Dead CF card - back up your projects!

Elektron Gear Octatrack
#6

Unfortunately it does not show up at all. I can see the card reader as a USB device, but no storage device. If I plug in a working card, i see both the card reader and a block storage device (a disk). Tried 4 computers now (2 Macs, 2 Linux).

I’ve done some data recovery in the past – I’ve managed to un-delete files, repair filesystems, etc, but the storage device needs to be recognized first. I think it’s the actual controller inside the card that’s dead.

The only thing I can think of is “chip-off recovery”, for which I don’t have the equipment. Basically the process would be to open up the card, remove the actual memory chips and add them to a new controller… It’s expensive and difficult. And, while I really liked the tracks I was working on, I’m probably not going to pay $500 to have someone do chip-off recovery :laughing: they’re good, but not that good :wink:

I can’t think of anything else to recover it. I’m just kicking myself in the ass for not backing up! Apparently my last backup was February and I thought it was more recent, so I’ve lost so much work.

Maybe for me, making music is just an ephemeral experience :slight_smile:

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#7

Apparently this guy has a whole YouTube channel on CF card data recovery! This is pretty fun to watch:

That’s basically the chip-off recovery process I was describing. He has some specialized equipment. From the video it sounds like this is a business that provides data recovery services… Maybe I’ll request a quote for shits and giggles! I bet it’s close to the price of an Octatrack

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#8

I have seen a few people with the factory octacards have issues, contact Elektron support.

Stick with a good brand like SanDisk.

Any CF card can be corrupted if a write operation is interrupted, like if powered off or power fails during a write, but generally otherwise they are pretty robust data wise.

If you can find smaller sizes like 4/8/16gb IMHO better than using a bigger card, it makes organising easier and less data loss should the worst happen.

But yeah, back up regularly too.

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#9

Same thing just happened to me on a second hand OT mkII that I just bought. Same card, provided by Elektron.
Fortunately I did nothing important, and I even made copies of some useful sounds.
FYI, on my other OT, I have a SanDisk Extreme 64GB that has been working for a few years.

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#10

Without wanting to be a grump I think the cards provided by Elektron are a bit rubbish, it’s a shame they haven’t made an improvement there - I’ve also seen a number of people have issues with the factory card - sometimes even with a brand new device - maybe I’m wrong here and the cards they provide are just as reliable, but it doesn’t seem that way.

New cards aren’t cheap either, and although I understand why Elektron wouldn’t want to eat too much into their bottom-line with a SanDisk card, the consequence always seems to be either ‘have an issue’, or ‘buy a replacement’. I’d rather they shave £20 off the cost and not include one if it’s simply introducing a point of unreliability.

#11

Back in the day i used to buy cheap writeable dvds. The dye used was a cheaper version and data corruption or loss was evident after a few years. The better dvds are still going strong after 20 years. My guess is the CF cards Elektron are using are unbranded cheaper ones. And this is the cause of the issue. Cutting corners to save money or convenience is always bad in the long run. You end up spending more.

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#12

I think there have been some which are ok and some which were not, over the years they switched to different brands/sizes, presumably they buy a large quantity at a time for a production run. AFAICT the most common ones which seemed to have a number of failures reported on the forum were the ones which were branded “Octacard’ rather than the OEM branded ones. I’m not sure if there are various suppliers of these to Elektron, or if they always used the same supplier for the “Octacard” branded ones.

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#13

True it’s presumptuous of me to assume they haven’t improved something - maybe the cards have improved at some point it’s probably not something they’d shout too loudly about.

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#14

I think that earlier ones did not have many widely reported failures, then on mk2 when they went to 32gb I started noticing people reporting problems, IIRC mk1 were 4gb first, then later 8gb usually Kingston branded. I think I got a 16gb Sandisk ultra with my grey mk2, AE had 32gb Octacard.

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#15

…goys and birls…if all ur work is founded on nothing but zeros and ones, like all digital mass storage of any kind is by nature, backing up ur shit is ESSENTIAL!!!..part of the game, no matter what…!

and in case of ot’s cf card, it could’nt be easier…just in frequent terms, from time to time, not month, weeks at least, connect ur ot via a standard usb cable to ur computer, turn usb mode on on ur ot, ur card shows up on ur desktop as a standard folder, copy/drag it to some other dedicated desktop folder location, eject that desktop ot folder with ur computer again, as u’d do it with all other external storage devices, and look how ur ot goes back into standard mode, all by it’s own, reloads it’s actual last status, all fine, ready to rumble again…

and if ur doing frequent live sets with ur ot, u better always have a redundant second cf card with u, because HELL YEAH, also cv cards, like ANY OTHER digital mass storage device, can FAIL U…
it might never ever happen, but it always could…

so if u love ur ot, make sure u also have two hi price top notch cf cards for it…
another little but great investment in ur happyness and success, u only have to make once in a lifetime…cause once ur well prepared for such a worst case scenario like THIS, the odds it actually really happens to u, are pretty pretty low…u know… :wink:

