Let's Talk SSD's inside the Zen NG (Zenith)

[Bill Allen]

Long time owner of Zen Mini MkIII & Phoenix USB, awaiting the arrival of my new Zen NG w/SPDIF Card. (No internal storage drives fitted)

I would like to install my own SSD storage but the website does not clearly explain the location & arrangement of the internal SDD's. I understand there are 3- SSD ports inside the Zen NG series, one NVMe PCIe for the OS, another internal NVMe PCIe for storage (8GB max), and an external accessible M.2 NVMe (8GB max).

The install guide for the external M.2 slot clearly shows a 22mm x 80mm sized drive, WD Red SN700 NVMe SSD 2280.

Installing an M.2 SSD module to ZEN Next-Gen/ZENith Next-Gen - Innuos - High-Fidelity Digital Music Servers and Streamers

This article will show you how to add an M.2 SSD to expand the storage capacity of your ZEN Next-Gen or ZENith Next-Gen, as well as the process for removing

innuos.com

Question is, how accessible is the open internal NVMe PCIe slot, and will it accept the exact same SSD as the M.2 NVMe above.

 

[Stephen Healy]

Hi Bill,

The internal drive is only intended to be accessed by Innuos and approved dealers, which is why there is a public guide only for the M2 bay found on the underside of the Next-Gen.
You cannot fit the same type of M2 drive straight in internally as the slot is a longer PCIe type. You'll need to speak to your dealer regarding fitting a drive internally if you choose not to have one pre-fitted by Innuos.
As an aside, I believe 8TB is not the technical capacity limit of the slot, its simply that there does not seem to be SSDs of this type that are any larger than 8TB available on the market currently. If this changes, then they may well be compatible.

 

[Bill Allen]

Understood!

No doubt Innuos spent endless hours perfecting the balance of the NG's and the last thing you need is someone installing a jack hammer of a SSD directly into the PCI bus on the motherboard. I have measured many SSD's and Jack Hammer is not an exaggeration at this level of the game.

The literature mentions very low watt SSD's are used for the OS in the Zen NG & Zenith NG, 3D TLC & pSLC respectively. I imagine someone huddled over a test bench for days to find ones that measures well, only to find out it sounds bad in practice due to unforeseen permutations. What further light can you shed on the choice of SSD's used for the operating system.