Cannot Record or Play/Audio File Error

[A440]

Another inexplicably trashed disc.

I was recording at an all-day music festival on my newish backup recorder, MZ-NH700--the one I've been saving in a drawer for when I no longer trust my MZ-NHF800. It has been working fine for the past few weeks.

The 1GB blue disc was nearly full with about 20 minutes left in Hi-SP. Saved the data. Was going through menus again to set Manual Record Levels in Rec/Pause. Battery about half full, incidentally.

"Record Error"

And then: "Cannot Record or Play"--which means, for those lucky enough never to have seen it, that the whole disc is trashed.

Tried it later on the MZ-RH1: "Audio File Error"--same error.

SonicStage 4.3 can't read it in either unit.

Windows Explorer will copy all the data on the disc except one little 320KB TRKID file, which comes up "cyclic redundancy check."

Called Sony Media Services in the USA, 1-866-347-7669.

They will send it to Japan to attempt to recover the files. Cost: $45 if they recover anything. Otherwise free. They claim they're not making a profit because overnight shipping to Japan is costly .

http://www.sonymediaservices.com/

Authorization form (bottom right) starts the process.

They say they will have the same technology in the US at the end of May. No more shipping cost to Japan. Price will still be $45. No explanation for that one.

Used the MZ-NH700 later on a new blank disc with no problems, incidentally--two groups recorded so far. Probably a glitch on that particular disc.

Hi-MD encryption is a surpassingly idiotic software design. Everything on the disc goes into one giant file, instead of separate folders that could be recovered if there was a problem with just one of them.

I'm seriously thinking about a drag-and-drop recorder.

Edited April 30, 2007 by A440

[Strungup]

Another inexplicably trashed disc.

I was recording at an all-day music festival on my newish backup recorder, MZ-NH700--the one I've been saving in a drawer for when I no longer trust my MZ-NHF800. It has been working fine for the past few weeks.

The 1GB blue disc was nearly full with about 20 minutes left in Hi-SP. Saved the data. Was going through menus again to set Manual Record Levels in Rec/Pause. Battery about half full, incidentally.

"Record Error"

And then: "Cannot Record or Play"--which means, for those lucky enough never to have seen it, that the whole disc is trashed.

Tried it later on the MZ-RH1: "Audio File Error"--same error.

SonicStage 4.3 can't read it in either unit.

Windows Explorer will copy all the data on the disc except one little 320KB TRKID file, which comes up "cyclic redundancy check."

Called Sony Media Services in the USA, 1-866-347-7669.

They will send it to Japan to attempt to recover the files. Cost: $45 if they recover anything. Otherwise free. They claim they're not making a profit because overnight shipping to Japan is costly .

http://www.sonymediaservices.com/

Authorization form (bottom right) starts the process.

They say they will have the same technology in the US at the end of May. No more shipping cost to Japan. Price will still be $45. No explanation for that one.

Used the MZ-NH700 later on a new blank disc with no problems, incidentally--two groups recorded so far. Probably a glitch on that particular disc.

Hi-MD encryption is a surpassingly idiotic software design. Everything on the disc goes into one giant file, instead of separate folders that could be recovered if there was a problem with just one of them.

I'm seriously thinking about a drag-and-drop recorder.

I tried an Optical Copy last night on my RH1 , on a 1GB (Blue Sony) disc , no go , wouldnt budge , I had it in PCM mode . I wonder if that might be an issue ( My manual is all in Japanese and I cant read it !!!)

Edited April 30, 2007 by Guitarfxr

[Richard]

I tried an Optical Copy last night on my RH1 , on a 1GB (Blue Sony) disc , no go , wouldnt budge , I had it in PCM mode . I wonder if that might be an issue ( My manual is all in Japanese and I cant read it !!!)

If what might be an issue? Recording in PCM mode?

[tekdroid]

Last 20min of the disc in Hi-SP would probably be more prone to errors than the rest of the disc.

Just curious how old the disc was? Kept in dust-free storage, etc?

When was the last time you had a recorder wipe out the disc.

Was it on the RH1 or? Similar end part of the disc?

I'm lucky to have never seen this yet but want to take precautions if i can..

[Strungup]

If what might be an issue? Recording in PCM mode?

Have no Idea , Optical copy to PCM .....SCMS?? It was a Disc that Jim Walker the leader of the group Free Flight Gave to me , hehad burned it off of his Macintosh from the old master . I Made a Analouge copy no problem . And did an Optical copy to the MZ-B10 (MD SP mode) no problem .....so I dont get it.

[A440]

Just curious how old the disc was? Kept in dust-free storage, etc?

When was the last time you had a recorder wipe out the disc.

Was it on the RH1 or? Similar end part of the disc?

I'm lucky to have never seen this yet but want to take precautions if i can..

I have no good explanation for this, and can't reallly suggest any precautions, or I would use them myself from now on. The disc had been used two or three times, at most, and formatted after uploading and kept in the plastic sleeve. The recorder had been in my pocket all day with the disc recording, and never opened, so no dust. It wasn't a particularly dusty place anyway, nor was there severe heat/sweat/etc. to worry about. The unit was in my hand, not being shaken. I think it was a defective disc and I just happened to be starting the new group at the defective sector.

Actually, though, things got worse. To have a copy of the disc data for future use, I used Windows Explorer to transfer all the data on the disc--except the bad TRACKID file, which would not transfer in repeated tries--to my computer. And then the computer started having severe problems: crashing, not booting, not even starting the hard drive when I hit the On button. It's a Sony VAIO, and if you have a VAIO, you know it has a little VAIO startup tune. On one startup, the first notes of that tune started looping until I unplugged the unit and removed the battery. The computer trouble was possibly a coincidence, though virus and spyware checks showed no problems and still don't, and there were no software installations after uploading the Hi-MD data. The first crash happened after I used iTunes 7.0, so I uninstalled that, but it didn't make any difference.

I've gotten the computer running again--booted from a recovery disc, though luckily I did not have to initialize the computer again and lose everything. I deleted the Hi-MD data from the computer and I hope that has fixed the problem. Are those encrypted files totally poisoned?

My only other trashed Hi-MD disc was a SonicStage error, while connected, with about 720MB of other stuff on the disc. That was SonicStage acting up, a different kind of event from this.