Korg Forums

To me was very hard to find all the answers (many of those were inconsistent or contradictory) before put my hands inside my new Kronos 88 LS.
So i decided to do myself and here is it my experience.

DISCLAIMERS:
a) everything you do, you do at your own risk including void the Korg warranty!
b) this FAQ applies to the KORG KRONOS 88 LS with fw. 3.1.2
c) REMOVE THE POWER CORD!
d)DON'T SEARCH ME FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOU OR TO YOUR KRONOS!

LET'S START!

1) DO THE SAMSUNG 850 EVO SATA III WORKS?
YESSS!!! ABSOLUTELY YESSS!
I swapped the 64Gb BIWIN factory SSD (almost FULL of libraries as you can see in my firm! only 3Gb of free space!) with a Samsung 850 EVO 500Gb and ALSO added a second Samsung EVO 850 1Tb (for my samples and audio recording/tracks.

2) CAN THE KRONOS FORMAT THE SECOND SSD 1TB LARGE?
YESSS!!! ABSOLUTELY YESSS!
Because the logic of the address allocation table of the data (or how is called in the SSD technology) of the SSDs you will find that the formatted space is smaller than the real SSD capacity (you will "lost" about 50Gb for the 500Gb and about 100Gb for the 1Tb!)

3) HAVE YOU REISTALLED THE SYSTEM FROM THE FACTORY CDs AND REAUTHORIZED THE KRONOS?
NOOOO!!!
I've CLONED the factory SSD to the Samsung 850 EVO 500Gb using the OFF-LINE cloning procedure of a cheap Inatek FD2102 SATA docking station!
No need to connect that docking to any pc/mac! The Inateck works standalone when cloning (pay attention: source disk in the slot A and target disk in the slot B... coz it clone FROM A to B!).
The Inateck cloned ALL the system disk, with his partitions, subpartitions (visible and hidden), directories... and ALL the libreries installed and authorized!
ADDENDUM: say you have installed and authorized a library in the original factory SSD ok? Then you must free some room in that disk... so uninstall (see in the manual the uninstall procedure) that library. Well... I reinstalle 2 libraries in the new larger SSD and... voilà... that libraries are already authorized. Means that the authorizazione key-code not only is resident on the SSD... but also that the clone procedure replicate that key-code!

4) WHAT MUST I DO AFTER CLONING THE SYSTEM SSD ON A LARGER SSD?
Ok... this is maybe the tricky part... BUT if I did... you can do!
You need a pc!
When you CLONE a 64Gb disk on a 500Gb disk... you get a 500Gb disk with 64Gb used... and 436Gb UNALLOCATED (means: you and your Kronos can't see and use that space!)
So you need to expand the space of the USER partition of the new disk.
Because the factory and the cloned new disk are LINUX you need to use a free tool called GParted Live (search about!)
My pc is a win 7 64 so i prepared an USB flash key (read in the web about) and started my pc from that USB key.
You must use the GParted version according you kind of yourmachine (32bit, 64bit... etc.)
Again: read about the Gparted Live and the setup of the USB flash on line.
The only thing i can add here is: the user partition you must expand (resize!) is the partition with two subpartitions (you can see a tree structure in Gparted).
So you must do the expand procedure twice:
FIRST expand the upper partition
THEN AGAIN expand the USER subpartition (to me was easy understand wich one because was the bigger 54Gb subpartition where all the libraries were installed!)
Then... exit GParted... and you are done!

5) SATA CONNECTION AND OTHER MECHANICAL QUESTIONS

CONNECTORS
On the KRONOS 88 LS, because the synth-weighted keybed, there are NO problem about the 90° sata connector: the blue sata connectors on the motherboard are free and visibles so you can use the stright connector kind of sata cable for the second hard drive.

SATA CABLE LENGHT
Because the 88 keys long keybed i suggest a 60cm long SATA CABLE.
50cm can do the job... BUT 60cm is BETTER (size matters!)
This for the second SSD.
For the primary SSD you can use the cable already inside the Kronos.

NEED TO ADD A DISK POWER CONNECTOR?
NO! it's already inside the Kronos.
I wanna clarify this point: The Kronos IS READY for a secondary disk!
You only need to buy the disk and a sata cable!

WICH SATA PORT FOR WICH DISK?
The two sata ports on the KRONOS 88 LS are labeled SATA2_1 (the one where the original system disk is connected) and SATA2_2 the unused one.
So the new system disk goes to the SATA2_1 and the secondary added disk goes to the SATA2_2.

HOW OPEN THE BOTTOM OF THE KRONOS
FIRST: you need to put the Kronos upside-down and you MUST PAY ATTENTION to THE JOYSTICKS (bender and vector!).
OBIOUSLY: remove the power cord!!!!!
I used my couch using the arm to support the side with the joysticks.
Then you must unscrew ALL (yeah... they are a lot!) the screws excepts the rubber feet. ALL means ALL!!! Even the 2 silver screws on the sides of the electrical shock warning!
Don't be afraid... loosing the screws the dark metal cover under the keybed moves!!! BUT THE KEYBED DON'T MOVE!

