SONOSAX SX-R4 (Firmware v3.1) - Manual (Page 40)

User manual SONOSAX SX-R4 Page 40 of 53
6. MANAGING THE SX-R4
6.1.1 Formatting the Hard Disk and CompactFlash card
Internal Hard Disk
The hard disk of the SX-R4 is factory formatted as a single FAT32 partition. Since version 2.6 of the firmware,
the SX-R4 offers a formatting tool that manages perfectly the User Settings and the file system
"CONFIG.DAT" when formatting (see chapter MISC). It is therefore recommended not to split the drive into
multiple partitions, so as to ensure better compatibility with the MacOS system that does not – or badly -
support multiple FAT32 partitions.
To re-format the internal hard drive, it is recommended to use the tool of the SX-R4. A full format (vs quick) is
unnecessary and does not improve disk performance.
CompactFlash Card
Before first use, it is recommended to format the new CompactFlash card with FAT32 file system, in order to
be directly recognized by the SX-R4. Once the CF card has been correctly formatted, using a computer is no
longer necessary and it is recommended to use the utility tool of the SX-R4 for subsequent re-formatting the
CF card.
How to format FAT32 with MAC OS X:
1. Open the Disk Utility, and select the drive to be formatted
2. Click on "Erase", then choose the MS-DOS File system in the menu "Volume Format"
3. Type a name for this drive, e.g. CF-SX-R4 (max 8 characters)
6.1.2 Disk fragmentation
During heavy use of the recorder, it may be necessary to recover some free disk space by delete audio files
(Delete Take) and then erasing these files (Empty Trash) or to remove them when connected to a computer.
This may lead to severe fragmentation of the free space on the hard drive or on the CF card which may
prevent the recording of new Takes.
In this case an alarm HD or CF is posted to warn you of the problem. It is then necessary to back-up all your
files and to reformat the disk using the SX-R4 format utility.
WARNING:
IN ANY CASE, DO NOT DEFRAGMENT THE INTERNAL HARD DISK OR THE CF CARD
USING A DISC DEFRAGMENTATION UTILITY OR THE SX-R4 WILL NO LONGER BE
ABLE TO PLAY THE AUDIO FILES.
Important notes for MAC OS X users:
When deleting files stored on the Hard disk and/or on the CF, do not forget to empty the Trash Bin on your
desktop before you disconnect the USB port. Otherwise, the disk space of the deleted files is not released
and can not be re-allocated. Reconnecting the USB a second time doesn't solve the problem. It is very likely
that your SX-R4 will then indicates a free available space "HD FREE" lower than the value given by the
computer. In this case it will be necessary to save all your files and to reformat your hard drive by means of
the formatting utility of the SX-R4.