Topic: R-4 Hard Disk Drive Slow Message

[gratefulphish]

I had two instances, one each night taping P Groove in New York, when I got the dreaded "HDD Slow message, press any button."  The unit was sitting on foam, there was no significant vibration, it was far from the stage.  I was taping four channels at 24/96.  I switched the display, so that the record buffer is always showing.  The next night, started up, and then about 7 minutes in, all of a sudden the buffer filled up and there was the HDD message. Pressed a button, and it seemed to have started a new track.  No further problems after that, and the buffer never budged off the bottom again. Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

[Shawn]

this has been discussed at some length previously. a quick search should turn up some results. I believe the problem only effects some early units, and edirol will fix it.

[gratefulphish]

This is a brand spanking new R-4 Pro.  I would have hoped that this would be resolved.  I will search for the thread. Thanks. +T

[Shawn]

yeah since the r4 pro is a new model I'd figure it would be resolved too... I guess not... weak sauce.

[Brian Skalinder]

Were you running 2 x Stereo, or 4 x Mono?  Try some testing at home, both 4 x Mono and 2 x Stereo, and also 24/48 as well as 24/96, and note the results.  My original R-4 had the HDD SLOW problem, and the unit for me.  I could repeat at home recording silence, 24/48, 4 x Mono.  Two x Stereo worked fine, though.  IMO, the only responsible solution from Edirol is a complete and swift replacement of the entire unit. 

Brief support blurb on their (finally) recognition of the problem:

http://www.edirol.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=206

Personally, I wouldn't settle for the firmware fix they're offering, but would insist on a new unit to avoid the "small gap" they mention in the "fix" above.

[gratefulphish]

Brian, thanks for your response. First, this is a new R-4 Pro, with an 80 Gb drive, so it should not be part of the issue that you linked to, dealing with some early serial number R-4s.  I was recording stereo x 2, digital/analog, going digital in from my V3, with the board going analog to the other channels.  I don't know whether you can view the buffer status on an R-4, but you can on the Pro.  After the first glitch the first night, I set the display so that the buffer status was always showing.  I also intentionally placed the unit on some foam padding, and it really was not getting any vibrations, even during heavy bass runs.  The second night, I was watching the levels, and all of a sudden the buffer (which is a bar meter, like the level meters, and is usually just a little line on the left), just starts filling up, and the HDD Slow message pops up.  You then have to take it off "hold" and press any button to restore it.  It seemed to then create a new file within the project and kept recording. It was totally fine after that, the buffer never moved off the left edge again.  I will be speaking to Edirol tech support today to discuss this issue. I can't be having a once a show heart attack.  I rarely leave my deck anyway, but I also don't feel like having to stare at the meters all show, every show either.

If you have any thoughts, let me know, and I will report back what tech support has to say.  Thanks.  Steve

[sleepypedro]

how do you display the HD buffer?  is this a pro feature only?

[poorlyconditioned]

how do you display the HD buffer?  is this a pro feature only?

I asked that already.  It is a Pro feature only.  Hit the "display" button twice.  (There are three display modes on the Pro, I guess, compared to just two on the regular one.)

  Richard

[BayTaynt3d]

Best thing you can do right now is see if it is REPRODUCEABLE at home. If it is, you should have no problems with Edirol (not that you will even if you can't, but there's no arguing with PROOF).

[NJFunk]

Reposted from Team R-4.

Well, last night, I got the HDD Slow error, but in this case, I think it is a good thing.  The situation was this.  I made a snap decision to go to a show last night after I got home from work.  I have two batteries for the R-4, both of which were half-charged from last weekend.  I only had time to re-charge one of them before I left.  Since every other time I'd seen this band, they'd played two 60min sets, I figured I'd use the half-charged battery for the first set, and then switch to the more charged battery for the second set (which was more likely to be the longer of the two if one of the sets went long).  Well, about 65-70 minutes into the show (or about 5-10 longer than I had planned for the first set), I started getting HDD Slow.  Since I was only running 1 X Stereo, I thought this a HUGE problem.  However, when I checked the battery, sure enough, there was only one light, and it was on its last dying breath.  So apparently, before a battery totally runs out and shuts off the machine (which would mean losing everything that wasn't saved), the deck doesn't get enough power to keep the HD running and gives you the HDD Slow error kind of as a warning that you better save quick and do something before you completely lose everything.  I saved the file I had, changed batteries, and it worked fine for the rest of the show.  Apparently, the band had decided to play one long 2 hour set instead of 2 one hour sets as they had in every show I'd ever seen, so if I had just used the better battery from the start, I would have been OK.  Oh well, live and learn.

Anyway, I don't know if this has been discussed before, but it appears that you will get the HDD Slow as your battery is dying, but before it cuts out completely.  Just another thing to file away.  If get the message, one other thing to check before you panic is your battery life.

[Brian Skalinder]

Reposted from Team R-4.

As before, best thing to do right now is test at home to demonstrate whether it's reproducable or not.

[sleepypedro]

i've had numerous conversations with edirol techs about the HDD Slow message.

unless this is a new R4 Pro enhancement, i'm skeptical.  but it's an intriguing possibility, that's for sure. 

fwiw, i did several time trials with my stock R4 with external power and never saw this behavior.

EDIT:  i have seen the HDD Slow message, just not coupled with dwindling power.   

[gratefulphish]

I was running with a batterygeek 10-14-88.  That battery never even moved off the full charge LED.  There was absoulutely no power issue in my case, as the glitch on the second night was about 7 minutes in, and then the deck ran fine for several more hours on the same battery without the meter budging at all.

[NJFunk]

I was running with a batterygeek 10-14-88.  That battery never even moved off the full charge LED.  There was absoulutely no power issue in my case, as the glitch on the second night was about 7 minutes in, and then the deck ran fine for several more hours on the same battery without the meter budging at all.

Yeah, I think I'm going to have to get one of them.  Regardless of the outcome of the HDD Slow issue, it was a pain to have to even worry about the battery life.  What kind of cables do you need for that?

[gratefulphish]

It will work with a Rat Shack frankencable (adaptaplug).  It's M on the battery side.  Don't know what the R-4 plug is, but I believe it has been discussed on a number of threads.