fail to read error in sonicstage

[c864fd5d]

I used the sonicstage 4.0 to transfer pcm recording from Rh10,it only can transfer up to 60% ,then it stop and said"Failed to Read data",what is the solution?why it will happen,I have tried several time,and have tried to reinsert the disc,but still the same stopping at 60% and failed to read message.

The disc I used not new,but I formatted it from RH10,is this the disc problem,how to do now?

I have copied the atdata to my hard drive( members suggestions I searched from forum),but when nearly the same lengh of the data the copy stop here,message of error come out.

Finally I T-mark the disk into seperate parts to test which part have problems,then the problem part have a pause on the disk(or a empty jump),which cannot play in sonicstage,but can be play in player as a space before audible audio.And then I combine all other parts except this problem part,that take me hours work and really painful.I think I would not use the disk again to record.It is really unlucky to have these sort of disk.

Thanks

Edited November 5, 2006 by yst

[c864fd5d]

I have uninstalled SS 4.0 and install SS.3.4 ,but when I tried another disk,(not the problem one),I have two track recorded on it,but both cannot be transfered as the same problem:cannot read data error,I think this really the problem of disk.NOw I think next time buying good reputation disk will be life saving,do you think which brand of Hi-md is best ?(the problem disks were given to me free with my second hand Rh10)

I have also failed to copy the atdata in the Hi-md directory to my hard drive,

it have error message.Therefore it cannot overwrite it by transferring first to hard drive,if anyone have success by other method,please help me,now I have to spend many time to fix it by searching the problem area to remove it,that is time consuming works.

And the cutting area will have artifacts and lost some data as it is not perfect.

I also want to know would it have mishape or artifact after combining many tracks?I use line in to record speech,of cause speech have silence,therefore end up with numerous track that have been combined.

Could I use realplayer or Window media player to transfer it back to my computer?Or other solution other than sonicstage.

Thanks

Edited November 5, 2006 by yst

[Richard]

* Moved to Software Discussion

[c864fd5d]

I have bought some new Hi-md ,but the uploading process still pause at the midst,I am now feel afraid of buying a new Rh1(which I plan to do so),because if it also cannot upload to my computer,then I think it might be a big difficulty for me,as I use it only mainly want to upload to pc for futher use.Do you think new one will also like this?

I also did not touch the table which place my recorder on it to ensure it is free of shock.And I do not open other program when transfer to ensure it is not low resources,but still have no hope.

Do you know why there always have some gaps in the recording?Because of this gaps,sonicstage refuse transferring and report error of "fail to read data"!!!!

I hope someone can help me .

Thanks

Edited November 6, 2006 by yst

[A440]

Are there gaps on the new discs when you record them? Or is the problem only uploading?

If the problem is just in uploading, the first thing might be to try a different USB cord in case that is the problem.

Otherwise, from your description, it sounds like a bad disc, because you are hearing gaps in the recording on the disc itself. Those gaps would stop SonicStage from uploading. But you need to do a careful test.

I suggest you plug your microphone into mic-in and record a full disc on one of your new MDs. Use PCM so you can fill up the disc in 90 minutes, and use Time Mark to make fairly long tracks, like 15 or 20 minutes. Make sure the unit itself is very still. Don't just put it on a table, put it on something soft on the table so you're absolutely sure there is no vibration.

I record all the time with the unit in my pocket, standing up at concerts, and I never have a problem with vibration, but we are trying to rule out every possible cause of trouble.

Then try the upload.

If you still get gaps, write down where the gaps are and try the same kind of recording with another disc. With a gap in the same place, it must be the unit. Otherwise it's the disc.

Another possibility is computer problems. Is there space on your hard drive? What is your computer's processor speed? Do you have programs running in the background, like anti-virus or firewall, even if you are not running other programs with SonicStage?

One more thing not relevant to your problem: Why are you recording voice through Line-in? Why not use Mic-in and get a louder signal?

[c864fd5d]

Dear A440,

Thanks your reply.I can hear the gap in the disk from the player,therefore I can use the T-mark in walkman to edit it ,cut the gap from other normal sound.

I use line in because I transferred tapes cassette to make it digital ,use a plug to connect Hi-fi cassette player.The tapes I used is nearly new,because I have heard it only one-two times before,I also fear to test using the tapes again,since I fear too much trials will wear and deteriorate the tapes further(they are quite expansive ,nearly US$8 dollars per tapes,but I have no other cheaper tapes for testing)I transfer the tapes to digital because I fear it will wear and deteriorate with more playback.

