SSD Cage for Chronos 1.4/2.1-HD - 3D-printable

[tesla500]

This is an SSD holder for the Chronos 1.4 and 2.1-HD. This accessory is invaluable when shooting DNG on the go; save speed is vastly improved compared to an SD card. The camera can write about 60MB/s to a SATA SSD instead of ~12MB/s to most SD cards. DNG saves at about 12FPS on the 2.1-HD and about 18FPS on the 1.4, at full resolution.

We plan to offer this for sale in our store eventually, but you can 3D print one right now! The attached models have been updated from the pictures shown, the SD card opening was widened so you can easily grab an SD card with your fingers instead of needing pliers to remove it.

We're in the process of ordering custom versions of the eSATAp cables that have a short cable length to avoid the need to coil up the extra cable.


Items you'll need

3D Printer to print the SSD cage (see attached files)

• eSATAp to SATA drive cable The search term to find this is "esatap cable" if you want to find other brands
• M4x12mm screw x1
• M4 washer x1
• M4x8mm countersunk screw x2
• M2x10mm sheet metal screw x2
• Cable tie

3D Print Instructions
This file has been tested on the Makerbot Replicator 2X
Recommended settings:
Print with raft, raft expansion 12mm
Print with supports
Orient the part with the drive opening pointing straight up

We've been using these at Krontech for the last few months and these mounts are incredibly useful, let us know how they work for you! One modification we were thinking about is centering the SSD above the camera. Currently, it overhangs the screen and makes it harder to see if you're looking from an upward angle. Thoughts?

 

[SergeyKashin]

You can use the m2 SSD on the top of the camera and they may not cover the screen

 

[tesla500]

You can use the m2 SSD on the top of the camera and they may not cover the screen

Good idea, did you make a setup using one of these?

 

[SergeyKashin]

Not yet, I'm waiting for my camera.

through this adapter, you can use m2 SSD. And with the help of a 3D printer you can make a housing
https://aliexpress.ru/item/4000037101225.html?spm=a2g0v.search0302.3.25.28d779b1c3tx9k&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_0,searchweb201603_0,ppcSwitch_0&algo_pvid=8946639d-ca33-41d8-8b86-aa84d2237789&algo_expid=8946639d-ca33-41d8-8b86-aa84d2237789-3

 

[SergeyKashin]

This is an SSD holder for the Chronos 1.4 and 2.1-HD. This accessory is invaluable when shooting DNG on the go; save speed is vastly improved compared to an SD card. The camera can write about 60MB/s to a SATA SSD instead of ~12MB/s to most SD cards. DNG saves at about 12FPS on the 2.1-HD and about 18FPS on the 1.4, at full resolution.

What is the maximum speed of the SATA connector? And in General, all the connectors through which you can write files, how can you find out their maximum recording speed? USB, SDcard.
camera 2.1

Or is it the maximum write speed of 12 MB / sec, regardless of the speed that the SD card can write

 

[Nikon1]

This is an SSD holder for the Chronos 1.4 and 2.1-HD. This accessory is invaluable when shooting DNG on the go; save speed is vastly improved compared to an SD card. The camera can write about 60MB/s to a SATA SSD instead of ~12MB/s to most SD cards. DNG saves at about 12FPS on the 2.1-HD and about 18FPS on the 1.4, at full resolution.

What is the maximum speed of the SATA connector? And in General, all the connectors through which you can write files, how can you find out their maximum recording speed? USB, SDcard.
camera 2.1

Or is it the maximum write speed of 12 MB / sec, regardless of the speed that the SD card can write

Not Quite sure, but i think its more of an internal Limit bevore you will hit the Limits of the SD-Cards or SSDs (There are sure some Pretty slow and old SD-Cards or drives that will limit Write Speed, but i am not talking about that...). At Least, if you have an reasonable fast Card or Drive, i would expect the Bottleneck to be more inside the Camera in Reading out The Data from RAM/ Compressing / Computing /Whatever happens else to the Sensor data inside the Camera.

