2 GB Hitachi Microdrive - problems

[tommykjensen]

Have anybody experienced problems with this microdrive?

After only 3,5 months use mine has read errors. Last saturday when I returned from shooting the Copenhagen Historic Grand Prix I came home and to my horror the drive started clicking when I accessed the card. And I know that sound too well from regular harddiscs. Fortunately I could retrieve all photos so I did not loose anything. The card has now been returned to be replaced - I hope they will replace it with a 1 GB Ultra CompactFlash II instead. If they replace it with a new microdrive I will sell it and buy a different card.

I did have my doubts about microdrives before I bought it but after reading about so many having used them for a long time I decided to buy one. But now I have lost all trust in microdrives.....

[aam1234]

ouch Tommy, this is awful. But glad you could retrieve the photos.

[John_T]

As I understand it, very few people have problms with the IBM/Hitachi 1GB drives, but more complain about 2GB and up. I had a 1GB IBM drive for a couple of years and the guy I passed it on to is still using it happy as a lark.

Still, I feel better with solid state cards. There is test on the net somewhere where they tried all kinds of things to ruin CF cards of all different brands. Through washing machines to hitting with a sledge hammer. All but one brand survived all tests except the sledge hammer test, though they were still able to retrieve a few images from one smashed card. :lol:

[robertwgross]

Where can I sign up to be a CF card tester? I have my own sledgehammer.

---Bob Gross---

[tommykjensen]

Hmm strange. I got the microdrive back today with the message that nothing is wrong with it.

Then I tested it once more with one of the photo rescue programs that reads all sectors in an effort to rescue lost photos. After a short while it started with read errors again.

Then I connected the cardreader to a different pc and repeated the test and - no errors!



The cardreader is from Dane-Elec and is connected to the first pc with a 50 cm extension cord. The reader itself has a 2 cm short usb connector so it is convenient to use for travel and use with laptops.

On the second pc I did not use the extension cord because on that one I have an USB port on the front of the pc.

Could it be the extension cord that cause this problem? Maybe a power issue when using the extension cord? The extension cord was delivered with the card reader so I assume there would be no problem.

[Jon]

Power, or a cheap cord, could be a factor. Was the reader plugged directly into the PC or was it plugged into a hub?

If you open Device Manager, expand the USB controllers tree, and click on the various USB hub entries, you'll see what's plugged into each of them and what the power demands are. You might either exceed the total power available to the hub, or the power available to each individual device. The USB spec's only required to provide 500 mA to each port; and if you plug an unpowered hub into that, it doesn't magically grow more power, so you might be overtaxing the available power.

[tommykjensen]

It was not connected to a hub, it was connected directly to a port on the back of the pc with the extension cord.

[Jon]

Definitely worth checking the power tabs, both with and without the extension cord then.

[tommykjensen]

I did that but don't see a powertab for the USB storage device, I only see the powertab for the root hubs and an external hub.

[Belmondo]

I"m watching this thread with great interest. I just took out a 30-year mortgage on a 4G microdrive, and I'm a little apprehensive about precisely this kind of problem. So far, I'm pleased to report that all three photos I've taken with it transferred perfectly to my laptop. :shock: :wink:

[Jon]

I did that but don't see a powertab for the USB storage device, I only see the powertab for the root hubs and an external hub.

Yes - those will list what's plugged into them, and how much power it's drawing. Only the hub entries have this tab; other devices and controllers won't. But the hubs each list the directly-connected devices.

[tommykjensen]

It seems that it is my external hub that is using all the power because if I disconnects it I don't get any errors. If I reconnect it I do get errors.

So it seems my microdrive is ok afterall. So now I really have plenty space for photos as I did already by 2 x 1 GB Compact Flash to replace this microdrive :lol: So totally I have 5 GB that should last some time :D

But then again I may sell the micrrodrive anyway.

[Jon]

Yeah, I always recommend powered USB hubs for just that reason.

[tommykjensen]

Yeah, I always recommend powered USB hubs for just that reason.

Actually it is powered but can run without power so I do that because it get extremely hot when the power is connected! I think I'll replace it with a different one of just disconnect it when I need to read from the microdrive.

But thanks for the advice anyway.