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After reading this post, I decided to replace the mechanical HDD with an SSD. The original was working fine, but paranoia from having mechanical HDD’s fail in my personal computers made me want to do this upgrade soon. Spinning HDD will eventually die, they all do, for the most part. So, I did this as a bit of cheap, preventative insurance. Before I started, I checked that my PCM firmware version was PCM 3.1/v4.76…which it was. I followed the PCM head-unit removal instructions in this post…the YouTube video was very helpful. Where I had the most trouble was with the two larger antenna connectors on the left side (from back). These were very tight and it took some tricky maneuvering to unplug them.
As deilenberger suggests in post #8, the easiest way to copy/clone the original drive, block for block, is a standalone drive duplicator. I ordered the well-reviewed StarTech unit on Amazon, about $100. The SSD I bought was a 250GB Samsung 860 Evo from Amazon for $40.
The cloning/copy took about 40 minutes. I put the SSD in the PCM unit and back into the car. It all worked fine and the cloned SSD fired right up, including NAV. Because it was an exact duplicate copy, all my settings were retained. The original will stay safely on a shelf in case I ever need to use it as a backup....but...I doubt it as SSD's are basically fail proof.
Great Job!... And why Porsche did not use a SSD in their design I do not know?
cost.. i mean up until last year apple was still putting mechanical spinning disks in their imacs and charging an arm an leg for 128gb flash upgrade, which is $20 now. 6-7 years ago it was a lot more expensive Back in 14/15 a 128gb was almost $100 on average.
Originally Posted by ivluta
After reading this post, I decided to replace the mechanical HDD with an SSD. The original was working fine, but paranoia from having mechanical HDD’s fail in my personal computers made me want to do this upgrade soon. Spinning HDD will eventually die, they all do, for the most part. So, I did this as a bit of cheap, preventative insurance. Before I started, I checked that my PCM firmware version was PCM 3.1/v4.76…which it was. I followed the PCM head-unit removal instructions in this post…the YouTube video was very helpful. Where I had the most trouble was with the two larger antenna connectors on the left side (from back). These were very tight and it took some tricky maneuvering to unplug them.
As deilenberger suggests in post #8, the easiest way to copy/clone the original drive, block for block, is a standalone drive duplicator. I ordered the well-reviewed StarTech unit on Amazon, about $100. The SSD I bought was a 250GB Samsung 860 Evo from Amazon for $40.
The cloning/copy took about 40 minutes. I put the SSD in the PCM unit and back into the car. It all worked fine and the cloned SSD fired right up, including NAV. Because it was an exact duplicate copy, all my settings were retained. The original will stay safely on a shelf in case I ever need to use it as a backup....but...I doubt it as SSD's are basically fail proof.
Thanks for all the useful info on this thread!
Great work, I have a spare ssd laying around and need to do this before my pcm drive fails. if anyone has a desktop computer and is comfortable and has spare sata cables you could get away w/o needing the dock, but it definitely makes it a lot easier
Nice, how many hours does this project take (start to finish)? What's the breakdown between removing the PCM from the car, cloning (40 minutes), and putting it all back together again?
Nice, how many hours does this project take (start to finish)? What's the breakdown between removing the PCM from the car, cloning (40 minutes), and putting it all back together again?
going SLOWLY i would say it takes about 20mins to get the PCM out. About the same putting it back in. So a few hours max with cloning included. This will show you most of the steps to get the PCM out. keep in mind most of it is not needed as youre only needing the PCM removed and not taking apart the shifter
Yes....about 20-30 minutes to take out and quicker back in. Like I mentioned, the two larger antenna connectors were a real pain in the rear. I just didn’t have enough slack to get a good look at them...after a bit...realized the release tab was on the side..where it’s on the top of the other connector. Even then they were tightly plugged in. I was very careful on taking them out and didn’t want to force anything. Putting down a towel on bottom climate control and PDK center console is a must as PCM has sharp corners. If I had to pull PCM out again, I’d put some painters tape on side and top edge of dash after pulling out PCM to a point before starting to disconnect cables/wires. In maneuvering the head-unit around, to get access to the wires, you can definitely cause scratches, gouges on dash.