 

[SergeyKashin]

This is an SSD holder for the Chronos 1.4 and 2.1-HD. This accessory is invaluable when shooting DNG on the go; save speed is vastly improved compared to an SD card. The camera can write about 60MB/s to a SATA SSD instead of ~12MB/s to most SD cards. DNG saves at about 12FPS on the 2.1-HD and about 18FPS on the 1.4, at full resolution.

What is the maximum speed of the SATA connector? And in General, all the connectors through which you can write files, how can you find out their maximum recording speed? USB, SDcard.
camera 2.1

Or is it the maximum write speed of 12 MB / sec, regardless of the speed that the SD card can write

Not Quite sure, but i think its more of an internal Limit bevore you will hit the Limits of the SD-Cards or SSDs (There are sure some Pretty slow and old SD-Cards or drives that will limit Write Speed, but i am not talking about that...). At Least, if you have an reasonable fast Card or Drive, i would expect the Bottleneck to be more inside the Camera in Reading out The Data from RAM/ Compressing / Computing /Whatever happens else to the Sensor data inside the Camera.

My SDcard 95mb and 300mb

 

[foobar]

This is an SSD holder for the Chronos 1.4 and 2.1-HD. This accessory is invaluable when shooting DNG on the go; save speed is vastly improved compared to an SD card. The camera can write about 60MB/s to a SATA SSD instead of ~12MB/s to most SD cards. DNG saves at about 12FPS on the 2.1-HD and about 18FPS on the 1.4, at full resolution.

What is the maximum speed of the SATA connector? And in General, all the connectors through which you can write files, how can you find out their maximum recording speed? USB, SDcard.
camera 2.1

Or is it the maximum write speed of 12 MB / sec, regardless of the speed that the SD card can write

According to the SD card specs, we should theoretically be able to achieve 24MB/s on the Chronos 1.4/2.1, but in practice I have never seen any card exceed 10MB/s.

The vendor for our CPU quotes an ideal throughput of a little over 100MB/s for the write speed of the SATA port, but when dealing with filesystem access patterns and overhead we are more likely to see the performance of the SATA interface top out at a little closer to 60MB/s.

 

[Martin]

Hi,

I did some tests a while ago:

http://forum.krontech.ca/index.php?topic=442.msg2307#msg2307

I guess SATA speeds with very fast random access SSD drives will be even better performing!

All the best
M.

 

[NiNeff]

I finally found the time to also print this SSD holder. I forgot to add supports for the print, but my printer handled it very well even without them.
I did some very quick tests an the SSD is about twice as fast as the SD card when saving DNG files, MP4 is about the same. Currently I have it formatted to FAT32, maybe I'll "upgrade" the filesystem to EXT3 or even EXT4 and see how it does then.
However reading EXT formatted Devices from Windows sucks


EDIT: I just saw the mounting-holes for the m2x10 screws, what are they for? As far as I can tell the holder works perfectly fine without those screws in there...

 

[CircleOfConfusion]

I finally found the time to also print this SSD holder. I forgot to add supports for the print, but my printer handled it very well even without them.
I did some very quick tests an the SSD is about twice as fast as the SD card when saving DNG files, MP4 is about the same. Currently I have it formatted to FAT32, maybe I'll "upgrade" the filesystem to EXT3 or even EXT4 and see how it does then.
However reading EXT formatted Devices from Windows sucks


EDIT: I just saw the mounting-holes for the m2x10 screws, what are they for? As far as I can tell the holder works perfectly fine without those screws in there...

The m2 screws are to secure the SATA cable in the SSD holder to prevent it from moving/shifting when connected to the SSD.

 

[NiNeff]

The m2 screws are to secure the SATA cable in the SSD holder to prevent it from moving/shifting when connected to the SSD.

Ah, thanks! I personally don't need those as the disc and cable are relatively tight in there already, but good to know.

 

[hodu84]

We plan to offer this for sale in our store eventually, but you can 3D print one right now! The attached models have been updated from the pictures shown, the SD card opening was widened so you can easily grab an SD card with your fingers instead of needing pliers to remove it.