I have rebooted the computer and closed the firewall and anvirus,and the uploading is still fail to read the data.

I use the blue tranparent case Hi-md new disk to record,which was bought from sony store.

The Rh10 have not been dropped on the floor according to the previous owner.

I used the external AA battery attached when recording,but plug it out when uploading.

My PC is very fast one,and have enough space.1.60GHz,512MB Ram.

my cassette hi-fi player is also new,just bought this year.

Thanks .

I will report my test later to you.

Edited November 7, 2006 by yst

[c864fd5d]

Hello:

I tried two new disk recording hour ago,The first one without towel,the second one with a thick towel under player ,and leave the table completely stable also,record in PCM,about 45 minutes,.The result is the first one stop at about 70 % ,the second one (with towel prevent vibration )the same,stop at 76% percent.

And the time of the problem gaps occur at different time,one at 17 min the other at 40 min,the same kind of recording,but use two different new disk to test.

I also tried move my player to another much more stable area(not the table ),but the result also un-uploadable.

Then I use external mic record some Tv show for 1 hour, use T-mark it per 15-20 secs,then all the three recordings (time mark as three parts )successfully upload to my computer.

Therefore I suppose the player cannot stand long

hour recording,isn't it?

I will use time mark to transfer the tapes,and try to see if it can help,but if the sound is continuously recording ,then I suddenly press the button,will it led to lose of some signal?I even fear this action will make even more gap because of vibration.

thx

Edited November 7, 2006 by yst

[c864fd5d]

Hello,

I have another test ,I use one new hi-md to start recording using mic in,pcm format,but this time I record non-stop for 44 and 35 minutes,and 5 minutes.

The 44 min and 35 min:I do not use time mark all the way,and not touching it to prevent any possible of vibration,but when uploading,again it stoped at the 50s % both of them,it completely fail even in mic in.

The other test I record only 5 minutes, but using my hand to move the player in order to create some vibration,but even like this,it can upload very good.

DO you think it really is the length make it cannot uploading?if it is ,then I think I have to press the button when recording every 15 minuts,then I think I will never enjoy anymore the lectures,because my mind have to worry that I will forget to time marking.

Thx,dissapointingly,My iriver h-120 never have this serious mistake even the sound might not as good as hi-md!!

[A440]

My only guess is that for some reason your computer can't handle the upload of a very large file. I don't know why.

But you should be able to work around this with no problem.

Put a disc in the unit. Hold down the Menu button and then click up the list to REC Set. Press Enter (>) and click down the list to Time Mark and change it to ON. Then you can set the TIME: to AUTOMATICALLY make a new track every 5 or 10 or 15 minutes. You won't have to press the button and can record without worry.

The Time Marks are silent and there is no gap. After you upload, you can use SonicStage to Combine the tracks (under Edit) if you want.

Try that with a microphone recording--just plug it in and let the unit record for an hour or two--and see how that works.

And don't worry so much about vibration. That's one good thing about minidisc--it's usually very shock-resistant.

[c864fd5d]

I have also think if it keep the time mark on is a solution,but since I found combining again in Computer is really annoying and time consuming(and it also use my computer resources much),do you think is it possible to delete the time mark in the walkman previously before upload?Does this not good ,but I have heard you advised not to do so,but not know is it still like this in Sonicstage 3.4?

And I think it is not computer problem,because it is only the gap area cannot pass sonicstage.I think if it is the computer as the cause,then why the gap also exist at the point and can play back the gap on the walkman and reveal really the stop area has a gap there,it seems there is a cause and effect relation with location of the gap and the location of the upload error .

But if you have ever has this gap occured in your recording,but still is able to upload to Sonicstage,then I think this "really" is because my computer or my sonicstage problem.Does you have this experience ever?The gap is three to four seconds of silence,like hanging ,all of sudden the sound play again.

Before the gap all is normal,and after the gap is also norma.

I also have thought of it as write error,but sonicstage 3.4 have been known to solve this bug,therefore it is not write error,I guess:

** handling of tracks with known write errors [known problem]

Unexpected results here - uploading went straight through write errors with no problems at all. The resulting tracks have clicks where the errors were. Tracks are playable on the unit both beforehand and after. **

But I think it also can be write error,but only my computer refuse to cooperate with the improved version of sonicstage!But do you think it is normal to have write error in every disk I have recorded?I have tested around 10 disks of Hi-md Pcm ,all of them at 45 minutes lenght without time marked on,then do you think it is normal of this write error,I have (at least)one gap in each 45 minutes recording.I think if it is PC problems,then even a new and normal workable unit cannot help me either!

