H320 not recognising Mk3006GAL 30Gb hard drive

[nick_sub]

I posted this elsewhere but only just discovered the modding section and thought it would be better placed here...

I recently replaced my MK2004GAL with a MK3006GAL hard drive. When I boot up I get the infamous “Check HDD connection” message. The strange thing is that I can connect to the PC and format and write files to the hard drive without any problems. The drive shows up as having 27.94GB free which I believe is correct. So it seems that the drive works OK but my iriver firmware is not recognising the hard drive. I’ve tried the iriver 1.24E and 1.29E firmware versions and got the same problem. I don't use Rockbox (but I might try it).

When I reconnect my old 20Gb hard drive it still works fine.

The new drive does not have the apple logo on it by the way, and I’ve formatted it as FAT32.

I’ve tried doing a diskpart “clean” operation in DOS and reformatting but that didn’t work either.

Please help if you can!

[Dunno]

is it formatted as FAT32 or NTFS ?, it should be FAT32.

[nick_sub]

FAT32 (mentioned in the post )

[jumbuck]

I don't know much ,if anything , about what I am about to type , and I have been drinking , so be warned that it is purely guess work.
I wonder if the boot sector or the Master Boot Record on the hard drive is not compatible with the iriver's bios/firmware ??
I've only ever tinkered (unsuccessfully) with it on a old hard drive and some freeware programs.
There are a few freeware programs if you google free mbr repair but no doubt it would void any warranty you may have.
Any way its just a wild guess ......

[Dunno]

Is the HDD formated as basic drive.

When I upgraded my archos HDD I had the problem below.

http://www.misticriver.net/forums/ge...-resolved.html

[nick_sub]

Originally Posted by Dunno

Is the HDD formated as basic drive.

When I upgraded my archos HDD I had the problem below.

http://www.misticriver.net/forums/ge...-resolved.html

Thanks, I hadn't thought of this. But I can see the drive OK and format it with Swissknife so I guess it must be a basic disc anyway.


Jumbuck - we are thinking along the same lines I was looking into the MBR this morning. No sign of the word ipod in there (I was thinking maybe it had an IPOD mbr). I've done a killdisk on the drive before, so that mayb have cleared the MBR anyway.

Tonight I might try copying the MBR from my 20gb drive onto the 30gb, or using XXClone to clone the 20gb drive onto the 30gb. And maybe I'll try the 1.29k firmware as that's what most people seem to be using.

[nick_sub]

I checked again and it is definately a basic, and not dynamic disc.

I also tried making a backup of my 20GB drive and restoring that to the 30GB (including the MBR) and still no joy.

I doubt it's something wierd with my player because I've had it since new and it's been well looked after so I can only assume that there's something wierd with the drive. Anyway, I've done all I can and it isn't going to work so I'll have to put it back on ebay and maybe try buying another (or buying an H340 if I can find one).

[Dunno]

Originally Posted by nick_sub

try buying another (or buying an H340 if I can find one).

or do the Compact Flash mod )
there should be 32gig cards available at reasonable prices, and also 64gig cards.

[nick_sub]

I didn't think anyone had done that successfully on an H320/340? If they have, do you a have a link to the info?

Edit: Just had a look at the price of a 32GB CF card...about £120 so not axactly a cheap option!

[caligula]

There should be highers caps coming oiut soon so of copurse the prices will drop, and if you order from america thats practically half price straight away.

Ive bought the cf adaptors in anticipation of the cf cards dropping in price then will be doing that mod myself... fingers crossed as I aint a techy lol

[Dunno]

Originally Posted by nick_sub

I didn't think anyone had done that successfully on an H320/340? If they have, do you a have a link to the info?

Edit: Just had a look at the price of a 32GB CF card...about £120 so not axactly a cheap option!

several here at mistic and Rockbox have done the mod, Jeff here at mistic has done it. there is a thread about it at mistic..

Below is the official link at Rocbox for the mod,

CFModGuide < Main < TWiki

[nick_sub]

Thanks for that. I'll keep an eye on the prices. For now I'm going to try and get hold of another 30GB drive, but in a year or so I might do teh CF mod.

[nick_sub]

An update: I decideded it must be something odd with the 30GB hard drive, so I bought another one off ebay. Installed it last night and it worked. Was pre-formatted as FAT32 so it was just as simple as plugging it in and turning it on.

One thing I noticed is that the sticker on the first drive I tried was different from the second (the second one had an extra bar code at the bottom, and an Apple logo). The first was made in Indonesia, and the second one made in China. So maybe there is something subtly different about the Indonesian-made drives which means that the iriver doesn't recognisde them? Oh well, pleased to have an H330 at last!

[jumbuck]

congats on getting it going.There have been issues with getting apple branded drives working in iriver players , so it seems as though the right drive won't work in your player but the wrong one does .