Drk Orange
29th of July 2006 (Sat), 02:39
I went into a large office product chain store yesterday to grab some stuff, and as always, scoped out the bargain rack.
This is usually filled up with returns of stock that was incorrectly purchased and returned, and usually has neat stuff for half price and full warranty.
I have been after a Creative Muvo MP3 player for a while now, and there in a taped-back-up package was one of these:
http://www.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=213&subcategory=215&product=10659
A 5gig MP3 player with FM tuner for half price - down to $75 Australian. It was too good to pass up.
So, I gets it home to find that everything (including the battery) is still sealed in individual wrapping, unused. I charge it up, and it works as it should. The headphones sound good, and the controls are basic and do everything expected. I present it to the wife and she is pleased. All is good in the world.
I do a little research on the net and discover that the memory is actually a Seagate micro-drive, and while the manufacturers state that the drive is 'locked' so cannot be used in any other device, there are stories on the net about early models having no such limitation.
So, what's a guy to do? I woke up early and cleared the workbench...
Talk about simple. I opened the unit (a small phillips screwdriver is all that's needed) and removed the microdrive. It fits my 300D camera, which (after formatting) claims I have space for 999 photos. I take a few shots, and find I still have room for 999 more. :)
I removed the microdrive from the camera and stuck it in my card-reader to pull the images off. It is a little thicker than a standard CF card, so was a snug fit. The images were read OK, so it looks as if the 5gig microdrive is still not 'locked'.
Now for stage two.
I decided that the 5gig should live in my camera full time, and a 1gig MP3 player was plenty good enough for the missus. So, I slotted the 1gig CF card into the Muvo and reassembled it.
I powered it up, to be greeted with a 'recovery menu' on its little screen. One of the options was to format - which I did. (Up to 960+ meg)It then complained it had no firmware, and needed it to be reinstalled.
Uh-oh.
A quick search found a small file on the Creative website,
http://files.creative.com/manualdn/Drivers/PDE/8669/0x40AE3461/MuV2_PCFW_LF_1_00_02.exe
which turned out to be rediculously easy to use. You run it, and it complains it cannot see a Muvo attached to the PC. You then connect the Muvo via the USB port, and use the recovery menu on the device to select "Load FW". As soon as that is selected, it all starts happening.
30 seconds later, I have a working Creative Muvo FM with one gig of memory, and a 5gig microdrive for my camera.
All for $75 Australian and 30 minutes work. (A 4gig 80x CF card can be bought for $220 Australian if you know where to shop)
The hardest part of the whole job was convincing the missus that she wouldn't notice the missing 4gig.
I haven't used it much, but image data save rates are very similar to my 512MB CF card (The microdrive takes 46 seconds to save 4 x RAW images, while the standard speed CF takes 45 seconds. I should have tested the 1gig 80x I put in the MP3 player, but I suspect the limitation is in the camera and not the memory)
I assume the microdrive uses more power than the CF card, is there anything else I should watch for?
This is usually filled up with returns of stock that was incorrectly purchased and returned, and usually has neat stuff for half price and full warranty.
I have been after a Creative Muvo MP3 player for a while now, and there in a taped-back-up package was one of these:
http://www.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=213&subcategory=215&product=10659
A 5gig MP3 player with FM tuner for half price - down to $75 Australian. It was too good to pass up.
So, I gets it home to find that everything (including the battery) is still sealed in individual wrapping, unused. I charge it up, and it works as it should. The headphones sound good, and the controls are basic and do everything expected. I present it to the wife and she is pleased. All is good in the world.
I do a little research on the net and discover that the memory is actually a Seagate micro-drive, and while the manufacturers state that the drive is 'locked' so cannot be used in any other device, there are stories on the net about early models having no such limitation.
So, what's a guy to do? I woke up early and cleared the workbench...
Talk about simple. I opened the unit (a small phillips screwdriver is all that's needed) and removed the microdrive. It fits my 300D camera, which (after formatting) claims I have space for 999 photos. I take a few shots, and find I still have room for 999 more. :)
I removed the microdrive from the camera and stuck it in my card-reader to pull the images off. It is a little thicker than a standard CF card, so was a snug fit. The images were read OK, so it looks as if the 5gig microdrive is still not 'locked'.
Now for stage two.
I decided that the 5gig should live in my camera full time, and a 1gig MP3 player was plenty good enough for the missus. So, I slotted the 1gig CF card into the Muvo and reassembled it.
I powered it up, to be greeted with a 'recovery menu' on its little screen. One of the options was to format - which I did. (Up to 960+ meg)It then complained it had no firmware, and needed it to be reinstalled.
Uh-oh.
A quick search found a small file on the Creative website,
http://files.creative.com/manualdn/Drivers/PDE/8669/0x40AE3461/MuV2_PCFW_LF_1_00_02.exe
which turned out to be rediculously easy to use. You run it, and it complains it cannot see a Muvo attached to the PC. You then connect the Muvo via the USB port, and use the recovery menu on the device to select "Load FW". As soon as that is selected, it all starts happening.
30 seconds later, I have a working Creative Muvo FM with one gig of memory, and a 5gig microdrive for my camera.
All for $75 Australian and 30 minutes work. (A 4gig 80x CF card can be bought for $220 Australian if you know where to shop)
The hardest part of the whole job was convincing the missus that she wouldn't notice the missing 4gig.
I haven't used it much, but image data save rates are very similar to my 512MB CF card (The microdrive takes 46 seconds to save 4 x RAW images, while the standard speed CF takes 45 seconds. I should have tested the 1gig 80x I put in the MP3 player, but I suspect the limitation is in the camera and not the memory)
I assume the microdrive uses more power than the CF card, is there anything else I should watch for?