I searched from forum know that someone have to use Time mark like this to prevent the recording error,he also guess that might be a problem existed in 2nd generation.Therefore I think I will buy a RH1 next time,hope this problem will not exist more.(but it will exist if it the PC problem)

How to combine track in sonicstage,for example ,if I have six tracks ,I usually use CTRL key to hightlight 1,then 2,then3....,but can I just use SHIFT key to highlight only 1 and then 6,to skip the 4 steps in between,I have not tested this because manual did not said it can,I fear the order will be messed if use shift key.

Thanks your reply,you are very kind,help me a lot of time.

Edited November 8, 2006 by yst

[c864fd5d]

Hello again:

I have do two more testing of line in recording ,the same type like before,PCm.Now I turn on Time mark at 15 minutes,the two recordings of 30 minutes,but the result surprised me totally,the first is all can be uploaded without problems ,the second ,however,is the same error:read data error.Just wonder why now even 15 min .file is forbidden to upload,I think I definitely cannot use this to record,it will messed up all my recording.

I will return it anyway.

But still not know what cause these.

Edited November 8, 2006 by yst

[A440]

I think you're right. Since you are having the same kind of trouble with every disc, it must be a bad unit. Return it if you can and get the RH1.

It's a shame that you are having this kind of trouble. I have found minidisc to be very reliable for recording, and at this point I have given a lot of use to at least four different models: MZ-R700, MZ-N707, MZ-NHF800 and MZ-RH1.

Your problem is absolutely not standard minidisc behavior.

I have had exactly one gap on what must have been a defective Hi-MD disc among many, many discs I have used, and it behaved the way yours did: it wouldn't upload until I put track marks around it. But it seems like your unit is introducing the gaps, and since the RH10 was used when you got it--even if it wasn't dropped--I suspect something is wrong with the write head. Maybe it is just very worn.

In what you suggest about combining tracks 1,4 and 6, I have never tried that, but I think that you can only combine tracks that are next to each other. I don't think Shift will highlight more than one track at a time. What you could do is delete the tracks in between (2,3, and 5) from My Library--they are still on the disc, and you could upoad them again if you needed them--and then Combine what's left.

By the way, if you decide to remove track marks on the unit instead of Combining later, you should still have no problems uploading with SS 3.4. That's one bug that was fixed.

Edited November 8, 2006 by A440

[c864fd5d]

Hello,

I will return it ,and buy a new RH1.

But I think real time recording is very bad choice,because I have recorded it through headphone to the line in of Iriver H-140,hoping that it can save the file more completely and ignore the gap problem,and I use wav to record.The sound is really not good.

I ask the owner to test it in his PC to confirm is this the PC problem.

Thanks

[Top Cat]

I feel your pain, yst.

My unit also started to freak out with most every disc - new and old, blue and black.

Unfortunately I cannot return it, because the problem isn't reproducible - uploads succeed every other time. And even if I could return it I probably wouldn't want to as Hi-MD is totally abandoned in my area, so the next best recording solution would cost me some $300-400 extra, which is not acceptable.

In the meantime I found workaround for uploading problems.

Do you know why uploads are more successful with smaller tracks? That's because the unit repositions optical pick-up frequently, i.e. it seeks every new track. This presumably lowers disc rotation speed and maybe adds some other "foolproofs". That's the first part of workaround.

Then I noticed it reads better upside down. I even had a disc showing the infamous "Cannot record or play" error which uploaded just fine after flipping the unit over.

Hope this'll be of help to you.

[abclissold]

I'm not sure if anyone will check this or not. I'm experiencing the same problem here and am wondering if anyone has found a fix. My wife recorded an audio book on my Sony MZ-NH900 and now we can't upload nearly 80% of it because of this problem. It took HOURS to do, and there's no way to get it into the computer to create the cds we need to. I'm running WXP and everything is up to date and virus free. Please help!

By the way, I tried online chatting with Sony support and they told me to uninstall and reinstall Sonicstage, which I did. I also installed Sonicstage on a different and much newer computer and have the same problem. Any ideas?

Thanks!

[Strungup]

I'm not sure if anyone will check this or not. I'm experiencing the same problem here and am wondering if anyone has found a fix. My wife recorded an audio book on my Sony MZ-NH900 and now we can't upload nearly 80% of it because of this problem. It took HOURS to do, and there's no way to get it into the computer to create the cds we need to. I'm running WXP and everything is up to date and virus free. Please help!

