**URGENT RED DRIVE PROBLEM- help needed

[Matt Iuliano]

Hi guys
ive had my red one and never had an issue. I sold it today and the guy who bought it says he's getting a "no digital magazine attached" error. Can't reformat it. It's a 640gb drive and he's tried deleting all files on it from his mac, then going back to camera and still can't. Any ideas? Is there a way to restore the default red volume image on it? I reformatted the drive before giving it to him with no problems
please help
thanks
matt

 

[Mike Krumlauf]

I believe to get the red volume image it would have to be formatted using the camera. Has he tried different REDCODE and Resolution options? I know the RED ONE no matter what media you throw at it will not shoot 4k 16:9 in REDCODE42.

 

[Marcel Mulsoff]

mmm!!! probably the red drive cable has an issue, tell him to use another to re-check.

 

[Matt Iuliano]

This is weird. So he's taken it to 2 repuable stores where we are. One had no idea. The other said the cable and drive were dead. I know the drive might have a file structure issue, but the cable?
I called the shop and they mentioned the cable was stretched and the webbing wasted away - not how I have it to him.

He he tried all different red settings, the issue is the camera isnt reading the drive at all, so the camera won't try and format it.

My question is : is there a way to manually restore a file structure or volume image on the drive? Without the camera, a manual reformat, and what settings do I use? Also, should I try redundead or r3d data manager or something? Or once the format is gone, there's no way to get it working again?

Im so confused!!

 

[Brian Timmons]

You might try reformatting the drive on a Mac or PC as a FAT32 partition and then see if the mag is recognized on
the RED. If so, you should be able to format in camera to a redmag from there.

Brian Timmons
BRITIM/MEDIA

 

[egon touste]

red drive cables are notoriously unreliable. they are expensive and break easy. very very very likely it is a problem with the cable

the drive can be tested by pluggin it into a computer etc

always have at least 3 drive cables.. keep them in their original sealed bags until you need them.. you will..

the 6 ft drive cables are even worse

 

[egon touste]

This is weird. So he's taken it to 2 repuable stores where we are. One had no idea. The other said the cable and drive were dead. I know the drive might have a file structure issue, but the cable?
I called the shop and they mentioned the cable was stretched and the webbing wasted away - not how I have it to him.

He he tried all different red settings, the issue is the camera isnt reading the drive at all, so the camera won't try and format it.

My question is : is there a way to manually restore a file structure or volume image on the drive? Without the camera, a manual reformat, and what settings do I use? Also, should I try redundead or r3d data manager or something? Or once the format is gone, there's no way to get it working again?

Im so confused!!

there are no reputable store who can deal with red drives.. they have proprietory stuff going on.. they will not help you unfortunately.. but may cause more damage..
contact red..

also.. you have entered an illogical fault finding mode, very common when stressed..but from what you have said.. YOU DO NOT KNOW THE CAMERA ISN'T READING THE DRIVE!

.. but you are right to suspect something is stopping the drive from being read.. if the drive is fine.. you have found the cause..(see my above post)

 

[Matt Iuliano]

The computer sees the drive, the red just doesn't recognise it

 

[ericyoung]

Your buyer needs to logically troubleshoot. If he can read and write from the Red Drive, AND it reads in Disk Utility as a 640GB drive (if it reads as a 320GB drive, then one of the internal drives in RAID 0 has died) then the drive is probably fine.

The next thing to suspect is the Red Drive cable - does he have another cable to swap, or can he try the drive & cable on another Red One M/MX camera near him? That will narrow the problem down to either the camera or the cable or the drive.

The other thing to try, as already suggested, is to format the Red Drive as FAT32 on a PC (or Mac, but it's rather tricky on a modern Mac). Assuming the Red Drive & Cable are fine, the camera should then see a Red Drive attached, and prompt a camera format to write the two appropriate Red Magazine files to the drive.

 

[T_Freundlich]

Another possibility is that the camera itself may have an issue. A couple of years back I had exactly this issue with my R1MX - the drive would read OK on the computer but didn't show up at all on the camera. Turns out one of the internal components on the camera (IIRC the audio board) needed to be replaced. Cost a few hundred bucks at Red UK so wasn't disastrously expensive to fix.

But as Eric said, you need to crosscheck systematically: Try another cable, another drive, another camera (when troubleshooting mine I went over to a local rental house and they were kind enough to let me test with one of their cameras and drives free of charge). That should narrow it down to the source of the problem.

 

[Peter Dmitriyev]

probably red drive cable they are notorious. mine just died and this is like my 5th one. anyone selling one? i need to buy

 

[Freya]

probably red drive cable they are notorious. mine just died and this is like my 5th one. anyone selling one? i need to buy

Maybe they formatted the drive in the mac to mac format which the camera won't see.

 

[Marcel Mulsoff]

They have to troubleshoot the Red drive and the Red Drive Cable as others suggested here, first changing the cable, later the Red Drive, and finally if the problem persist checking with another R1 body, this is the best way to know what exactly is failing.