[opjose]

Originally Posted by Maniac0908

Do i initialize using MBR or GPT?

MBR may do the least damage.

I believe I had to install an MBR record before Linux would recognize the drive.

I then used a simple "dd" command to clone the original image onto the new drive.

Under Windows the drive must be recognized for Clonezilla to work, but often the Boot sector and/or initialization info Windows writes out causes the drive to not be recognized under QNX that your car runs.

If you find that your car fails to recognize the cloned drive, e.g. you get no maps what-so-ever, then pull it back out and perform a complete erase with OEM tools that will zero out the SSD completely including boot records.

I had to do this the first time I tried as I erroneously selected GPT and had to start over cloning the image back to the SSD.

It's a good idea to save a copy of the image of your HDD too in case you ever need it again.

[p0lar]

I just performed this 'upgrade' to my '11 M3. Overall, it's not a bad procedure and everything went as planned. I used the Recadata 256GB mSATA SSD (~$100 shipped) and the Ableconn IIDE-MSAT mSATA SSD to 2.5-Inch IDE Adapter (~$29 shipped).

I also used two other components, though technically only one would have been necessary. The part required to read the OEM drive to an image (this took about 80 minutes on my Macbook Pro using "dd if=/dev/disk3 of=/Volumes/storage/cic_backup.img":

UNITEK USB 3.0 to IDE & SATA Converter External Hard Drive Adapter Kit for Universal 2.5/3.5 HDD/SSD Hard Drive

And to write to it as well as work with it within QNX and PartEd, a USB3 to mSata adapter (I don't have the part # on this as it was something I had on-hand). This procedure took about 13 minutes using "dd if=/Volumes/storage/cic_backup.img of=/dev/rdisk3 bs=64k".

The only hiccup I ran into was that QNX did not like something about the USB3 to mSata adapter, so it would create the qnx6 filesystem, but wouldn't mount it unless it was read-only (which clearly wasn't going to work). To fix this, I mounted it with the "sync=optional" command (though sync=ignore may also have worked) as follows:

mount -o sync=optional -t qnx6 /dev/hd10t77.4 /root/media
mount -o sync=optional -t qnx6 /dev/hd10t77.5 /root/debug

The full list of qnx commands was very simple.. I also added an extra 15GB VMWare drive to QNX as HD1 to copy the initial bits (it only needs to be large enough to hold your hbmedia and hbdebug partitions) -- do mind your drive names, I won't even pretend to be responsible for data loss if you're not familiar with posix syntax and device naming conventions! My temporary scratch space/virtual drive was /dev/hd1. My usb mSATA adapter was /dev/hd10t77, of which .4 and .5 were the media and debug partitions respectively. I used a couple of environmental definitions that point to the scratch drive and media/debug partitions. This makes it easier NOT to foul up other partitions, though it's not the end of the world if you do since you're working from the replacement drive. May as well alias mount while I'm at it since we're only working with qnx6 filesystems.

# scratchdrive="/dev/hd1"
# mediapartition="/dev/hd10t77.4"
# debugpartition="/dev/hd10t77.5"
# alias mount="mount -t qnx6"
# mkqnx6fs ${scratchdrive}
# mkdir /root/{saved/{debug,media},debug,media}
# mount ${scratchdrive} /root/saved
# mount -o ro ${mediapartition} /root/media
# mount -o ro ${debugpartition} /root/debug
# cp -Rp /root/media/* /root/saved/media/
# cp -Rp /root/debug/* /root/saved/debug/
# umount /root/{media,debug,saved}

-- make your changes in the partition editor then go back to your qnx VM, check your device lists to ensure your scratch and CIC drive definitions didn't change! --

# scratchdrive="/dev/hd1"
# mediapartition="/dev/hd10t77.4"
# debugpartition="/dev/hd10t77.5"
# alias mount="mount -t qnx6"
# mount -o ro ${scratchdrive} /root/saved
# mkqnx6fs ${mediapartition}
# mkqnx6fs ${debugpartition}
# mount -o sync=optional ${mediapartition} /root/media
# mount -o sync=optional ${debugpartition} /root/debug
# cp -Rp /root/saved/media/* /root/media/
# cp -Rp /root/saved/debug/* /root/debug/
# umount /root/{media,debug,saved}

