Pogoplug Pro / V3 Internal SSD Mod

Finally found the time to get this done, see here Pogoplug Pro V3 Internal SSD Mod for the method I used to add a completely internal SSD to the Pogoplug Pro V3. Notice I have also done the external antenna mod for the wireless NIC onboard so both can coexist at the same time. The hardest part to the whole mod was soldering the 5 volt wires to the front USB port but once that is done the whole assembly fits in snuggly (almost perfectly) without need for fastening or case modification. Note you can get a msata drive in a capacity up to 1TB which would fit in the adapter I have used.

Here is a link to the cable I bought that made this work: 22 Pin Sata Cable with 5 volt only supply

Also, a link to the adapter I used: MSATA to 22 Pin SATA Adapter

And here is an eBay search for 24GB drives which will fit in the MSATA adapter: 24GB SSD's on eBay US

And if you wanna "go all the way', here is a 1 Terabyte drive you could use: Samsung 1TB MSATA Drive



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/05/2015 03:32PM by LeggoMyEggo.

You activated the hyperactive kid Christmas morning here. Wow.

I wonder if I could persuade a few details, if you use it for main OS or otherwise the partition choices made thus far?

The model seems to be a SanDisk SDSA5FK-024G-1002Q

This looks doable. I'm definitely not rich, but the SSDs I priced aren't much different from decent USB sticks in the 128-256 GB denominations.

Congrats to you!

=========
-= Cloud 9 =-



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/05/2015 02:59PM by JoeyPogoPlugE02.

JoeyPogoPlugE02 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I wonder if I could persuade a few details, is you
> use it for main OS or otherwise the partition
> choices made thus far?


Yes, I installed it internally to maximize speed for the OS so that I could use swap aggressively to alleviate the lack of memory on the Pro. I'm running apache2, mysql, webmin and some other server processes on this box. Flash drives work OK enough but swap file wear and tear really shortens their lifespan and you are still limited to the speed of the USB bus. With what I have here, the Pro I/O is about as optimized as I could hope given it's design. Having an internal SSD, I am not limited to the size of the NAND for the OS so I can deploy this 'Plug to any site and it is literally plug and play without need to worry about loss of the USB drive or anybody tampering with it.

Here is a link to the cable I bought that made this work: 22 Pin Sata Cable with 5 volt only supply

Also, a link to the adapter I used: MSATA to 22 Pin SATA Adapter

And here is an eBay search for 24GB drives which will fit in the MSATA adapter: 24GB SSD's on eBay US

And if you wanna "go all the way', here is a 1 Terabyte drive you could use: Samsung 1TB MSATA Drive



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 12/05/2015 02:18PM by LeggoMyEggo.

LeggoMyEggo,

Impressive :) could you post the above details in your first post, I'll add it to the Tutorial & Tips thread.

Also, followup questions:

- How does the wireless NIC still coexist, that part is not obvious from the pics?
- If you don't want to solder and risk frying the board, you can sacrify one USB to draw power, that should be doable with a different cable, right?

Later, you might provide info about swap. We know the modern SSD has wear leveling. But the interesting part about using swap on these small SDDs is:

- Is there a possibility that the swap file will negate the low level wear leveling? I'm guessing that it does not matter, because low level leveling will move the physical blocks and swap file is allocated using logical sectors, but it would nice to be sure.

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)

bodhi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> LeggoMyEggo,
>
> Impressive :) could you post the above details in
> your first post, I'll add it to the Tutorial &
> Tips thread.

Done

> Also, followup questions:
>
> - How does the wireless NIC still coexist, that
> part is not obvious from the pics?

I have an Intel 2230 combo Wireless and Bluetooth mini PCI-E card installed in the PCI-E slot and utilizes the external antenna I added as well as the stock PP antenna. I could have actually installed the SSD instead but like I mentioned, I wanted a tamper proof plug with all important functions built-in and all USB ports free.

> - If you don't want to solder and risk frying the
> board, you can sacrify one USB to draw power, that
> should be doable with a different cable, right?

Yes, you could possibly find a cable that is combo SATA 22 pin on one side and SATA 7 Pin plus USB power on the other but I have never seen one. If you could find such a cable, you could run the power inside between the case and bottom slipper as there is a small gap there as you have noted before. Be wary though, seasoned modders would know the difference between this type of cable and a conventional SATA 22 pin to USB adapter which are very common and are typically used for drive cloning. You could always jerry rig something using an old USB cable connecting the +5V and ground to the red and black wires of the cable I used. But if you are worried about the soldering, you should just do the external SATA port mod I have done elsewhere and use an external 2.5 ESATA case which would come with it's own USB to power cable.

> Later, you might provide info about swap. We know
> the modern SSD has wear leveling. But the
> interesting part about using swap on these small
> SDDs is:
>
> - Is there a possibility that the swap file will
> negate the low level wear leveling? I'm guessing
> that it does not matter, because low level
> leveling will move the physical blocks and swap
> file is allocated using logical sectors, but it
> would nice to be sure.

This was an assumption on my part, my research indicated that all SSD's were better suited to swap file usage than most flash drives (with the exception of the Sandisk Extreme models which have SSD like properities AFAIK). Throw in there as well the SATA I interface of the Pro has a maximum theoretical throughput of 1.5Gb/s vs a USB drives maximum 480Mb/s and I thought there was no contest as far as speed goes. But I might not have all my facts straight so if you know better please LMK.

