Seagate Microdrive - Not Cf Flash Type

[djacco]

(also I can hear the drive clicking when I start the zaurus)

Does it actually spin up though, I wonder if the drive is trying to draw too much power?


Si
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it spins up but I also wonder if the c860 can handle 5volt microdrives or are all microdrives 5 volts??
I think I need to repartition it to get it working but the usb cardreader is not supported in partition magic 7...

Do I need to mount the drive or what?
Also is there a good linux disk utility to check drives ??

[jomo]

(also I can hear the drive clicking when I start the zaurus)

Does it actually spin up though, I wonder if the drive is trying to draw too much power?


Si
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These drives are "electrically" compatible with a standard CF reader.  The signals are all the same.  Ie. the WILL spin up when you apply electricity.  However, the firmware was purposefully written to restrict access.  The firmware looks to make a handshake with the "approved" device the firmware was written to talk to.  If it doesn't "see" that device, it refuses communications.  Seagate/Hitachi/IBM/Apple got burned when the iPod Minis and several other MP3 players came out.  Seagate and Hitcachi were selling their microdrives for hundreds of dollars more than Apple and the other MP-3 player manufacturers were getting for the whole MP3 player.  Apple in particular, had a hefty discount on their microdrives.  Result, people would buy the player, open it up for the drive and stick a standard 128MB or 512MB CF into the player.  Player still worked and they got the drive.  Seagate and Hitachi changed the firmware to prevent this trick from working.  There are tools floating around that will let you bypass the firmware.  Microsoft did something similar on their original X-Box hard-disks, but Linux tech-heads managed to get around it.  However, I personally don't know where to find them.  The drives are cheap enough now that I don't really see the gain in trying to mod OEM drives to work outside of the players they originally came in.

[djacco]

a little bit too late now :-)
so I need a utility to get around the firmware ... I'll try my friend google again but haven't found it yet before roaming around on the web trying to find a solution ...
If you have any suggestion I'd be gratefull ... thanks anyhow

[lardman]

These drives are "electrically" compatible with a standard CF reader. The signals are all the same. Ie. the WILL spin up when you apply electricity.

Well yes and no - PCMCIA cards are also pin compatible with CF but I understand that some will not work as they require more power than the Z's socket can supply. I was simply wondering about the clicking noise and it reminded me of my iRiver trying to spin up when the battery's almost flat,


Si

[djacco]

hmm maybe I spoke too soon
when I eject the drive and reinsert it it starts spinning and clicking but after a few seconds it stops ...

[djacco]

got another tip ... I'll try formatting it trough knoppix in my pc ... maybe that'll teach it :-)

I'll post the result here ...

(anyone got other thoughts .... please post them so we can crack this and everybody can get a cheap 5gb in their zaurus:-))

[djacco]

got knoppix today and i can format and partition the drive (multiple partitions is not possible ?) I tried to delete the partition and create a new but it seems it goes a bit to fast to be credible ... but still I tried a linux partition and fat 16 (wich is not possible in 1 partition so it made a fat32 ??) none were readeble in the zaurus Ithink it is a voltage problem so unless someone has other suggestions I am putting the drive back in the muvo ...I am not giving up though ...:-)

[speculatrix]

got knoppix today and i can format and partition the drive (multiple partitions is not possible ?) I tried to delete the partition and create a new but it seems it goes a bit to fast to be credible ... but still I tried a linux partition and fat 16 (wich is not possible in 1 partition so it made a fat32 ??) none were readeble in the zaurus Ithink it is a voltage problem so unless someone has other suggestions I am putting the drive back in the muvo ...I am not giving up though ...:-)
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I am wondering if the "special" firmware simply prevents you from rewriting the first ? blocks of the disk, thus preventing writing your own partition.

How about this. Find a file which you know well, e.g
copy it to the drive

  dd if=/etc/init.d/boot.rootfsck of=/dev/XXX bs=512

then read it back (assume it's 5120 bytes long)

  dd if=/dev/XXX of=/tmp/fromdrive bs=512 count=10

then view the file /tmp/fromdrive to see what you got. try with a bigger file, after all, it's possible that seagate protect the first 16K or something.

Paul

[djacco]

Tnanks I'm a bit busy so I will try after the weekend, what to do if it is protected??

Also I like to know if any micro drive works in the zaurus and if all microdrives are 5 volts ...

[icruise]

Also I like to know if any micro drive works in the zaurus and if all microdrives are 5 volts ...
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I think any microdrive not designed to be placed in an MP3 player should work. I have an old 340mb microdrive from IBM and a 2.2gb Magicstor microdrive and both work fine.

[speculatrix]

It took a lot of googling to find some real information on how to overcome the problem of a bad partition on the microdrive... this page has links to a variety of hacks and stuff:
http://echeng.com/journal/index.php?p=601

let us know how you get on!

[djacco]

It took a lot of googling to find some real information on how to overcome the problem of a bad partition on the microdrive... this page has links to a variety of hacks and stuff:
http://echeng.com/journal/index.php?p=601

let us know how you get on!
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thanks I tried to determine what is happening to the first blocks but I think I have to try again since it got me nowhere ... Linux is still a bit alien to me .... so no results yet. I put the thing back in my muvo and contacted dreative for a firmware ... maybe that will help and I will keep on trying ...

anybody got the same drive and knows more than I do feel free to help :-)

[djacco]

For everybody who failed to get the st1 drive from a muvo2 5gb (no fm) working in any device the firmware from nomad muvo2 4gb works with the muvo2 5gb (no fm) player so you can get your player up and running again...

For everybody who is still trying GOODLUCK ! and keep us posted ... I did what I could and didn't get it :-) so I gave the player to my girlfriend who's a happy girl now :-)

hope to hear if anybody cracks the problem ... please send me an email ...

[hvontres]

No? has anyone got a Seagate microdrive working at all?
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I purchased a 5GB Seagate CF microdrive awhile ago and it works fine in both my C760 and my desktop's USB 2.0 CF reader.

Jason.
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Jason, could you provide the output from the following command:

Code: [Select]

hdparm -i /dev/hda
I am trying to get a 3.03 FW St1 working but I am getting some write errors

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hda: status timeout: status=0xd0 { Busy }
    hda: no DRQ after issuing WRITE
Does anyone know how to fix the DRQ Problem?

Thanks,

[RuBeS]

I have a Seagate microdrive buyed in conic's and run ok!!!