320 GB drive...will it work?

[sbingner]

Fully I think -- had the same issue with the 160GB drive... 

http://forum.phathack.com/index.php/topic,620.0.html

[markbowen]

Yes, fully.  In XP, with the 320GB in the cradle, but no PMM running, it functions as any normal external drive, with no errors whatsoever.  As soon as you open PMM, it causes one or both partitions to un-mount, with Windows reporting delayed write errors.  For whatever reason, it will only play nice with PMM if you start the software first and then insert the DMS.

In case it is relevant, I note that Vista will not recognize the 320GB (or the 250GB) drive in the cradle at all, though it will recognize and function normally with a 160GB drive.  This leads me to suspect that the issue with the larger drives (both WD) may be due to a conflict between the drives and the USB cradle, not necessarily with the software.

[kegger]

Did you notice any performance differential, as in a lot slower when you moved from the 160 to the 320?  I've noticed that it takes XP a very long time to recognize PHTDTA (USB 2.0 cradle) and basically prevents anything else from happening until this completes when you insert the DMS into the cradle.  PHTSYS seems like it also is somewhat slow in this regard too, but nowhere near as bad as PHTDTA (probably because of the obvious size difference between the two).  Almost reminds me of the USB 1.0 cradle.

I'm wondering if the potential problem is with the 320 itself or is this par for the course with a very large partition running FAT32?  My 120 from a speed standpoint is considerably faster in all phases of PMM 2.30 execution and XP recognizes it rather quickly and doesn't prevent other XP functionality from occurring. 

After XP recognizes both partitions, it works as it should with 2.30, albeit slower than the 120.  PMM 3.92 with the 320 is hit and miss, mostly miss even following your instructions. 

Maybe there is no potential problem and that's the way it is with this particular HD?  Thanks.

[sbingner]

I expect that's primarily caused by the large partition running FAT32, in conjunction with the cradle not being particularly fast

[kegger]

Yeah, that's unfortunate.  However, the problem really seems limited (at least IMHO) to the initial recognition of the DMS.  It takes a while for the PHTDATA to get recognized.  It's similar to putting a very large HD, like a 1TB on your system only to watch POST take a lot longer than ususal.

Anyway, thanks to Terry on another post, changing one system parameter to enable write caching for the drive (320gb) changed the speed of save and eject tremendously.  Changed this for my 120gb as well.  Too bad that change doesn't impact the initial DMS recognition time for the 320gb!

It works and that is what matters the most. 

[JDGJr]

Successfully created a DMS using a 320G drive on XP, loaded 1 album and it plays properly.

but the drive is only 128G, even in the disk manager applet. Can someone point me to doc on how to get PhtDta > 128Gig?

Using a USB-1 cradle, if that makes any difference.

TIA,
John

[InfoProf]

I have a 100Gb drive that I would like to replace with a 320Gb one. The clone method seems from the messages to be quite painless, but I do not know how to accomplish the last statement in the post - "If you are moving from a smaller drive to a >127GB one via cloning, be sure to add LBA48."

Add where? From where?

If I use PhatHack DMS Tools to "create a new DMS", will the LBA48 code be installed correctly on the drive? Or will I still need to install it manually?

I tried to use PMM2.30 with PhatHack DMS Tools a while ago, and got the CRC errors that dburns got. Could this be related to this LBA48 stuff?

I'm not a Linux user, which explains my confusion. I would benefit from someone telling me exactly how to initialize my 320Gb drive, and exactly where to find (and put) the necessary software.

Thanks in advance.\
\Steve

[VorTechS]

Using the DMS tools iis the simplest method as everything is done for you.  The CRC errrors can, for the most part, be avoided by changing the drive properties within wnidows ... there's a thread already about this.  If it still happens, then it's down to the way PhatNoise MM manipulates the drive.

PhatHack Media Manager does not suffer from this problem.

The DMS tools will load the LBA48 linux for you.  The only thing you need to know in advance of using the DMS tools, is the firmware version already installed on the box (and you can then uncheck the reflash box option to save yourself 15 minutes or so).

But remember to select a firmware version, or the buttons will be greyed out.

[VorTechS]

Successfully created a DMS using a 320G drive on XP, loaded 1 album and it plays properly.

but the drive is only 128G, even in the disk manager applet. Can someone point me to doc on how to get PhtDta > 128Gig?

Using a USB-1 cradle, if that makes any difference.

TIA,
John

Take a look in My Documents\PhatHack Media Manager\Logs, and check the logs for what the tools said the size of the partitions were for the formatting.  I wonder if there is some limitation with the USB 1.1 cradle?

[JDGJr]

either the cradle or my BIOS - the logs look consistent, below. I'll try this again on a vista machine with a newer bios when my USB-2 cradle arrives from the ebay seller.

thanks for the support. And big thanks for this very useful utility!!!


