Preventative Maintainance Kronos 2

[yoshi88]

Many Kronos 2's fail during boot.

Since there are no original size SSD's ( 64 GB) in 2025, can one use a larger SSD and partition it so it is seen by the K2.
For example I have a 500 GB SSD ( Samsung 860 EVO ). Can this SSD be used for Kronos 2 recovery.

Any advice on checking the health of the :
1 ATOM Motherboard + processor,
2 PRocessor Cooling fan,
3 integrity of the RAM,
4 Integrity of the SSD
5 and the integrity of the KRonos code written to that SSD
6 Power supply

[KK]

Sure, many Kronos owners have upgraded the SSD, including me. A tired fan will become noisier at some point, whereas the other components mentioned will trigger more serious problems. So for the rest, instead of worrying about Murphy's Law, I would go no symptom, no worry. A good friend to keep your Kronos healthy is an UPS.

[yoshi88]

In this case, this Kronos 2 will NOT = unfinished boot!
Cloning the drive to a similar size = unfinished boot

Since I have a new 500 GB SSD to replace the primary drive , should I partition this drive 1st BEFORE loading in the KRONOS 2 recovery data from disks 1 - 3 ?

[Gargamel314]

Having dealt with a corrupted file system and also having to replace the motherboard, here are the steps I would take to prevent problems in the future:

1. Upgrade the boot drive to a 128GB SSD. That way you've for a faster, newer SSD, but it's limited to 128GB so you can easily run the factory restore discs if needed. Best to find one with DRAM for extra speed.

2. Install a 2nd 500GB SSD in the 2nd SATA slot for all your storage

3. Rip an ISO disc image of your boot drove when it is stable so you can easily format it and clone it of your file system gets corrupted.

4. Set the first slot of your 00 set list to an EX-i program (CX3, AL-1) that doesn't use any samples, so that you can easily select it before you turn off the Kronos. This will help prevent it from shutting off when accessing the SSD. Less chance of corrupting the file system that easy.

5. NEVER leave your Kronos in your car trunk overnight, don't let it get cold enough to absorb condensation when exposing it to the humidity in a room. And if it does, let it fully dry before powering on.

No diagnostics to run, Kronos has no error codes to help you diagnose beyond "A problem has been detected."

[KK]

In this case, this Kronos 2 will NOT = unfinished boot!
Cloning the drive to a similar size = unfinished boot

Supposing the cloned disk you mention was done from a SSD with corrupt data would imply it is the cause, even though other components might trigger this behaviour. Drive size or chosen program has no incidence if you didn't clone correctly or if some of the boot/system critical data is corrupt. Hopefully, you did backups of your important samples, songs and PCGs before this all started. Otherwise, this stuff will have to be (hopefully) saved connecting your corrupt SSD to a PC and saving data temporarily to another disk or USB key.

In your case, best to start from scratch. Install your brand new 500 GB with the Korg stuff from the original disks (not from some corrupt copy of them as I've seen online). Then start, play and restart your Kronos in its new original state several times to see if the SSD was indeed the problem. If all goes well now, depending on the tools you have use a sector by sector clone procedure to extend your new SSD to its full size. Then copy all your backups of samples, songs and PCG stuff, etc. If you bought extra libraries, you will have to reinstall them as well with their codes. This way you will be sure to get rid of any corrupt data. If problem remains, which is also possible, it is not the SSD, but this test will confirm if the SSD is the cause.

[yoshi88]

Thank you for your advice!
It would seem best to do a fresh install on a new SSD being the primary drive with a smaller size of 128GB. The 500 GB can be secondary once the K2 gets restored.
There is no test mode in the K2 to check health and integrity.


If a fresh install fails, then time to consider RAM, PSU. Or motherboard

[KK]

It is all up to you. I personally chose a 250 GB Samsung 860 EVO to replace the old 60 GB original, without a secondary SSD. Zero problems since 2019. That same day, I also bought a 500 GB Samsung EVO for my PC. Same perfect record since then. The choice of 250 GB for my Kronos was simply a matter of budget. Of course, since then SSDs got even more affordable. Oh and on my K2 when I use the entire memory available, since then it boots 17 seconds faster now compared to the original SSD (of quite lower quality in comparison). So before = 2:33, now = 2:16.

[blazerunner]

Does minimally using the boot drive help with the life of it?

I just used the 2nd SSD I installed and an external drive to back up songs into.

I have a phobia of factory drives. Over the years every last one of them I ever used failed. Lots of horror stories behind those. I avoid using them as much as possible I I can.

My Kronos only ever locked up on me and crashed one time and that one time was enough of a lesson for me to save save save save save. I save like it will never turn on again. There is a way to overload the keyboard and cause it to malfunction. I remember some years ago someone on here got a bit short with me when I tried to explain it to them but the Kronos absolutely has its limitations that you can push it too far. The sequencer can really stress out the Kronos. When you program too much with it the Kronos actually starts to begin to fail. I try to avoid putting the system under that amount of stress.

It's amazing what the Kronos can do but that little processor in it can only do but so much. I always keep that in mind. I really wonder just how much did Korg test the sequencer out on the Keyboard because out of everything on there it's the only thing I know of that can kill the Kronos and it doesn't seem to give any system resources warning when the Keyboard's performance is struggling.

I put a lot of hours on the Kronos's so this thread has me very much intrigued. I often wondered if there was any modding that can be done to the Kronos since the heart of it is a computer but I understand the operating system limits its expandability.

I was wondering what Korg was putting into the new K3 Versions and if there's anything we could swap into our K1's and K2's to improve performance.