JonnyPaisley

I've got an Mz-RH10 Hi-MD Walkman than simply doesn't work anymore. Does anyone know a trustworthy and reasonably-priced repair person?

Years ago I made a couple of live recordings (on a Hi-MD disc) on an MZ-RH10. Later, while deleting some dead-air tracks on the recorder, some kind of glitch occurred and a "FORMATE ERROR DISC" message showed up. From then on, I was no longer able to access any of the audio files on the disc. From SonicStage I could see that the audio files where there and intact, but I'm assuming the Sony encryption somehow messed up access to them. Does anyone have any idea if these audio files can somehow be transferred from the disc? Thanks.

Thanks for chiming in, A440. Wow, you mean SMS was actually able to recover data from your Format Error Disc??!! Was yours a Hi-MD disk? If so, I wonder why they could do that for you but not for me...?

That's good advice, Philippe -- thanks!

Thanks, Bob. While I have no trouble accepting responsibility, I highly doubt that it was anything I did. I was merely deleting tracks exactly the same way as I'd done many times before. However, since my incident I've read a number of other's tales of woe with "format disc error," which suggests to me a design flaw on Sony's part -- especially since Sony doesn't seem to have a clue about how to rectify this. I forgot to mention that when plugging either my RH10 or RH1 (with the corrupted disc) into my computer, an "HMDHIFI" folder shows up onscreen with HMD files of various sizes inside. Would this help me at all? Unfortunately, I never really considered editing AFTER uploading, since I assumed the RH10 was reliable both mechanically and electronically, and also because the operating instructions had an entire chapter on how to edit tracks on the recorder. Stupid me. Regarding SonicStage, I'm running version 4.3. And yes, I did try uploading from an RH1, with no success. So here we are...

I appreciate the empathy. I'm just amazed and depressed that apparently there is not a single person on planet Earth who knows how to access audio files from a Hi-MD disc with "FORMAT ERROR."

I'm so pissed off at Sony, I could spit. I've been using Hi-MD since its inception. Never had a problem -- until recently. I recorded a music concert using an RH10 with a 1GB Hi-MD disc at Hi-SP. After getting home from the concert, I noticed that I'd forgotten to stop the recording and therefore had a lot of "dead air" on the disc. As I was proceeding to delete the empty tracks, some kind of weird "glitch" occurred. I still don't know what the heck happened, but everything suddenly shut down and I got a "FORMAT DISK ERROR" message. I could no longer access any tracks on the disc, even though all the data is still on the disc. I sent the disc to Sony Media Services in Alabama. I got it back a week later with a Post-It attached saying "Format Disc Error -- Unable To Recover." Gee, THANKS A LOT, SONY. I've heard that the tracks have some kind of Sony-developed encryption on them that in this case, would prevent the data from being recovered. WHY would Sony use an encryption system that apparently not even THEY can overcome? There are a total of three concert recordings on this disc that I now can't access. This is stuff that I definately wanted to archive, so I'm extremely frustrated and angry at Sony. Do any of you have any idea how I might be able to access the audio on this disc? THANK YOU!

Hmm... It appears that very soon, Hi-MD blank media will be available by mail order only. Since getting my first Hi-MD portable two years ago, there were at least a couple of stores in my local area where I could get blank Hi-MD discs. But when I needed some blanks last week, I discovered that those stores no longer stocked them. So I scrambled--went to Best Buy (what a joke--they didn't even know what "minidiscs" were!), Circuit City, etc.--nothing. There are two Sony Style stores at malls within 25 miles of my home. I called one and was told, "Uh, we used to carry them, but we don't anymore."! And this is a store that stocks nothing but Sony products! Fortunately, the second Sony Style store still had some, but they were phasing out the Hi-MD blanks as well. So now I have two questions: 1. How long is Sony obligated to produce blank Hi-MD media? 2. Who has the best deal online for Hi-MD blanks? Thanks--and long live Hi-MD!