Share your knowledge on these two classic MPCs
By vout Thu Jul 06, 2017 11:12 pm
I have discovered a way to mount all the hybrid partitions on a Vailixi formatted USB storage device within Windows. This only works for 32-bit Windows. I have tested it on XP and it works perfectly. It is a hack to the Windows USB driver which causes any USB storage device to be treated as a fixed drive (instead of a removable drive) enabling ALL partitions on the drive to be seen by Windows.

You need to install a USB driver from here -

http://www.prime-expert.com/articles/a0 ... evices.php

There is also much information on that page explaining the difference between fixed and removable drives in Windows.

Once installed, reboot your system then attach your USB storage device. This includes card readers so any CF or SD card used with a scsi emulator should work, including memory cards from SCSI2SD and Artmix devices. Built-in card readers may work as well, but I have not tested this. Also USB Zip drives should work.

On my old Dell XP laptop Windows did not automatically detect the partitions - I had to go into device manager and open the properties for my card reader, then choose the option to 'populate volume' - after about a minute ALL the partitions on the SD card appeared as separate drives in Windows Explorer!

This makes it so much easier to manage and backup 3K programs.

As well as installing the driver above, you should also install the registry hack to prevent Windows from damaging the boot sector of Akai disks, not sure if this is needed for USB drives but it won't do any harm. It is available here - http://www.mpc3000.com/NoVolTrack.htm

One thing to note - MPC3K and Windows can only handle 26 drives or partitions (A-Z) and your system will already likely use at least two of these, maybe more, so this will limit how many you can see on the USB device to maybe 24 at most. This should not be a problem, but if needed you could probably make any hidden partitions visible using the Windows Storage Manager to change drive letters.

I know this won't mean much to you Mac people, but for Windows users this is great news. Also apologies if this has been posted before, but I have had no luck up to now trying to find a solution to this problem.

Cheers, vout
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By JUKE 179r Tue Jul 18, 2017 10:27 pm
Or use a DB25 SCSI to USB cable to connect your 3000 to a PC or Mac to transfer files to the CF card's partitions in a SCSI card reader...
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By richie Wed Jul 19, 2017 11:02 am
He connected a SCSI cable from his 3000, to the Microtech USB SCSI adapter. Mac OS automatically populates it. It doesn't require a special program.
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By JUKE 179r Wed Jul 19, 2017 7:55 pm
richie wrote:Or save $150-200 on the USB SCSI adapter and do it as mentioned in the first post.

If someone pays that much for the SCSI to USB cable they are a ****. :lol:

A pair of Glasses wrote:@juke...,
If possible can u go a bit more in depth on you're connection with the PC? And witch programs u use, .., a bit of an a to z story?

Thanks in advance

No program is needed. If you have a SCSI drive installed inside your MPC, a Microtech (not Iomega) SCSI to USB cable will able you to connect the MPC to a PC or Mac for transferring files.
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By JUKE 179r Fri Jul 21, 2017 1:54 am
Keep looking on Ebay or Craigslist for SCSI Lot sales. I got both of my Microtech SCSI to USB cables for $32 a piece last year.
By vout Fri Aug 11, 2017 10:34 am
I'm pretty sure that SCSI to USB adapters will still have the same problem in windows - you will only see the first partition of a hybrid-partitioned device. Windows treats all USB attached storage devices as removeable, unless you apply this fix.

As an update to this post, I just installed a SCSI2SD card reader in my 60 (with OS 3.10e) and unfortunately I am not able to read any cards on my PC formatted in this setup. I was hoping that maybe it would work, but seems it is only possible with Vailixi formatted hybrid partitions. Does anyone know if the Vimana upgrade for the 60 can format hybrid partitions?

Another thing - further testing on my 3000 shows that this only works if you format and partition the SD card as a single drive. SCSI2SD is capable of creating 4 virtual SCSI drives on one card but Windows cannot see them, though this could be a limitation of my setup. Has anyone else tested this?

Cheers, vout
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By JUKE 179r Fri Aug 11, 2017 10:09 pm
vout wrote:I'm pretty sure that SCSI to USB adapters will still have the same problem in windows...

Nope.
On Win8, I see 23 of the 26 partitions of the MPC3000LE's internal SCSI2SD 1GB card due to drives A, B & C are used by Windows. Windows shows drives D-Z (23 partitions, A-W) at 33MB partitions are seen from my MPC3000's SD card. The MPC3000's SD card's partitions X,Y & Z aren't seen on a PC.
But... on my Mac Book Pro with Yosemite, all of the SCSI2SD 1GB card's 26 partitions A-Z at 34MB (= 884mb) are all shown. Easy to drag and drop files but you have to deal with the hidden Mac files if you don't have the app Cleanup SMB Mess.app which erases all the hidden Mac files.
The best thing about this set up is no use of AK.SYS. It's easy to just drag and drop files to and from computer to my MPC3000LE. AK.SYS is a pain in the ass to me with my MPC4000 and newer computers. :fku: Even on my Roland MV8800 its way easier to drag and drop files via a computers USB.
By vout Sat Aug 12, 2017 2:35 am
That's good to know. Is your Windows 8 32 or64-bit? I used to have one of those SCSI to USB cables - used it with an EMU sampler a few years ago. Can't recall which OS (XP probably) but I do remember it was a pain just to get it working on Windows. I might still have it somewhere, just had a look on ebay and they seem pretty expensive now.