#16

Yup, for reels :wink:

#17

…and most reliable cf cards are not the maxed out ones…
also as with any other digital mass storage device…

in best case, u run a hi price, top speed, dedicated for professional photographers “only” one that offers 32 gigs “only”…don’t look at the brand that much…in this case, look at the highest price and the fine print…

those, i can guarantee u after years and years of heavy use, won’t die on u, even if u force them to stream 8 audiofiles in realtime at once and for ongoing hours and hours…

i had once a dead row scenario…that one was pricey but not hi price and was maxed out for ot dimensions with a 64 gig capacity…

apart from all that…keep ur folder structure clean…don’t go too deep…fix a solid first level main structure for ur various kinds of sample chain content and have not more than 4 further folder levels within each of those…than ur always good to go forever…
and u only need one set with one audio pool…no matter for how many further projects ur up to…

u invested big bux for ur ot…well, then go all the way, and spent another hundred bux for two solid cf cards…as mentioned…it’s a last one time investment…and never forget, the cf card slot is the most fragile thing on ur ot…always take it slow and be careful for that little moment, once u exchange them…that row of open contact pins, waiting in there for ur card are also damned essential and can twist or break easy…
no elektron engineering flaw, but an unavoidable basic flaw of this old but never the less still gold mass storage concept of cf cards…

and sure, those that come with ur ot, even the aniversary ones, are not top notch…
imagine u gotta spent xtra xtra money for every single unit ur going to sell…
those are literally gift cards from sweden…not ur daily tool u can heavyly scrub and rely on…

#18

Indeed they have. Based on posts in a previous topic on the same subject:

Elektron has been supplying SanDisk cards for the past few months instead of the 'Octacard"-labelled CF cards that have caused problems for so many users.

Unfortunately, there are still many secondhand units in circulation where the original user has passed on the bad “Octacard” to the new owner.

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#19

Ah well that’s good although very recent :sweat_smile:

I’ve had two new units (had to return one) in the past couple months and they’ve had the Octatrack branded cards.

Might contact Elektron if they’re recognising this as a known problem see if they can send me a better card.

#20

This is actually the second Octacard that died on me. The first one was over a year ago.

Strangely, a few days before this card died, I was talking about the other time it happened here: Octatrack Freezing - #17 by lowph

At the time, I assumed the problem had to do with the USB disk mode. I tried it once and the Octacard died. I had just bought the OT, so I told the retailer and they didn’t just send me a new card; they sent me a whole new OT (with Octacard).

Now it’s clear to me the problem is the Octacard and not an issue with how I went about using USB disk mode.

Up until now, I was somewhat afraid of using USB disk mode and only used an external CF card reader, but I think that’s probably not the best idea either, because removing and inserting the card so many times over the course of years is probably going to increase the chance of breaking/bending the contacts on the card connector.

By the way, does anyone here know if your OT is supposed to be powered on or off when you connect the USB cable to a computer? The manual doesn’t specify the order of operations (as I was talking about in the other thread).

(Edit: autocorrect)

#21

There are a small number of semiconductor fabs in the world, and fewer memory fabs. Typically the difference between a “name brand” memory chip and a no-name chip is that the no-name chip came off the same fab as the name brand chip, but didn’t pass the more stringent QC tiers. (this is generally true for all semiconductor products. Lower clock-speed CPUs are just CPUs that can’t pass QC at higher frequency. Sometimes it makes sense to roll the dice and overclock, but I usually don’t since failure usually means loss of time-sensitive work for me)

I usually look to pro photo/video reviews for advice on memory cards. Active photographers hit their cards hard with writes, so what works well for them should be good for just about everyone. When in doubt, I prefer Samsung because they run their own foundry and have a wide array of high performance and reliable memory products. Sandisk has also been good to me, but I always ditch no-name cards that come with devices, like the OctaCard. (Since Samsung doesn’t make CF cards, my OT’s CF cards are all Sandisk)

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#22

Yea I use Sandisk for my camera cards and they’re worked pretty hard and have never skipped a beat

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#23

My Factory Octacard 32 GB just failed/died just sitting my black MKII that I bought 2nd hand. The card contained my first 3 projects so I’m bummed to lose all that work. But I guess rebuilding those songs will reinforce everything I learned while making them. I turned on the machine and it was frozen like others have said.

I bought a new SanDisk 32 (120MB/s) card and a card reader. When the Octacard is in the reader and connected to my Mac it is like it is not even there, can’t read anything on the Octacard.

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#24

Welcome to the forum. Sorry such a horrible thing brought you here!

Yeah, it’s likely totally gone, unless you want to pay $$$ for chip-off recovery. I got a quote and it was $850 (USD), so decided against it. The work is lost

Elektron support will probably replace your card if your OT is still under warranty. Even if you bought it second hand, it might be worth registering it and getting a replacement card. They’re replacing them with SanDisk cards

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#25

My Kingston 16Go is still working.
I think it’s the original.