Usb Stick for Roland FR3X

[henryk531]

Has any Roland FR3X owners had any problems? I have created an expansion Usb stick but am unable to connect it with the Usb socket on the FR3X. l have another Usb stick and that connects O. K. The problem stick is a ScanDisc Cruzer Edge. Hope this is of some use to fellow FR3X owners.

 

[JerryPH]

I've heard about this one before. Make sure it's a 4gb or 8gb stick, anything over that sometimes confuses some V-accordions. I must have tested about 10 different ones on my 8X successfully, nothing over 16gb, never any issues. For recording and playing around I mostly used this pair of 4gb units that are generic USB sticks that I bought in Walmart for a couple dollars... they work perfectly in the 8X and the BK-7m. Also, make sure they are formatted in FAT, not NTFS or any other file system... that can cause issues too.

 

[henryk531]

That's interesting Jerry, the rogue stick is 64.gb Goes into both my laptops no problem
I chose the bigger capacity as I was toying with the idea of loading it few audio track. The other stick is a Duracell 16gb and it works a treat.
.

 

[JerryPH]

I have a scandisk 64gb and 128gb and both work well with my 8X, but the 3x does have some issues with some brands/sizes. It doesn't seem to have any known issues with any brand USB stick as long as it's under 16gb in size from all that I have read in the Roland Yahoo forums going back as much as 4 years. That doesn't mean that a 16-64 gb unit won't work, it means that there is no certainty on a 3x until you test it out yourself, and has no obviously logical reasons as to exactly why too.

BTW, did you test out the file system on the USB stick? If it is formatted NTFS all windows laptops could read it, but no V-accordion could... until reformatted to FAT... sorry, specifically FAT32.

 

[JIM D.]

No matter what size, your USB stick "must be" the correct format or a Roland "V" accordion will not recognize it :tup:

 

[AccordionUprising]

This thread talks about formatting the stick properly.
http://www.accordionists.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2200&p=23233&hilit=roland+usb+fat+format#p23233

I think Roland requires a (windows standard) FAT 32 format. If the usb stick is formatted only for Macs it wont work. (If youre on Mac, use Disk Utility to reform the usb stick.)

 

[Francisco SC]

Yesterday I also had problems when trying to import a sound set into my FR1x. Tried three different USB sticks, but none of them were recognized. All three had been working previously with no problem, and my windows PC could read and write to them with no problem. So I was suspecting a failure in the accordion's USB reader...

But today I realized that a couple weeks ago I was using those sticks to install Linux in my wife's computer. They had been formatted (FAT32) from a Linux system. So I took them and re-formatted from a Windows system, also to FAT32. Still didn't work... Then I took another USB drive which had never been formatted in Linux, and it worked!!

So I have the impression that if a USB stick is formatted in a linux system it will not be recongized by the V-Accordion, no matter if the file system used was FAT32, and no matter if the USB stick is re-formatted again in a Windows system.

Hope this helps,

 

[JerryPH]

...So I have the impression that if a USB stick is formatted in a linux system it will not be recongized by the V-Accordion, no matter if the file system used was FAT32, and no matter if the USB stick is re-formatted again in a Windows system.

That doesnt sound logical. FAT32 is FAT32, no matter what operating system. I do know that USB sticks have a lifespan, meaning you can write over to the same memory space only a limited number of times, but this is normally in the 10s of thousands of times, if not 100s of thousands, so it could be that.

Also was a Quick Format done or a full long format? If it took less than 10 seconds, it was the quick format and if this ends up not working for you, doing the long full format (which depending on the USB stick could take as much as 2 minutes), might work for you.

 

[Francisco SC]

...So I have the impression that if a USB stick is formatted in a linux system it will not be recongized by the V-Accordion, no matter if the file system used was FAT32, and no matter if the USB stick is re-formatted again in a Windows system.

That doesnt sound logical. FAT32 is FAT32, no matter what operating system. I do know that USB sticks have a lifespan, meaning you can write over to the same memory space only a limited number of times, but this is normally in the 10s of thousands of times, if not 100s of thousands, so it could be that.

Also was a Quick Format done or a full long format? If it took less than 10 seconds, it was the quick format and if this ends up not working for you, doing the long full format (which depending on the USB stick could take as much as 2 minutes), might work for you.[/quote]

Hi Jerry, I agree it doesnt sound logical.... it was a full format done under Windows 10, FAT32. One more fact which I forgot to add: I used those USB sticks to create bootable Linux Mint live USB drives. Maybe that is the reason, althoug I, same as you say, expected that a full format would take care of that... but apparently, it didnt. Now I have 3 USB sticks which are working on both Windows and Linux PCs, and on my TV... but not in my FR-1x.

Anyhow, I solved my problem as I said using a fresh USB stick...

 

[JerryPH]

That is a very huge thing to forget... lol

When creating a Linux boot disk, it writes to sections of the media that identify it differently to the host. Some hosts can get past it, others, like V-Accordions, cannot. Basically, you need to reinitialize the USB stick and then format it again before it will work.

BTW, do NOT boot your V-Accordion with these USB sticks! Roland uses Linux as the OS and Linux commands to prepare the eeprom and then to upload and write firmware updates to the EEPROM. If you ever try this and by accident do the wrong thing, basically, the accordion is effectively killed and the only fix is to send it to Roland for a $2000 repair, if you ever want to use the accordion again, that is.

 

[Francisco SC]

...

BTW, do NOT boot your V-Accordion with these USB sticks! Roland uses Linux as the OS and Linux commands to prepare the eeprom and then to upload and write firmware updates to the EEPROM. If you ever try this and by accident do the wrong thing, basically, the accordion is effectively killed and the only fix is to send it to Roland for a $2000 repair, if you ever want to use the accordion again, that is.

Thanks Jerry for the heads-up!

 

[Glenn]

That is a very huge thing to forget... lol

When creating a Linux boot disk, it writes to sections of the media that identify it differently to the host. Some hosts can get past it, others, like V-Accordions, cannot. Basically, you need to reinitialize the USB stick and then format it again before it will work.

BTW, do NOT boot your V-Accordion with these USB sticks! Roland uses Linux as the OS and Linux commands to prepare the eeprom and then to upload and write firmware updates to the EEPROM. If you ever try this and by accident do the wrong thing, basically, the accordion is effectively killed and the only fix is to send it to Roland for a $2000 repair, if you ever want to use the accordion again, that is.

My FR8X has just asked me to pay $300 in bitcoins to access my user programmes. Have I been hacked?

 

[JerryPH]

My FR8X has just asked me to pay $300 in bitcoins to access my user programmes. Have I been hacked?

Basically, you are a victim of ransomware. Lets hope you have backups somewhere safe and off computer that are not infected?