Card Readers & Filesystems

Aight, so I finally got hold of a pcd25. I slipped in a 512 MB kingston today and it works perfectly!!!

Now to the tricky part, I got a 2slot microtech so I can access both drives at a time (I guess...dont have a second disk yet). However I noticed that the formating of the filenames changed after saving something to PCD.

So does this mean I will have to keep my samples shorter than 8 chars and leave no spaces like on old MSDOS (FAT) systems? Can I avoid this by preformating a disk on the PC with mpceditor?

I have seen the odd comment here and there, but never really got past a thread on this topic, so before I plunge in the world of CF I want to make sure my workflow will run smooth. This way I can avoid wasting time on data-managing techniques that dont work properly.

The plan is to have a few big CFs with alot of partitions on it for direct saving and a 32 mb card for transfering samples/sequences to the pc for editing or archiving. If you have any good techniques howto keep your shit save (in means of data corruption and filename dilemmas) and clean, drop some knowledge..

I will buy an extra external FW HD soon, so I can backup the beats using the PC.

tell me how you do it
.toon

Just curious, but have you installed it internally or externally?

c.toon wrote:Aight, so I finally got hold of a pcd25. I slipped in a 512 MB kingston today and it works perfectly!!!

That's right.

Despite one little glitch with the PCD-25 firmware.

PCD-25 units rate as the most compatible/reliable product MICROTEC/SCM/INTERMART ever made. ( The original PCD-15 was pretty good too ).

c.toon wrote:Now to the tricky part, I got a 2slot microtech so I can access both drives at a time (I guess...dont have a second disk yet). However I noticed that the formating of the filenames changed after saving something to PCD.

The slots will be addressed on seperate SCSI ID's via your MPC3000.

You will be able to communicate with one slot at a time.

Changing to a different slot by using the "MAKE ACTIVE" screen.

Not much different in operational concept to having two individual storage devices connected on the MPC3000 SCSI port.

Filenames saved by the MPC3000 to a CF card will be no different than that of any other storage media.

Files saved from the computer to this CF card will need to be in 8.3 character format.

12345678.123, KICK1234.SND, SNARE678.SND, HAT45678.SND

Thes numbers within the file name are to illustrate the 8.3 concept.

Try keeping your snd names within the 8.3 rules too if you intend on using the disk with your computer and MPC3000.

c.toon wrote:So does this mean I will have to keep my samples shorter than 8 chars and leave no spaces like on old MSDOS (FAT) systems? Can I avoid this by preformating a disk on the PC with mpceditor?

When you install the MPC-EDITOR it gives you an option to patch the Windows registry to "Shorten Files Names for FAT" drives.

The MPC-EDITOR creates 1 x single, safe, cross platform partiton that is just under 32 megabytes in size.

c.toon wrote:I have seen the odd comment here and there, but never really got past a thread on this topic, so before I plunge in the world of CF I want to make sure my workflow will run smooth. This way I can avoid wasting time on data-managing techniques that dont work properly.

In the current world of MPC3000 and data transfer issues the following will be of assistance:

http://www.mpc-forums.com/viewtopic.php ... =mpceditor

c.toon wrote:The plan is to have a few big CFs with alot of partitions on it for direct saving and a 32 mb card for transfering samples/sequences to the pc for editing or archiving. If you have any good techniques howto keep your **** save (in means of data corruption and filename dilemmas) and clean, drop some knowledge..

The link above that I gave will be of use.

Keep your file names within 8.3 rules so as not to cause name truncation issues.

c.toon wrote:I will buy an extra external FW HD soon, so I can backup the beats using the PC.!!!

The SCSI COPY feature on my soon to be released OS will copy between slots of CF cards.

That and a VERY a very big change to make up for the removal of sample dump ...... will make the world of MPC3000<>ANY COMPUTER data transfer an easier place to deal with for all concerned.

Rohan.

Good looking out Rohan, I will go and search for 32MB CFs.

Is there any software that lets me repair damaged filenames? I still have some old beats on zips that looked different inside the mpc when loading than the way they were displayed in the PC with a ~ char.

P.S.: Anybody using some software to catalog and archive their ish?

I'm loving this already!
.toon

Holy Shit!

I didnt have the right version for the MPC-Editor and paypal issues, but luckily I managed to format a CF 128mb card to a xPlatform functioning 32 mb card.

Now this may be new to some people and very interesting imo:
I had a friend format a 32mb and email me an ISO image file he had made from the xplatform CF.

If this is okay with Mike Goins and/or Rohan, I would enjoy posting the ISO-file here for more people to use.

I just wish there was a way to access multipartition CFs on the PC. Atleast you can back them up by writing an ISO off one of these disks with the right program!

pz
.toon

^there's always good ole floppies, 'toon!

what's the biggest/best size card to use with the PCD-25 MPC? I mean if I get a huge one and can't use some of it, it would be a waste no?

holler back asap!

thanks

Deta!L wrote:what's the biggest/best size card to use with the PCD-25 MPC? I mean if I get a huge one and can't use some of it, it would be a waste no?

holler back asap!

thanks

For OS 3.11-3.16 on an MPC3000 1 GIG cards will be about the biggest you'll need. ( 780 meg out of 1 gig )

On an MPC60 with OS 3.10E a 1 GIG card will be overkill.

