Disc mode formatting problem between machines

[zzzuppp]

Today I erased an old disc in my Onkyo MD105FX, and then formatted the newly blank disc into SP mode. I then inserted it into my Sony MZ-RH1 ready to do some recording - but a message came up 'Read error'. Thinking it was likely a problem with the disc itself, I did the same thing with another disc which was also in ordinary  SP mode - wiped the contents, checked it was in 80' SP mode and tried it in the MZ-RH1 - and the same happened. I'm lucky enough to own two MZ-RH1s, so I tried both discs in the second one - 'Read error'.

Just to be sure, I tried with a third disc. Same problem. They still read OK in the Onkyo, and I guess I can record them in there, but will they play on my other machines? Doubt it.

I've never had this problem before. I usually erase discs in the Onkyo because it's very quick and doesn't involve those tiny buttons on the MZ-RH1

Does anyone who's more techy than me (that's probably most of you) have any idea what's happening here and where the fault may lie? Thanks in advance.

[sfbp]

When you "erase" a regular (non-1GB) disk that is to be formatted HiMD, actually nothing happens. The formatting doesn't take place until you try to record the first track.

When you "erase" a disk in the 105FX, it probably leaves some HiMD stuff there but since it already knows the disk is blanked, you're ok.

I would guess that recording on that disk in SP mode with the 105FX, before you remove it - at least one track, and then making sure the TOC is written, will do the job.

Try to remember that there is a TOC (it says something like HiMD disk) which has not been erased yet, your way. That TOC or part of it is likely confusing the RH1.

[zzzuppp]

Thanks sfbp.  Actually I'm not about to record in HiMD mode, nor were the discs formatted that way before or after. None of them had any HiMD recordings on them and they were all in ordinary MD SP (80') mode when I inserted them to erase the contents, and I'm planning to record on them in  normal SP (80') as opposed to HiMD.

Nonetheless, I'll try what you suggested, otherwise I have 3 pieces of toast 

[sfbp]

Well then what you need is a busted machine with no OWH, guaranteed to blank out the TOC

[zzzuppp]

OWH = OverWrite Head??? 

[kgallen]

10 minutes ago, zzzuppp said:

OWH = OverWrite Head??? 

Yep.

Beautifully captured in this ongoing thread here:

 

[zzzuppp]

So I tried sfbp's idea of recording a track onto one of the 'Read Error' MDs, again recording on the Onkyo standalone. It worked, but inserting the MD into the MZ-RH1, I again got 'Read Error'.

What's more, playing the MD back in the Onkyo, it took forever to start up, played about 2 seconds of the track and then ground to a halt before labouring again to play a couple more seconds. The Onkyo very occasionally behaves like this with certain MDs. Just to be sure, I played another MD in it, which behaved normally.

I don't have the courage or knowhow to start monkeying around inside a standalone, but it seems as if there might be another problem anyway, perhaps with the disc, but since the same thing happened with THREE discs (see my initial post), I doubt that.

[sfbp]

thanks for trying

sadly we have no expertise at fixing 105fx not least because there's no service manual available to my knowledge

[zzzuppp]

That's a bummer if it is the 105FX playing up.

One of the best things about it is the ease of editing - and if it's not writing the TOC properly, I won't be able to edit on it and have to go back to the MZ-RH1s where the controls require elfin fingers.

I have to say that the 105FX, potentially such a fantastic MD/HiMD standalone, has a number of annoying traits, the worst of which is that you're never sure if it IS going to work at all. It can take forever to read a disc when you first insert one, and certain functions randomly stop working, then restart hours or days later.

 

[sfbp]

To amplify that, its best attribute is to deliver a "virgin" HiMD disk, especially 1GB. Sonic Stage appears unable to do that because it always saves the existing track rights in a hidden area, which incidentally reduces the available space (take a look next time you do this). In addition if there's problems with the HiMD, you get into an infinite loop - an unerasable disk sometimes. The 105FX is a way out of that particular maze.

I would stick to erasing SP disks with a busted portable

[sfbp]

FWIW I tried a variety of experments just now, starting with, hilariously, a disk I had stuck on a label saying "Bad Media". Moving formatted disks between 105FX and RH1 I could not make it fail in either direction whether in HiMD or MD format.

[zzzuppp]

Anyone got a busted portable? (hollow laugh)

 

Are there any other emojis left on this site? seems to be the only one I can get. Well, it'll certainly do in this instance.

[sfbp]

Google or search the site locally for "blank disc" then message the guy(s) concerned?

[bluecrab]

Someone sent me a couple of Hi-MD formatted discs that for whatever reason, he could not erase. I do not know on what machine they were created. My MXD-D400 would not erase them, but the MDS-E10 did so without complaint. I guess what I'm wondering is whether an older MD unit, even a working one, would do the trick.

[zzzuppp]

Had a bit of a breakthrough - I remembered that I DID have an old dying portable, an MZ-R501, which I haven't used for so long I'd forgotten about it.

That machine developed problems with editing, it would take forever to write the TOC, sometimes for so long I had to abort it by taking out the battery, so it's been sitting at the back of a drawer for years since I got the Onkyo and MZ-RH1s.

I put my three 'read error' discs in it and they showed up normally, so I deleted the contents and then aborted the Edit process. Two of the discs have somehow gone back to normal and no longer make the MZ-RH1 display 'Read Error'. Mysterious...the third one is still saying Read Error, but now in EVERY one of my machines (it was working in the Onkyo before and I could record on it). Bizarre.

What mostly concerns me is whether my Onkyo is now off-limits as an editing/recording machine if it's not writing the TOC properly so that other machines can't read or play the MDs I make/edit with it.