1Ds doesn't work with Hitachi 4GB Microdrive

I posted this on RobGalbraith as well, but thought someone here might be able to help as well:

Hello, guys. I was wondering if anyone out there has figured out why some 1Ds cameras do not work with the Hitachi 4GB Microdrive...? I pulled one out of a Muvo 2 this afternoon, formatted it to 3.81GB FAT32, and tested it on a 300D, which works just fine. But when I put the drive into my 1Ds, it tells me that it isn't formatted, and then flashes "Err CF" when I tell it not to format. If I format the card, it of course repartitions the card to one 2GB partition and formats it as a FAT drive (and then, it works).

Thanks for any help you might be able to offer!

-Eric

Forget it. Fixed it. You can format the thing in a Digital Rebel, and it works on the 1Ds afterwards.

ROFL, I knew the D-Reberl was good for SOMETHING! (Just kidding gang).

Cheers

James

So you need to buy a Dig Reb as Utility for the 1Ds ... that dang thing gets more and more expensive... ;-)

Is that the microdrive from the Creative Labs MP3 player? I've got one of those on order, but Amazon.com tells me they have no idea when they'll actually get them in stock.... how did you get your hands on one?

When/if I do finally get one, what do I need to do to use the microdrive in my Digital Reb?

Thanks

Hi, Debbie. I found one at J&R last week, but it looks like they flew through their inventory. In hind sight, I should have bought ALL OF THEM.

You just rip the thing out, stick it in your Digital Rebel, and format it. Need some small screwdrivers.

There are rumors that they're going to start soldering the drive into the thing.

People have taken the iPod mini apart, and it looks like the drive isn't soldered in, either. Not sure , though, so don't take my word for it.

My 4Gb Muvo arrived last week - also ordered from J&R for $199. I have taken the Hitachi 4GB Microdrive out and there was no problem formatting it and getting it to work in my 10D. I then subsequently inserted my old Sandisk 512MB CF card back into the Muvo and after installing the appropriate Firmware, I have a great working MP3 player as well! So I am a very happy camper.

I did some research into this whole thing and I was astonished as to how topical this issue is worlwide and the amount of information that is available on various forums. Several useful tips came out - for instance it turns out the Hitachi Microdrive has significantly longer writing times with the 10D when compared to some CF cards. However if you format the Microdrive on your PC with 32k allocation sizes it solves this problem and writes just as fast. If someone is interested I can try to measure the exact times.

With respect to the drives being soldered in, it appears to be a false rumour.

Cheers, Andre

Hi Andre, how did you format the MD with FAT16 32K size. What Operation System/Formating Programm did you use?

Simon

Hi Simon

I have not actually done the 32k allocation yet as I still want to get the writing times for the Microdrive as is before doing a comparative test.

But to do that, I dont think, will be difficult. I think you just right click the drive in My Computer, choose format and then select the allocation size you want. Not so??

Anyway I will try this tomorrow and let you know.

Andre

There's some site out there had has information on how to do it with Linux. But maybe Win 2K can do it. I was under the impression that Windows would not format FAT over 2GB under any circumstances.

Hi again Simon

So it turns out that changing the allocation size is not as simple as I thought! It appears that you have no option but to select the default allocation when you format the 4GB Microdrive. I will try to find the thread again that alluded to this method to speed up writing to the microdrive.

No big deal though as the slower writing speed is not really noticeable unless you are firing off multiple RAW images. Certainly shouldnt be a problem UW where you generally have to wait for strobes to recycle.

In the meantime I am really happy with being able to shoot 647 RAW images and having a great MP3 player to boot!

Will let you know if I find out any more....

There's some site out there had has information on how to do it with Linux. But maybe Win 2K can do it. I was under the impression that Windows would not format FAT over 2GB under any circumstances.

2GB is the limit for FAT 16 under any OS. Above that you must use FAT 32. Windows XP will do a FAT 32 format up to 34GB, on larger drives it will only do NTFS. The easyest way to do larger FAT 32 take Formats is to boot from a old floppy disk. How to do a 4GB FAT 16 format I have no clue, it is probably not something you can do with windows.

Here's the link for 4GB w/FAT, which requires 64KB clusters:

http://www.lochert.cc/microdrive.html