By the way, I tried online chatting with Sony support and they told me to uninstall and reinstall Sonicstage, which I did. I also installed Sonicstage on a different and much newer computer and have the same problem. Any ideas?

Thanks!

Instead of waiting on Sony and uploads Just Download Audacity , and hook your MD to line input of your soundcard and record it into the hardrive that way . Or SoundStudio from Freeverse has been seriously upgraded and even has me thinking about it for the price , file seperation ability bookmarking (trackmarks) etc and good effect processing to clean up every thing , make it sound good .

The Sony Process is cumbersome for that project. You really need more editing ability if you wish to do Audio Books , I like the idea , and am happy to see the MD getting used properly , but Sony never really thought about Computer compatability , that was an afterthought . The Line out will be clean so going Line out to Line in on your computer will not be a problem just pay attention to levels , and afterwards throw a little noise reduction and compression and your better half will sound like an FM superstar.

[A440]

Recording in realtime with Audacity would certainly get the job done, and I would suggest doing that so you have a usuable recording.

Then you can experiment.

Do you have SonicStage set to convert the uploaded recordings automatically to .wav? Un-check that. Sometimes with a long track it's just too much for SonicStage to handle. You can convert in a separate step if you can get it uploaded.

If I understand correctly you're trying to upload one long track. You could try cutting it into smaller tracks by pushing the track button during playback. Your computer should be able to Combine them in SonicStage after they're uploaded--and if SonicStage is still choking on them, you can covert them to .wav and combine them in a sound editor like Audacity.

[abclissold]

Thanks to both of you. I have already tried unchecking the "convert to WAV" feature and it didn't do any good. I have Audacity on my laptop but no sound card, so I'll have to do this on my other machine. It's just going to take a really, really long time. In the meantime, I'm picking up a colleague's MD recorder tomorrow, which is newer, and will put in my disc to see if it's the unit itself. Hopefully it will upload. The tracks I'm trying to upload are only 3-5 minutes long each. We tracked each one as it was read, both to keep it organized from the start and to keep the uploads small. I'll come back tomorrow and let you know if the other MD worked.

thanks!

[abclissold]

no dice. I borrowed my colleagues MD and, while it did read the disc enough to get a track list loaded into Sonicstage, I couldn't transfer anything. I also cannot PLAY anything from this disc, making it impossible to play something back in realtime. Any ideas? When I try to play or edit anything directly on the MD recorder I get a "format disk error" message. There is hours of data on this disk and I don't know how I'm going to get it off of it. I suppose my next step may be to contact Sony directly. I'm guessing this could be a corrupt disc now?

ugh.

[A440]

I'm guessing this could be a corrupt disc now?

I fear it is, unless someone here has any other ideas. The limit of Sony support is uninstall/reinstall. They don't know how SonicStage works either.

The one bit of hope is that SonicStage could still read your tracklist.

Have you tried playing back the disc with the unit connected, through SonicStage (you'd hear it through you computer speakers and could record with Audacity). In one bizarre instance, I found I could do that even though the unit alone would not play that disc.

Otherwise, this is your destination at Sony. They actually did recover a corrupt disc for me. $45.

http://www.sonymediaservices.com/

[raintheory]

A440, did your recovered Hi-MD disc have audio or data... or both?

[A440]

Just audio. As I remember, it played back fine, but after I tried to upload it I got "Read Error."

[Avrin]

Trouble is, SonicStage actually writes something to the disc while uploading in Hi-MD mode (remember that it requires write access to the disc). That's why it is possible to corrupt a previously normally recorded disc while uploading, especially if the unit is subject to a shock or a sudden movement. No one knows what is going on at the time of Hi-MD uploading. Probably, some DRM atavisms are being written or changed, which require system files to be updated everytime you upload anything.

[abclissold]

Thanks all,

A440, it's out of my hands. I sent it to Sony Media Services yesterday and have thusly crossed my fingers. I should know shortly after the first of the year. I'll let you know what develops, if anything.

Happy Holidays!

[abclissold]

Well, finally heard back from sony. No luck. We have to re-record the whole thing. Thanks for trying to help. Here's hoping the next round is more successful. I've ordered new discs and will attempt to reformat the old one when it arrives and see if it is still usable.

thanks!

[A440]

I'm sorry it didn't work out. If it were me, I'd just toss that bad disc--or at least mark it so you don't use it ever again for something crucial. Losing another important recording would be just too painful.