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BMW 3-Series (E90 E92) Forum
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2011 E90 CIC Hard Drive Upgrade Success
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08-02-2015, 04:20 PM | #1 | |
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2011 E90 CIC Hard Drive Upgrade Success
Hello,
This day in age it seems crazy (as someone in IT) to be stuck with 12.5GB of storage for music on a disk in my car. I was able to upgrade the stock disk from the 80gb 4200rpm IDE disk to a 120gb SSD disk. The system starts up quicker, and the lag in perspective mode for nav is a lot snappier zooming out. I found this thread here: http://www.chargerforums.com/forums/...d.php?t=109886 and it looked easy and promising. The differences between the charger system and ours is the partition type is not qnx4, but qnx6. Instead of the dinit command to format the partition, use the command: mkqnx6fs <disk> I used this disk to replace the stock one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 The basic rundown: 1. Clone the old disk to the new one. Note: I put my OEM in a anti static bag and taped it shut in a box and stuck it away somewhere safe. From what I hear if your nav unit goes bad under warranty, the whole thing is replaced. If you ever run into an issue that requires warranty work I would recommend putting the OEM disk back in. 2. Somehow resize the music partition (partition 4 of 5 on the disk) to utilize the new space. I'd recommend booting QNX SDP, backing up files from both partitions, and resize them using the Ranish partition manager recommended on the charger forum. My disk had an extended partition, and then 5 logical partitions. The numbering started at 5 and went to 10. 3. After they're the right size, format with mkqnx6fs command, and copy the old files back. I deleted my current music collection before doing this so copying is very quick. I expect the directory structure is what you need on the music partition. I wouldn't mess with the fifth partition at all, so just restore it fully from the backup. And that's that. One thing to note. When you look at the free space listed on the car, it says 100% free 12500MB of 12500MB. I am only guessing now, but it will continue to say that exact message until you get under 12.5G of free space. I was a bit worried it didn't work at first. To test, I copied 40GB of music to the disk without a problem to confirm the space was usable. I will post a copy of the text at the end of this post from the charger forum in case it disappears. I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have. Thanks, -nux Quote:
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08-02-2015, 07:40 PM | #2 |
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Well done mate at last someone has had success with an ssd. Is there any chance you could write up a more detailed idiots guide to how you did it. Ie what tools you used to clone the drive and the exact commands. I had a go at this using a sandisk msata ssd in an ide adaptor but it didn't work. The CIC didn't see it when I plugged it in and tested it in the car. At the time I thought this was due to the adapter or ssd but now I'm thinking that maybe the cloning process was done wrong as it didn't take very long and there was a few gigs of music on there, plus all the satnav files which are over 20gb.
If you can do a more detailed guide I'd be willing to give this another shot. Cheers Jim |
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08-03-2015, 02:11 AM | #3 |
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Reading this again I do have a couple of specific questions.
1. What did you use to clone the CIC drive? 2. If you cloned the drive in step 1 why did you later format the partitions and copy the data over? Surely if you cloned the drive there is no need to do this. Apologies if these seem like numpty questions. |
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08-03-2015, 08:34 AM | #4 |
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I didn't have a ton of time when I wrote it up initially. I don't think I could explain it better than the guy on the charger forum.
I'd like to make some images of the empty 4th partition and the partition table. Then with the identical disk (the amazon one above) it would be a couple commands to set it up after you cloned your current one. Not sure when I could get that setup, but if there is demand for it I could get something put together. I use dd to clone the disk. I booted in Ubuntu live cd and dd if=/dev/sda of=bmw-backup.iso Edit: I personally made a backup before doing anything. To actually clone vs backup, you can then dd if=bmw-backup.iso of=/dev/sda With dd if is source, and of is destination. Don't mess these up as you may destroy your disk! The drive is cloned with the current size of the partitions. The total filesystem takes up the exact same space as it did on the smaller disk. I resized the extended partition that contains all the partitions on the disk to take up all the available space. As far as I know you aren't able to resize the QNX6 filesystem like you would a windows NTFS formatted partition or ext3. So that means resizing the music partition wont be enough, as you need to resize the filesystem as well. Easiest way to handle that is to delete and recreate. Last edited by nux; 08-03-2015 at 08:46 PM.. |
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08-03-2015, 04:22 PM | #5 |
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Cheers for the reply, that clears up a few things. I'm on vacation ATM but will have another go at this on my return and let you know the result. If it fails again with my current ssd then I'll buy one the same as yours and try with that. Thanks once again.
