How to Format USB External HD in SQ–Drive Port ?

[BobParticipant]

I have not been successful in formatting an external USB hard drive in the SQ-Drive USB port.

After pressing the Format button several times, the display may say “Completed 255%” ! But, the drive is not formatted.

Any thoughts ?

Thanks

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[GogosParticipant]

Hi Bob,
do you have Format your hard drive in “fat 32” before ? If you don´t have, the SQ can´t format you hard drive correctly.

Greetings
Gogos

[BobParticipant]

Hi Gogos …

I’m formatting it now on a PC. It’s going to take quite a while. I’ll let you know how it does.

Thanks

[BobParticipant]

Well poo … no luck.

I formatted the USB HDD on a PC, plugged it into the SQ-Drive port, got the “Needs Formatting” message, but the SQ will not format the drive.

Again, after pressing the Format button several times, the display will say “Completed 255%”. The screen still states “Needs Formatting”.

So … how is one to use a high speed external hard drive rather than a USB stick/’pen’ drive as stated in the SQ Reference Guide ??

[GogosParticipant]

Hello Bob,
1. How big is your HDD and brand ? I hope not bigger than 2TB ?
2. Are you sure, you format it in FAT32 ? This is important ! Not only normaly Format on a pc in standard formatstyle with using the right mouse button and then format. In Windows you need a another Programm like “Fat32Formatter” to format your HDD in FAT32, Windows do it only till 32GB.
If you do this right im sure it will works with the SQ to Format your HDD.

[BobParticipant]

Yippee … success ! ☺

I was able to format the USB external HDD on a Mac (MS-DOS) and the SQ readily recognized it.

Gogos … it is a Segate 1TB drive. The display says it will do about 4 hours of multi tract recording.

[WolfgangParticipant]

then the Mac formats to FAT32?
good to know!

however, 4 hours for such a large drive seem to me then a little bit less… 😉

[BobParticipant]

The four hours is the available recording time, not the formatting time.

When I first formatted it on the PC it took over 12 hours !

Then, when I re-formatted it on the MAC, it was done in less than a minute.

Maybe I should have originally formatted it on the MAC ?

[WolfgangParticipant]

I mean, the recording time.
the disk capacity is 1TB, you should get a lot more than 4 hours of multi-track on it!

[MarkPAmanParticipant]

There’s a maximum file size that Fat32 allows – 4Gb IIRC – which will give you about 4 hours Multitrack or 2 hours stereo.
After that, you need to start a new recording.
Really can’t imagine a situation where that limit is a problem.

[WolfgangParticipant]

that’s the answer to the question. i hadn’t thought about the 4GB limit on FAT32 at all.

[BobParticipant]

Does that mean that you have 4 hours every time you press Record … up to the limit of the drive ?

For example … recording an all-day festival with multiple bands. Record first band, stop. Record second band, stop. Etc.

[WolfgangParticipant]

if you want to record a complete festival, I would use “Samplitude” or “Reaper” or something similar.
This gives you better control over the recording and the console only has to perform its normal task.

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