Topic: Microtrack is fucked up

[jlykos]

Just got back from the Jucifer concert.  They put on a hell of a show.  So did my Microtrack.  Recorded the first two bands.  No problems.  Record Jucifer.  No problems.  Hit record to write the show to the 4GB Hitachi Microdrive.  Only a 45 minute show so I decided to do 24/96 with it.  10 seconds passes, nothing happens; hourglass is showing.  2 minutes passes, nothing happens; hourglass.  5 minutes passes, nothing happens; hourglass.  10 minutes passes.  Hourglass still fucking showing.  Shut the thing down.  Reboot it.

Result: Corrputed file (my computer told me so), 1:14 showing on the time remaining, and I cannot record another file onto the Microdrive.  It is like the Microdrive is completely locked up in the Microtrack.  I decide that the show is lost, and reformat the Microdrive.  Test it in the Microtrack and try to record.  Nothing happening.

It looks like the Microtrack has fucked up my Microdrive to the point where I cannot record onto it anymore.  Has anybody else experiened this?  What the hell is going on?  I have just lost a complete concert and now have lost a Microdrive.  These things are not cheap so I am doubly pissed off.  I plan to contact both Cascade and m-audio tomorrow.  What the hell is going on?  I have used this same Microdrive and MT to record shows before.  Why did it fuck up so tonight?

[china_rider]

Cant speak for your problem... But in general thats why CF is bettter.... No moving parts and not nearly as likely to fail (as well as better battery life.)

EDIT: Maybe try to reformat through a card reader and not the MT it self?

EDIT2: Try to copy files back and forth between the computer and the microdrive without the MT involved.

[jlykos]

Update: Tried it this morning and the MT was able to reformat the Microdrive and I can record stuff on it.  I still have no idea what happened last night.  M-audio will get an e-mail from me today.

[jtessier]

Sorry to hear you lost your concert. I've also had several MicroDrives just suddenly go bad on me and Hitachi has swapped them out for me no questions asked (well nothing beyond "what's wrong with it"?). I've had no such issues with CF cards.

J.T.

[jlykos]

Can you expand on how you determined the files were not salvagable?

I used the Microtrack as the reader for the card and it showed a WAV file with a size of 0 bytes.  I tried to move it to my computer, but my computer would not accept it because it said the file was corrupted.  The MT could not play this file and my computer would not accept it.  I reformatted out of sheer frustration with everything.

I did a tech chat with Hitachi today and they said it was the MT's fault.  I e-mailed M-Audio today and I am expecting them to come back saying it is Hitachi's fault.  I am still going to try to get a new MD out of this with Hitachi by returning the one that failed and I will look into getting a CF card in the future.

[china_rider]

if you get a file with 0 as a size run checkdisk.  You after you copy you may have to open it as raw also.

When I had my MT I did  24/96 with an 8 gig card and no problems other than the non seemless split.

[it-goes-to-eleven]

I used the Microtrack as the reader for the card and it showed a WAV file with a size of 0 bytes.  I tried to move it to my computer, but my computer would not accept it because it said the file was corrupted.  The MT could not play this file and my computer would not accept it.  I reformatted out of sheer frustration with everything.

Pretty sure you could have saved it.  That is a common failure mode among many small recorders.  As China Rider mentioned, the simple fix is to do the chkdsk.  If it is a really special show, I'd make an image backup of it before allowing chkdsk to touch it.  I really dislike windows for this stuff because it often wants to create folders on media (never write until you have recovered), search with autoplay and other BS that is hard to disable. There are also Very powerful utilities for CF recovery.  Most of them aren't free but some are.

[dallman]

I have a 5gb seagate microdrive, and while I dilske it's power draw, I keep coming back to it, because it holds ao much information. The MT clearly likes the older slower cards, but microdrives are fragile. (Fragile is probably way to strong a word, but they really like to run and operate in a still environment). They are very much subject to shock and vibration, and the Hitachi ones always seem to be the culprit when stories like your appear...

It is a bummer, nothing worse than putting in the effort and losing the show. I would look to get away from the Hitachi, and if possible get away from the Microdrives in general. Keep in mind again that the MT likes the older slower cards, and they are getting cheaper every day.

I don't think it has anything to do with the MT itself, it is unlikely that the MT would ruin the micro drive, it just reads and records onto it.
Good luck going forward.

[symoka01]

Can anyone give me help?
1) I just bought a Ridata CF 4 gig card, dropped the 1.4.3 files into it, and formatted my card.
        Now when I try and record (in 24/48...havent tested on others), I get a "Media is Full" message...
        Despite this, if I hit record again quickly, it will begin recording.

2) I tried to tape Tool on saturday and began recording despite "Media is Full" message and recorded for just over 1 1/2 hours.
        However, at this time (with about 15 mins left of the show) my Microtrack FROZE...
               The screen was locked
               None of the buttons changed the screen or did anything
               It still allowed me to power down the MT, which I did.  Upon restarting, I began a new track for the last 15 mins and everything worked with that track....
               HOWEVER - The original 1 1/2 I taped was an empty file!! I lost the first 1 1/2 completely!!!
                       The file was still registered in the MT but there was nothing on it at all! it merely would skip to the next track I started after restarting the MT!

I am going to attempt to tape tool again tomorrow...Can anyone please help me so that I may avoid this horrible problem again?
In case you are wondering, I DID have my hold button on, so there is no way that I can conceive of that would have been a user fault...

Please let me know tonight (monday) if possible

thanks,
Karl

[Genghis Cougar Mellen Khan]

Can anyone give me help?
1) I just bought a Ridata CF 4 gig card, dropped the 1.4.3 files into it, and formatted my card.
        Now when I try and record (in 24/48...havent tested on others), I get a "Media is Full" message...
        Despite this, if I hit record again quickly, it will begin recording.

2) I tried to tape Tool on saturday and began recording despite "Media is Full" message and recorded for just over 1 1/2 hours.
        However, at this time (with about 15 mins left of the show) my Microtrack FROZE...
               The screen was locked
               None of the buttons changed the screen or did anything
               It still allowed me to power down the MT, which I did.  Upon restarting, I began a new track for the last 15 mins and everything worked with that track....
               HOWEVER - The original 1 1/2 I taped was an empty file!! I lost the first 1 1/2 completely!!!
                       The file was still registered in the MT but there was nothing on it at all! it merely would skip to the next track I started after restarting the MT!

I am going to attempt to tape tool again tomorrow...Can anyone please help me so that I may avoid this horrible problem again?
In case you are wondering, I DID have my hold button on, so there is no way that I can conceive of that would have been a user fault...

Please let me know tonight (monday) if possible

thanks,
Karl

Try recording in 16 bit, it's much less taxing on the microdrive, it'll probably be much more stable.  You'll be writing half as much data, 24 bit has already proven to fail, I'd try a lower bitrate. (16/44.1 or 16/48)