Leggo,

This cabel has eSATA connector instead of SATA. The 22 pin here is female so it would be OK with your adapter.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA76H2GT0386

I use this to plug in a 2.5 HDD on the fly when I need to test something on the GoFlex Net/Home-Pogo V3-PogoV4. But it needs an extension cable for eSATA to SATA. I wonder if we can find this cable with a SATA connector.

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)

Is there a middle ground, for instance an mpcie adapter with SDHC slots?

I ask because I already pulled the stock Pogoplug wireless and Class 10 SD cards are said to be good for 95 MB sec. Seems like a good middle ground, as you could have a cheaper, replaceable small card for swap and another for the other stuff. Not sure about wear leveling or if it exists on those. You'd think it would, as SanDisk makes those as well.

And since the wireless is reasonably expected to be 150 Mbps, that should be out of a USB port which is close to the spec. But history shows i'm good at messing things up, just daydream with me but don't do it LOL

=========
-= Cloud 9 =-



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/05/2015 06:09PM by JoeyPogoPlugE02.

> This was an assumption on my part, my research
> indicated that all SSD's were better suited to
> swap file usage than most flash drives (with the
> exception of the Sandisk Extreme models which have
> SSD like properities AFAIK).

I think it's confirmed only about the USB 3.0 Extreme 64GB which I have one. Dont know about other capacity.

> Throw in there as
> well the SATA I interface of the Pro has a maximum
> theoretical throughput of 1.5Gb/s vs a USB drives
> maximum 480Mb/s and I thought there was no contest
> as far as speed goes.

True, even the slowest 1.5Gbs would be much better than USB 2.0 (480Mbs is theoretical max, we are lucky if we can get 200Mbs).

-bodhi
===========================
Forum Wiki
bodhi's corner (buy bodhi a beer)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/05/2015 07:20PM by bodhi.

JoeyPogoPlugE02 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Is there a middle ground, for instance an
> [url=http://www.amazon.com/Bplus-Micro-Cards-mPCIe
> -Adapter/dp/B00PXUWB5O%3FSubscriptionId%3DAKIAILSH
> YYTFIVPWUY6Q%26tag%3Dduckduckgo-d-20%26linkCode%3D
> xm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeAS
> IN%3DB00PXUWB5O]mpcie adapter with SDHC
> slots?[/url]
>

That would work as well and you get the benefit of adding two internal drives. Believe it or not, a 22 Pin SATA to CompactFlash adapter would be better as even though the CF standard is the oldest, it's actually a derivative of the old IDE standard and you can get 600X cards that are two to three times faster than the fastest SD or microSD cards. An example of such an adapter is this:
[url=http://www.amazon.com/Bootable-Compact-Flash-Converter-Adapter/dp/B0030D3T16]CF to SATA Adapter[/url]

In the end , a true MSATA drive is optimal as it can fully utilize the SATA interface with no bottlenecks.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/05/2015 07:44PM by LeggoMyEggo.

Awe thanks Leggo :-) I'll get some of these adapters bookmarked and order as soon as possible while adapters are cheap and keep an eye out for the best deals on storage anywhere from now till Spring. outrageously cool idea though, for sure I'll do that on my 10ZiG Thin Client w SATA (1.6Ghz 2G RAM) and one or the other on both PogoPros.

'Tis also the week to check thrift stores because University student gestures of goodwill.

=========
-= Cloud 9 =-

I know this is an old post however I used a similar setup wiring to sidemount an SATA drive (it wouldn't fit inside) I was able to clone a usb and it started right up freeing up all the usb ports, it is my extra plug so I am not sure exactly what I am going to do with it yet...lol

Echowarrior108

device: pogoplug-pro v3

Currently running:
Linux version 5.15.158-oxnas-tld-2 (root@tldDebian) (gcc (Debian 12.2.0-14) 12.2.0, GNU ld (GNU Binutils for Debian) 2.40) #2 SMP PREEMPT Sun May 12 18:45:05 PDT 2024
Debian 12.6

:) Without pictures, it didn't happen :)

echowarrior108 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I know this is an old post however I used a
> similar setup wiring to sidemount an SATA drive
> (it wouldn't fit inside) I was able to clone a usb
> and it started right up freeing up all the usb
> ports, it is my extra plug so I am not sure
> exactly what I am going to do with it yet...lol

Gravelrash Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> :) Without pictures, it didn't happen :)
>
> echowarrior108 Wrote:
> -------------------------------------------------------
> > I know this is an old post however I used a
> > similar setup wiring to sidemount an SATA drive
> > (it wouldn't fit inside) I was able to clone a
> usb
> > and it started right up freeing up all the usb
> > ports, it is my extra plug so I am not sure
> > exactly what I am going to do with it yet...lol

good point:)

I took pics of my other box while in progress (also a little better setup) , I robbed the power plug from an old security cam dvr.

note: red wire soldered to usb 5v, black both soldered to usb ground, yellow wire soldered to 12v power lead.
I used 4 angle wire connectors from my wire kit so it would stand off the board.

Echowarrior108

device: pogoplug-pro v3

Currently running:
Linux version 5.15.158-oxnas-tld-2 (root@tldDebian) (gcc (Debian 12.2.0-14) 12.2.0, GNU ld (GNU Binutils for Debian) 2.40) #2 SMP PREEMPT Sun May 12 18:45:05 PDT 2024
Debian 12.6