THE DISK(s) BAY
FIRSTTHINGFIRST!!!
You don't want any little screw running free inside your Kronos, so:
a) ducktape all the holes around the disk bay area!!!
b) AND use a good magnetic tip screwdriver!!!
c) AND use a small tweezer when unscrew to keep the little screws
I wanna stress this because this is REALLY THE VERY DANGEROUS part!!!

The disk bay has a little brass bar.
You don't need it and it's an annoying obstacle to your work. AND... you can use the 2 screws of this little bar for you secondary SSD.
You have 4 screws of the system disk and 2 screws (same size) of the removed brass bar... so ca use 3 of them for each disk (SSDs are so light that are enough even only 2 screws at the opposite angles along the diagonal).

Well!
That's all folks!
Good Luck!

Hi. I got the drive in and is working perfectly. My issue is re-assembling the kronos ls believe it or not. I cannot get that black bar under the keybed positioned properly. the front 9 screws, how do they screw back into that plate? Frustrated as hell....not sure what i'm doing wrong. Thanks

sensationlive wrote:Hi. I got the drive in and is working perfectly. My issue is re-assembling the kronos ls believe it or not. I cannot get that black bar under the keybed positioned properly. the front 9 screws, how do they screw back into that plate? Frustrated as hell....not sure what i'm doing wrong. Thanks

WOW!... opened my 88LS many times and never had this prob!
Have you maybe removed the black bar?!

Anyway... if i remeber well, the bar has a slot all along it... and the bottom metal plate (the keys side) must fit inside that slot. So you ust adjust/center the bar first and then put on the metal plate and center it with the screws holes.
Is the bottom metal plate that thake in place the bar.
Hope this help!

Thanks. Eventually I got it back on by putting my keyboard on top of my stand and then screwing it from underneath. It’s really confusing though why such a high and keyboard would have a piece that’s not fixed for one and secondly that there are no guiding holes for the bar as well like the rest of the screws at the bottom of the keyboard. With that said thank you so much for the detailed instructions the “hard part “work perfectly LOL

@ Guttalaser
Thank you very much for this analytical post. It is very helpful.

I have a new Kronos LS and thinking of upgrading its SSD to.
Did you get any pictures from inside the LS. If so, could you upload them?

Regards,
xtatty

@Guttalaser: You mentioned a hardware cloning device. Did you try a software-based clone methods like Partimage, Partclone or Clonezilla

Did you try them before?

SKung wrote:@Guttalaser: You mentioned a hardware cloning device. Did you try a software-based clone methods like Partimage, Partclone or Clonezilla

Did you try them before?

I used Clonezilla with my previous K61. It works.
That is the way i will do my LS now.
I had an older post describing the procedure. I will copy and paste it:

xtatty wrote:I used Clonezilla for the cloning and Gparted for the resizing of korg/rw partition. I didn't reinstall anything from the DVDs.

In order to achieve that, you have to use the expert mode in Clonezilla. When you get to the point that gives you the choices with the asterisk, you have to un-tick everything and tick only -q1 (Force to use sector-by-sector copy).
See picture... http://clonezilla.org/clonezilla-live/d ... -extra.png

When the cloning completes, use gparted to resize "korg/rw" partition.
You are done!

Plug in the new ssd and Kronos boots up with your new bigger drive and everything in its place!

Regards,
xtatty

Guttalaser wrote:To me was very hard to find all the answers (many of those were inconsistent or contradictory) before put my hands inside my new Kronos 88 LS.
So i decided to do myself and here is it my experience.

DISCLAIMERS:
a) everything you do, you do at your own risk including void the Korg warranty!
b) this FAQ applies to the KORG KRONOS 88 LS with fw. 3.1.2
c) REMOVE THE POWER CORD!
d)DON'T SEARCH ME FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOU OR TO YOUR KRONOS!

LET'S START

Etc....

Well!
That's all folks!
Good Luck!

Hi,

Just thought I’d chime in here and confirm that installing a second SSD is exactly as straightforward on an LS as the OP indicated. The step-by-step instructions are dead on. I just added a 250gb SSD and it was painless.

A couple thoughts from my experience:

1. If you have some level of comfort working on the innards of a typical Windows desktop pc, then you will be just as comfortable working inside the Kronos for something basic like this. It’s basically a big, special-purpose pc. You’ll recognize the cabling, connectors, RAM, drives, etc. It’s just laid out horizontally. (And quite nicely, too.)