Reasons to do with the maximum size of a typical MPC60 sample and number of files that can be stored within a root directory.

Rohan.

c.toon wrote:If this is okay with Mike Goins and/or Rohan, I would enjoy posting the ISO-file here for more people to use.

The MPC-EDITOR is by Mike.

The cross platform safe transfer partition is by me.

Support for the work people do helps them to continue development.

c.toon wrote:I just wish there was a way to access multipartition CFs on the PC. Atleast you can back them up by writing an ISO off one of these disks with the right program!

Even if the disk is partitioned with a scheme that can be recoginized on a computer...

On a PC running any operating system from Windows NT and higher the following M$ restrictions on removable media ( CF, ZIP, JAZ, SYQUEST, etc ) apply:
_____________________________________________________________
From M$ KB:Article ID : 254109
You cannot use the Disk Management snap-in to create or delete partitions on removable storage media, such as tapes and optical disks. Such media either do not require partitioning, or should contain only one partition. Using more than one partition confuses the Removable Storage service.
_____________________________________________________________
From M$ KB:Article ID : 300415
You cannot use Diskpart to create a partition on removable media. Windows supports at most one MBR partition on removable media. If the media is manufactured with an MBR, that MBR cannot be altered, but the MBR is followed even if multiple partitions or logical drives are configured. If the media is manufactured without an MBR, the media is treated as a "superfloppy" and no partition structure is written to the media.
_____________________________________________________________

These are two examples from the M$ KB.

There are plenty more examples in the M$ KB if anyone cares to look.

Typical M$ crap, placing different rules on removable storage devices.

A storage device is simply that.

M$ think different.

Example:

Partition a ZIP disk on a M$ WIN98 system as an Extended type with logical drives present ... and WIN98 will recognize all the partitions.

As will various true DOS builds, MAC's, LINUX boxes, etc.

Take the same disk to your NT/2K/XP/VISTA box and only the first partition will be seen.

Next.

Try performing partition options from the disk managment tools within later M$WIN versions on any removable media device. ( No go here !!! )

Note that MACOS, MAC-OSX, LINUX, NEXT-STEP, BEOS and many other operating systems do not impose these types of limitations for media types. ( in my experience ...... IE: If a valid partition table is present then these other OS types will log it in ).

Watch this space for work arounds.

... and please.

Don't re-post the ISO file of the disk format output from Mike's Editor.

Rohan.

mpc3000le wrote:

Deta!L wrote:what's the biggest/best size card to use with the PCD-25 MPC? I mean if I get a huge one and can't use some of it, it would be a waste no?

holler back asap!

thanks

For OS 3.11-3.16 on an MPC3000 1 GIG cards will be about the biggest you'll need. ( 780 meg out of 1 gig )

On an MPC60 with OS 3.10E a 1 GIG card will be overkill.

Reasons to do with the maximum size of a typical MPC60 sample and number of files that can be stored within a root directory.

Rohan.

so would you say for the 60 a 512mb card would be good or just go ahead and get the 1 GIG?

Its all good Rohan, I wouldnt post without asking you first

detail: Try and find an electronic retailer store or something like that. I scored 5 32MB SunDisk CFs for about 5$ a piece that way.

To me the best and most flexible way is having partitioned discs for MPC only work and 32-128s for x-fer use with the PC/MAC.

.toon

word so I'll just do that, get a bunch of 32mb's...I don't do that computer transfer stuff

Deta!L wrote:so would you say for the 60 a 512mb card would be good or just go ahead and get the 1 GIG?

For use with an MPC3000 where I would be using samples larger "beyond MPC60 memory size limitation" samples then a 1 GIG card ... for sure.

On an MPC60 think about the following limitations.

512 files per root partition.

Around 1.5 meg for a maximum memory load/save.

If you're using your MPC60 for single hits and short loops ......
...... then, you may run out of directory entry allocation space on a 32 MEG partition ...... way before you hit the 32 MEG partition limit.

In other words.

You might have 512 files as a combination of many PGM and SND, all taking up about 7-10 MEG, and the rest of the 32 MEG partition will be wasted.

So, if you think about the storage options for an MPC60 that would be best for taking advantage of, 512 file root limitations per partition and ...... 26 partitions MAX.

Then maybe the 128/256 MEG card might be the better option for an MPC60.

Think about how this works on a ZIP100/ZIP250 drive for comparison points.

Just a thought.

Depending on how you work with your MPC60 none of these points may apply.

Rohan.

c.toon wrote:Its all good Rohan, I wouldnt post without asking you first

Respect !

Thanks,

Rohan.

Deta!L wrote:word so I'll just do that, get a bunch of 32mb's...I don't do that computer transfer stuff

My bad, the 32 MB joints are pretty much for mpc-to-computer/computer-to-mpc transfering only. If you want the most mem for the buck, you'd be pretty set with 512mb (or perhaps 1024mb when on a 3000)

P.S.: Rohan, when you land at A-Z with partitions, does it go on? If so, how?

pz.toon