Tell me about it
Right, didn't realise that - I've got the 3000 which has four ports on the back and one on the front. The two on the back are permanently connected to cables for USB hard disk (USB to mini USB), USB CD rom (USB-A to USB-B) and a USB keyboard, leaving the one on the front free for flash drives.
Basically using the USB hub as a protection point then...? So if something decides to draw a ton of power the USB hub gets it instead of the Cortex. The theory goes that USB ports are supposed to monitor the power draw on them and shut off the power if the load requested exceeds the available supply, but we're assuming that Cortex followed the USB spec when they built it (and hard disk manufacturers also follow the specs).
I'd think that most bus powered devices should work from a decent spec USB hub (check the max load per port).
I'm not disagreeing with this point. I've been a Belkin fanatic for a few years now
Right, confession time - I have a major vested interest in this topic because for about 18 months I've been using a HDC3000 with a bus powered 2.5" 120Gb USB, bus powered hard disk, and no USB hub. And I do occasionally get random crashes which I've struggled to find the source of. The other problem I get (USB associated probably) is that if I type quickly on the USB keyboard, I get sequences of letters repeating (in a way which means there is no way it's me typo'ing - like keying "help" and seeing "helplp" come up on the screen). I'm not sure if anyone else has experienced a problem like this or if this is a problem specific to my unit? I've tried a variety of USB keyboards and had the same results.
The other thing I've found is that I can almost guarantee a crash on the unit if I hit CTRL+I to get track info on a deck while a tracking is loading to the deck. I'm not overly patient at the best of times, but I've had to start holding myself back and stopping myself from pressing keys while the unit is working (CTRL+C while a track is loading is another way to confuse it, as is trying to save a playlist with a duplicate name and pressing CTRL+P for the play screen while the warning is showing, also try switching to the Edit or Search screen while an Info screen is being displayed from the playlist editor - i.e. bring up a playlist, press CTRL+I on a track, then immediately press CTRL+E or type in a search while the info screen is loading). Patience!!!
Julian
Bit of a problem there Julian and im not able to help a lot possibly but I run the HDC 1000 without any issues ( 3 years now ) although I dont do play lists on the machine, I just manually select playlists.
If it helps at all ---
I use powered Hard Drives, Seagate, dont hit information button until the track is sitting in the screen and use the Keyboard to the maximum other than starting tracks--because I often chat between tracks---if it helps give it a try.
I never use memory sticks---only for checking a single file for a suspected corruption. (very rare)
My only freeze in 3 years was a corrupted file---easily sorted.
The typo problem sounds like a soft ware problem --or maybe slow down a bit.
As with many things (like cars) more options means more things to go wrong
Noted your comments on numbers of buttons==aaaargh!!!!!!!!!
CRAZY K
Last edited by Penfold42; 01-01-2010 at 10:19 PM. Reason: fixing quote
According to Cortex the software "engine" on the HDC3000 is completely different to the 500 and the 1000, and has more in common with the HDTT5000, so unfortunately my problems might be specific to the type of unit I'm using. I.e. the 3000 might be a lot more buggy than the 1000 because of the addition of the extra features (waveform display, loops, hot cues, etc etc).
I think I might buy a powered hub to see if that helps take a bit of load off the unit and improves the keyboard response.
I don't normally use memory sticks (or multiple USB sources) - I've always been very nervous about changing USB source on one deck while playing out on the second, if only because in some instances it's taken almost a minute to eject the HDD and load the memory stick (or vice versa) which doesn't give me a lot of time to find and load what I'm playing next!
I've had a couple of corrupted files (always customer supplied) which have crashed the unit, but the majority of my crashes (and I've had too many to count in only 18 months) have been almost random. I've generally always been going between search/playlist/play screens on one deck while the other is playing, but in some cases it's stopped while I haven't even been touching it. The weirdest problem I've had yet was back in Nov when it seemed to be having a bad day and as well as randomly crashing twice, the audio on one track just stopped (track was still playing, unit was still responding, the sound just stopped coming out!) This is all on tracks which I've played before (and in some cases, replayed on the night) without issue, so I'm pretty sure it's not a corrupted file problem.
Maybe I just need to slow down - my day job is IT so I type pretty quick (I ran out of words to type in the last agency typing test I did - putting me somewhere over 100wpm ).
I'm a fairly "heavy" user, though not notably heavy handed.
Anyway, the short answer to my problems seems to be to change, so I'm looking to invest again... A friend of mine has a Denon HC4500 and a HD2500 so I'm going to have a play with those tomorrow and when the shops in Bristol re-open on Tues I think I'll take my keyboard, hard disk and cables down to one and see if I can persuade them to let me have a go on a HDC1000 with my set up to see if I can reproduce the problems because my cheapest and easiest option would be to "downgrade" to a HDC1000.
Julian