2. Follow all the steps above. I’ll say it again:FOLLOW ALL THE STEPS ABOVE.

3. When you take out the brass bar, you have to use a bit of finesse to get out the tiny screw on the side where the fan is. But don’t stress yourself by using that same hole for a screw for the new SSD. As noted, 2 screws are plenty, and using the alternate front/back corners of the drive, you can easily take advantage of the other holes in the drive cage which aren’t blocked in any way.

4. Take your time. The biggest task in this process is unscrewing/screwing the thousands of screws in the bottom of the case. The rest is easy.

As always, proceed at your own risk, and take the very sensible precautions described. You shouldn’t have any trouble.

Good luck!

Jim Dunne
Auburn Hills, MI

I posted some tips and lessons learned with the cloning procedure using Terabyte Drive Image software:

http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/ ... c&start=15

This cloning is all horseshit, none of it works easily enough for even the average tech. What a waste of time and money. gparted this departed that. MBR this and will not sync that. Then download this and run that! HorseShit.
Just simply get a Linux compatible USB DVD/CD drive and replace your drive with the 3 DVD's Korg supply's.

kathnrich1 wrote:This cloning is all horseshit, none of it works easily enough for even the average tech. What a waste of time and money. gparted this departed that. MBR this and will not sync that. Then download this and run that! HorseShit.
Just simply get a Linux compatible USB DVD/CD drive and replace your drive with the 3 DVD's Korg supply's.

Clearly you have no idea how the Kronos or a computer works. The provided DVDs have been proven not to format drives over 128GB .. They just don't work.

Most people are wanting to install larger drives than 128GB so they have to clone the drive onto a new larger drive and extend the partition.

An average tech that doesn't understand partitions, storage, file systems and limitations of the installation media... Needs to go back to school.

I used clonezilla and Gparted to install a 500Gb drive. It is very easy to do if you are an "average tech". Most people on here are not I.T professionals and I and others here have given a few ways to do the process of adding a larger main drive that is larger than 128GB. Check my posts in my profile you will see. Please don't give bad information if you don't understand the issues, all you are doing is adding to the confusion for people wanting to do this correctly.

Here is a link to one of my posts. http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/ ... highlight=



Quick copy and paste from the thread where I did the following below and all worked correctly, you are doing something wrong. Shout if you can't follow what I said and I will help you, you need the software I state below and make bootable cds of the software :-


Well I updated my kronos 2 88 today with two 500gb Samsung 860 evos.

I used clonezilla in advanced mode and only selected device to device and further in the settings removed all the stars apart from added the sector by sector option Only that and cloned the original ssd to the 500gb and then an option later comes up asking if you want the boot record and mbr say yes and clone and shutdown option after completion.

Then I ran Gparted and extended the partition of the unallocated space then set the space to korg rw ext3 partition the full space.

Installed the drive back into the kronos and the second 500gb not formated or anything.

Started kronos expecting a boot failure as some on here state and to use the dvds to reinstall. BUT I cloned and extended the partition correctly so it booted right up no problems and showed the full 500gb was available correctly. So all saying you need to reinstall are cloning and extending the unallocated space incorrectly.

I then formated the second 500gb ssd from the disk menu on the kronos and all worked correctly too.

Now adding the second ssd means you need to remove the keyboard to get to the second ssd connector on the motherboard and may not be for everyone, it wasn't difficult but again I work in I.T and do repairs on servers and desktop computers daily and repair electronic equipment all the time. Honestly if you took your time and work carefully it is easy. You will need a right angled ssd cable to go into the motherboard connector and the cable needs to be 70cm for the kronos 2 88.

When I was in there I actually tided up some of the cabling better than what korg did, also the ssd in the kronos was some terrible cheap one, so happy I got that out.


I took pictures of the process for others to see and will post all this when I have a chance and show how to correctly clone and extended the unallocated space. It didn't need anything doing when done right, all started up as before but with more space and didn't ask for authorisation for anything, all was still authorised as before.

Anyone that wants help just ask. Ignore this terrible link that people always post http://www.kronoscopie.fr/remplacer-ajouter-un-ssd.html he is doing the cloning and extending wrong, that's why he states you need to reinstall from the dvds later too.. Crazy..

Have replaced the original drive with a 500Gb samsung drive in my Kronos 2 88.

Did go through the Cloning and Expansion of the partition. All is working really fine so far, have noticed a slightly faster start of the Keyboard, but noting drastically just a few seconds faster.


But now started to think...

When I did expand the partition I gave all the free space on the drive to the ext3 "data" partition that gives a larger drive that can be accessed in the Keyboard.

But what about the other partitions on the disc, especially thinking about the SWAP partition?

It is only 500mb large and in a normal Linux based system the recommendation is to have the SWAP partition either as big as the RAM in the system or at maximum RAM size x2.

Would there be any gain to give 4 or 8 Gb to the SWAP partition and the rest to the "data" partition?