VF-160 Can hard drive be replaced?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Kathleen Hannan
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Kathleen Hannan

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I'm a songwriter, not particularly techno savy. I've been using a VF-160 for the past five years for small projects, and I love it. I tried recording with my laptop and really missed the Fostex, so returned to using it.

The only drawback for me about the Fostex has been the user manual not having an alphabetized index, which has been frustrating. Also, I don't really understand the sections about the hard drive and computer type info, since I know so little about that.

Here's my question: I have filled up all the 99 programs. I'm wondering whether I can purchase a replacement hard drive, and if so, can I put it in myself, and put the old one back in later?

If not, I wonder whether I need to save the data (to CDs?) and reformat the hard drive, which I have no idea how to do. And is there a way to save the raw unmixed data to CD, or only the finished mixed stuff?

Thanks for any info about any of this!
 
Almost any IDE hard drive will work in the VF160.
If you backup to CD you can only put 1 program/song per CD, and it can be saved as WAV files so it can be mixed with any DAW/PC.
 
more questions about VF-160

Thanks Timboz

More very simple minded questions:

How easy is it to replace the hard drive? Any risks of goofing up with that? And where would I purchase one?

And what is a DAW?

Do you recommend a certain brand of hard drive? And around how much do they cost? (I tried to find this out Googling last night but couldn't figure it out).
 
There should be instructions for replacing the hard drive in the owner's manual. [At least there is in the VF-80 manual.] And it is not a difficult task. I've replaced them in several computers and I am not a techno-geek by any stretch of the imagination. Any 3.5" IDE hard drive will do. You can find them at any place that sells computers--Wal-Mart, Best Buy, CompUSA, Staples, OfficeDepot, OfficeMax, Sam's Club, Circuit City. Take your pick. An 80GB hard drive is roughly about $60-$70 but the prices change almost weekly.
The most recommended brands seem to be Western Digital, Seagate, and Maxtor. They're all priced in the same neighborhood.
The drawback is that even if you install a higher capacity hard drive, you will still only be able to store 99 songs--a limitation in the Operating System Fostex uses.
If you're simply wanting to free up hard drive space for new projects and not replace a malfunctioning or defective drive, another option to store the information and recover the hard drive would be to convert the songs to .wav files and, using a CD-RW, move them to a computer one by one to a computer, and then [providing the PC has a CD-R/W drive, transfer the files to CDs for archiving.
 
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Page 116 of the manual covers backing up to CD. I've had my VF160 for over 3 years. It came with a CD drive installed. Apparently, the earlier ones didn't, but one can be installed.
 
I ordered a western digital drive from Fostex when my drive went bad a few years back. It's easy to change out. Just remove the plate underneath the VF (4 screws), unplug the drive and pop the new one in. The format will take hours depending on how big of a drive you buy.

This website will help you out with any problems you have with your vf.
http://p079.ezboard.com/bvf16
 
Formatting the VF160 hard disk is indeed a sloooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwww process. It took about 20 hours - that's right, 20 hours not 2 hours - to format a 120GB disk I put in my VF-16 last year.
 
I just pulled the factory hard drive and popped in a new 200gig drive, it took about 4 hours or so. Had a couple issues with the first few times I powered up but things seem to be OK now.

Will post as the days go on if I have any other issues.
 
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