OT: Recovering Mini Disk

xjerx wrote on 11/7/2006, 9:54 AM

So...I do weddings...and I had a MiniDisk Recorder hooked up to the DJ to get all that beautiful audio...well...the DJ unplugged my recorder before I could get to it...and I didn't have a battery in it...so all that was recorded on the disk was not "saved" on the disk..the recorder tells me the disk is blank.....well...surely the recorder recorded something of that 5 hour event on to that disk...is there a way to recover what may be on that disk?

jeremiah

Comments

gordyboy wrote on 11/7/2006, 10:17 AM

The problem is there is no TOC on the disc as the power was interrupted before it could be written to the MD. I would think the audio data is not worth retrieving for the cost or trouble involved in the hacks to achieve a transfer but there are some discussions of similar problems with misssing or corrupt TOCs etc here:

http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/1/76163.html

Good luck

gb

corug7 wrote on 11/7/2006, 10:21 AM

I recently had this happen to me... at the ceremony. Thankfully I had on board audio on both my cameras, and was able to mix and match them to an acceptable (imho) level. Now if you're working with Bridezilla...

Good luck
Corey

farss wrote on 11/7/2006, 12:47 PM

Had the same thing happen recently with a HDD recorder, not even Roland were able to restore the files. They said they could but after many phone calls I gave up, needed the unit for another job. They kept a disk image but that was over a month ago. Thankfully the client accepted the audio from the camera mic (yuck).
It's old, it's clunky but at least this doesn't happen with DAT.
Bob.

Chienworks wrote on 11/7/2006, 12:55 PM

Sometimes i forget, what with all the other nifty things that Sound Forge does, but one of it's major saving graces is that, if it crashes while recording (due to someone pulling the plug, of course) there is a recovery file that contains the recording up to that point. It's such a useful and obvious feature that i get spoiled by it, and often forget how many other file-based recording programs/devices don't do this.

john-beale wrote on 11/7/2006, 3:25 PM

I had a battery die on a MD recorder before the TOC was written. I did fix it, and it was not particularly difficult. Basically, you fool the MD player into believing it needs to write a full-audio-disc TOC onto your "empty" disc, by loading any fully-recorded MD into the player (note, must be exactly the same mode SP/LP etc.), triggering the "TOC needs to be written" flag, and disconnecting power in a specific way, then switching in your problem disc and restoring power whereupon the full-disc TOC gets written to it. The instructions I followed were specific to my MD recorder ("Portadisc" HHB MDP500).

Edit: here are instructions for some other players: http://www.minidisc.org/cloning_procedure.html

If you have a Sharp MS-701 or -702, this is very easy. If you already have a full MD in the same format and a small piece of scotch tape, you can fix it in less time than it took to post this message.
See: http://www.minidisc.org/ms701_cloning.html

xjerx wrote on 11/9/2006, 9:58 AM

I have a MZ-N505 Type-R Minidisk recorder...all those help sites seem to be for minidisk decks...or atleast I can't find help for my specific recorder....

...i tried putting a fully loaded disk into the recorder..then pulled the battery out..put the "broke" one in ...replaced the battery....nada...nothing happened...

anymore ideas?

jeremiah

ps..thanks for all the help so far

craftech wrote on 11/9/2006, 12:06 PM

Search the archives on this forum. If you don't find anything try signing up and posting your problem.

John