Topic: SD7xx - mount device on [s]linux[/s] ANYmachine?

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

Has anyone successfully mounted their SD7xx HD via firewire on a linux machine?

"fdisk -l" can see the drive and reports fat32
"dd | strings" shows the FAT32 string as expected

mount barfs - bad superblock, etc.



Mount of my IDE attached WIN32 works.  Any ideas?

[tim in jersey]

http://www.sounddevices.com/download/download-744t.htm

I dunno if that will be of any help. Am I interpretting that page correctly in that they suggest using the Mandrake 10.1 distro?

[JackoRoses]

I don't see how it would matter what distro, kernel support yes...
as far as the kernel is concerned it is an external firewire drive.
Other then that I can't help more then man mount 

[Joe w.]

these drives on the 7xx come formatted as FAT32, so how do they handle the 4gb file limit? I assume it isn't an issue or they would do NTFS

[tim in jersey]

I was just taking a stab in the dark, really. What do I know? I'm a windoze idiot.  

[scb]

these drives on the 7xx come formatted as FAT32, so how do they handle the 4gb file limit? I assume it isn't an issue or they would do NTFS

wav files have a limit themselves, so filesystem doesn't matter

but the 722/744 can auto-split on 650megs, 1gig, 2gig or 4 gig

[Joe w.]

wav files have a limit themselves, so filesystem doesn't matter

you'd think I would've learned that by now, but I had no Idea.

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

http://www.sounddevices.com/download/download-744t.htm

I dunno if that will be of any help. Am I interpretting that page correctly in that they suggest using the Mandrake 10.1 distro?

Yeah, I suspected that it is intended to be possible and that it should work.  If it works on Mandrake it should work everywhere.   I can see the device and read the boot sector to verify that it is of proper FS type.  I just can't mount it and I don't have another FW device to try right now.  I'm formatting a FW HD enclosure now on windows to see if I can mount that.  I was just hoping some other geek on here would have tried this already and been successful.

 

these drives on the 7xx come formatted as FAT32, so how do they handle the 4gb file limit? I assume it isn't an issue or they would do NTFS

I think that they chose FAT32 for portability and liscensing reasons.  My understanding is that NTFS must be licensed, which is why there is no NTFS support in Linux.  Not sure about OSX

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

Follow up: 

I moved my FW card to an XP machine.  That card is verified to work - I'm using it to format an attached external HD right now.

On my system, the 722 does not appear in the folder tree in explorer. 

When I plug in the external HD, it just magicly shows up in the tree under explorer ad asks if I wish to fomat the raw drive.

When I attach the 722, it shows on it's display that it is attached to the computer.  However, no drive appears in windows explore folder tree.   The 722 manual is understandaly terse on this topic.

So, has anyone tried to attach to the 722 using ANY machine and were you able to see files on the 722s disk?

[scb]

worked fine on my powerbook. fast transfer too

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

Thanks.  I need to find another machine to try.

[wbrisette]

wav files have a limit themselves, so filesystem doesn't matter

but the 722/744 can auto-split on 650megs, 1gig, 2gig or 4 gig

Scott:

If these are using BWF I'm not sure the 4 GB limit is still enforced. Although I think you would be hard pressed to find an application that supported the larger files.

Wayne

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

Anyone have any luck with the firewire transfer to a PC running XP? 

What happens when you touch any key on the panel while attached via firewire?



I went to Damon's and his PC would not recognize the drive either.  In fact, I'm now seeing my 722 lock up during boot if powered on while the firewire cable is attached.  The machine will not respond to key pressed.  It's just locked up completely.   It also locks up on power up after this sequence, unless I leave power disconnected for several minutes.

At one point, we saw the panel indicate that the computer was attached, but at that point the computer reported no attached drive and the 722 refused to respond to any key input.

So if anyone has successfully attached using a PC , please get in touch.  I have a couple of questions for you.  (Tim I know you said yours worked but I know you are at the show now.)

Scott, I know yours worked with the powerbook.  What does the panel say during FW transfer if you touch any keys while linked to the computer?


Fuck.

On the bright side, the unit sounds really good played back though SPDIF.  (Sounds like ass though the miniplug out)  See Damon's review in the parallel thread.

[fozzy]

FWIW you need kernel 2.6 to use firewire.  I'd upgrade to 2.6.10 since 1394 support is new as of 2.5.?? and is getting better and more robust in every version. 

I would also be wary of any pre-rolled kernel since it was not a default option in the version i just grabbed from kernel.org.  Also many of the firewire options are modules and may need to be specifically loaded.  All hotplug messages usb/1394/pcmcia should be available via dmesg.

lmk if you need assistance doing any of the above

peace

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

It's not the linux kernel that is the problem (I am running a late revision of 2.6).  I could access the device using low level commands.  I could not mount it.  Since the problem is repeatable on two XP machines, I'm thinking Linux isn't the iussue.

