Korg Forums

[mintjamman]

I have some questions regarding attaching usb external hard drives,

Firstly though the internal HD on the pa4x 76 is 62Gb and I can see a time when that capacity could become a issue with lots of midi and mp3 files stored. Therefore has anyone replaced the internal HD with a larger drive like 1Tb or better still a SSD ? If so how easy was it and is it necessary to copy any system files that might be required for the operation of the pa4x to run ?

So here are my problems, having configured a 250Gb external hard drive formatted on the pa4x I then copied over my files, these files consist of a large number of midi files which I use in a variety of situations along with MP3 tracks and also I have many styles, these files are contained in folders and subfolders which makes navigation easier. However while using this drive with either my MacBook Pro or i Mac there is never a issue with accessing any of the folders or sub folders with regard speed ( the time it takes to access them)

It's a different story on the pa4x, it takes ages to access the drive and once located to navigate the folders and sub folders can take 5 to 7 minutes !!
The same when trying to go up a folder layer, consequently live use is out of the question and you are then forced to either transfer the files to the internal HD or a USB stick.

I cannot imagine this is a USB buss speed issue but something with the Pa4x system that either it wants files in the root drive with no folders or some limitation with drive access.

Anyone else found this or know the best method of being able to store large amounts of files and have access times the same as the speed of the internal drive as supplied.
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Yamaha S90ES, Korg Triton Pro, EXB Moss, Roland XV5080, Korg EX8000, Korg Pa4x 76, Korg Kronos 88, Crumar MOJO, Logic Pro X, V Collection, Novation SL61,Vienna, Korg Pa4x , EC-5, Vienna, Arturia V Collection, Roland SC88 Pro, Roland D110, Alesis SR16, Alesis D4

[Sharp]

I can't see there ever being a need.

Doing the maths here, 62GB can hold on average well over 12,000 MP3 files, Fort midi files the maths works out at over 12 Million Midi Files.

So, chances of you ever needing to upgrade the Hard Disk are likely zero. Unless KORG at some point in the future decide to allow end users to stream their own samples. If that ever arises, then that's probably going to be the only reason why anyone will want to install a bigger Drive, and yet still, not many will probably need to do it.

Regards
Sharp
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[mintjamman]

With all respect Sharp while I see what you are saying I can easily fill that Internal HD up hence why I asked the question.
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Yamaha S90ES, Korg Triton Pro, EXB Moss, Roland XV5080, Korg EX8000, Korg Pa4x 76, Korg Kronos 88, Crumar MOJO, Logic Pro X, V Collection, Novation SL61,Vienna, Korg Pa4x , EC-5, Vienna, Arturia V Collection, Roland SC88 Pro, Roland D110, Alesis SR16, Alesis D4

[Sharp]

Sure, if you have a need to store more than 12,000 mp3's on the Pa4X, then I don't doubt you will need to upgrade the Pa4X HDD.

That being said, I'd bet 99.999% of users will never need do that.

With regards to your slow reading of folders, well that's certainly to be expected if your folders contain so many files. KORG Arrangers filter out the content based on what screen tab you have selected.

Load tab only shows files you can actually load in the mode your in, where Utilities will show every single file regardless of what format it is. Same goes for when your in Sampler Mode and trying to load KORG Trition KMP files. You only ever see what's relevant to the mode your currently in.

The Pa4X is obviously reading the file extension of every file in each folder, so that's going to take processing time.

Regards
Sharp.
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[mintjamman]

I have run several tests today with a couple of drives configured with 500 songs those being a mixture of mp3 and SMF. One drive configured with all files in root and the other in folders those folder being Genre headed.

Files in the folders are much slower to read on the Pa4x than those in root, on my computers neither presents any issue. So this is the speed of the Pa4x in reading. For anyone working with different song pads and live sets this could be an issue when using a external drive as somehow the internal drive access is faster

Thanks for your comments Sharp
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Yamaha S90ES, Korg Triton Pro, EXB Moss, Roland XV5080, Korg EX8000, Korg Pa4x 76, Korg Kronos 88, Crumar MOJO, Logic Pro X, V Collection, Novation SL61,Vienna, Korg Pa4x , EC-5, Vienna, Arturia V Collection, Roland SC88 Pro, Roland D110, Alesis SR16, Alesis D4