Sparky191

No I haven't tried it with a MD. But it was so unreliable on PC's its not something I would see any value in. I have a vague memory of problems between version being incompatitble from each other. It sued to cause a lot of problems though.There was a competiting product at the time called Stacker which was more robust. Of course you could just compress your data with stuffit or winzip and have the same effect. Regardless it would take an age to copy 2GB to a HiMD. Also if you HiMD unit failed you might have some difficulty sourcing a replacment in a year or so. Where I live most Sony stores no longer stock them.

Drivespace? You've got to be kidding....

I find spliting a pain. I'm generally recording compilations or live recordings, so the splits aren't obvious. I was using a Creative USB MP3+ but I thought my older PCI Sonic Fury was much better. Its also easier to get my HiMD beside my HiFi than my PC. Even my laptop is awkward. Also its easier to process smaller wav's than giant 60-90min wavs. Though CD WAVE is very good at it.

But your right doing it direct to PC is quicker in terms of doing the recording. Personally I don't have that great a sound card, and while I do use CD WAVE to reccord on to the PC I found HiMD did a better job or splitting the tracks than PC software. And that is a painful and time consuming process which you have to babysit. I find HiMD gets the track splits right 90% of the time. Uploading the HiMD I do when I'm busy with some other task. I see no point in buying a deck though.

Why not buy a HiMD unit, record from your old MD to it via analog, then upload the HIMD using USB. Once you've recorded all your existing MD's, switch completely to HiMD and sell the old MD unit.

Probably would work if the storage device is self powered. I'm assuming the HiMD isn't once you connect it to USB.

For the love of....its called humour. Look it up... The point I'm making (and obviously badly) is that HD's aren't that unreliable otherwise you couldn't even use them for storing/processing live data in enterprise/critical systems. Obviously a RAID caters for fault tolerance in that enviroment and you have apropriate archival backup process. If your techs can circumvent the procedure so easily well thats a different problem . For critical backup obviously DLT or similar is industry practice. But I reckon its hardly appropriate for someones music collection. Having a simply HD backup is sufficient for 99% of home users The majority of people don't have backups, so a complex system of tape just isn't going to get used. They'll do it for a while then get bored with it. It has to be a simple and non intrusive system. Thats not tape, which requires discipline. Even in IT departments its a hassle. Everyone around here seems to have HD failures constantly. Thats just not right. But hey if people think HiMD is the way to go for backup go for it. Its only your own time you're wasting. Personally I'd run a mile from proprietary hardware to hold my data. If you want to win a pissing contest that HiMD is the most reliable medium ever then go ahead. I've lost interest in this. The OP wanted to know could he use it for his data. The answer is yes. Personally I wouldn't.

Must make it hard to use a PC. For corporations and other enterprises the HD is kinda useful Maybe they don't have any thing as important as Music though...

I work in IT and a drive failing, while it does happen is pretty rare compared to the number of drives in use. Last year I'd work on a migration project where we replaced about 3000 PC's and laptops. All of which were between 5 and 10yrs old. In 4 months We saw about 2 drive failures. In both cases the data was recoverable. I've about 30 MD's and 3 players. I've had about 2 go bad, and one player. Of my own HD's I must have had about 20 or so and I only had one go bad and I didn't lose data. But if there was a significant amount of hard disks failing then they wouldn't be used for backup. Obviously in siuations where drives are in heavy use, 24/7 like on a server its more frequent than in a desktop. But even so, in a server farm a drive failing isn't that common.

I dunno what you quys are doing to your HD's. I have one here thats over 10yrs old a 230mb drive in an old Quadra. Still perfect.

I'm more worried about crotch rot...

Thats not a valid comparision. You need to include the cost of the HiMD unit. How else can they read the HiMD disk? When a CDR/DVDR's are so cheap its nuts to use a HiMD. $1 vs $8. Basically as a data transport, HiMD can't compete on cost, speed, availablity or capacity. Theres always something better. Its a music recorder. Deal with it.

Have that case and a NH700. Really only need the mic and fancied the nicer NH1. However now I realise, I only use the HiMD for recording, and will never use it as a player.

A 1GB Flash memory stick is waaaaaay faster.

It feels a lot slower. But its years since I used a Zip disc. Format via SonicStage or the MD unit itself. Its fine for small bits of data, a document or two. But forget it for large volumes of data.

I've kinda lost interest now myself.

Theres a reason why software comes on a CD/DVD instead of 3000 floppy disks. Even external HD's are cheap now. Just because you can do it, doesn't mean that its a good idea.

If your that worried about SS don't install it. Buy a player that doesn't need software and uses drag and drop. My Creative Zen (with latest firmware) is like this. But also Cowon and iRiver players are too. I work in IT so computer problems don't bother me. I've installed SS on 3 PC's with no problems. But theres always a chance it can go wrong. No guarantees, sorry. HiSP is ATRAC3+ (256kps) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minidisc#Recording_modes

Don't worry about SonicStage unless you have a problem. I'd say most people don't have a problem with Version 3.3. A few do yes, but only a few. Theres no reason to use real time unless you don't want to use the computer. Using SonicStage >> USB is much easier and faster. Using real time recording you have the option of PCM, HiSP and HiLP. You've more options using SonicStage but HiSP is the best compromise in my opinion.

Been watching this for a while, great little song. Video is excellent too.

Its still a lossy compression scheme and not widely supported by that many portable players. HiMD doesn't support it anyway. If you are that bothered about sound quality you won't be using low bitrates which sound dire anyway. The fact you save 10-20% in disk space is outweighted by the low cost of hard disks, and lack of general support in players. Like any proprietary format (just like ATRAC, OMA) the problem arises when you have a library of 40-60 GB and then want a different player. You are best keeping your library in the most compatible format. Audiophiles who are concerned about sound quality seem to be moving toward lossless compression. FLAC etc.

DOH!... Note to self...Must put brain in gear before posting...

I have no idea. But judging by the crazy way SS works I'd assume not. Personally I don't use SS to burn disks. I don't see why you don't use the file you created the Lossless from.

That seems to be it. Should this not be on by default then?

Ok didn't know about them...