Topic: 722 hard drive questions..

[augwest71]

I have had it for a few years now and feel it is time to change my hard drive before i have problems.  2 questions!

when (did you/do you) change out the hard drive?

where is the best place to get a replacement??

thanks for your help!!

[jbell]

http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=122474

I would check out this thread!!

[page]

http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=122474

I would check out this thread!!

agreed, baustin did a great job documenting the stuff (and yes, change the battery too).

when (did you/do you) change out the hard drive?

where is the best place to get a replacement??

For some reason I swear SD recommends replacing the drive every 3-5 years depending on usage. I thought it was on their site but I can't find it now. Depending on how long you've had it will determine whether or not you need a PATA drive or an SATA drive. I think anything over 3 years is PATA but you can email support with your serial number and they will check for you. I had other things to get worked on anyway so I sent a drive with mine and they did it for me. Newegg has some economically inclined drives.

[notlance]

Here is what SD has to say about it, and I believe this is what page was looking for:

http://www.sounddevices.com/notes/recorders/drive-replacement/

SD also make a SATA interface for the 722 and 744T recorders:

http://www.sounddevices.com/news/xlsata
http://www.sounddevices.com/download/guides/xlsata_en.pdf

About a year ago I replaced the original PATA drive in my 722 with a 320 gig PATA drive.  I have some problems getting the 722 to recognize the 320 gig drive, but I finally got it to work.  However, after a few months the 722 would not initialize the HD when I powered up the recorder so I ended up putting the old drive back in.  If I put the 320 gig drive in an enclosure, it appears to work fine.  I have not pursued the problem further.  I think when I attempt to replace the 722 HD again I'll buy the XL-SATA interface and use a SATA drive.

The mechanical process of replacing the HD is not difficult and Sound Devices' instructions are clear.

[page]

Here is what SD has to say about it, and I believe this is what page was looking for:

http://www.sounddevices.com/notes/recorders/drive-replacement/

Bingo.

I swore it was 3 years but couldn't find it. Thanks!

[dream]

I replaced the drive in my 744T with an IDE SSD because I want it shockproof and I trust SSDs more than HDs.
It was easily done. there is a photo sequence on the SD side which shows what to do.

[page]

I replaced the drive in my 744T with an IDE SSD because I want it shockproof and I trust SSDs more than HDs.
It was easily done. there is a photo sequence on the SD side which shows what to do.

I almost did that for that very reason, but the increased draw left a bad taste in my mind. I figure I'll just record to both hdd and cf and call it good.

[OFOTD]

I replaced the drive in my 744T with an IDE SSD because I want it shockproof and I trust SSDs more than HDs.

Just for the record guys SSD's still have a much higher failure rate than traditional HD's.   While battery life may be slightly improved, reliability is not something that as of yet has been improved.

Having several SSD's in my home and office computers I can say they have their advantages in those applications but I would still be very hesitant in running a consumer SSD as my primary write source over a traditional hard drive.  At least for several more years.  Add to the fact that SSD's are in many cases 3x the price of a comparable platter based HD it makes you have to really think what the increased advantage is to spend that much more for not so much more.

Here's a link to NewEgg's hard drives that are compatible with the 7xx recorders:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007605%20600003442&IsNodeId=1&name=IDE%20Ultra%20ATA100%20%2f%20ATA-6

I have one of the WD Scorpion Blue drives and have had zero problems with it.  For comparison the WD SB 160GB is $70 while over on the SSD side a reputable 160GB Intel drive is $399. 

[augwest71]

thanks everyone.  Thought it was about time to change it!!

[dream]

I replaced the drive in my 744T with an IDE SSD because I want it shockproof and I trust SSDs more than HDs.

(...) but I would still be very hesitant in running a consumer SSD as my primary write source over a traditional hard drive. (...)

Even Sound Devices disagrees with that. Not only you can order their top model 788T in a SSD version, they started mentioning SSDs some years ago:
http://www.sounddevices.com/notes/recorders/ssd/

[OFOTD]

I replaced the drive in my 744T with an IDE SSD because I want it shockproof and I trust SSDs more than HDs.

