BR-1600CD: Resolving a Fragmented Hard Drive (CD)

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When a hard disk (i.e. hard drive) recorder stores new files, it squeezes them into any bits of space it can find. As a result, the data winds up scattered all over the hard drive. When the data from one song file, for example, is stored in many locations within the hard drive memory, the hard drive is said to be fragmented. When the recorder plays back a file from a fragmented hard drive, it has to grab a little piece from here, another piece from there and so on. This is much harder than playing one continuous chunk of data from a single hard drive location. This can slow things down unacceptably and lead to errors during playback, recording and/or any other function in the recorder.

Fragmentation is a naturally occurring process for a hard drive used with any computer or recording device. Hard drives that record audio are especially prone to fragmentation due to the start-and-stop nature of recording.

We recommend backing up all of your data and then initializing the hard drive to clear out this normal fragmentation. To avoid receiving errors and/or problems, initialize the hard drive every 3 months if the unit is being used constantly or every 6 months if the unit is being used only occasionally. The following steps will guide you through the Song Backup, Drive Initialize and Song Recover procedures:

Song Backup:

1. Place a blank CD-R in the drive.

2. Press the DATA SAVE/LOAD button

3. Cursor to select backup which is the default

4. Press ENTER/YES to select backup

5. Cursor to make sure you have SONG selected and then press ENTER/YES.

6. Cursor to the song you want to select to backup and turn the dial so that an asterisk( * ) appears to the right of the song title.

7. You can select multiple songs to backup by cursoring to another song and turning the dial to make an asterisk appear there as well.

8. When you have the songs to backup marked with an asterisk, cursor to GO and press enter.

9. Answer YES to WRITE SPEED X8, and YES to Write SURE?

Drive Initialize:

Caution: Initializing erases all contents on the hard drive.

1. Press UTILITY.

2. CURSOR to "HDD," and press ENTER.

3. CURSOR to "Initialize," and press ENTER.

4. Use the TIME/VALUE dial to change the FORMAT MODE to "Surface Scan."

5. Cursor to "GO," and press ENTER.

6. The message "Are you sure?" will be displayed, press ENTER. The hard drive will begin to initialize.

Song Recover:

1. Insert a CD-R/RW disc containing an HDD backup or a SONG backup into the BR-1600CD’s CD-R/RW drive. The drive’s access indicator will begin to flash. Wait until this indicator stops flashing and turns off before proceeding.

2. Note: If your backup contains multiple discs, be sure to insert Disc #1 first when recovering projects--this is the first CD disc that you inserted when initially performing the backup.

3. Press CD-R/RW [DATA SAVE/LOAD].

4. Press [F2] (RECOVER) and then press [ENTER/YES].

5. The next step will depend on how you backed up the data.

   • If you backed up the entire hard drive all at once by selecting “HDD” when you backed up:

     1. Press [F3] (HDD) press [ENTER/YES]. The message “HDD Recover OK?” will appear.

     2. Press [ENTER/YES].

   • If you backed up individual songs by selecting “SONG” when you backed up:

     1. Press [F1] (SONG) or move the cursor to SONG, and then press [ENTER/YES]. A list of the CD-R/RW disc’s backup songs will be displayed.

     2. Move the cursor to the song you want to recover and then press [F1] (SELECT).
        The song will selected for recovery. Note: A number of songs can be selected in this way for recovery, and an asterisk (*) will be displayed for each selected song. Additional Note: If you would like to recover all of the songs on the CDR/RW disc in a single operation, press [F2] (ALL). All songs will be selected for recovery.

     3. When you have selected all of the songs you want to recover, press [F4] (GO).