-- now disconnect your USB drive from VMWare, mount the mSATA into the adapter, mount the adapter into the CIC adapter and replace in the vehicle --

Notes:

• Overall, I would say the nav is slightly more responsive, but not lots. The music load is absolutely faster, and I can't imagine ever importing over 175GB of music.
• There is a way to do this strictly in QNX with just a script without rebooting to use the partition editor, but it would take significantly longer to achieve and would require more scratch space and some script-fu to automate the partition boundaries properly.
• Thanks to the OP for posting this -- I found a thread on the X5 where others have also done something similar, perhaps without the partition expansions which I think is the real reward here.
• I'll update this post with the results on how the recadata i6m handles the heat/cold cycles. Overall I feel pretty confident it will do well.
• OEM HDD, Toshiba Automotive MKxx50GAC Series - The 80GB seems to be the largest Toshiba made in that series so a logical upgrade within the same manufacturer series is out of the question.
• After giving it more thought, I think I will be adding a small piece of rubber between the mSATA and the chassis in the event that the retention clip doesn't hold. The clip on the Ableconn adapter really isn't designed for automotive use and though it should hang on, my suspicion is that at some point it will let go.
• After driving about 20 miles with it in, the media is noticeably faster to load, much .. much faster.

[captpilly]

Any thoughts on if the clone feature for this SATA to USB would work?

KINGWIN USB2.0 TO SERIAL ATA & PARALLEL ATA ADAPTER CABLE KIT

https://www.frys.com/product/5466019...IaAhydEALw_wcB

They have this in stock very close to my house, I am thinking about trying it.

Standalone disk duplicator
Another unique feature of the EZ-Clone is the standalone disk cloning feature that allows you to duplicate or clone the entire IDE or SATA source drive to another faster or larger SATA drive without having to connect to a computer. Simply attach the IDE or SATA source drive and the new SATA drive to the SATA2 target connector, then turn on the EZ-Clone power and press the Clone button for 3 seconds to begin the cloning process. The EZ-Clone has 4 progress LEDs that will turn blue to indicate the completed percentage of the clone process. The result is two identical drives containing the same files, boot sector, partition table and file system format. If the target drive is larger than the source drive, the remaining partition of the drive that was not used during the cloning process will be converted as an unallocated partition. You can still repartition and format that partition as extra logical drive.

[adzie99]

Originally Posted by p0lar

I just performed this 'upgrade' to my '11 M3. Overall, it's not a bad procedure and everything went as planned. I used the Recadata 256GB mSATA SSD (~$100 shipped) and the Ableconn IIDE-MSAT mSATA SSD to 2.5-Inch IDE Adapter (~$29 shipped).

I also used two other components, though technically only one would have been necessary. The part required to read the OEM drive to an image (this took about 80 minutes on my Macbook Pro using "dd if=/dev/disk3 of=/Volumes/storage/cic_backup.img":

UNITEK USB 3.0 to IDE & SATA Converter External Hard Drive Adapter Kit for Universal 2.5/3.5 HDD/SSD Hard Drive

And to write to it as well as work with it within QNX and PartEd, a USB3 to mSata adapter (I don't have the part # on this as it was something I had on-hand). This procedure took about 13 minutes using "dd if=/Volumes/storage/cic_backup.img of=/dev/rdisk3 bs=64k".