[scb]

wav files have a limit themselves, so filesystem doesn't matter

but the 722/744 can auto-split on 650megs, 1gig, 2gig or 4 gig

Scott:

If these are using BWF I'm not sure the 4 GB limit is still enforced. Although I think you would be hard pressed to find an application that supported the larger files.

Wayne

you can choose wav or bwf, and you can choose split mono files or stereo files

[scb]

Scott, I know yours worked with the powerbook.  What does the panel say during FW transfer if you touch any keys while linked to the computer?

i can try later.  not near it at the moment. 

just watched 12 straight episodes of 24.  i need help

[scb]

display says "CONNECTED TO COMPUTER" and buttons don't do anything

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

Thanks Scott.  I sort of expected that but wanted to make sure that you weren't seeing some message in response to a key press.  I was not sure if mine was locked up in that state or that was expected behavior.

I sent a very detailed letter to SD describing the behavior I saw here and at Damons.  They seem to be pretty responsive so I'm sure we'll figure this out.

Have you listened to the line out to your stereo yet?  I wondering what you thought of the sound.  12 episodes of 24?  Is that like 9 straight hours of TV without commercials? 

Thanks everyone else for offereing suggestions.  I think maybe this box just has a problem with the FW port.  I guess well see tomorrow when some people get back from saturdaynight shows and want to do transfers.

[scb]

yes 9 hours.  i'm stupid i know.  but i KNOW i'm not the only one here who's done that with 24

i haven't hooked the box up to the stereo yet.  after tomorrow night's show i probably will

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

The only single show marathon I've ever done like that was a SCTV marathon.  I still believe it was the right thing to do and I would not hesitate to do it again.



So to keep you guys up to date on my little drama here -

I removed the 80G and put a different/smaller drive into the 722.  The firewire now works as expected.  So I can run for Mule tonight.  Why scotts big drive worked and mine didn't, I don't know. 

[scb]

were the pins lined up correctly on the 80?

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

Yes, pins were installed correctly.  There was no problem with the drive's function in the unit.  It formatted, I recorded a show and could navigiate the directory tree.   I could access the data for playback on the 722.  The 722's FW driver just didn't work with it.

You're using an 80G right?  So that should indicate that capacity is not a problem.  I am running a 4200rpm drive.  I can not think of any reason why that should be an issue.

[BobW]

wav files have a limit themselves, so filesystem doesn't matter

but the 722/744 can auto-split on 650megs, 1gig, 2gig or 4 gig

Scott:

If these are using BWF I'm not sure the 4 GB limit is still enforced. Although I think you would be hard pressed to find an application that supported the larger files.

Wayne

Adobe Audition will open a WAV of greater than 2GB, FWIW.

[wbrisette]

Adobe Audition will open a WAV of greater than 2GB, FWIW.

Technically speaking a WAV can only be 2 GB. One of the sticking points that all audio companies are trying to sort out (and let's hope they do it soon), is the file size problem. The specification for WAV limits it, what some companies (and I suspect Adobe is doing this with Audition) are doing is using 64-bit, or using their own "wav" format, which is fine, but not everybody has standarized on these yet. I keep hoping that a standard is recognized soon or we'll have all sorts of compatibility issues to deal with particularly when doing cross-platform work.

Wayne

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

Yet another update:

Got home last night.  With the smaller drive the 722 is now exhibiting the problems I was seeing with the big drive.  It's as if the firewire on my box does not work if there are files recorded to disk.  I didn't test the FW with the 80G drive before I recorded a show. 

I can't screw with this thing today - too much real work.  Tonight I'll try again, but it's looking like this box may have to go back to SD.  I'm waiting to hear from them regarding my service report.

This is way more frustrating than waiting for the box to ship.  My mule recording is trapped in there.

[wbrisette]

This is way more frustrating than waiting for the box to ship.  My mule recording is trapped in there.

Have you tried to see if you can read the files through a Mac? I know they did a lot of work with the Mac with this device. If you're close to an Apple Store you might be able to just plug it in and see what happens.

Wayne

[nickgregory]

Tim is having odd problems too, we could get it on the PC (not fast mind you....like 15-20 minutes for a 2hour show) then the PC doesnt recognize the files as what they are....I have a feeling the Mac vs. PC thing is not far from the mark

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

Scott is using a power book and having no problems at all right?

