Hard drive problems.

[Excalibur]

Right folks, get comfy, this could take ages. :( As some of you may remember, I bought one of these
http://www.thomann.de/gb/numark_dds_drive.htm
and stuck one of these
http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/search/productdetail.jsp?SKU=CS15185
in the caddy. I formatted it ( I forget how, but I did. Gave it the full treatment, and when it was ready, filled it up with nice shiny, neatly arranged mp3's. The Cortex can see it, talk to it, and play from it no problem. When I connect the DDS drive tray up to the PC, it also sees the HD, no probs.
Now the tricky bit. :(
I got one of these
http://www.ciao.co.uk/Questions/VIPowER_Super_Rack_VP_10LSFU_133__7889340
and found it wouldn't connect to my PC, as it doesn't have any sockets the right flavour on the Motherboard. So, I got one of these
http://www.octigen.com/products/productdetail.asp?Id=67&A=8&B=15&C=
which will connect up to the caddy, and a USB port on the PC. Sorted. :D Well, no actually. :( :( :( :( :( :( :(

I can find the disc, and it says it needs to be "Initialised". When I try to do this, I get the error message "Device is not ready". Thoughts anyone? :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

[hammy]

yes you need to format it before you can use it

or

control pannel/computer management /disk management/right click-(drive) /initialize

[Excalibur]

yes you need to format it before you can use it



I formatted it ( I forget how, but I did. Gave it the full treatment, and when it was ready, filled it up with nice shiny, neatly arranged mp3's





control pannel/computer management /disk management/right click-(drive) /initialize


I can find the disc, and it says it needs to be "Initialised". When I try to do this, I get the error message "Device is not ready".

You didn't read my post thoroughly, did you? :p :D :D :D :D :D Been there, done that. ;) That's why I'm :daft:

[nisfo]

What Operating system are you using?

Try this anyway ;)

Remove the drive from the Device Manager.
Power down the system.
Physically remove the drive.
Power up the system to verify that the drive has gone from Windows.
Power the system down and reconnect the drive.
Power the system up and let Windows detect the drive.

[Excalibur]

What Operating system are you using?
Try this anyway ;)

Remove the drive from the Device Manager.
Power down the system.
Physically remove the drive.
Power up the system to verify that the drive has gone from Windows.
Power the system down and reconnect the drive.
Power the system up and let Windows detect the drive.

Desktop is Vista, and I got exactly the same results with a Laptop running on 7.

I'll try your suggestion, I have a suspicion I can see why it might work. I've been reading up where I can, and your theory ought to force the wizard into play. I'll keep you posted. ;)

[Penfold42]

Should of bought a Denon........:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

[Excalibur]

Should have bought a Denon........:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

Thank you Tony, for an excellent, well thought out, reasoned, balanced and persuasive argument there, were it not for the facts that:
I hate the Denon with a passion.
It would require me to take BU4500 CD tray with me to get the same effect.
The Denon HD seating is notoriously fickle.
The internal HD capacity of the denon is below my needs, thus requiring the use of an external one, so removing the benefit of an internal one.


Thank you for your helpful advice, Tony.

[DiscoPromotions]

As do not use or had any exposure to the equipment Numark DDS equipment I will be providing my thoughts from the IT world (which is my day job).

Looking at the specs of the DDS it will do FAT 16/32, NTFS(Windows) and HFS (Mac); in theory Windows Operating System should pick this up and read with no problems.

However, I assume you swapping the drive between Numark and Windows Operating system and can see where it would be causing you problems.

If you have a MAC it will give you warning if you unplug external storage device without ejecting it first, to ensure that no files in the background are currently being access, written or both.

Windows, not so much and this is where problems can occur, especially with hard drive allocation table.

Vista, well that is a problem all on its own.

From what has been described Windows can see the device, but cannot read it. If you got a drive letter allocated for the drive you may want to try this first (e: is the drive letter allocated by Windows, but it may be a different letter if other external devices are plugged into your machine)

To check the disk do the following:

Click Start
Run
Type in CMD, then press enter and DOS Prompt box should come up
Type in the following:

chkdsk e: /f

This will check the disk and fix any issues that Windows detects.

Other things spring to my mind

In reference to http://www.octigen.com/products/prod...67&A=8&B=15&C=
1 - Incorrect jumper settings on the hard unit as PATA requires the drive to be Master/Single not as slave.

http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/search/productdetail.jsp?SKU=CS15185
2. Your hard drive is WD (Western Digital) you may want to try this

"Go into Disk Management and UNINSTALL the drivers for the HDD your trying to Initialize. then unplug the USB and wait a couple seconds and plug it back in"

If this works then the problem is with WD jumper settings on your hard drive, as may not have the "reduced power spinup" feature enabled; which is required to host 3.5" hard drives in external enclosures.

Hope this helps

[Excalibur]

Thanks Jay, that makes sense. I don't think it's a disconnection issue, since it hasn't been used fully yet, or disconnected unsafely. The Cortex it's been connected to loves it, works fine. If I connect the whole DDS drive to the PC, it works fine, comes up as an external DVD drive, and a separate HD.

The only proiblem is getting the thing to work " standalone" with the PC. I have a full kit to lash it into the PC, but there's no connector on the Motherboard to accept it, so went for the Octigen unit as a work round.

PC can see it when connected to Octigen, can't initialise it, no drive letter assigned, no volume, no nothing. Your master/slave theory seems a runner. Ta.

[Excalibur]

No change. :( Device not ready".:daft: Won't work through Octigen, will work fine on PC through DDS and it absolutely flies when used this way. Same when attached to Cortex. Hey ho. Faulty Octigen? :daft:

[Excalibur]

Might try this for a tenner. Would eliminate some possible faults. It gets rave reviews.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/130517

[deltic]

Might try this for a tenner. Would eliminate some possible faults. It gets rave reviews.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/130517

thats the kiddy if you are going to read it externally

or this if you want to have the cradle in the pc.
http://cpc.farnell.com/newlink/nl-rb-420/sata-to-ide-serial-ata-to-ide-converter/dp/CS09891

[Excalibur]

thats the kiddy if you are going to read it externally
I don't care if I have to hang the :Censored: thing from the :Censored: chandelier, as long as I can do it from the :Censored: PC in the house! :p


or this if you want to have the cradle in the pc.
http://cpc.farnell.com/newlink/nl-rb-420/sata-to-ide-serial-ata-to-ide-converter/dp/CS09891

Not an option, since it would involve mutilating the case so much.:( Easier to build a single purpose machine from someting I can find in the loft.

[Excalibur]

Update:
I have put the music on the HD while it was in the DDS drive, and now bolted the drive into the case. Minutes ago, I removed the caddy containing the drive from the rack, and connected it up to the PC with one of these.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250714510867&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
Success. :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D Hardware said it installed correctly, opened up my computer, and there it was sat waiting to be talked to. I'm now playing music from it as I sit here, so all good.

[ppentertainments]

Only took 2 1/2 months. :D

[Excalibur]

Only took 2 1/2 months. :D

Yes.I amazed myself by the rapidity with which it solved itself. ;) :D


Seriously, because of this problem, I avoided bringing the thing into use, and was only moved to get it into operation as part of another cunning plan involving such things.

I orederd the bits last week, they arrived this week, and on plugging it all together was making terrific progress.

Until with a loud bang, and blinding flash, the power supply exploded!!!! :eek: :eek: :eek: :mad: The chicken and egg bit is, the hard drive died in the explosion also, and I don't know whether the hard drive killed the power supply, or the power supply killed the hard drive! :daft:

Suffice to say, all subsequent testing has involved bits which I could afford to lose. ;)