The only hiccup I ran into was that QNX did not like something about the USB3 to mSata adapter, so it would create the qnx6 filesystem, but wouldn't mount it unless it was read-only (which clearly wasn't going to work). To fix this, I mounted it with the "sync=optional" command (though sync=ignore may also have worked) as follows:

mount -o sync=optional -t qnx6 /dev/hd10t77.4 /root/media
mount -o sync=optional -t qnx6 /dev/hd10t77.5 /root/debug

The full list of qnx commands was very simple.. I also added an extra 15GB VMWare drive to QNX as HD1 to copy the initial bits (it only needs to be large enough to hold your hbmedia and hbdebug partitions) -- do mind your drive names, I won't even pretend to be responsible for data loss if you're not familiar with posix syntax and device naming conventions! My temporary scratch space/virtual drive was /dev/hd1. My usb mSATA adapter was /dev/hd10t77, of which .4 and .5 were the media and debug partitions respectively. I used a couple of environmental definitions that point to the scratch drive and media/debug partitions. This makes it easier NOT to foul up other partitions, though it's not the end of the world if you do since you're working from the replacement drive. May as well alias mount while I'm at it since we're only working with qnx6 filesystems.

# scratchdrive="/dev/hd1"
# mediapartition="/dev/hd10t77.4"
# debugpartition="/dev/hd10t77.5"
# alias mount="mount -t qnx6"
# mkqnx6fs ${scratchdrive}
# mkdir /root/{saved/{debug,media},debug,media}
# mount ${scratchdrive} /root/saved
# mount -o ro ${mediapartition} /root/media
# mount -o ro ${debugpartition} /root/debug
# cp -Rp /root/media/* /root/saved/media/
# cp -Rp /root/debug/* /root/saved/debug/
# umount /root/{media,debug,saved}

-- make your changes in the partition editor then go back to your qnx VM, check your device lists to ensure your scratch and CIC drive definitions didn't change! --

# scratchdrive="/dev/hd1"
# mediapartition="/dev/hd10t77.4"
# debugpartition="/dev/hd10t77.5"
# alias mount="mount -t qnx6"
# mount -o ro ${scratchdrive} /root/saved
# mkqnx6fs ${mediapartition}
# mkqnx6fs ${debugpartition}
# mount -o sync=optional ${mediapartition} /root/media
# mount -o sync=optional ${debugpartition} /root/debug
# cp -Rp /root/saved/media/* /root/media/
# cp -Rp /root/saved/debug/* /root/debug/
# umount /root/{media,debug,saved}

-- now disconnect your USB drive from VMWare, mount the mSATA into the adapter, mount the adapter into the CIC adapter and replace in the vehicle --

Notes:

• Overall, I would say the nav is slightly more responsive, but not lots. The music load is absolutely faster, and I can't imagine ever importing over 175GB of music.
• There is a way to do this strictly in QNX with just a script without rebooting to use the partition editor, but it would take significantly longer to achieve and would require more scratch space and some script-fu to automate the partition boundaries properly.
• Thanks to the OP for posting this -- I found a thread on the X5 where others have also done something similar, perhaps without the partition expansions which I think is the real reward here.
• I'll update this post with the results on how the recadata i6m handles the heat/cold cycles. Overall I feel pretty confident it will do well.
• OEM HDD, Toshiba Automotive MKxx50GAC Series - The 80GB seems to be the largest Toshiba made in that series so a logical upgrade within the same manufacturer series is out of the question.
• After giving it more thought, I think I will be adding a small piece of rubber between the mSATA and the chassis in the event that the retention clip doesn't hold. The clip on the Ableconn adapter really isn't designed for automotive use and though it should hang on, my suspicion is that at some point it will let go.
• After driving about 20 miles with it in, the media is noticeably faster to load, much .. much faster.

Hi,

I have cloned the ssd however I am stuck on the part of resizing the music partition to use the extra space.

Just would like some clear instructions on how to do this if possible.

Many thanks,

[Taskmaster]

Yeager - you offered to help me with this before, is the offer still out there?

[opjose]

Originally Posted by adzie99

Hi,

I have cloned the ssd however I am stuck on the part of resizing the music partition to use the extra space.

Just would like some clear instructions on how to do this if possible.

Many thanks,

Not to be disingenuous, but the detailed resizing info was provided in the first post.

