The goal: install a 250GB PATA 3.5" drive in an FS-4.

It was quite a hassle to just get a FAT32 250GB partition created and formatted as the FS-4 could not properly partition and format the disk itself. After I prepared the disk on a separate machine, I connected it back to the FS-4. While the FS-4 recognized the large disk/partition and accepted it, the unit showed 000 minutes remaining and refused to record.

So, I performed a format from within the FS-4, knowing that it was correctly partitioned, and the disk then showed 488 minutes remaining. I believe it's hitting the 127GB limit. This is an old FS-4 (as evidenced by the flat IDE cable inside), so it's possible that a new firmware version corrects this, but I doubt they would upgrade such low-level components of the OS in a simple firmware update.

I did a 'repair disk' afterwards and that brought it up to 516min.

The disk is not accessible through the DD utility, but I can record to it.

So there you have it: mission mostly failed.

A hearty attempt to benefit everyone though...
Thanks

too bad. The project could have lead to part 2 -- how to attach a car battery to your Firestore to match the 17+ hour record time. Just picture it balanced on top of your tripod! LOL.

-Terence

I suspect that there are remnants of windoze 95 that run on the processor inside of the firestore. it's probably hard coded and not changeable as firmware.

I suggest that you do a disk clone. We have a machine that does disk to disk clones but I know symantec offers a product that will do it as well. I upgraded my 40gb fs-4 to a 80gb drive with no problems.

My ADS Pryo DV Drives are much easier to upgrade.

Jon

We have 4 FS-4HD's that we upgraded to 100Gb Hitachi Drives - same as the OEM drives and 2 with 120Gb Segates w. 8mb, etc. All run perfectly. The 120Gb in .m2t mode gives us something like 720+ minutes of record time, and the 100GB give us around 600 ish minutes. I always heard that there was a 120GB fat32 limit, so we've never tried to go bigger than that, but putting in the 250GB definately confirms everything. Thanks

I always heard that there was a 120GB fat32 limit, so we've never tried to go bigger than that, but putting in the 250GB definately confirms everything.

Yes that's basically correct. Technically, FAT32 is good up to 2TB. Realistically, very few OSes and apps properly access FAT32 disks above 127GB. Windows XP won't even let you format a FAT32 partition greater than 32GB, but it will access an existing one without trouble. I'm guessing the OS in the firestore, being as old as it is, just can't correctly address that large of a partition.

This is not a personal attack on the device; at the time the firestore was designed, large hard disks were simply uncommon and expensive. Besides, 600-700 minutes should be enough. I wouldn't want to keep more than a day's work on something that wasn't at least raid mirrored. Now if the firestore could wirelessly offload its data while idle...

My ultimate plan was to rig a hotswap (or coldswap) bay with an IDE switch so I could slide the hard drives in and out during the days of a shoot. I could mount the firestore semi-permanently and keep the cam usable while downloading video files. It should still be possible to use an IDE switch, but for 120GB hard drives, meh.

Well, what was really nice about the FS-3's is that you had the hot-swappable hard drives. Made it very convienent to pop hard drives in & out. I wish they would come out with an HD version like that.

I have the FS4HD pro 60gb version. If I wanted to upgrade the Hd to a 120Gb one, would I just take the screws out of the back, pop the new one in and hit format on the FS4 and it owuld be ready to go?

Patrick

I perused this then simply used an 80Gb drive I had to upgrade my 40Gb FS-4...no problems at all and I saved heaps.


http://dvinfo.net/conf/archive/index.php/t-63372.html




Ian SChutt

Yes Patrick - Note that it will VOID the warranty, but it's worth it. No files are kept on the hard drive except for video files - the OS is probably on some kind of Eprom chip.

A couple things to remember:

Must be 120 GB or less
Must be an IDE 2.5" 5400 RPM Drive (4200's are too slow, 7200's run too hot)
Must have 8Mb of cache (not 2Mb)

We have successfully used the same OEM drives that Focus Uses - The Hitachi Travelstar, but have also installed 2 Segate Momentus 2.5" 120Gb Hard Drives that work perfectly - I would almost venture to say that they work better than the Hitachi's.

When you open up the case, be very careful not to bend the pins when taking the IDE cable off. It is on there pretty tight. Also, make sure you remember which way the cable went. It is very easy to put on upside down and get a hard drive error, then you'll have to take it apart again to flip the cable. Once you replace the drive, it will ask you if you want to partition / format it, say Yes and you should be good to go. Don't use windows to format the drive - the Firestore will automatically detect it and you'll be golden.

We first started doing the hard drive upgrades when we had the FS-3. I don't understand how people pay $800 - $1000 more for a 100GB hard drive instead of just going to circuit city or new egg, getting a 120GB drive for $150, and doing it yourself.

Be very careful if your firestore has a flat cable vs. ribbon cable. The flat cables become brittle over time and will break very easily. Focus ended up changing the cable in later versions, but early firestores will have the more fragile flat. In the case that you do get a 'no disk' error and it is likely the flat, you can find a 44-pin F-F ribbon on the internet in several places ~$10

Yes Patrick - Note that it will VOID the warranty, but it's worth it. No files are kept on the hard drive except for video files - the OS is probably on some kind of Eprom chip.

A couple things to remember:
Must be 120 GB or less
Must be an IDE 2.5" 5400 RPM Drive (4200's are too slow, 7200's run too hot)
Must have 8Mb of cache (not 2Mb)

We have successfully used the same OEM drives that Focus Uses - The Hitachi Travelstar, but have also installed 2 Segate Momentus 2.5" 120Gb Hard Drives that work perfectly - I would almost venture to say that they work better than the Hitachi's..

