CompactDrive PD7X and File Corruption / Hard Disk Damage

[LightNPixels]

Alamak. My XP can't locate a driver for my PD7X when switch to card mode. CD that came along with PD7X and webpage only got Driver for Win98.

To: EastGear,

Can I bring it down to Eastgear for firmware upgrade?

 

[BigBelly]

you have to start the firmware upgrade application before switching to card mode. there are some instructions on the sanho website.

you can definitely bring it down.

Alamak. My XP can't locate a driver for my PD7X when switch to card mode. CD that came along with PD7X and webpage only got Driver for Win98.

To: EastGear,

Can I bring it down to Eastgear for firmware upgrade?

 

[BigBelly]

that firmware no longer valid. pls download the latest one.

I'm talking about the link in the Sanho site.
The one that points to -> http://www.3hdigital.com/setup7x32.exe

I get a Not Found Page.

 

[anthony.phua]

I seem to have problem with my home PC when I upgrade the firmware. My Windows XP don't detect the CompactDrive at all when I toggle the switch to the "Card" position.

In my office using Win 2000 Professional SP4, the CompactDrive was detected.

I suspect it may have to do with the Win XP SP2 patch I've applied.

Anyone having the same problem?

If you can't apply the patch using a Win XP Machine, try it on a Win 2000 machine, should be ok.

Anthony

 

[EastGear]

I'm talking about the link in the Sanho site.
The one that points to -> http://www.3hdigital.com/setup7x32.exe

I get a Not Found Page.

That's the old link
You need to refresh your browser
Here's the new link to the new FAT32 firmware

http://www.3hdigital.com/setup_pdxfp1.exe

 

[LightNPixels]

I seem to have problem with my home PC when I upgrade the firmware. My Windows XP don't detect the CompactDrive at all when I toggle the switch to the "Card" position.

In my office using Win 2000 Professional SP4, the CompactDrive was detected.

I suspect it may have to do with the Win XP SP2 patch I've applied.

Anyone having the same problem?

If you can't apply the patch using a Win XP Machine, try it on a Win 2000 machine, should be ok.

Anthony

I am also experiencing the same problem.

Hope there is new dirver for compact driver.

 

[BigBelly]

ok. will feedback to manufacturer.

I am also experiencing the same problem.

Hope there is new dirver for compact driver.

 

[dogbot]

I've used the Compactdrive (CD) to reliably backup a 1Gb Microdrive on a 2 week trip in cold weather. Here're my 2 cents about some points raised in the preceding discussions:

* corrupted images:
To minimize the possibililty of getting corrupted images during copy, leave the CD on a stable surface and dont disturb it. Dont handle the CD or bump the table! Make 2 copies of each CF as backup. Attaching 3M self adhesive felt pads also helps cushion shock.

For anyone wanting to use the CD in the cold, let the HD spin for a while and warm up before attempting a copy. Ditto with microdrives inserted into the CD.

When I used battery power (during the times they actually had enough voltage to power the HD) only one or two pictures would get corrupted (get a green cast, etc), not the entire set.


* battery power:
The HD is a power hog (so is the microdrive). Old rechargeable batteries (or those that have been overcharged a lot) are not going to power the HD and Microdrive in the CD reliably.
A fully charged set of AA nimH batteries can last several minutes in hot weather but near useless in cold weather (5 to 16 degrees C). That's a problem with the batteries, not the compactdrive. For best results, use A.C. power as much as possible.

* XP not recognising the CD:
Switching to Card mode with the USB cable connected will result in XP prompting for a USB driver. I was initially confused by this and thought the CD didnt work.

To get a usable USB link to the PC, power up the CD by sliding the switch to H.D.D. and connect the USB cable. XP will display a popup dialog for selection of applications to read the CD.


Btw, I'm selling my CD in another thread. Nothing wrong with the CD but I dont need it for backing up photos while I'm in Singapore. Currently using it for storing and playing back mpg movies. Works well that way too!

 

[thomaschan]

any new updates on the corruption of files?

is this still an issue with the new firmware?

"When I used battery power (during the times they actually had enough voltage to power the HD) only one or two pictures would get corrupted (get a green cast, etc), not the entire set."

Wah! does this mean that there will at least be 1 or 2 images that corrupted??

 

[hongsien]

any new updates on the corruption of files?

is this still an issue with the new firmware?

"When I used battery power (during the times they actually had enough voltage to power the HD) only one or two pictures would get corrupted (get a green cast, etc), not the entire set."

Wah! does this mean that there will at least be 1 or 2 images that corrupted??

And corruption is likely at random? Wah! Must take alot of pics to make chance smaller that an important image gets corrupted!

Hong Sien

 

[tokunaga]

Any mac users out there? How do I format the HD in my CompactDrive PD7X for used with OS X 10.3.6? Everytime I plug in the usb cable, a message appears as follows:

You have inserted a disk containing no volumes that Mac OS X can read. To continue with the disk inserted, click Ignore.

Options are as follows:
Initialize Ignore Eject

Thanks for reading and its urgent cos I'm leaving for my holiday soon....

 

[EastGear]

Any mac users out there? How do I format the HD in my CompactDrive PD7X for used with OS X 10.3.6? Everytime I plug in the usb cable, a message appears as follows:

You have inserted a disk containing no volumes that Mac OS X can read. To continue with the disk inserted, click Ignore.

Options are as follows:
Initialize Ignore Eject

Thanks for reading and its urgent cos I'm leaving for my holiday soon....

Select initialize and your Mac should be able to detect the HDD.

As EastGear do not own or man ClubSnap forums, it may be best to direct your future support enquiries to our sales shop at 68371582 or email support@eastgear.com

 

[EastGear]

You can format the CD to MAC format using our format utility from

http://www.compactdrive.com/downloads.htm

 

[bagatelle]

Actually, the non recognised disk is for the empty slot in the card reader.

If you put in a formatted card into the card reader, the mac will recognise the CD as having 2 drives and automount them.

If you click on ignore, you will see only the harddisk.

Not sure about this - formatting the CD to will make it unreadable on the PC...so I'm not sure if people with 2 platforms will want to do that.

 

[EastGear]

Actually, the non recognised disk is for the empty slot in the card reader.

If you put in a formatted card into the card reader, the mac will recognise the CD as having 2 drives and automount them.

If you click on ignore, you will see only the harddisk.

Not sure about this - formatting the CD to will make it unreadable on the PC...so I'm not sure if people with 2 platforms will want to do that.

Both Mac & PC recognise FAT32

The only difference between the Mac format & PC format is the file cluster size. When storing in FAT32, normal files are broken down to smaller parts (or clusters), the larger the file cluster size, the faster it is to store the file in the harddisk, since the file is broken down to fewer parts. And since photo images are more often than not more than few MB big, the cluster size can make a difference in the transfer speed.

Normal FAT32 windows format assigns a 4KB cluster size. Few people do not know this but it is very easy to change the cluster size via control panal>file management.

To optimize transfer speed on the CD, the CD format ultility assignes a 64KB cluster size for PC
Since Mac can only support up a maximum of 32KB cluster size, when you select to format for Mac, the format ultility assigns a 32KB cluster size.
Although it's slightly slower than when it is formatted to PC, the format is totally compatible with both Mac & PC.