worth adapting Sony ECM-66B/44B for vows, or...

Anthony Milic · November 25th, 2011, 08:05 PM

Greg, does your dr-03 function properly with sd cards over 2gb? Does it properly display time/space remaining?
Thanks

Greg Miller · November 26th, 2011, 10:19 AM

Anthony,

I don't know why you asked the question, but here's some info that might help you.

To tell the truth, I've always used it with 2GB cards because I'm just capturing short clips. So I have just inserted an 8GB card, and initialized the card per the DR-03 menu. Here's what I find.

If I go into the Setup menu, then System, then Information, then Card, it shows the card size as 7.3G. That's because of the discrepancy concerning the definition of "GB." Card manufacturers use "GB" to mean 10^9 Bytes. But devices (like the DR-03) use "GB" to mean 2^30 Bytes, or 1024 x 1024 x 1024 Bytes. OK, so 7.3 x 1024 x 1024 x 1024 ~ 7.84 x 10^9 Bytes, fairly close to "8 GB" card size. I think we're OK so far. (This issue occurs on other computers, recorders, USB drive, etc... it's not specific to the DR-03.)

But where you might initially think there's a problem is when you check the "remaining time" part of the main display. For example, if I set recording mode to PCM/44/16/stereo, it shows remaining time as 3:22:47, which corresponds to a file size of roughly 2GB. Obviously that's a lot less than 8GB.

The answer is found on p.54 of the manual. It clearly states "the maximum recording file size is 2 GB." (This corresponds to the maximum file size with the FAT32 file system. So apparently the DR-03 uses FAT32 to store files on the SDHC card.)

After checking the above info, I recorded a roughly one hour file (PCM/44/16/stereo), ended that recording, and then checked the display again. Again, it shows remaining time as 3:22:47, which corresponds to a file size of roughly 2GB. So it's showing the available time for the next recording you make, and not the total recording time available on the card.

If I then navigate back to through the menu to Card Info, it now says "Remaining size" as 6.7G, which shows that I've used roughly 0.6GB for roughly an hour of recording... that's correct.

If the above info doesn't clear things up, please explain why you asked the question in the first place, and perhaps I can clarify things further.

November 25th, 2011, 08:05 PM	#16
Anthony Milic Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Sydney Australia Posts: 103	Re: worth adapting Sony ECM-66B/44B for vows, or... Greg, does your dr-03 function properly with sd cards over 2gb? Does it properly display time/space remaining? Thanks

November 26th, 2011, 10:19 AM	#17
Greg Miller Trustee Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 1,792	Re: worth adapting Sony ECM-66B/44B for vows, or... Anthony, I don't know why you asked the question, but here's some info that might help you. To tell the truth, I've always used it with 2GB cards because I'm just capturing short clips. So I have just inserted an 8GB card, and initialized the card per the DR-03 menu. Here's what I find. If I go into the Setup menu, then System, then Information, then Card, it shows the card size as 7.3G. That's because of the discrepancy concerning the definition of "GB." Card manufacturers use "GB" to mean 10^9 Bytes. But devices (like the DR-03) use "GB" to mean 2^30 Bytes, or 1024 x 1024 x 1024 Bytes. OK, so 7.3 x 1024 x 1024 x 1024 ~ 7.84 x 10^9 Bytes, fairly close to "8 GB" card size. I think we're OK so far. (This issue occurs on other computers, recorders, USB drive, etc... it's not specific to the DR-03.) But where you might initially think there's a problem is when you check the "remaining time" part of the main display. For example, if I set recording mode to PCM/44/16/stereo, it shows remaining time as 3:22:47, which corresponds to a file size of roughly 2GB. Obviously that's a lot less than 8GB. The answer is found on p.54 of the manual. It clearly states "the maximum recording file size is 2 GB." (This corresponds to the maximum file size with the FAT32 file system. So apparently the DR-03 uses FAT32 to store files on the SDHC card.) After checking the above info, I recorded a roughly one hour file (PCM/44/16/stereo), ended that recording, and then checked the display again. Again, it shows remaining time as 3:22:47, which corresponds to a file size of roughly 2GB. So it's showing the available time for the next recording you make, and not the total recording time available on the card. If I then navigate back to through the menu to Card Info, it now says "Remaining size" as 6.7G, which shows that I've used roughly 0.6GB for roughly an hour of recording... that's correct. If the above info doesn't clear things up, please explain why you asked the question in the first place, and perhaps I can clarify things further.