Hard Drive

Hello again professors.
Is it possible to fit a hard drive into a KN7000?
If so what are the difficulties involved?
Thanks again in advance.

Ray

S'cuse my curiosity Ray but what will a hard drive do in the KN7000 that the SD Cards don't do...?

Roger, you are not paying attention. My SD card is not working and I am looking at any alternative apart from buying another KB.
I am not looking forward to using an OS, which according to all I have read, will be much less user friendly.
I would not be looking forward to having to re-programme all of my music to another KB, which took me ages to do in the past.
The floppy disc was great in its time before the SD card, but is far too slow for me now.
I don't think I've got that much time left. (unless I find that magic elixir for eternal life "here")

Ray

Sorry no I'm not really paying attention so that allows me to ask another question. Can your SD Card slot not be repaired?
and p.s. how far back was it that you mentioned that the problem was to do with your SD Card?

Ray, I would go with Roger's advice and get the slot repaired.

There are USB devices available that can replace floppy drives but they are complicated and you'll find that people won't be able to give you advice if you don't have a floppy drive.

I reckon it is theoretically possible for some brilliant engineer to hardwire an SD Card in to act as a hard drive but it would only be 1GB... and that leads me to another thought...

You said that if the card is in the KN7000 when you turn it on then it gets recognised. So, why take it out? Transferring files to your SD Card via floppy disk is probably easier than any other method. The only unavoidable reason I can think of for taking an SD Card out is to put SD Audio on it when you think about it.

This is assuming that you have a 1GB SD Card. I can't imagine someone needing more than 1GB.

Repair is the best option but if you can't get a repair then fill a 1GB Card with your favourites and then leave it in the slot and add to it via floppy. It is an idea anyway.

I have at long last found myself a reliable USB floppy drive for my computer, so I would now feel confident to recommend this method.

Best wishes,
Mike

Sorry Roger, neither am I. I posted somewhere a while ago that I was having SD card problems.
Roger and Mike, as of now the reader will not read any card.
When a card is inserted and the lid closed, the led light stays on for a few seconds and then goes off, consequently the screen shows the blank folders with no data in them.
Yes, i understand Mike, and i was doing that (leaving the card in the reader)most of the time, but this time my friend Keith was loading the Yammy styles and sounds to the card on my computer, and when I tried to load the card in the KB it would not read it, and has continued to behave the same each time I turn the KB on.
There are very little repair options here in The Colony, and I have e-mailed your suggested contact but as yet I have no reply
My niece is prepared to sell me my brother's KN7000 which is working OK, but i would still like to try and get mine working
if only for personal satisfaction.
I was advised to try a new card reader, but I am inclined to think it may not fit the KN7's organised set-up.
I take your advice on board re the hard drive, it is maybe just a poor compromise.
I will keep you posted on any developments.
As I have said previously to take on a new KB (Korg PA3XPro/ PA900 are my thoughts at this stage)would be challenging in itself, but might be my only other option?????????

Ray

Ray,

It is very possible that you just have a corrupted SD Card. Try a new one first and then if it works glue the drive door shut (joke!).

If I were you in the circumstances I think I would go for your niece's KN7000. There are many people looking for KN7000 in your neck of the woods who would buy a KN7000 with the SD Card not working. After all, you can still load using the floppy disk. SO you will still get good value for it.

Actually, if I were you I would just keep both of them but I'm a bit of a hoarder lol.

Yes I was thinking 'corrupted sd card' as well. Try that SD Card in your niece's KN7000 and see what happens. Also there's a clue here - 'but this time my friend Keith was loading the Yammy styles and sounds to the card on my computer' - what did he do exactly and did he wipe everything off your SD Card or corrupt it in some way.

I was thinking more that maybe the dodgy SD Card slot lid connection had corrupted the card but you're absolutely right Roger, testing it in the other KN7000 is the answer (and keeping a backup). Let us know how it goes Ray. Could just be the contacts need cleaning. That slot lid must be doing your head in the same as my former USB floppy was driving me to distraction thinking that the drives in my keyboards were broken!

Hi guys, thanks for the feedback and interest. I have tried other SD cards and they have the same effect.
I agree that a KN7 without the SD card is no less than a KN6500
OS with all the extra benefits of the KN7, which as you say should have some considerable value.
I thought about keeping the two, BUT!!! we don't have a lot of spare room in our compact retirement villa (asylum)!!
I have studied the u-tube posts on the Korgs and it frightens me to have to learn their system, Technics has it all over them but there is always new technology coming out which draws you to the new 'boards.
I am mostly a home player but it would still take me months of work to recreate all of my registrations. Once before I accidentally lost all of my regos on floppies and had to do them again. It took me an age and I was very cross with myself.
I will still investigate a card reader replacement, but i don't hold out much hope. Keep praying for me!!!!
Ray

One last thought - name and save a setting for any old tune/song to any, as far as you are aware, working SD Card through the keyboard. Then close everything down and after a while switch the keyboard on again and see whether that saving shows up when you press the yellow SD load button.

