Does uploading wear out the recording head?

[PsychoPimpKiller]

I'm not sure if this has been asked before but, I have an MZ-M200 and I used to record shows with it. After I dropped it once or twice and didn't cause any damage, I decided to just use it upload to my computer.

So that is my question, does uploading wear out the record head at all?

I'm curious as to how long this will last me if all I'm doing is uploading stuff I've recorded with it.

[punkrockaddict]

you use the laser to have upload.No need to write something on the disc then.

But that´s an interesting question if it wears out.

[Sony_Fan]

No, like someone else mentioned, the pick up lens is all that is used to retrieve the information on the disc. The writing head is not used at all. My understanding, is that the small component that actually does the writing to the disc, never touches the disc. If you open the shutter and look at the writing side of the disc, there will be no scratches or wear marks.

[sfbp]

The reading AND writing is done with the same head (you need the overwrite head too but thats different, it modulates the laser signal with a magnetic field). But writing takes 10 times as much power. So it's much less likely to wear out when you are only reading.

Your instinct was correct. I don't think HiMD disks upload very well when you write protect them (or have no overwrite head), though. So there must be some writing, probably to do with updating transfer counts or something like that.

[PsychoPimpKiller]

Thank you for the responses. I'm only wondering because I record a Sirius XM radio show every week in Hi-SP (the show is only 3 hours long but it record for almost the full hours). I record it with one of my other Hi-MD units (MZ-NH900) and then upload it with my MZ-M200. So basically my MZ-M200 get used at least once a week to upload a full (almost) 8 hours of content. I'm just hoping that the MZ-NH900 lasts me for a while.

Does anyone have any experience with how long a recording head will last?

[sfbp]

If you're recording in Hi-SP I am not sure it benefits you to upload from the MZ-M200. I've had pretty good results uploading with the NH900 itself.

Of all the portable units I have used for this, the NH900 seems the easiest and most reliable to use for editing (setting track marks and metadata) Hi-MD disks. Unless you are stuck with the M200 because it's the only thing that works with a Macintosh, I'd use the NH900 for everything, get another just in case, and save the M200 for uploading legacy MDs.

My $0.02

I think that what CAN happen is the supply voltages get out of whack on the mainboard. This in turn leads to the writing of borderline disks which may or may not be readable in this or some other unit. In turn this may stress the whole mechanism through too many retries. Beware lots of noise and delays at the same (unexpected) time.

Overall, I think the disk will wear out before the unit does

[PsychoPimpKiller]

Overall, I think the disk will wear out before the unit does

I certainly hope this is the case.

I am using Windows 7 64-bit so I will try and use the NH-900 the next time that I upload and see if it works. That way I can save the wear and tear on my MZ-M200.

I was thinking about getting another NH-900 one of these days. My other Hi-MD unit is an MZ-RH910. I only have 3 of them right now. Thank you for your $0.02, it is much appreciated.