H/S issue : formatting issue with MPC1000 and SD CF 1G

Hello all,

This thread is dedicated to hardware/software issues we could have with the MPC 1000.
As we can see most of the time Akai MPC1000 is a very reliable box, it's quite difficult to find poeple complaining about "real" issues with MPC on the web, but I had one story here around the formating and corruption of CF done by the MPC

*** I'm currently working with MPC1000 (BLACK version), official AKAI OS 2.10, SanDisk CF card 1G ***

Unfortunately I had an issue with my 1G San Disk CF (Compact Flash).
During a session at a certain time, I tried to [load] and assign some new samples to my pads, but the content of the card disappeared, all my samples was deleted from the root menu.

I tried to load again some samples from my laptop (MAC G4) without success. The laptop was not able to mount the CF, I also had an error message "Disk not recognized".

STEP1: MPC format function
Next step I tried to format the CF from the MPC menu, without success I got also an error message.

STEP2: new CF partition done from my G4
I bought a new CF card reader and tested separetely my CF, I created a new partition with success this time!

**It seams the partition was gone or was corrupted by the MPC.**

Starting with a new fresh partionned CF, I loaded some samples and put it again in the MPC, tried to load samples, but here again the sample was gone, also not possible to format (formatting error) from the MPC menu. I went back to STEP2, new partition with this time the MPC OS 2.11 on it.

STEP2: try to load a new OS 2.11
The boot sequence detected the CF but not able to read it, OS 2.10 starting.

From my point of view we can see the MPC is able to detect the CF (from hardware point of view), but when it tries to access it something goes wrong and it's just a disaster.

The only solution I had was to send it back to AKAI for an internal check, unfortunately I don't have hard drive and the opportunity to test the formating function on it.

Any comments ? remarks ? something to share ?

just get JJ OS and live happily.

The Akai format routine has been known to be defective for quite some time now. The testimonials are all in the archive, so much so that this has become very redundant territory on here. The JJ group fixed this error (which Akai still refuses to acknowledge to this day) with the release of JJOS 3.06. If you want to keep corrupting your files, keep using Akai.

i got my mpc on tuesday, i've already got the latest jj os 4.9x with my password.

your post is old news.

i had my mpc 20 mins out the box and jj was installed.

fuk akai os

Also: Trying to format the drives from a computer will not work. All drives used in the MPC must be formatted with the MPC, as the FAT variation the machine uses is not windows standard, and certainly not macintosh standard.

Thanks all for the comments and answers.

I received the "Beat Making on the MPC1000" and my first idea was to go accross the document before the switch on the JJ OS Vx.xx, just to be enough familiar with all the main features of the AKAI OS.

BTW, who knows if a list of patched AKAI issues has been released by the JJ team ?

To come back on MPC and formatting, it seams clear for me that the format should be understandable by a PC and MAC. This means the formatting function of the MPC1000 should create a partition understable by both system. We should have a "FAT" format and more specifically a FAT16, based on the MPC1000 Operator manual: "Compact Flash (The size of the compact flash card that MPC1000 can handle is from 32MB to 2GB)"

Sounds good ?

79rpm wrote: We should have a "FAT" format and more specifically a FAT16, based on the MPC1000 Operator manual: "Compact Flash (The size of the compact flash card that MPC1000 can handle is from 32MB to 2GB)"

Sounds good ?

No, you don't want FAT16, and that's not what the machine currently uses.

The original Akai V1 software used a variation on the FAT16 format, but it was just that -- a variation. You couldn't just format a disk in standard FAT16 and stick it in the MPC without producing errors. This was changed in V2, right around the time the hard drive option became more widely available, since FAT16 can't format a drive larger than 2 gigs. Regardless of what it says in any official Akai info (or disinfo) it's now completely possible to format both CF and hard disks far larger than 2gb in the 1000. So we may now have something closer to FAT32 -- but it's still nonstandard.

Thanks elektrik_muz I really appreciate your answers

Something I cannot explain and remains unclear is when I format my CF with the MPC, this card will be recognized and mounted as soon as I plug my MPC with my laptop. This means the Laptop is able to recognized the format, how do you explain that ?

Not standard ok, but just standard enough to be recognized ?

BTW I'm quite interrested to understand why they don't implement something standard... maybe no time and no money to develop...the more I read this forum more I think AKAI is just riding the wave with their PADs, for the rest (the OS) it's an other story

79rpm wrote:Not standard ok, but just standard enough to be recognized ?

As a simple read/write archive disk, yes.

There's plenty of sources around the net about the specifics of file formats, and if you read up I think you'll start to realize that "standard" isn't quite as "standard" as you imagine. There are different versions of FAT used for different systems and every version of Windows from NT on uses it's own specific variation of NTFS. XP can read and write to just about any of those formats but the main system drive can only be formatted with one of them because it implements functions specific to that OS and not the others.

elektrik_muz wrote:The Akai format routine has been known to be defective for quite some time now. The testimonials are all in the archive, so much so that this has become very redundant territory on here. The JJ group fixed this error (which Akai still refuses to acknowledge to this day) with the release of JJOS 3.06. If you want to keep corrupting your files, keep using Akai.

I just received back my MPC1000 that I sent to the AKAI electronic specialist, he mentioned in is report "welding" only. The bar pin that hold the CF has been broken (probably when I put the card inside the slot).

To summarize my "Formating issue" was related to a hardware issue that has been solved by an electronic specialist.

The official AKAI OS is not involved in this issue.

The best is probably to avoid to take the CF out of the MPC1000 as much as possible...

Yep, cheap broken hardware will do that too. I tend to move those cards as little as possible myself.