4GB CF Card Wont show Files

Hey all

I just turned on my MPC 1000 (JJOS 4.99) to find that about 2gb of files on my Crucial 4GB Cf card is all gone. Or well not showing up in LOAD. I dont know how it happened. It showed ALL my beats, sounds yesterday fine. I didnt put anything magnetic on my MPC or anything. I tried two other cards and they read fine.

I have so many beats on this damn card. I did back up, but my current projects are on there and would love to retrieve them some how. The software I have scanning the card doesn't retrieve .SND files. Its only picking up .WAV files. When I docked it on my computer the disk show that there are 0 items. All these are pointing to bad signs/dying disk. I just want my data back....

Any tips greatly appreciated. this is soul crushing....

Sup Lampdog! yea again... cracked up seeing that. seriously man I back my stuff up so much just to be prepared for what just happened. I didnt lose much, but its like all of the last week of collecting samples are possibly gone. What Im mostly concerned about is MPC data .SND .ALL etc... I got a PC now so its looks like Data Recovery is finding something.

Its scanning the whole disk right now, but pretty sure i got raw files and all the MPC .APS, .PGM etc.. parameters are gone.

A lot of sounds I edit, apply FX, trim i extract to a new file... and it automatically makes it .SND. that seems like the default. unless it can create .WAV default? can the 1000 do that? i need to get back to the manual i know. my head has been buried in Logic X and ableton for so long...

i was using Awave to convert samples which is awesome, but i was using it on a mac which was like a beta. also its not the most user friendlest software.

I havent used it on my PC yet since I dont want to mess with the card until i see what can be recovered. The program i found is GetDataback for FAT. this card was formatted FAT32. i think just using mac caused a number of hidden problems since this has been a pattern for me the past few years regardless of frequent back-ups. Ill keep yuh up to date.

UPDATE: so looks like it did find and recover the .PGM and .SND along with MPC data. Still yet to find if they are actually usable. I saw the pattern in the finder where collated my disk alphabetically, but instead of letters it did directories (DIR 1, DIR 2 etc..). Made it ton easier to look for specific folders.

I had to switch recovery software because GetDataBack was $79usd, but for how intuitive and thorough the software is Ill probably drop the cash for it. I ended up using free software called EaseUS Data Recovery which offers up to 1GB. I was positive the majority of whats on the card was folder after folder of various drums, kits, sample packs that I already have backed up. What I really wanted was the custom kits, songs, programs, you know...

I got just over 800mb recovered onto my PC. Connected my MPC to PC, transferred a single folder to another working card to check if any of the sounds recovered were corrupted. It loaded a program and wav files fine, but when loaded a whole project or sequence - I get " System Error" and "Insufficient memory messages so I think ill just have comb through what I salvaged to what got damaged and not.

Ill def replace the 4GB. I need to jet over on the CF card forum now haha. I could reformat it and try again but it seems like a lost cause. Working with PCs though is ten times faster and more efficient when it comes CF cards.... Took forever to mount with macs.

Lampdog wrote:I'd say at least once a week back up the cards to an external drive -> folder per project
and also libraries. I have a few externals with backups for years on them. I even have 3-4 Blu-ray BD-RE DL (Dual Layer) Re-writable with backups on them.

I'm not paranoid or anything BUT there are some libraries and projects that when I first started with my ASR I don't wanna lose, nostalgia type ****.

I totally get you on the nostalgia. I still have so many samples from my mpc2000xl days that ill never get rid of. So after a few days of trying to get all back together i happen to salvage what i needed. turned out literally 75% of what was on the card was samples and drum kits from Konkat or HR16, i.e some generic library or old school drum machine i already have backed up. There is some stuff i completely lost, mostly stuff that corresponds to project files which lead multiple programs and sequences. Those I cant even load a sequence without it giving me System Error, but its not a total loss. Manage to find the beats I wanted. This one beat had an obscure VHS 80s horror movie sample that I know would be a **** to find again.

I made a mistake the card isnt Crucial, its the Kingston which looks like the cheapest 4GB Cf card on the market according to Amazon and ebay, mpcstuff doesnt seem to have any. Ill prob go with Sandisk as it has a pretty good track record.

Anyway thanks for the advice and help Lamps as always.