drive through the radio?
Is this possible? I am downloading "Audi MMI3G High (HNav) MMI 3GP (HN+) 6.30.1 at the moment".
Maybe I will try if this can be done on a normal IDE HDD and then if it's possible order an automotive specific HDD.
Clues ?

[stayfunny]

Hello, a friend of mine has this radio MMI3G. Media and Navigation don't work anymore so he went to Audi and they asked 4800 euros to replace the unit.
They tried to install the software and they didn't succeed, he told me they said the error was related to "clusters".
So I told him, ok it's probably an HDD problem. He came home and we removed the unit. I removed the drive which is a mk6050gac and tried to plug it through ide to usb adapter to my pc.
The hard disk doesn't power on. I thought, ok the pcb is fried and suggested him we can find the same drive (or the 40 or 80 GB versions) and swap the pcb (I know about the bios chip).
So I went to amazon and ordered one but then the seller told me he couldn't promise he would send the exact same model as advertised (really ? wow).
Anyway now I am thinking something else. I can't dump this drive because it doesn't turn on but what if I download the software and install it on a new blank drive through the radio?
Is this possible? I am downloading "Audi MMI3G High (HNav) MMI 3GP (HN+) 6.30.1 at the moment".
Maybe I will try if this can be done on a normal IDE HDD and then if it's possible order an automotive specific HDD.
Clues ?

Hi There,

One suggestion, if you can find a Junklyard you may be you can pull an HDD from an audi ? Sorry can't really help on how to rebuild one from scratch, there must be a way to load the OS from the SD card

If you could share with me by PM how to get the Audi MMI3G HNav US maps US 6.30.1 ? i have been looking around but with not luck so far.
cheers

[chriiz74]

Hi There,

One suggestion, if you can find a Junklyard you may be you can pull an HDD from an audi ? Sorry can't really help on how to rebuild one from scratch, there must be a way to load the OS from the SD card

If you could share with me by PM how to get the Audi MMI3G HNav US maps US 6.30.1 ? i have been looking around but with not luck so far.
cheers

It’s on MHH Auto

[chriiz74]

I bought an identical hard disk with preinstalled software, I will try first to swap the pcb on the dead one and see if it's readable. If not I will install the new one and try to install maps as the seller tells me they must be reinstalled as the ones in the HD are linked to a specific car.

[NavNav2]

Hi All,

I don't know if people are still interested on this subject as the thread is quite old.

I was able to get my MMI working with solid state memory instead of a mechanical hard drive. It was able to load up navigation, did a couple routes, and played jukebox music files.

If there is interest, I can post what I did to make it work.

CiD

Hi CiD

Yes. I am certainly interested. I figured out how to partition a disk, but have not tried to copy or exchange the HDD in my MMI 3G+. My main hesitation is the uncertainty about success with a SSD

[fghd]

Hey I got to the part where you begin partitioning the new drive. How do you add the 187 partitions? I filled up the 4 during fdisk with 77.78.79. and 5, but cant add more. I also have no idea how to find the cylinder info for the 187 partitions. Thanks a lot.

[Botbasher]

Hey all... late to the thread but interested for both my S6 and A5! I have a full HDD and 2 32gb cards and it still drives me looney to not have all my music available!

I'm leaning towards increasing the size, but something I am not seeing mentioned here that I have run into on the current set up is the actual number of songs you can put on a HDD.

It seems regardless of size of the actual song file that you are only allowed something like 3900 songs (can't remember the exact number). So I shrunk some files down size wise... and still could not upload more than that number.

So if we get 80gb or 1TB... are we still limited by that artificial number of entries?

Be a shame to do all this work and still not be able to put more than 4k songs on it!

Cheers,

KS

[papadelogan]

I'm currently using 128GB SD cards formatted as FAT32. Doing it in Windows is a pain. I used "GUIFormat" but you can google for other options as well.

I have a few hundred songs on the memory cards, but 4,000.... maybe you should just look in to an IPOD and plug in via the interface in the glovebox.... or add that hardware\functionality if you don't. Obviously I'm not the music buff that you are, but I hope those suggestions help.