Hey Kit -
I was just wondering - is the upgrade a "straight up swap"? take one drive out and put the other one in? I'm just a little nervous opening up the case since it's been less than a year... also is this drive suitable?
http://www.jdoqocy.com/click-2221594-10439518?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.geeks.com%2Fdetails.asp%3FInvtId%3DST9120821A-R&cm_mmc=CJ-_-1939669-_-2221594-_-Seagate%20ST9120821A%20120GB%20UDMA%2f100%205400RPM%208MB%202.5

Thanks in advance for your help

Kris

I don't understand how people pay $800 - $1000 more for a 100GB hard drive instead of just going to circuit city or new egg, getting a 120GB drive for $150, and doing it yourself.

I don't understand the blatant GREED of Focus Enhancements for charging so much more for the larger hard drives!

I wonder if they actually sell the ones with 100 gig drives in them.

Danny Fye
www.vidmus.com

I don't understand the blatant GREED of Focus Enhancements for charging so much more for the larger hard drives!

I wonder if they actually sell the ones with 100 gig drives in them.

Danny Fye
www.vidmus.com

i agree with you 100% - i done so much research on the product that i came to the conclusion that they sorta dominate THAT particular market and you know what happens when 2 or maybe three companies make a certain product...monopoly - but that it's changing with the P2 cards and built in hard drive cameras, the only reason I'm going thru so much trouble is; i love DVX100... :)

Hey Kit -
I was just wondering - is the upgrade a "straight up swap"? take one drive out and put the other one in? I'm just a little nervous opening up the case since it's been less than a year... also is this drive suitable?
http://www.jdoqocy.com/click-2221594-10439518?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.geeks.com%2Fdetails.asp%3FInvtId%3DST9120821A-R&cm_mmc=CJ-_-1939669-_-2221594-_-Seagate%20ST9120821A%20120GB%20UDMA%2f100%205400RPM%208MB%202.5

Thanks in advance for your help

Kris

Yes, it's just a straight up swap. I'm not going to get into the particulars of that because we have been over this a dozen times - do a search for fs-4 hard drive, you'll probably come up with everything you need on how to do it. Take your time, be careful, and make sure you put the right drive in (I have had success with Hitachi and Segate). Remember, once you do this, Focus will charge you big bucks to fix your FS-4 if anything goes wrong with it. Then again, not paying the extra $900 for the upgraded hard drive initially is definitely worth it in my eyes. That's highway robbery. Some techie didn't think we would notice or figure it out? Most of us are huge techies, FE! Don't play us for fools..........

Just to let everyone know...

NAB is coming quickly and from what I've gathered, Bella USA will be making more announcements regarding their D2D communication device which allows swapping of usb 2.0 hard drives.

Here's what I've saved up to buy:
http://www.bella-usa.com/Catapult.htm

and a few of these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136059

That ought to put Firestore out! YES! competition is good for the consumer!

Thanks Kit - that's great news...

and Brent, you just threw a monkey wrench in my engine! lol - that new device looks like kick-azz - i'll check them out at NAB, i'll be there on monday!

kris

forget about the catapult...
their website explain why.

"The interest in Catapult has been amazing. While we wish that we could offer great development news and even a release date, we are not able to at this time. The cause has been the engineering firm we hired for the project: as we progressed further into the project, it became clear that they were simply not capable of delivering what was promised

While we have ended our relationship with that particular engineering company, we are committed to Catapult and bringing it to market. We are looking at other avenues and engineering firms, and we will keep you updated on any progress."

in other words, they are not able to build one, they rent somebody that was not and i doubt they will find somebody who will.

wow so basically FS is the only "affordable" one in the market right now? man that sucks!!! oh well at least it does what I need it to do... lol

Thanks Kit! It worked like a charm!!! now reads 400+ minutes (100bg drive) - thanks for all your help...

You can kluge up a removable solution for the FS by using the LT-44 bay from Audavi. It attaches to the 44-pin cable meant for the normal HDD. You can then insert one of their cartridges (40GB upto 120GB), format and record as normal. When the drive is full you pop it out and replace with a new one. Drives are ruggedized and can be connected to PC or laptop for immediate editing. Same concept as QC Deck or Hitachi ZDR-1.

You can kluge up a removable solution for the FS by using the LT-44 bay from Audavi. It attaches to the 44-pin cable meant for the normal HDD. You can then insert one of their cartridges (40GB upto 120GB), format and record as normal. When the drive is full you pop it out and replace with a new one. Drives are ruggedized and can be connected to PC or laptop for immediate editing. Same concept as QC Deck or Hitachi ZDR-1.

Could you be more specific? Provide a link?

I did a Google search and found a web page, www.hardtape.com

Is this the place that has this item?

I look at their poorly designed web page for the LT-44 and I can't find it anywhere. And since they don't have a search I can't search the model number either.

I looked at their store page, http://store.hardtape.com/nsearch.html which does have a search and search for LT-44 and it doesn't find anything.

Are you sure you have the correct model number? A Google search for LT-44 results in absolutely nothing close to what you are talking about.

Danny Fye
www.dannyfye.com
www.vidmus.com/scolvs

Danny: On the store page for the IDE/PATA bay there is a connections drop down menu and you can choose the 44-pin option. http://store.hardtape.com/hts6500bay.html
Send a note to info@hardtape.com and they will send pictues and dimesions.

Mike!