Used MPC Live 2: How to check internal Drive content

Hi , I'm total noob to MPC from NI Maschine world. I've found a seller of a used MPC Live 2 but reading about issues with deletion of Factory content on the internal drive being difficult to resolve (per the threads here, ...either Need restore File from Akai or send whole unit back).

So asking for advice:

How do I check that the previous owner hasn't deleted any factory content (any folders/files I should confirm are present)

Would there be an obvious glitch to look out for if something were missing

is there now a new easy way to restore factory content or work around using external drive (the most recent thread I found is jan 2022).

Thanks for any assistance, hoping to become part of the MPC crowd.

In the browser under 'Places > Internal':

Expansions
Demos (name might vary between models)
MPC Documents
Splice
Synths (might not be there if he never updated to 2.10+)

No new way to fix this, you'll either need to find someone with the Live 2 restoration script, or contact Akai for it.

Symptoms: Unit will likely be sluggish and randomly 'hanging' for extended periods. But this can also occur for other reasons. Crashes and reboots are not a symptom to my knowledge, and these can happen with even the latest firmware.

As with anything second hand, the moment you get it try to put it through its paces to make sure there's nothing obviously wrong with it, but do be aware that the MPC is not perfect, there are bugs. Another common MPC Live 2 issue (often with the retro edition) is that the centre of each pad is very insensitive, while the outer edge has 'normal/correct' sensitivity. If you find you are having to really hammer the centre of the pad, but it's easy to trigger notes from the edge of the pad, then consider returning it as this is NOT correct pad functionality and is not something that will resolve itself over time. Pads do not need to be 'worn in'. Test with the standard pad sensitivity settings (8/8 for threshold and sensitivity, curve A, in PREFERENCES > HARDWARE).

Thanks, that's answers everything perfectly. appreciate it!!,

the unit I'm looking at is a retro one so thanks for the heads up on the pads as well!!!

utensil wrote:is there now a new easy way to restore factory content or work around using external drive (the most recent thread I found is jan 2022).

To add to what Tutor said, be aware that Akai are generally very reluctant (read: close to impossible) to get second hand MPC's serviced with the restore file necessary to do a factory restoration on the internal storage. So, I'd absolutely recommend that you "try before you by" very thoroughly to make sure it's solid. Anyway, good luck!