Hi Roger, you are clever (but not yet brilliant).
That procedure does work i.e. I load a registration with a Song title from a disc,then I save to a SD card folder with title in the Song section.
Then I load from SD card to KB and it behaves as normal, but all the other folders which should be full are not showing any titles or any content.
Half an hour later.........I decided to try another SD card again...VOILA!!!!!! everything is still there and loaded OK (provided I turn the KB off, load card, and then on again.
So obviously the original card has been wiped clean.
I am certain that I did try other cards, but maybe my birth date is getting the better of me. I am going to check with Keith because he was present when this first occurred because he was using my computer to save Mike's 200 sounds from Yammy
Thankfully I had a back-up card although not completely up to date but recent enough for me to stay sane.
Many thanks again Roger for your insight and which is a reminder that we must go through all options with this "BLOODY marvellous" technology when a "fault" arises.
Sorry Roger,you are BRILLIANT
Ray
(The Happy Saint)

Keith has confirmed I did try other SD cards at the time which did not work.So I am not quite stoopid (yet)!!!!

I'm only glad that you've got backed up info somewhere...otherwise it would have been a long old job. Remember you only have to switch off the keyboard too quickly whilst saving something and it has the unfortunate effect of wiping everything or appearing to wipe everything on that SD Card.

Ray, in the KN7000 folder of the SD card, there is a file with the name KN7000mn.inf. That file contains, among other things, all the long names for the SD card content. When it becomes corrupted, you usually lose all indications of SD content. There is also a KN7000mn.bak file that is a backup of the .inf file. If you delete the KN7000mn.inf file and rename the .bak file .inf, you may be able to recover the song names.

Thanks Bob, but still not successful yet. There is nothing showing in folders or files. It appears to load but the KB says the file is empty. When reinstalled in the computer it shows all the files ?????????
Still trying.
Ray

Hi Ray, your SD Card is definitely corrupted. I'll try to fix it via email with you as discussed but it might not be possible. The good thing is that we can definitely get the files to be read again but the bad thing is that they might have to be renamed, which might take you a while.

Mike is right. The files are still there. Your .inf file is corrupted and couldn't be recovered with the backup file because subsequent saves were used which overwrote the inf and bak files. When this problem first occurs, you need to use the backup file before any file saving takes place.

If you do have another SD card with almost identical content, you can copy it's .inf file to the KN7000 folder of the bad SD card and recover a lot of the file names.

Hi Mike and Bob,
Thanks for the info, it is a bit above my head (I'm a player and a lover)but with Keith's help we might get through it.
Incidentally it has done it again on another card.
Ray

Hi Mike,
That can be arranged and the renaming might be a chore, but If it is the folders to be renamed, that will be easy, if it is the song files, that will take longer, but I can cross reference from my music books where I have the required file numbers marked.
Ray

It will be the song files and the folders probably but at least you will be able to then do a backup.... and I daresay you will backup every time after going through that pain.....

If you know what songs are in what directories you will be able to rename them on your PC which is much quicker. But anyway, send me backup files and let's see what we can do.

UPDATE!!!!!
The SD card reader is working again for whatever reason.
I have obtained my late brother's KN7 and will sell mine, as his has had very little use.
I also have about five other cards with a lot of data on them and will back them up for safety in future.
Following all of your advice I should be able to save the corrupted cards by copying my existing back-up card thru my computer, if I have understood you correctly and may not need to accept Mike's offer of assistance (Thanks Mike).
(Incidentally, my PC crashed on Monday without any back-up. I have now learned a nasty lesson, and it will not happen again as I will save all of my data to another hard drive. I did not lose everything , but it is warning enough to change my ways.
Also I have been advised to not remove the SD card while KB is turned on, which ensures that the reader will work effectively all the time using that process.
A big thank you to you all for the help and advice during this "saga"
Ray

Great news Ray, I have lost data before and you know that saying "It will never happen to me!!!" so the best practice backup and backup again,I even have a separate USB Hard drive just for my KN stuff,It was not too expensive but when I look at all the files I could not replace,the price was well worth it.
Best regards John.

For additional protection backup your files to The Cloud, as it is separate (And a great distance) from where you have your computer and backup stored.

Bill

Thanks , John and Bill.
I am buying another hard drive for back-up.
Bill, your English Riviera is no match for any part of the

Australian coastline, just ask all the "Poms" who live here (ha ha)!!!

Good news. My contacts are safe and all my e-mails relating to a golf competition of which I am The President (VIP, car spot and free lunches). I can live with the rest which I will restore at my leisure, and watch out for those sharks Bill!!
Ray