Unknown Volume Error

Today I turned on the MPC which was in the same place it always is and hadn't be touched since the last time I used it (and it worked perfectly) but this time the Hard Drive didn't show up. Instead I get the 'Unknown Volume' message. I've not had this issue before and am perplexed as to why because the MPC hasn't be knocked or anything like that so it'd be strange if something inside had come lose.

For what it's worth the Hard Drive is a 64 GB Crucial SSD that I've had for a bit over a year and not had problems with before. I could open the MP up and reseat everything but that's a real hassle. I don't want to format the disk because it's not backed up (I will definitely back up when I get it working again). Does anyone have any advice? I checked the previous thread about this error but it wasn't much help.

restart? maybe you had a brown out or a surge? get a power conditioner for the studio gear! i wont run anything thats not plugged into mine. i pay too much for this shit to let a surge or brown out destroy it.

313 studio tricks wrote:restart? maybe you had a brown out or a surge? get a power conditioner for the studio gear! i wont run anything thats not plugged into mine. i pay too much for this **** to let a surge or brown out destroy it.

You might be right. I literally have no other explanation. The MPC didn't move, and the last time it was turned on the hard drive worked fine.

Anyway, I spent again literally all day trying all manner of software and tricks to try and recover the data. The drive itself would not mount on my Mac desktop but it was visible in Disk Utility.

Eventually I came across a legit looking program called 'Disk Drill' which was able to not only locate the files but also the original partition so I was able to restore all the folders, wipe the drive, reformat in the MPC and then (tomorrow) I will put the files back on the HD.

This program set me back $30 but it seemed a fair price to pay to have two years work back. I couldn't find anything free that could perform the task and I guess I have it now should something like this happen again (fingers crossed it doesn't).

Also, just to note, it was really silly not to have a backup of the data. Not only have I now backed up my data on my computer hard drive but I have removed the optical drive which I never use and put in an old IDE HD which I will use as an internal back up. This'll be good for the playing live idea too, it would really suck to lug the MPC to a gig and not be able to play because I couldn't load files.

Moral of the story: Solid State Drives fail too, back up your work and Internet forums/threads are extremely useful (that's where I heard about Disk Drill).

Hope this information helps someone if they encounter this problem. Feel free to ask any questions. It really was a day long operation.

I would question the quality and condition of that Crucial drive.

I'm still not sold on the idea of putting things like a SSD in older gear, I have seen enough strange this happen over the years when new meets old.

Kinda a sad road since you removed the HD and replaced it with the SSD, now you have removed the CD and put the HD back in for safety.

the one last thing i can think of that might be why this happened is that you shut the mpc off when the disk was being accessed. this can screw up a thumb drive which is also solid state.

THE ADVERSARY wrote:I would question the quality and condition of that Crucial drive.

I'm still not sold on the idea of putting things like a SSD in older gear, I have seen enough strange this happen over the years when new meets old.

Kinda a sad road since you removed the HD and replaced it with the SSD, now you have removed the CD and put the HD back in for safety.

I have to agree with you here. I was enticed by the idea of faster loading times and no moving parts which I though would make the drive more reliable but that hasn't been the case.

I have found in fact the opposite, it takes an age to save very small files (which actually puts you off saving) and clearly the drive is not that reliable, although to be fair, I've been using it for a year and a half without issue.

It is a shame to take out the CD drive but I really don't use it and the back up of two hard drives would be a comfort. I may even use the old IDE drive as the main one and the SSD as the backup.

For the record the 64GB Crucial drive is a legit drive. I bought it brand new from Amazon. It's a big name and shouldn't suffer any quality issues.

UPDATE:

Having done all that and loading all my data onto both drives, the MPC will only recognize the SSD and not the IDE drive I put in the place of CD. Perhaps the best solution is to keep the Optical drive, one hard drive and have a backup on the computer and on a USB stick for gigs.

Well you have to always remember with the current economic climate even the best of companies are cutting corners plus the occasional bad production run.

At least it turned into just a small hiccup since you were able to recover your data.

I hope other MP user are paying attention..............BACKUP your drive

THE ADVERSARY wrote:Well you have to always remember with the current economic climate even the best of companies are cutting corners plus the occasional bad production run.

At least it turned into just a small hiccup since you were able to recover your data.

I hope other MP user are paying attention..............BACKUP your drive

Very true! Back up your drive. I'm so glad I was able to recover the data, as I saw $30 is minor. Even the little ditty's are like little diary entries and I wouldn't be able to recreate them because I don't remember them until I dig into the archive.

I am going to go with the aforementioned plan and keep the IDE for my Time Machine Backup (which is all gone as I had to wipe it to make space for the MP backup)....

Kalou wrote:UPDATE:

Having done all that and loading all my data onto both drives, the MPC will only recognize the SSD and not the IDE drive I put in the place of CD.

Did you set the IDE drive to operate as an IDE Slave?

Kalou wrote:Perhaps the best solution is to keep the Optical drive, one hard drive and have a backup on the computer and on a USB stick for gigs.

Make sure you keep an off site backup of anything important.

Not much use having a backup on your computer, if your house/studio burns down, or all your gear is stolen.

SimonInAustralia wrote:

Kalou wrote:UPDATE:

Having done all that and loading all my data onto both drives, the MPC will only recognize the SSD and not the IDE drive I put in the place of CD.

Did you set the IDE drive to operate as an IDE Slave?

Kalou wrote:Perhaps the best solution is to keep the Optical drive, one hard drive and have a backup on the computer and on a USB stick for gigs.

Make sure you keep an off site backup of anything important.

Not much use having a backup on your computer, if your house/studio burns down, or all your gear is stolen.

I don't know whether I had it set as slave, probably not but I think retaining the Optical drive is fine for now, especially as I've recovered the files and now have them backed up on my computer. Out of interest how do you set the IDE drive as 'slave' (I don't like this term)?

Perhaps I'll put the most important stuff in 'the cloud' i.e. my sessions and programs as opposed to commercial samples which are more easy to get back. There's limits to the amount I want to back up. I could just as equally lose a drive I keep with me as I could be robbed.

Also, thinking about it I might be able to get back the Time Machine backups I had on the IDE drive using Disk Drill.

When you have two devices on an IDE bus, one has to be set as Master, the other has to be set as Slave, otherwise they will not operate correctly.

You normally set an IDE drive to slave by positioning jumpers on particular pins on the drive PCB...




Each drive will have different jumper settings, you have to check the manual for the exact drive you are using, if not indicated on the label, or PCB, on the drive itself.

Might be something similar to this...

SimonInAustralia wrote:When you have two devices on an IDE bus, one has to be set as Master, the other has to be set as Slave, otherwise they will not operate correctly.

You normally set an IDE drive to slave by positioning jumpers on particular pins on the drive PCB...




Each drive will have different jumper settings, you have to check the manual for the exact drive you are using, if not indicated on the label, or PCB, on the drive itself.

Might be something similar to this...

Good to know incase I try the two hard drives again in the future. Thanks, Simon.

The Crucial 64GB SSD started playing up again after all the trouble. For the record I've decided to return to the regular IDE drive, which I never actually had any issues with.

Easy to think the grass'll be greener on the SSD side but as was pointed out, maybe that new tech isn't meant to be mixed with the old. It's not worth it when were talking about losing days of work.

drives fail in the real world. it could just as easily happen with any technology. if you are turning your gear on and off every day multiple times, thats all technology needs to take a dump on your front porch sometimes. i wouldnt put it down to old or new, just the luck of the draw.

any sort of adapter in use with the ssd?