Jim |
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08-14-2015, 09:53 PM | #7 |
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I am intrigued. I am looking to improve response speed of the system. I do not not have much need for expanding HD size, so I would be using same size HD.
I know it is explained in the post, but would you mind providing really Simplified version of these instructions starting with location of HD. I also have 2011. Thank you! |
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08-23-2015, 11:02 AM | #8 |
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I plan on doing this. One question, did you not need a pata to sata adapter? Which did you get and how well did it fit?
Also from past experience with in car computers, be careful which ssd you get, I found adata in particular do not work in freezing temperatures. Just straight up stopped working on my last car. |
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08-24-2015, 10:05 AM | #10 |
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Hey folks,
I'm in the proccess of replacing the hdd with an ssd too. I removed the toshiba hdd from the car with battery disconnected, plugged into my computer at home and cloned the drive. My ssd has not been delivered yet so once I was happy that the oem drive had been cloned, I put the toshiba back into the car as I had to use it for work. Upon reconnecting the car battery and starting the car I now have nothing at all on the cic. No display, radio, sounds, nothing at all. It doesnt seem to power up. I have checked 3 fuses behind glove box and also fuse behind headunit and all are ok. Also made sure no bent pins on toshiba hdd. Cic reset didnt work as well. I have read about a few people having success in cloning the drives etc, but not come accross anyone with similar issue as me. I am now really worried that my cic is screwed, but cant understand why as all I did was remove hdd and copy it. Please someone save me Thanks all |
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09-25-2015, 10:55 PM | #11 |
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Update: I believe this may not be a reliable solution. From what I've read the max operating temperature is 185F for the toshiba OEM disk. The SSD I put in failed within a week or two. I got a replacement sent out and I was hoping it was a bad disk.
With the replacement installed after an evening of cruising around, the disk was reporting it was operating at a max of 75C - which is 5C over the "max operating temperature". I am going to put the OEM disk back in for now. A search for possible options for the disk weren't promising. The actual process to replace/upgrade the disk is simple enough. But the disk you put in needs to be comfortable in high temperatures. Last edited by nux; 10-26-2015 at 10:24 AM.. |
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09-28-2015, 07:52 PM | #12 |
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sorry can you clarify your numbers. You said 185C which can't be right. And then you said 75 was 5 over it. So was the max 70C?
How did you measure the HDD temp? Some SSD's aren't as good as others. In my last car, with a carpc, I had to return an AData SSD I bought because it would stop responding in freezing temperatures. I bought a more reputable brand and I was fine. |
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09-28-2015, 07:53 PM | #13 |
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10-01-2015, 10:13 AM | #14 | |
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On Order (in transit): BMW iX 50, Oxide Grey
Retired: BMW Welt Delivery 4/14/16: European Delivery - 2016 340i EBII/Saddle - ZMP | ZCW | ZDA | ZLP | ZTP | M Adaptive | Rear Shades | MPPSK Before and After Dyno Retired: 2011 335D Space Grey/Black - ZSP | ZPP | ZCW | 6FL | Sat Radio | Nav | $600 Base Audio Upgrade |
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10-26-2015, 10:26 AM | #15 | |
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I may look into finding a way to do this again in the future here, but for now have shelved it. I don't have an adapter. I measured the temperature of the replacement disk by putting the disk back in my computer, and checking the SMART data (smartctl -a /dev/sdb in linux for example with smartmontools). |
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03-25-2016, 11:45 PM | #16 | |
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Last edited by MSportBMW; 03-26-2016 at 01:30 AM.. |
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05-14-2016, 11:55 PM | #17 |
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I did a dd to a file and a dd back to the new SSD. All the partitions showed up exactly the same as the original. No luck. I had the battery disconnected throughout the whole process, booted it and Navigation tells me "Function not Available" or similar. Same after a forced reboot.
How does one telnet or similar to the CIC unit on an E9x car to get further info? |
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05-30-2016, 02:24 PM | #18 |
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If you guys are looking for more storage or just a little more speed, take a look at 7200 rpm drives.