It is not a simple thing to do because you are moving partitions around and to do so you must save the data in each one.

[n2siast]

Got most of my items ready to undertake this, including a working VM of Linux. Issue I'm running into now is the QNX VM, can't seem to find where to download.

I tried from the QNX Website, but after requesting the 30 day trial license, I got an email from a developer about setting up a conference call to discuss my need for QNX.

Seems kind of a hassle for the QNX VM Download.

[opjose]

Ubuntu and Mint Linux, I believe have QNX drivers available that would permit you to clone the partitions and resize them.

These are addons available via the repositories.

I have not tried them yet.

[n2siast]

Originally Posted by opjose

Ubuntu and Mint Linux, I believe have QNX drivers available that would permit you to clone the partitions and resize them.

These are addons available via the repositories.

I have not tried them yet.

I have the Linux Mint (Cinnamon version) running and was able to image a few other drives I have, but didn't undertake the CIC drive as of yet as I'm waiting on my Zheino Drive to arrive.

Worse case is I ignore QNX altogether and forego increasing the partition.

Either way, I'll be happy with the upgrade as it seems my current CIC Drive is getting slower for some reason.

[n2siast]

Finally got this done. I actually used Paragon HD Manager to make a backup on my local HDD, then restored the image to the new Zheino SSD.

Only thing I didn't tackle was resizing the partition as I'm sure I'm missing something within QNX. I tried both VMWare Pro, VMWare Fusion and Virtualbox and seem to be missing a step or a few somewhere.

But overall, pretty happy with the results. Drive worked on the first try. Nav and responses noticeably quicker, music loads faster, but not by much compared to the original drive.

I'll continue playing around with QNX and UBCD, I'm sure I'll get it eventually.

[ckegg]

Just did this yesterday and glad I did it because found my toshiba drive had bad sectors already. Followed all instruction from first post and the only step took me long was backing up the hard drive. While my drive had bad sector, dd wouldn't work and I had to use ddrescue instead on step #6

ddrescue -d -r3 /dev/sdc CIC_Drive.img logfile

The last argument "logfile" is optional. See ddrescue manual for more information.

I used kingston 240gb while it is so cheap on amazon currently, my iDrive boots into navigation so much faster. Now I have a drive backup image and I am not going to worry drive fails in my CIC anymore.

[n2siast]

Originally Posted by ckegg

Just did this yesterday and glad I did it because found my toshiba drive had bad sectors already. Followed all instruction from first post and the only step took me long was backing up the hard drive. While my drive had bad sector, dd wouldn't work and I had to use ddrescue instead on step #6

ddrescue -d -r3 /dev/sdc CIC_Drive.img logfile

The last argument "logfile" is optional. See ddrescue manual for more information.

I used kingston 240gb while it is so cheap on amazon currently, my iDrive boots into navigation so much faster. Now I have a drive backup image and I am not going to worry drive fails in my CIC anymore.

Do you notice any startup speed increase with music on the HD? Mine is hit and miss, sometimes it's almost instant, but most of the time it takes about 45 seconds for the music to start up. Not sure what it is as I didn't really time the music in the OEM drive. My expectation was music would be near instant, similar to Nav starting up, but that's not the case.

[Tdbennett]

Hi,

I’m new to this and in attempting to do this I have killed my HD’s. If I were to send a new mSata hard drive in the adapter, would anyone be willing to copy the files onto it? I would happily pay for the service, thanks

[pavjayt]

I just tried doing this with Zheino drive and was not successful, no DVD playback and navigation, replaced it with stock drive, everything is back to normal. Followed the guide for cloning it word to word and made sure all partitions are as shown after its done.

Any suggestions?

[pavjayt]

Originally Posted by p0lar

I just performed this 'upgrade' to my '11 M3. Overall, it's not a bad procedure and everything went as planned. I used the Recadata 256GB mSATA SSD (~$100 shipped)

Did you extend the partition to its full 256GB or only to stock 128GB?

thanks

[Jagaer]

pavjayt

Let's rule out any hardware incompatibilities first. Use linux to "dd" clone the drive, then test it in the CIC without any additional changes. (Step #9 "Put this back in your CIC and test it out. If Nav loads, you've successfully cloned the drive, and have a working adapter")

Although the Zheino was known to be compatible, manufacturers do sometimes change internal designs (rev updates) without updating the packaging.