(...) but I would still be very hesitant in running a consumer SSD as my primary write source over a traditional hard drive. (...)

Even Sound Devices disagrees with that. Not only you can order their top model 788T in a SSD version, they started mentioning SSDs some years ago:
http://www.sounddevices.com/notes/recorders/ssd/

It's not real hard to figure out that Sound Devices is going with those SSD drives due to future availability.   Unless Sound Devices is getting some special batch of SSD's with fairy dust then they are using off the shelf consumer hard drives which I assume they probably buy in batches from a vendor like NewEgg.   

Here is what Sound Devices says in the link provided:

Solid State Hard Drives (SSD) in the 722 and 744T

Solid state hard drives, or SSD drives, are becoming a feasible storage medium for portable recorders and computers. Like CompactFlash cards, SSD drives have no moving parts and greatly extend the environmental operating conditions of the recorders. SSDs can operate in more severe temperature and vibration environments compared to traditional, spinning-disk hard drives. Additionally, they draw much less power than a traditional hard disk.

Compared to other solid state storage mediums such as CompactFlash, SD cards, P2 cards, and Express Card storage, SSDs have much higher storage capacities. Their larger physical size can accommodate more memory chips.

Transcend SSDSound Devices tested the Transcend SSD drive model TS32GSSD25-M. This drive performed properly, as expected, and can support up to four tracks of WAV audio recorded at 24 bit/96 kHz. We anticipate that other PATA (parallel ATA drives) SSDs to perform similarly.

Well its already been debunked that they draw much less power already once in this thread.  Then at the end they make the statement that they anticipate other PATA SSD's (there are extremely few PATA SSD's (<12) total on the market).   So assume they meant PATA IDE disks to perform similarly.   In that case its true because the throughput of the audio is far less that what any of those drives can handle on a regular basis.  Search for reviews on the Transcend drive they mentioned.  Not real favorable.

AnandTech has done several articles and studies linked to hard drive reliability.   Specifically with numbers of failure rates as well as manufacturer returns from both consumers and retailers.

I know how we all want to believe that SSD's are rock solid and outlast traditional HDD's but the truth is that in April of 2011 it's a myth.  There is no data as of yet to put SSD's over the top of HDD's especially in the case of using one in a 7xx recorder.   So far its all myth and marketing hype.  Just because SSD's don't have moving parts DOES NOT mean that they don't have other weak links and failure points.  At least we all know if a drive shits the bed you have a chance of recovering data from a HDD and no chance from a SSD.

Are there other reason's that lead you to believe that they are more reliable other than the 'no moving parts' argument?

[dream]

Are there other reason's that lead you to believe that they are more reliable other than the 'no moving parts' argument?

You may be on a mission here ... but for me that's a very strong argument. In my view HD technology is quite ancient, like tube monitors.
My MacBook Pro got a SSD to, I like the speed, the silence and the low heat. Nobody can tell you something about long time reliability.
I take the risk. If I want to be on the safe side with the 744T I can record simultaneously to the SSD or CF. Hey, I can even connect a HD
with FireWire ...

[OFOTD]

No real mission other than to just try and dispel a common myth.    Seen more SSD's fail in the last 2 years than I have seen HDD's in the last 8 or so.   Take that for what it's worth.

As I said before it'll be a couple years of advancement in SDD's before i'd consider choosing one over a platter drive as long as I have the choice.

[page]

I think there are many reasons to pick an SSD over an HDD, but reliability isn't what I think of. Use in shock/vibration environments is one, reduction in heat might be another. I view it as a specific tool for a specific job.

I'm actually surprised (still surprised as I knew it a while ago) that the SSD faired worse for power consumption than the stock HDD did in the 788.

[rastasean]

I know SSD is fast but considering this is pretty new technology, we've been doing just fine recording audio to HDD at 5400 or 7200 RPM. How would the average SD 744 improve swapping a 5400 rpm hdd with a ssd in terms of access time, write time, and overall performance? From what I've heard and read, it would not improve and the entire drive may fail unexpectedly.

FTP is a 40 year old protocol that is still used today and I find it MUCH more reliable than something like uploading via http or webdisks so this ancient protocol is still used today.