Desperate Help - Disappearing Tracks

[DirtMagnet]

Hi all,

Would really appreciate some help here. Apologies in advance if I'm posting in the wrong spot but I've got no idea where the problem I have originated.

I have an MZ-NH700 that I use to record my bands rehearsals, transfer, burn, etc. Today when I went to transfer the tracks I got a "did not transfer some tracks" error msg. 7 tracks out of 40 transferred to SS however the rest literally disappeared. i.e. they're not on my PC anywhere, and they're not on the disc itself, although previous recordings are still there. The tracks from today have literally vanished. Like many I've had my ups and downs with the MD, etc but I've not come across this before.

Desperately need advice on retrieval/where these tracks may be as they're very important recordings.

Cheers,

Paul

[Richard]

* Moved to Software Discussion

[A440]

I hate to say it, but they may just be gone--erased by SonicStage because it decided you were a music pirate.

You should probably upload all the data on the disc--connect and have Windows Explorer read the Hi-MD as a USB drive, and make a copy of everyting that's there--in case somebody ever figures out Sony's encryption.

And with it still connected, you might also run a file-recovery program that detects deleted files and see if it finds anything else. This one is a little non-intuitive to use, but it's free:

http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/uk/download.htm

If it does find anything, the data will still be encrypted, so it still won't be immediately useful, but it can't hurt to save them.

Also, there is no guarantee that the tracks are still on the disc.

I think you are a victim of an old version of SonicStage. All 2.x versions, and if I remember correctly version 3.0 and 3.1 as well, would not allow you to upload a recording more than once from the same disc. They would mark the tracks as already transferred, and if you tried again they wouldn't simply refuse--they would erase them from the disc.

Vicious, ugly, stupid and insane are the nicest ways to describe the thinking behind this.

My guess is that whether or not you had uploaded those tracks before, SonicStage thought you had, and erased them.

What version of SonicStage are you using? If you are not using at least SS 3.4 you should back up your library (with the Backup Tool in Programs/SonicStage) and then upgrade immediately, either with this offline installer:

http://forums.minidisc.org/downloads/details.php?file=21

or with 4.0 from Sony.

You can run Sony's little online installer file if you have a good connection, or there's a link in post #10 to an offline installer here:

http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?s=&am...st&p=108279

Note that tracks on discs that were transferred with old versions are still marked and vulnerable. But once you have 3.4 or 4.0, your newer recordings will not be subject to that idiotic restriction. You can upload those as many times as you want, which is the way it always should have been.

Edited September 16, 2006 by A440

[DirtMagnet]

I hate to say it, but they may just be gone--erased by SonicStage because it decided you were a music pirate.

You should probably upload all the data on the disc--connect and have Windows Explorer read the Hi-MD as a USB drive, and make a copy of everyting that's there--in case somebody ever figures out Sony's encryption.

And with it still connected, you might also run a file-recovery program that detects deleted files and see if it finds anything else. This one is a little non-intuitive to use, but it's free:

http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/uk/download.htm

If it does find anything, the data will still be encrypted, so it still won't be immediately useful, but it can't hurt to save them.

Also, there is no guarantee that the tracks are still on the disc.

I think you are a victim of an old version of SonicStage. All 2.x versions, and if I remember correctly version 3.0 and 3.1 as well, would not allow you to upload a recording more than once from the same disc. They would mark the tracks as already transferred, and if you tried again they wouldn't simply refuse--they would erase them from the disc.

Vicious, ugly, stupid and insane are the nicest ways to describe the thinking behind this.

My guess is that whether or not you had uploaded those tracks before, SonicStage thought you had, and erased them.

What version of SonicStage are you using? If you are not using at least SS 3.4 you should back up your library (with the Backup Tool in Programs/SonicStage) and then upgrade immediately, either with this offline installer:

http://forums.minidisc.org/downloads/details.php?file=21

or with 4.0 from Sony.

You can run Sony's little online installer file if you have a good connection, or there's a link in post #10 to an offline installer here:

http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?s=&am...st&p=108279

Note that tracks on discs that were transferred with old versions are still marked and vulnerable. But once you have 3.4 or 4.0, your newer recordings will not be subject to that idiotic restriction. You can upload those as many times as you want, which is the way it always should have been.

Firstly, my sincere thanks for your detailed and helpful reply.

I have downloaded the recovery program and scanned the MD whilst connected via USB. The program does scan it as a drive but then immediately shuts the file recovery program down without showing me a file list or giving any other info. It is reading the MD and I think seeing the lost files however can't seem to get past this point. Any further suggestions much appreciated - you're a legend! Cheers

[A440]

I wish I could offer more suggestions, but unfortunately I'm away from home, and due to a serious intelligence failure--my own--I've left the MD behind, so I can't try PC Inspector on my NHF800 right now.

Only a shot in the dark, but if you have more than one USB device connected, or a USB hub, try disconnecting all but the MD unit and see if that stops the crashing.

You could also Google around for other freeware or shareware file-recovery software. Scan any program you download with an antivirus scanner--like www.f-secure.com, www.symantec.com, www.trendmicro.com if you don't have your own--just to make sure it's not evil.

But really, don't get your hopes up. Even if you do find those files, they're going to be encrypted and utterly useless for now--just something to stick in an archive and hope for an amnesty from Sony someday. If you do manage to get back something that was deleted and can figure out which folder(s) it was in, you could try copy-and-pasting it into the same folders(s) on a new disc and see if your latest version of SonicStage will read it. But I think that's pretty unlikely.

Edited September 17, 2006 by A440

[Sparda]

what? sonicstage automatically deletes people's recordings? how horrible is that..... hmmm, did the toc write? i think there is a way to retieve the files if the toc hasn't been written yet, but unfortunately i forgot where the thread was posted.

[A440]

Old bad SonicStage used to delete recordings. New passable SonicStage does not.