   Disk ID: 3
   Disk Name: WDC WD32 00BEVE-00A0H USB Disk
   PnP Device: USBSTOR\DISK&VEN_WDC_WD32&PROD_00BEVE-00A0H&REV_11.0\D868C85AA5E2FF31&0
   Disk Unique ID (not serial!): 16E73444

      Partitions List
      ---------------

      (Debugging: About to Query WMI for Logical Disks)

      (Debugging: ..Query Complete)
      Partition: Disk #3, Partition #0
      Drive: D:
      Serial #: <New Volume: WMI Returned DBNull>




      Partitions List
      ---------------

      (Debugging: About to Query WMI for Logical Disks)

      (Debugging: ..Query Complete)
      Partition: Disk #3, Partition #1
      Drive: E:
      Serial #: <New Volume: WMI Returned DBNull>



      Device evaluation complete.
Checking mounted drives for disk...
[Cycle 1] Re-checking mounted drives for disk...
Re-checking WMI device list....
[Cycle 2] Re-checking mounted drives for disk...
Re-checking WMI device list....
...new disk mounts found successfully!
Checking available disk space...
...which is: 67,108,864 Bytes.
Checking available disk space...
...which is: 137,438,952,448 Bytes.
LBA Check reports: 137 GB
LBA kernel required: True

[InfoProf]

Just an update to say that I used a USB-IDE/SATA adapter to connect my 320Gb drive to my HP laptop; ran PhatHack DMS Tools and created a new DMS. No problem at all. Launched PMM 2.30 and created a disk on the drive. Again, no problem. No CRC errors either. All without having to mount the drive in the DMS cartridge and the USB 2.0 cradle. Seemed a lot faster to format the drive as well.

I may just use this method everytime I want to update the files on the drive, although it will be a bit of a pain to take it out of the cartridge over and over.

I'm a happy camper; thanks VorTechS for the guidance.

/Steve

[JDGJr]

My update: i got the USB-2 drive and it works on my XP machine (not Vista). I recreated my DMS, and the data partition is the proper size to fill out the disk, and I can copy lots of music files either from explorer or from PHMM.

Excellent!!!

John

PS: thanks VorTechS !!

[jheyerman]

Ordered a couple of 320 gb drives from DirectCanada (online store in Canada - anyone who is looking for the 320 gb drive in Canada, search for the P/N WD3200BEVERTL at DirectCanada - this gives you the retail version, which is for some reason cheaper than the oem version...).  At any rate installed the drive into the DMS, and used VorTechS' excellent phathack tools (v2.12, xp) to create the new DMS, no issues at all (thanks VorTechS!).  Despite reading about the workaround, I started Media Manager 3.92 and, once running, inserted the DMS into the cradle.  Left for a few minutes, and when I came back, the DMS was recognized.  Did a "clean DMS" under the options menu, and began syncing my collection.  Cool! 

The only problem I have is that occasionally I get a "file in use" error while 3.92 is copying one of my music files and I have to retry.  This happened with my 160gb drive as well.  It's irritating since it takes about six hours to sync the entire collection (all .flac files), and if I get that message it just hangs until I say retry.  It always works on retry, too...

Just want to say how much I appreciate all the work all have done in the past to get this stuff working.  320 gb of flac in my car is so awesome (my three year old loves it too...)

Jeff 

[Terry_Kennedy]

The only problem I have is that occasionally I get a "file in use" error while 3.92 is copying one of my music files and I have to retry.  This happened with my 160gb drive as well.  It's irritating since it takes about six hours to sync the entire collection (all .flac files), and if I get that message it just hangs until I say retry.  It always works on retry, too...

What anti-virus software are you running? I have AVG Internet Security 8.5 and it has some interaction with file copies that move large amounts of data. The "Resident Shield" part of the product has to be temporarily disabled when I populate the DMS, as well as for copies to NAS units, or I get file-in-use errors. The description of that feature begins with "Resident Shield scans files as they are copied, opened, or saved..."

[jheyerman]

Maybe I shouldn't admit this, but I don't use any anti-virus software... 

[VorTechS]

Nothing wrong with that admission, I don't either.  But then, maybe we are of a breed not stupid enough to click on web-popups that claim our PC is infected with 32 virus' and can clean 'em all out for us!

[leonlobo]

Hi! Just replaced my stock 20Gb with a 320Gb WD3200BEVE. DMS tools 2.12 did it flawlessly as per the instructions  I did have to hack the box and upgrade the firmware first. I have it installed where my 6 CD changer used to be in an Audi A4 (B7) glovebox. Got rid of the 'heatsink' to fit it though but didn't even have to drop the glovebox to fit it. Used a cable from a guy on eBay (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110401288069&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT). Transferred about 60Gb of flacs so far. Great sound. Even beats the head units CD player!!!