Help! Can't Format HardDrive/Digmag!

[AnthonyFlores]

Hi Guys,

I have something scheduled to shoot early morning tomorrow, and
I'm having trouble formatting the media to get the camera ready to
record.

When I attempt to format ... it says "format error" ...

I'm using:

- Red One (non-MX)
- Original Red Hard Drive
- Latest Firmware
- 3k/23.98fps/Redcode 32

Overall, I'm very inexperienced shooting on Red. This is in fact my
first time shooting on this camera.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Anthony

 

[Sam Winzar]

If you have a spare drive cable that would be my first recommendation. Another trick to try is formatting it on a computer, then seeing if it will reformat on camera.

Of course, it's always worth getting in contact with RED support directly.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Do you have another drive to format to check? Extra cable to test with?

You may need to connect the hard drive to a computer and see if you can read/write it. Re-partitioning the drive may allow you to re-format on the camera.

 

[AnthonyFlores]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the quick response. No, I don't have another drive ...
might have another cable.

First, I will try reformatting it on my computer.

Is it easy to do that in RedCine-X?

Thanks again ...

Anthony

 

[Sam Winzar]

I had a drive that wouldn't format in camera. I formatted it using Disk Utility and then reformatted it in camera with out a problem. Drive went on to film with no issues.

 

[Michael LAGERWEY]

It's should be Red Code 32 !!!

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

First, I will try reformatting it on my computer.

Is it easy to do that in RedCine-X?

On Mac, use Disk Utility

On Windows, use Disk Management. But if there's a need to wipe the partition map and start over, you may have to go to the command line and use diskpart to fix it.

I'm willing to bet that a previous user of the drive re-partitioned and formatted it on their Mac to wipe the data and changed the partition type to Apple PM or GUID type. It happens every now and then with rental media. If you re-partition with a Master Boot Record partition type, or as non-partitioned free space, then you should be able to re-format on the camera.

Of course, there could be an actual issue with the drive.... But these are all things that need to be worked through to identify the problem.

Making a blind ASSumption that you are renting this kit, one thing is certain. Whoever supplied the camera and media didn't do a thorough system check before you took delivery. I would most certainly bitch about that. And more to the point, why would you only have one drive or media device to record to? Is that all they have? What kind of "support" are you getting from whoever supplied the camera and media?

It's should be Red Code 32 !!!

???

 

[AnthonyFlores]

Thanks so much Jeff. I went to Red Studios Hollywood today and the guys
looked at it and determined that: 1) the cable is bad ... and 2) the hard
drive needs repair. (There was the noise of something shaking around
inside. Not good!)

So they are sending it to Lake Forest. In the meanwhile, I will have to rent
a hard drive, or buy some flash cards.

I'm not officially "renting", one of my best clients is allowing me to borrow
it and learn the system in the hope I can shoot some things for his business
down the line ... (and because he's a great guy and friend.)

Unfortunately, he had been renting/lending it to a DP in Toronto prior to
giving it to me, and they did not do a systems check beforehand.

Live and learn, I guess :arf:

Thanks for your help, greatly appreciated.

Anthony

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Ah...

Too bad about the drive.... It happens though. Fragile moving parts inside, ya know.

Hopefully I didn't hurt anyones' feelings with my other comments. I just run across situations like that where I get hired as DIT and I show up to see the DP and his crew fumbling around with a bare bones RED kit and drives are unchecked, unformatted or other things are amiss. Just one of those things.

 

[AnthonyFlores]

No hurt feelings at all. I'm actually a little pissed that the DP
who had it before me didn't check it over, or make sure everything
was included.

 

[Yang Liu]

Red Drives is getting a big issue now, the some old drives need to be repaired. But some crew won't figure out the drives have problems until they can't copy R3D files out. It's serious issue when you can't re-shoot the same scenes when your schedule is tight.I highly suggest Redusers to fully check drives see if there are "broken tracks" inside two 320 disks. I help a few crews and myself fix this problem, I know it's very important.

 

[Rob Ruffo]

How would one check for "broken tracks"?

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

How would one check for "broken tracks"?

You can't check for much of anything -- no way past the internal RAID controller to do drive-specific diagnostics. Only way is to remove the drives, but they have proprietary firmware, so the manufacturers' drive tools that correspond to those HDD models or other performance testing and tuning tools may not give the desired results.

Best thing is to do a full format and zero out all the data occasionally. This also helps keep peeping with REDUNDEAD to a minimum. That writes to the entire surface of the drives and will usually point out any major errors or failures. But the thing with hard drives is they're only as reliable as their internal mechanics allow them to be at any given time. A drive can test out perfectly only to fail on the very next write, even a few seconds later.