Hi

if you want to try 1GB Crucial I would suggest you invest some time and run their "Tool" on your BM5 and see drive recommendation. Maybe they have updated compatibility list? If it does not work you can always go after them and ask for help.

Of course if you have another use for 1TB in case it fails, why not!

Fully agree, it is shame that B&O  does not want to help many users with an official upgrade path.

Let us know the result

User Wild Ruedi cloned his HDD to the MX300 1TB and it seems to work fine:

If you do it, please do not forget to let me/us know

Best regards and good luck, I have 1Tb unit and would love to upgrade

Wojtek

Hi,

thanks for all valuable suggestions. It is very encouraging that the MX300 seems to work despite of the fact that there is a different controller. The only point I do not understand in Ruedi Wilds report is the fact that he formatted the SSD prior to cloning to MX300, as the sector-by-sector cloning process would also copy the format of the source drive.

I have now ordered the deleyCON Dual USB 3.0 Docking Station as a cloning device. I have also ordered a relatively cheap Western Digital WD10EURX HDD 1.0TB (identical to the installed HDD) to create an exact image as a backup should the HDD fail or crash, as long as this exact hardware is still available in the market (this is my main concern). I will then resume "experiments" with the SSD upgrade.

I have also investigated into the capabilities of the Windows XP Embedded package which is used in the BeoMaster 5, the limited functional scope could be the reason that there are so few compatible SSDs.

I will keep you posted in this forum.

best regards, Robert

 

You will have no problem to clone present drive to 3.5 inch drive. I have done it to Seagate, WD drives even not the same capacity like 1Tb to 500Gb - no issues. Cloning to SSD is a problem.

In all cases I have used free cloning software, no need to buy DelayCon device. WD, Seagate, Hitachi use own "Acronis modified" cloning software, you can download from their websites and clone your present drive.

I had the best results with EaseUS (also free software) as it offers sector by sector cloning, hope tests with Crucial 1Tb SSD will work, if not please try EaseUS cloning software and clone sector by sector.

Someone mentioned that to succeed with SSD we have to do restore function on BM5 2-3 times (time after time), than the software will put all files as they should be - no idea about this, but it would be good to check with MX 300

Regards

Good luck

 

You will have no problem to clone present drive to 3.5 inch drive. I have done it to Seagate, WD drives even not the same capacity like 1Tb to 500Gb - no issues. Cloning to SSD is a problem.

In all cases I have used free cloning software, no need to buy DelayCon device. WD, Seagate, Hitachi use own "Acronis modified" cloning software, you can download from their websites and clone your present drive.

I had the best results with EaseUS (also free software) as it offers sector by sector cloning, hope tests with Crucial 1Tb SSD will work, if not please try EaseUS cloning software and clone sector by sector.

Someone mentioned that to succeed with SSD we have to do restore function on BM5 2-3 times (time after time), than the software will put all files as they should be - no idea about this, but it would be good to check with MX 300

Regards

Good luck

 

CooperS wrote:

... The only point I do not understand in Ruedi Wilds report is the fact that he formatted the SSD prior to cloning to MX300, as the sector-by-sector cloning process would also copy the format of the source drive.

As the cloner seems to be used unplugged from the PC while cloning, I think the SSD was formated first so the cloner would recognize it and may use it "offline" from the PC.

There seems to be a second cloner to work well:

deleyCON DUAL USB3 Dockingstation

Kiran tested it in this thread on JAN-19-2017

Ruedi Wild used the Sharkoon Quikport XT Duo Clone

I just completed the clone of my 1TB HDD to an identical HDD by using the offline cloning function of the deleyCON DUAL USB3 Dockingstation. I can confirm that the new HDD boots and works flawless. As such, my main concern regarding the risk of a HDD crash (after the many years of daily operation of the BeoMaster 5) is resolved. Next will be an attempt to copy the HDD to a Crucial MX300 1TB SSD. I will post the results here.

best, Robert

 

Thanks for your answer, I've already bought a 1TB HDD, because as soon as my BS5 will arrive, I also want to backup the HDD before trying to get an SSD to work

Hi to all,

good news first: I completed the clone from the original HDD WD10EURX 1.0TB to the SSD Crucial MX300 1.0TB, using the offline cloning function of the deleyCON DUAL USB3 Dockingstation. The SSD so far works flawless in the BM5. In addition, I have a back-up on the HDD I copied last week, just in case that the SSD will stop working.

Having said this, I have spent (and lost..) a lot of time in trying other options and improvements:

Initially, the clone operation did not finish, after installing the utility "Crucial Storage Executive" and installing the latest firmware 40, the clone passed without problems. Please note that no previous formatting is required, even if there are data and/or partitions on the drive (all will be overwritten, including the format of the source drive and its partitions).

I have initially tried to create a clone by using the utility "Acronis True Image 2015", but the created clone did not work / boot on the BM5.

I have also attempted to align the partitions to the block size of 4096, which is the SSD format but not automatically applied by Windows XP. The alignment, using the utility "AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard" on the cloned SSD passed without problems, but again the SSD subsequently refused to boot properly on the BM5, producing write errors.

I initially also wanted to modify the Registry and stop some functions such as Defrag and Prefetch, but considering the limited functionality of Windows XP embedded I finally decided to leave all entries as they are.

Conclusion: a simple offline clone without any attempts to modify the system seems to be the pragmatic way, at least the BM5 works for now without any movable parts.

Let's see how the system performs and whether there will be any breakdowns (not really I problem, as I can repeat the clone or return to the HDD at any time...)!

Best, Robert