What are the make and model of the affected audio device(s) and the connection type?
· Chord Mojo 2 by USB cable. DutchDutch 8C by LAN cable and a secondary ASUS router.
Describe the issue
I lost access to music on the Internal Storage drive on my Intel NUC running Rock on the 2nd of September. Rebooting multiple times, reformatting, and rebooting again have failed to resolve the issue. I get a NOT READY error message against Internal Storage from Rock. Looking at the logs from the time I first noticed the problem, I see some IO failure error messages, eg: 09/02 22:01:25 [Local 09/03 00:01:25] Warn: [prebuffer] in buffer threadSystem.Exception: Read failure: IoFailure I'm assuming that the 1TB Transcend TS1TMTS430S SSD card has failed. However, I'm also seeing a lot of "dirty track" activity around the same time. Is this coincidental, or could it be related to the failure? Obviously, if it's the latter, I'd like to sort that out before replacing the SSD. Thanks for your help!
Describe your network setup
The Chord DAC is directly connected to a NUC 13 running Rock via USB. The NUC is directly connected to my main router, an ASUS RT-AX58U
Thank you for reaching us. The “dirty track” activity you’re seeing in the logs is not related to the SSD issue. This simply indicates that certain track metadata needs to be refreshed, and Roon will update this automatically in the background or the next time the track is played.
The “NOT READY” status for the Internal Storage and the repeated I/O failure messages do point to a hardware problem with the SSD itself. At this stage, replacing the SSD is the correct next step. Once replaced, your system should return to normal, and you can enjoy your music again.
I understand your disappointment. Unfortunately, SSDs in general are not the most reliable type of storage — their lifespan can vary greatly depending on usage patterns, workload, and build quality.
For better reliability, we always recommend choosing drives from well-known and reputable brands, as they tend to offer higher endurance and better quality control compared to generic or budget options.
Thanks for the feedback, Vadim.
This particular model had received good reviews on reliability - but perhaps not reliable ones!
Which models would you recommend as a M.2 2242 SATA3 SSD?
Need at least 500GB of storage, preferably more.
Everyone knows the big brands (Samsung, Western Digital), other smaller ones are reputable too. Any manufacturer can produce more or less reliable products – so looking into reviews isn’t a bad idea. Transcend doesn’t have a bad reputation IIRC and your model comes with a 5 years limited warranty (when I buy one here).
If you want to buy new, keep in mind that there are a lot of scam offers and forged products on sale. It is probably more important today, to buy from a reputable shop (not reseller shops of Chinese wares, Amazon only if you research the actual seller seriously). A local shop in town is probably better than an online shop, but this may be different for different places over the world. I’m sure you know or can find out which shops accessible to you are trustworthy (not offer scams and forged products, give your money back should they sell you a scam or forged product).
From my personal experience, I have been using a variety of Kingston and Samsung drives for a long time without any issues. It’s always a good idea to do some research online to understand which drive will best suit you.
I think very few M.2 drives are labeled “SATA” or “SSD” today, and you might be better off with a 2.5" SATA SSD? You’re not saying what Nuc13 you are running, though.
It’s this model. All recommendations gratefully received!
Intel NUC 13 Pro 13th Gen Core i7 Mini PC Kit / 13th Generation Core i7-1360P Turbo up to 5.00GHz Processor
RNUC13ANKI70000/8GB/512GB
The NVMe slot is taken up by an SSD running Rock.
@DLC
I also am using a mini-computer (mine is not an official NUC approved by ROON) which has two M.2 slots: one for a 2242 SATA and one for a 2280 PCIe.
I have put the ROCK-OS on the small 2242 SATA, as you cannot find big capacity 2242-SATA- cards. Then you can use a big (ex. 4TB) 2280 M.2 for your music.
I’m using a Transcend SSD 425S M.2 250GB SATA III 3D NAND. It is working like a charm.
Kind regards, Frank.
Thanks Frank. I hadn’t even thought about installing Rock on the 2242 SSD.
If there’s no performance advantage to using the NVMe slot for the operating system it sounds like a great solution.
@DLC
There is no performance degradation in putting ROCK on the 2242, at least i haven’t found a degradation. First I also had installed ROCK on the 2280, but I could’t find a 2242 SATA that was big enough for my own music. So I inverted the function of the M.2-cards. And I have not the feeling of any kind of degradation.
Good luck, Frank.
