buzzy
Apprentice Shielder
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Post by buzzy on Nov 1, 2012 2:58:40 GMT -5
Hi guys (be gentle this is my first post!) I'm fitting an internal HDD to my FD-4 and need to know what the largest capacity drive the firmware will handle? ...I think I've read somewhere that 10Gb was the limit but it may have been a dream - though usually my dreams feature Britney and/or chicken kebabs so I dunno.. anyway can anybody help? Cheers, Buzz.
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Post by cynical1 on Nov 1, 2012 10:18:59 GMT -5
Greetings and welcome to the Nutzhouse ;D First off, I do have a vague recollection of your device. As I recall it was one of the better things Fostex put out, but it did have a slight learning curve and a certain level of savvy was required by the user to get the most out of it. That said... I found the manual on-line and went through it. It was classic Fostex in that it gave you a boat load of information, but little hard technical detail. Everything I could find in the manual and from other digging around does seem to confirm your suspicions that 10GB is the high end on readable disc size. I would guess this ties in with the 8.4GB SCSI spec that was common back in the mid 90's. If you can find a working SyQuest SCSI external drive with a spinning SCSI 8.4GB hard drive you're in business. Set it to Device 6 and you're in. I would guess that neither the Smithsonian nor the British Museum would part with theirs, so it may be a tough find to make. I would guess the spec on the internal IDE 2.5" drive would fall under the same limitations. Translation is that what you'll need is a Jurassic era hard drive in a form factor no longer produced in a size that was rare 10 years ago. The situation you're in is typical given the speed at which technology advances. What was state of the art 15 years ago is now a doorstop. One question. It looks like you have two Firewire ports out of the back. Is that correct? I mention this because it may be possible to pick up a smaller external Firewire hard drive, create a 10GB partition and see if that fools the device. I don't know enough about the device in question to say for certain, but even if it fails you still have an external hard drive to use on your PC, so it wouldn't be a total loss to try it. Especially when you take into account that 15 year old hard drives tend to have issues spinning up and can go flaky on you in a New York minute... One more question. Is this a device you've had for ages or did you just acquire it? The newer digital recording devices offer longer recording times, enhanced functionality and expandability. Granted, they aren't cheap, but after you search the globe for the parts necessary to upgrade your existing unit you may find it's a preferable option. ...though usually my dreams feature Britney and/or chicken kebabs so I dunno... Too much information... Happy Trails - Cynical One |
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buzzy
Apprentice Shielder
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Post by buzzy on Nov 1, 2012 12:08:17 GMT -5
Phew! Ok thanks for taking the time to write all that I guess I'd better explain... Basically, a few years back when I was living alone (Marshall half-stack behind the settee, pizza boxes supporting my FX tray etc you get the picture!) I built a full-on 32 track digital studio in what should've been my front room and enjoyed several years of home recording using oodles of rack equipment, and proper decent equipment. Now I have a family... A very different front room, and like no cash to spend on recording  So, the other day I spotted the FD-4 on eBay and to my surprise won it for £17.00. I know it's old hat but all I have to make backing tracks on atm is a Tascam Porta 07 so I'm not complaining! Anyway it's not got a drive fitted so I'm looking around and find a Jaz drive that would work but I haven't got the PSU for it (12v + 9v jobbie) so then I find an old laptop drive and realise that I could do this for free by liberating an IDC box header, couple of IDC ribbon connectors and some 50way ribbon from work and nailing this drive in. Result! Only then I remembered reading that there was a size limitation hence my question. So yeah I know what I'm planning to use is way old and laughable to most people but I'm having to live within my means and there is no budget so I have to make/mend my gear. Until my Mum stepped in and lent me the cash for a proper Strat I made my guitars too but that's another story! Cheers, Buzz. |
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Post by cynical1 on Nov 1, 2012 12:41:31 GMT -5
You could try and create an 8.4 GB partition on your existing laptop hard drive and just leave the rest of the drive unused. That may fool the firmware. There may even be a firmware upgrade available, but that's a crap shoot on a device of this vintage...manufacturers tend to drop support on devices from previous centuries...
I'd still see if you could borrow a Firewire drive from someone just to see if the Fostex unit detects it. Finding and external SCSI at 8.4GB or an old laptop IDE drive at 10 GB is something akin to finding hen's teeth.
Happy Trails
Cynical One
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buzzy
Apprentice Shielder
Posts: 26
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Post by buzzy on Nov 1, 2012 13:56:07 GMT -5
Well there are plenty of ancient laptops kicking about so I may find one.
Thinking about it I would've thought that the thing would only know how big the drive was if it was formatted wouldn't it? I mean if I stick the drive in 'as is' with it's Microsoft format presumably the FD-4 would just error and invite me to format the unknown disk and, if it's formatting it to suit itself would it not just sort itself out with a 10Gb portion of the disk?
Cheers, Buzz.
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buzzy
Apprentice Shielder
Posts: 26
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Post by buzzy on Nov 1, 2012 14:08:08 GMT -5
EDIT: ...try eBay for hen's teeth there's about 50 10Gb laptop drives on there atm! |
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Post by cynical1 on Nov 1, 2012 19:53:36 GMT -5
You're not going to format the drive. You're only going to set a partition size. According to what I read in the Fostex manual the unit will format the drive itself, so as long as it's not reading the physical drive specs you might get away with it. It may fail miserably, but old laptop hard drives make great skeet shooting targets...
Happy Trails
Cynical One
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buzzy
Apprentice Shielder
Posts: 26
Likes: 0
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Post by buzzy on Nov 2, 2012 3:20:40 GMT -5
Thanks again for the research C1 I'll try the various ideas (including the 15 Gb drive I just found in my drawer!) and let you know what happens. Buzz.
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Post by thetragichero on Mar 14, 2021 12:53:40 GMT -5
bummed this was posted while i was on semi-hiatus. i received an fd4 for my 16th birthday, and we later sent it off to fostex to install a 20gb drive, which thankfully wasn't too much since it ain't rocket science
had tried running it on an iomega jazz drive from the scsi port but that did not work out too well
ahhhh for simpler times....
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