Overall a fairly easy project that can be completed within 2.5 hours. In my opinion, if you are doing this as a preventative project, having the PCM firmware already updated to v4.76 is key to it going smoothly. If your PCM firmware is v4.73, you can do the update as shown in this thread before you do the drive copy...making sure the firmware update is shown and all is functional on the original HDD after update.
I'm going to do my 14 CS this coming weekend with help from my IT expert son. He already has a StarTech.com unit and I have an ssd arriving tomorrow. My PCM did the constant resetting thing a few months ago but the factory reset procedure fixed it and my dealership performed the software update to v4.76 since then so hopefully this will go smoothly. It all is working fine right now but I think it is wise to get a clone drive done while I can. Just don't want to brick my unit. As previous posters said, mechanical hdd's don't last forever.
you won't brick it, if the unit ejects the dvd and reboots into an "emergency recovery" mode then simply reinsert the dvd and it will proceed. you're doing the right thing.
you won't brick it, if the unit ejects the dvd and reboots into an "emergency recovery" mode then simply reinsert the dvd and it will proceed. you're doing the right thing.
people have had more success updating with a usb flash stick over the dvd also
Why are you guys taking your PCM all the way out? You don't need to disconnect anything, just pull it out a few inches until you can access the HD compartment under the top cover.
Sadly, Porsche is still using spinning rust in the latest PCMs. I can hear it spinning and seeking in my '20 Macan...
Why are you guys taking your PCM all the way out? You don't need to disconnect anything, just pull it out a few inches until you can access the HD compartment under the top cover.
Sadly, Porsche is still using spinning rust in the latest PCMs. I can hear it spinning and seeking in my '20 Macan...
I agree with you. After I took it out and went through the process and was putting it back in....I saw that it is possible to gain access to the HD, located at the top of the unit, without taking it all the way out. Going through the steps in my head...the only thing I can think of that may be necessary is to unplug the main connector(?) and leave the antenna connectors alone and then work on getting the HD out. In order to pull the PCM out, you need to turn key to aux power and put PDK into D. When in D, you can't turn the key back to off position. Even though I powered down the PCM, not sure if there is aux.power to it. Don't remember hearing the HD spin while I took the main power connector off the back. In my case, I was being extra cautious, not wanting to cause any other issues. Maybe others will have additional input on this...but...yes...you do have access to the HD slot without taking the PCM completely out.
I'm doing the drive cloning on Saturday and have a Samsung 860 EVO drive 250GB. Using the StarTech.com device for block to block copy, does the ssd need to be formatted (it comes unformatted) before starting the cloning process? If so, what format? Thanks.
I'm doing the drive cloning on Saturday and have a Samsung 860 EVO drive 250GB. Using the StarTech.com device for block to block copy, does the ssd need to be formatted (it comes unformatted) before starting the cloning process? If so, what format? Thanks.
I'm doing the drive cloning on Saturday and have a Samsung 860 EVO drive 250GB. Using the StarTech.com device for block to block copy, does the ssd need to be formatted (it comes unformatted) before starting the cloning process? If so, what format? Thanks.
No need to format. Drop them into StarTech and press the button. Im sure your son still has the instructions ...but just in case see below.
Completed the job today. This is a one wrench (easy) task. Now I have the original mechanical drive safely stored and a new ssd installed. Everything works as original and I no longer worry about having to trash the PCM because of a failed hdd. Thanks to all who have come up with this easy solution to what seems to be a fairly common problem. Very simple if you do this BEFORE you have a hdd failure. Turns out my son did not have the StarTech unit but had the Wavlink. It worked just fine.
01-10-2021, 06:58 PM