We're in the process of ordering custom versions of the eSATAp cables that have a short cable length to avoid the need to coil up the extra cable.

When the cage and a short cable for SSD will be available?

 

[muringuets]

Just installed a M2 NVME SSD drive (Crucial P1 500GB) using a external case that connects directly with a USB port (resembles a flashdrive). Testing transfer speed on computer goes as far as 300MB/s for large files.

Tested camera (C1.4) export with DNG, TIFF, H.264, RAW, managed to get only 8fps. Tested on FAT32 and EXT3, no difference...

A bit disappointed with the speed, I was hoping for the 18fps, perhaps Tesla500 has something to add on this.

Should I try a SATAP cable with a "less fancy" SSD (2.5" format with printed case)?

 

[muringuets]

Well, another batch of tests here.

I bought a NVME SSD, so the cheap adapter linked above would not work. Opted to sell this SSD and buy a new one...

Opted for a regular sized 2.5" SSD.

Got much better speeds with this new setup, using simpler (cheaper) parts, tested only Raw 16 bit export and got 13 fps, not the 18 fps stated above, but I can test EXT3 file system and other types of exports to check speeds... Anyway, happy with the results for now.

The question remains whether a M2 (not NVME) would result in better speeds...

 

[Nikon1]

The question remains whether a M2 (not NVME) would result in better speeds...

as long as the SSD and M.2 SSD are both connected to the Sata-Port on the Camera i would say no or not much better speed, as it seems like the bottleneck for the Data would mostly to be the Interface itself, not the Drives (unless you have a very, very cheap (like Very sketchy Online Seller from China levels of Cheap) or generally pretty slow SSD). but only testing would tell, if that is actually the Case. If the SSD is somewhat recent and reasonable Quality, my guess would be no.

 

[NiNeff]

I also think you are limited by the USB ports data capability. As far as I'm aware, the Chronos uses a USB 2.0 port combined with an eSATA Port. If at all possible, use the eSATA connection which is much faster than the USB one.q

 

[Nikon1]

Well, another batch of tests here.

I bought a NVME SSD, so the cheap adapter linked above would not work. Opted to sell this SSD and buy a new one...

Opted for a regular sized 2.5" SSD.

Got much better speeds with this new setup, using simpler (cheaper) parts, tested only Raw 16 bit export and got 13 fps, not the 18 fps stated above, but I can test EXT3 file system and other types of exports to check speeds... Anyway, happy with the results for now.

The question remains whether a M2 (not NVME) would result in better speeds...

.

DNG saves at about 12FPS on the 2.1-HD and about 18FPS on the 1.4, at full resolution.

.
Well, i just read that again, and tesla500 states 12fps for the 2.1 at full res. The 18fps you are thinking about where actually for the 1.4 Save-Speeds.
So, with 13fps you are allready better than what he said.
.
I finally got myself an m.2 with an Adapter (also first got an NVME one, which wont work with the Cheap Adapters, needs to be an NGFF M.2 ...) and i am getting around 10fps Average for DNG; a bit over 10fps (like 10,5 average) for Raw16; about 13fps Average for Raw12; and 25fps Average for H.264 (full Resolution Saves on the 2.1)

 

[muringuets]

.
Well, i just read that again, and tesla500 states 12fps for the 2.1 at full res. The 18fps you are thinking about where actually for the 1.4 Save-Speeds.
So, with 13fps you are allready better than what he said.
.
I finally got myself an m.2 with an Adapter (also first got an NVME one, which wont work with the Cheap Adapters, needs to be an NGFF M.2 ...) and i am getting around 10fps Average for DNG; a bit over 10fps (like 10,5 average) for Raw16; about 13fps Average for Raw12; and 25fps Average for H.264 (full Resolution Saves on the 2.1)

Sorry, I have a 1.4 camera... After exporting longer files I managed to get 18 fps, so everything seems to be working after all...

 

[abellay]

The export process can take a long time for a variety of reasons. Generally speaking, long projects will take a long time to export.