[scb]

none.  i recorded 5 files yesterday off my stereo to test some stuff out and they're all now sitting on my powerbook in flac format

[Kwonfidelity]

none.  i recorded 5 files yesterday off my stereo to test some stuff out and they're all now sitting on my powerbook in flac format

Me neither.  Powerbook and G5. Still waiting for them to speed them up though.  Weird thing, if I have it chained off my Lacie external, it goes faster....thought?

[cascademedia]

OK, First if you are having problems and want to pull that show off the box NOW, just do an old-fasihioned digital transfer.  I had some issues with Firewire last year and in trying to resolve them, I decided it was first best to get the important stuff off there in case I had to reformat the drive etc.

Once you get the files off there, I would start with a firmware update just to make 100% sure that you have the latest updates.

I have had absoulutely no problems in OSX transferring the files.

I did have major issues wiht XP and Firewire.   Once I got the new firmware installed, it has worked totally fine in XP.   I think its kinda weird that it appears to "lock up" when the cable is connected, but I have simply disconnected the cable after transfer and it goes back to its regular state.  In OSX, you simply drag the SD 7XX icon to the trash and it disconnects.

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

In the few cases when the 722 sees the cable attach and it puts up that display, it rarely sees the cable detach and it's just stuck in that display state with the keys locks.  I can't say if the firmware really is locked up at that point, just no response to removalof cable or key presses and only a hard power cycle leads to recovery.

[JackoRoses]

I think for giggles I would try to reflash the firmware if at all possible.
Have you considered that yet?

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

The reported firmware version is 1.1.5.  I could try to reflash it, but without the ability to put the update file onto the HD (or I have to go buy a CF card) I can't do an update.

Where I am at right now.  I know this is long, but I'm hoping that if someone else runs into issues, this will be documented to provide some insight.



I woke up to a 722 in a state where it would not boot.  After trying occasionally though out the day, I felt that I needed to take out the loaner drive for return to it's owner who could hopefully pull my files of the mule show.  

As a test, I booted the 722 with no media attached.  The box recovered and operation was restored (although without storage).  I hot plugged the FW cable and it attached to the PC, pulled the FW cable and is detached.  Seems to work as expected and no issues with freezing.  It would not attach on power up with the cable inserted, but only when the cable was inserted after boot.  But in each case (about a dozen trials) the attach/detach operation was a success.  (Explorer showed nothing because there was no file system to read).

So I reattached the drive to see if there was any chance that it was not corrupted.  Guess what?  The 722 booted and the operation was as expected - files could be seen on the drive and headphone playback verified that the files were good.  I attached the firewire cable and holy shit it worked.  I was able to navigate the file structure.  Going for gold (because I've always felt that you don't win a silver, you lose the gold), I used explorer to copy the files.  File copy was a success and I now have 2.16G and 3.06G wave files on my desktop.  Better yet, they are uncorrupted and for those of you concerned about opening large files, Audacity read them in with no problem at all!  Right now though my horrible littel PC speakers is sweet glorious 24-bit Mule and there is deep bass coming out the subwoofer.

I don't know what is the reason for the corrected behavior, but hopefully it will continue.  Now I am going to install my 80G drive and see if I can pull those files from last week.  

I may have these ready for distribution by thursday if I can get time to track them out.   I did not run the V3 comparisson that I was originally planning.  I just wanted it to be simple on the first real run.  So someone has a server to offer I can up load them or offer B&P to people who are interested in hearing the results.


BTW, Boogie, that's me.  I became El Barto when the 722 arrived.  Maynard was a DAT taper.  Maynard is dead.  Long live El Barto.

At the time I reported to you, I was seeing really promising behavior when I initially installed a smaller drive, but after I got files recorded to it, it behaved no differently than the 80G drive - maybe even worse with respect to the "freeze" on hotplug of the firewire.

I agree that there may be a compatability issue with firewire controller.  I know that there are issues between different devices, but this controller does work with my external harddrive.  Also I tried on another machine/another controller and saw the same issues.  I'm going to see where this goes.  Hopefully it will continue to be stable.  I'm taking it to ssome other machines for testing later this week.

BTW, I worked late and missed the depot so I'll have something going out for you tomorrow morning.

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

Follow up:

I returned the unit to SD for service.  They found an intermittant problem with the firewire controller that was causing the lack of connectivity and the lock-ups.  It has been repaired.  Right out of the box it seems to be working well.


The SD service department kicks ass.  They called to keep me updated on each step of the service process.  They turned it around in one day.

[JackoRoses]

Follow up:

I returned the unit to SD for service.  They found an intermittant problem with the firewire controller that was causing the lack of connectivity and the lock-ups.  It has been repaired.  Right out of the box it seems to be working well.


The SD service department kicks ass.  They called to keep me updated on each step of the service process.  They turned it around in one day.

That is awesome.