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[Jeff Ent]

I'm an AE at a PAC that owns 2 Vi6's and 1 Vi4 that were purchased close to when Soundcraft originally released them.  They were built and delivered in 2008.  Over the years and after the software updates we have noticed the boot time is getting slower and slower on all of them.  In original discussions with Soundcraft I was told that the SSD were probably going bad and should be replaced. 
Since then we have replaced the SSD's with newer ones that were cloned from the originals and that had no change. This was reported to them but nothing else came to light as far as any solutions.  It's taking 3-4 mins to boot on all of them. 
I was curious if anyone else has this issue with their Vi consoles and or if it's an issue isolated with older ones or if the newer ones have the same painful boot time. 

[Bob Leonard]

Jeff,
An SSD will either be failed or not. To state that the SSD ( solid state disk) is failing could mean any number of things. Although not mechanical the SSD emulates the same file structure as a conventional hard disk, and to that point the data on the SSD will become fragmented and seek times / load times will escalate. Cloning the SSD is not a cure as a block/bit copies will transfer the data from the old SSD to the same block/sector of the new SSD.

The cure will be to work with Soundcraft to either obtain a newly imaged SSD, or a set of utilities that can be used to reorganize the segmented data and clean the SSD of duplicate files, fragmented blocks, orphaned sectors, etc.. Keep in mind that you should back up all of your critical files before proceeding with any type of replacement or complete reimage of the SSD. Good luck.

[Jeff Ent]

Jeff,
An SSD will either be failed or not. To state that the SSD ( solid state disk) is failing could mean any number of things. Although not mechanical the SSD emulates the same file structure as a conventional hard disk, and to that point the data on the SSD will become fragmented and seek times / load times will escalate. Cloning the SSD is not a cure as a block/bit copies will transfer the data from the old SSD to the same block/sector of the new SSD.

The cure will be to work with Soundcraft to either obtain a newly imaged SSD, or a set of utilities that can be used to reorganize the segmented data and clean the SSD of duplicate files, fragmented blocks, orphaned sectors, etc.. Keep in mind that you should back up all of your critical files before proceeding with any type of replacement or complete reimage of the SSD. Good luck.

Hey Bob, thank you for the reply, it's much appreciated. What you said makes perfect sense and I will go that route.  It had seamed that when I had originally been trying to get this dealt with it ended up being a stale mate and they were not sure what was causing it even after doing what was recommended by them.  In the process it had made me curious if any other Vi users had run into this.  I'll keep everyone posted on the results when we get some down time with the consoles to work on them. 

[Marcus Thiel]

  In the process it had made me curious if any other Vi users had run into this.  I'll keep everyone posted on the results when we get some down time with the consoles to work on them.

This would be nice, but im not sure it will help. I worked on a ton of Soundcraft VI´s, and as the Firmware Versions go up, so does the Time to boot. I was told by representatives of Soundcraft an the AudioPro, the german distributor, that this is absolutely normal and nothing to worry about.

[gordonmcgregor]

that this is absolutely normal and nothing to worry about.

It's a lot to worry about if you lose power, I know a UPS is your friend and all that, but stuff happens and I for one would find the better part of 4 minutes just about enough time to be looking for a tree with a bit of rope.

[Bob Leonard]

Hey Bob, thank you for the reply, it's much appreciated. What you said makes perfect sense and I will go that route.  It had seamed that when I had originally been trying to get this dealt with it ended up being a stale mate and they were not sure what was causing it even after doing what was recommended by them.  In the process it had made me curious if any other Vi users had run into this.  I'll keep everyone posted on the results when we get some down time with the consoles to work on them. 

Please keep in mind that I do not own a Vi. What I'm telling you is based on my work with large scale storage systems, the type small countries can run on. Marcus has also made a point I should have also made. A longer load time could also mean nothing more than a larger more complex OS, utilities and programs as the system is updated.

[Nikhil Mulay]

Hi,
  While the file structure of an ssd emulates a conventional spinner, fragmentation does not really affect the performance of an ssd.
   Infact the ssd has wear levelling algorithms that will move data intentionally to lesser used cells so that all the cells in the device have similar usage. Using a defrag software is also not recommended on an ssd for that very reason.

   An UPS is highly recommended for any digital board, but more so for a board with ssd's.

    Enterprise ssds have capacitors as power backup in the event of a power failure so that the buffers can be written to the cells before shutting down. Most consumer ssds do not have that feature (there are some that do), and as such can  be susceptible to data loss and corruption in the event of a power failure.

[Bob Leonard]

Hi,
  While the file structure of an ssd emulates a conventional spinner, fragmentation does not really affect the performance of an ssd.
   Infact the ssd has wear levelling algorithms that will move data intentionally to lesser used cells so that all the cells in the device have similar usage. Using a defrag software is also not recommended on an ssd for that very reason.

   

Nikhil,

I have to agree with and support the fact that modern SSD's should not be "defragged" in the conventional meaning of the word. Modern SSD's supporting TRIM technology will see little if any enhancement in performance through the use of off the shelf "defraggers". Jeff stated his drives are six (6) years old, making those drives less than likely candidates for supporting TRIM technology. In his case, and using the correct software, it is possible he may realize a small, up to 10%, increase in performance through this process of "optimization". However, should this older hardware and OS support TRIM he will see no benefit through this optimization process. Please notice I have thrown out the word "defrag" as that word does not truly apply to an SSD.

[Steve Payne]

Jeff,
  We have 2 Vi4s and a Vi1.  3:30+ boot times are "normal" for latest firmware / software.  We are in the habit of starting the boot process and immediately going on to other matters.  When we come back later the console is ready to go.  :-)  If you stand and wait for the console to boot, it takes forever.  Especially if it is necessary to reboot when the band is on stage and everyone is looking at YOU.
Fortunately, this has proved to be a rare occurrence for us.  On the plus side, it is the ONLY thing we don't like about our Vi's. 

[Nikhil Mulay]

Bob,
   You're right about the hardware part! Didn't factor that into the equation..

   The Vi series runs windows xp embedded for the surface and the dsp uses qnx if im not mistaken. It's highly unlikely the software supports TRIM.
   
    It might be possible to manually TRIM the drive or connect it to  a modern computer that does support it and use it to TRIM the drive.

   

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