I've been running this 7200 rpm Hitachi hard drive for over 3 years without any problems. Hitachi drives are without a doubt the most reliable disk drives made. (now known as HGST after WD bought them)
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Last edited by Rotary Rasp; 05-30-2016 at 02:35 PM.. |
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06-06-2016, 06:35 PM | #19 | |
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Thinking of taking the drive out to do a backup now I'm at the end of my warranty (new CIC unit if drive fails will be very expensive!). Also thinking of doing an SSD swap while I'm in there but your post has got me worried - can't see how what you described could have happened unless you somehow gave the drive a large shock or accidentally wiped the disk when trying to do a backup? Even then I'd have expected the CIC to show some signs of life, even if just an error code... Got me worried about doing this now. |
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06-06-2016, 07:47 PM | #20 |
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Ps I have an E92 and from the looks of it the hard drive location would be right behind the plastic trim panel at the bottom where some people have their heated seat buttons/front parking sensor button. Is there any easy method to remove just that trim panel/any tabs etc to avoid etc - would much rather have a process for removing one small panel to get to the drive than ripping half the car apart and potentially introducing rattles etc when it all goes back together. EDIT: this panel: http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y13...psbuxu7ra5.jpg I don't use the hard drive for music so would just be doing an exact clone of the drive (Probably Acronis clone using their bootable cd).
The old drive in the CIC will not be advanced format and with this being an SSD with IDE interface I'm not sure if Acronis would recognise it and adjust offset correctly. If copied over exactly bit for bit the partition alignment on the SSD would be off leading to degraded performance. Has anyone tried to realign the partitions on the SSD after doing the copy? Or has anyone checked the offset after their working clone and found offset is set OK (if recognised as an SSD many cloning software will align properly during data copy)? There are utilities to realign partitions on SSDs that are out of alignment that could be used if needed but just curious how others have got on with this or if anyone has even checked? Last edited by undecided1; 06-07-2016 at 05:56 PM.. Reason: add image |
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07-30-2017, 03:36 PM | #21 |
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Necropost ftw
Well I gave this a try on my E84 (X1, xDrive)...I managed to get an image of the HD. I managed to copy the image to an mSATA drive with an IDE adapter....and kinda/sorta worked.
1. Navigation was greyed out. (I suspect something about the IDE adapter was goofy, it was having difficulties staying connected with the USB->IDE adapter I was using. I ended up mountin the mSATA drive in an old CR-48 chromebook and booting with an external DVD to get the Clonezilla and g4u tools working. 2. It booted right up, so fast that the BMW splash screen didn't even show, so that's promising. 3. That 5th partition at the end of the disk, I couldn't figure out what to do with, I looked and looked and didn't see if people were moving it to the end of the disk and then growing the media partition and reformatting in QNX. Not exactly sure there, so I didn't try to increase the Media partition, thought it'd be a good thing to test it out first to see if it worked first before I started futzing with partition tables. Anyway, it was both a success and failure, and pulling off the dash was not fun (For future, if someone else wants to try on their X1, you do NOT have to pull off the vents first as with some other models. 1. Pull off the bottom row of buttons (with the backup camera, traction control, and all that...but BE CAREFUL..it's hardwired in into that panel, but disconnects from the climate control panel. 2. Gently work out the bezel around the climate control, pull out clmate control....disconnect (it has nice little camlock connectors, but the connector for the bottom button pod is locked with two tabs on each side. 3. Here's the tricky part. You HAVE to work out the stereo bezel, it's tricky, I had to work it down to the bottom, and then gently but firmly spread it apart so I could pull out the left side then the right side. There's no obvious method to do so otherwise, but it can be done with patience. Putting it back in is more difficult but the same process. So long story short. I put the old HD back in, and deal with the slow loading issue. A real bummer, but it is what it is.I wish BMW wasn't so dead set on keeping us from what's ours that they'd at least give us a user partition at the end, so that way we could clone the disk and take a look at it/expand it, or even if the QNX install was just programmed to treat all foreign partitions as "media" partitions. Last edited by DrStoooopid; 07-30-2017 at 08:36 PM.. |
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