How to install a zip to VS-880EX as primary drive?

M

musicmaker

New member
Hi, my VS-880EX original internal hardisk was damage recently and I am try to replace it with a zip drive. When I connect my zip to the VS880EX SCSI port and swict on the VS later, the VS is just swicthed on and off immediately, the LCD display is just flashing and the VS will off automatically. Ok, even ocasionally I sucessfully swicth on the power of the VS with the Zip connected, the VS will stuck at the 'Scanning Drive' process, I try to wait for it to response, but it will never but still remain in 'Scanning Drive' process (still scanning SC1), and I finally have to kill the power and try again, but with the same result. ok, if I remove the SCSI cable from the VS while during the 'scaning drive' process, the VS will response immediately and proceed to scanning from SC1....SC7.....setup effect....everything will seem normal, finally it show 'No drive', this is normal since I have remove the internal IDE and there is no any drive connect to the VS.

What the user manual stated is ASSUME the VS can reach the play mode, because unless the VS reach the play mode only you can press the 'SYSTEM' button to select which external drive you want to initialize rite? But I just get stuck before what the manual stated.

Anyone please help me to solve this problem thank you!

wai
 
My personal opinion is you aren't gonna be happy with that Zip as the main drive even if you do ever get it work. Roland abandoned it on the 880s cause they couldn't make the internal IDE Zip work correctly without a ton of problems. They brought it back on the BR-8 or whatever it's called I think, but I know the 880s had tons of problems with it. My external JAz drive wasn't that great for recording sometimes, so I just ended up using it for archiving stuff. Plus, that's not a whole of space if you are recording 8 tracks, even the 250MB model Zip. I would look around at replacement IDE drives, which aren't all that expensive anymore. Roland still maintains a list of compatible drives at their website far as I know.

However if you want to see if you can make the Zip work, I would guess if the 880 SCSI implementation works like a computer, then without the IDE drive internally, the 880 is looking to boot from SCSI ID 0. What ID do you have set on the Zip drive? If it's not zero, change it to zero and see what happens. And of course if your Zip drive doesn't have a SCSI ID, then make sure it's not a parallel version cause those cables look very similar with the type of SCSI connectors used on the 880. In all seriousness though, I would NEVER connect or remove the SCSI cables to or from a device while it's powered on. A SCSI bus can sometimes be picky about that and fry one or both of the devices. ;) Good luck.
 
yup, I did use the wrong zip drive, the zip I used is a 'parallel Zip', not the 'SCSI ZIP'. So, I am looking for the Castlewood ORB External SCSI 2.2GB which has been certified by Roland that it can work exactly like an internal IDE. This drive is not expensive, I can get the drive, a new 2.2 Gb disk, an active terminator and a 25 to 50 pins SCSI cable- all with US $220, this price also including a 50 pins to 50 pins SCSI cable as standard.

Emm.. somemone told me that the boot up system of VS880EX is installed in the original IDE hardisk, is it true? If it is true, how I get through the boot up process and reach the play mode so that I can slect the external drive for initialize? (Because I have took it out).

If I am connect any SCSI external drive to the VS without the internal IDE, wil the VS automatically looking for the SCSI device and recognise it? Thank for your help so far.
 
Keep in mind that what I'm about to say is just a guess, as I don't have my 880 setup anymore where I could try this out.

I think once you get a bootable 880 system setup on the external SCSI drive it will work fine without the internal IDE drive. After the 880 checks for the IDE and finds it's not there, it should automatically boot from the first available SCSI device. How you would get the SCSI drive setup with the Roland system I'm not sure. I know that whenever I did an update I had the system software on a ZIP disk, and could boot it up enough to initialize a drive from there. Is the IDE drive that was in the 880 completely dead? If so and you have no access to 880 system files, I'm not sure how it's going to work. I honestly don't know if there's enough system information built into the 880 to boot up and initialize a new drive without a current working drive, but I doubt it. That Orb drive sounds like a cool solution if you can get it initialized though.
 
Yes, my IDE is dead and I have remove it from the machine!
I also worry about the boot up system is in the damage disk.
Are you sure that I can use a bootable VS recorder to setup and initialize my external SCSI? Yup, the ORB is certified by Roland, it can work almost like the IDE, with a removable 2.2GB catridge, I don't have to worry about the capacity. But, I haven't get this ORB drive yet.
Waht recorder you are using now? What is your opinion about the Korg D16 compare to other like the Akai Dps12i and the VS-1680?
 
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