[brettcp]

I just did this using the parts in the original post (the mSATA drive with mSATA to PATA adapter). I opted for the 128GB mSATA drive as I have no need for media storage.

I first thought I may be able to take the easy route and just use Acronis True Image to do a disk to disk clone (sector by sector it claimed).. This took 5 hours but didn't work - navigation was greyed out. I suspect this was due to how Windows handles things.

I then used Clonezilla (used Tuxboot to create a bootable USB drive with Clonezilla). I used Clonezilla's "drive to drive clone" feature, then selected "Custom/Advanced" (versus Easy mode) - where there was a screen with 15+ options to choose from. I unchecked everything, then ONLY checked "Sector by sector clone (inefficient but works with all file systems)". Left all other options at their defaults, it took a few hours to clone and sure enough it works perfect. I did not re-size the media partition as I have no need to do so.

Nice to have a non-spinning drive in there now. Moving around in the navigation maps is definitely quicker.

[p0lar]

Originally Posted by pavjayt

Did you extend the partition to its full 256GB or only to stock 128GB?

Stock was 80GB for the entire drive, I'm not sure what 128GB would be?

I extended mine all the way out to the 256GB, so the media partition ended up ~180GB.

[timgray]

Anyone got a copy of the QNX VM? I cant find a download to it anymore on their website, Is it the neutrino VM. The QNX6 Dev suite?

What am I exactly looking for?

[Jagaer]

I used the pre-configured QNX Neutrino 6.5.0 VM provided by QNX.

The VMX package is called "QNX_Eval_RT-201007091524.zip" and contains 4 files.

If you can't find it on the QNX Portal (free registration required), PM me.

[n2siast]

First, I want to give huge kudos and thanks to JAGAER for putting this together and for providing the QNX VM Image.

I previously cloned my CIC Drive to a Zheino drive, but didn’t expand the media partition, as I was having some difficulties with the software and not getting stuff to work together. I had another version of QNX, 6.2 I believe and that didn't play nice.

The Zheino worked well in the car and I was pleased with the outcome.

I was determined, however, to get this last piece done and bought another SSD, this time the Recadata Drive and Ableconn EIDE adapter.

With the provided QNX VM and some trial and error, I was finally able to make another drive and extend the partitions.

Only issue I ran into was working with Parted Magic, for some reason, on this drive, I was getting an error when trying to extend the partition to the end, but ended up using Paragon HDM to extend it out, then went back into Parted Magic and completed the rest.

Happy to report, everything worked extremely well and I now have a larger media partition for my music library.

Now I have an extra SSD (Zheino), with backup CIC loaded and 2018 maps, which I may entertain selling since I have my original disk and a couple of extra images. Not sure how it will work for someone though, since it may be tied to my VIN, especially the Navigation FSC Code.

Anyhow, thanks again to Jagaer and others who have contributed to this DIY and in the process educating me on the QNX platform

[SteveEvans]

Originally Posted by Jagaer

n2siast Everything I performed in the instruction can be done with OSX, but as opjose stated, you do need to use the QNX VM to create the new partitions.

To make a drive image, you need an USB->IDE cable.

Your device will be different (not /dev/sdc, something like /dev/disk2), so you'll need to identify the disk with

diskutil list

and look for the device that doesn't say "APPLE". Then use that device with dd to save the drive to a disk image

dd if=CIC_Drive.img of=/dev/disk2 bs=64k status=progress

CAREFUL!

If you use dd with of=/dev/disk2 you are writing to the disk, not saving the drive to a disk image. @Jagaer can I suggest you edit your post to fix this before somebody kills their drive with no backup!

Thanks,

Steve