Dead USB Key

    Hi!

    After doing a backup on my USB Key on the Kemper, and moving the key to my Mac, I found that the key refused to mount. I've tried the different USB ports on the Mac, connected to a HUB USB, rebooted the machine twice, no result. The Key is plugged in the Mac, it glows, but absolutely nothing else happens, and it is totally unseen by the system.

    So i plugged again the Key to the Kemper, which didn't recognized it, and after a while displayed the pop-up :

    "Are you sure ?
    USB device needs to be formatted before use
    ALL DATA WILL BE LOST!"

    The pop-up offered the choice "Yes" and "No".

    First I tried "No" - Went back to the usual screen with under the third soft button the label "USB plugged".

    Pushing the "USB plugged button" gives the pop-up :

    "External Storage Device Option, etc...

    but no choice on the soft buttons, just [EXIT] to return to main screen.

    I unplugged the key, which caused the "Are you sure ?..." pop-up to display again.
    Choosed "No", and the screen went back to normal.

    Tried again. Pop-up "Are you sure ?", choosed "Yes" and nothing happened. After a while, I realized everything
    was freezed, and the KPA wasn't responding to any control.

    Finally, I unplugged the USB key, and the "No" soft button worked again.

    It looks like the USB key is definitively dead :( and I found so far no way to test it or reformat it.

    This is the first time, in years of using USK keys (and replacing them either because I losed them, or switched from 64M to 256M to 1G to 4G to 16G)
    that I have such a problem.

    So my question is : have any of you experienced something similar (in this case, there may be something wrong with the Kemper
    USB port, either for all devices or only mine), or is this just bad luck (although I bought the Key, new, specifically for the purpose of exchanging data with
    the Kemper two months ago), and I can go and buy a new USB Key with no fear :) ?

    Thanks for sharing your experiences or points of view.

    Regards.

    J.Jacques.

    Thanks for your answers!

    I have been doing some tests with a different USB key (a 1 Gb), and there seems to be no damage to the KPA USB port or the Mac ports. So I believe I was just unlucky with the previous key.

    By the way, do we have good reasons to think that we need keys with a large capacity ? On my key, where I have one backup (2.3 Mo) and one system (5.5 Mo), the size I really use (including MS-DOS FAT16 management) is 15.7 Mo, leaving 986.4 Mo free, 98% unused !

    If I had 3000 rigs instead of 500, the backup would be about 12 Mo. Add a lot of set-up for stomps, cabs, anything you want, but I'd be surprised that you need more than 30 or 40 Mo.

    Now, If the key is just there to restore a system in case of a crash of the KPA (yet to hear about such a thing in 1.5.2) and reload the rigs, we do not need more.

    We can of course save a lot of different backups on the key, but to my knowledge it is pointless since the KPA just let you restore the latest backup!

    So if you want on stage to have the choice between 3 sets - saved as 3 different back-up, and don't carry a computer, you need 3 different keys (unless there is a way to choose the back-up you want to restore, please let me know...). It would be nice to have the option to restore the back-up you want, without having to change the content of the key on a computer -- but this is one of the last entries on my wish list...

    Thanks again!

    Jean-Jacques.

    USB Memory is not without flaws. I had units ( 512Mb) that went bad after about 2 to 3 month. Recently I had 2 pieces of Sony 4 Gb USB gone bad after 2 years So, those things happen also to brand names. My advice: Invest a couple of dollars in a bunch of smaller ones with 1 Gb. Every time you have an important backup, make a extra backup on a second unit. Redundancy is the key here.
    The problem can also be a messed up USB connector on the Kemper or the PC, which shortens the memory. In order to protect the Kemper I use an USB extension cable to limit the mechanical connections with the back plane USB connector. If USB cable goes mechanicaly bad - who cares, but the Kemper backplane connector.... :cursing:
    One can really fall for paranoia but I employ two 2.5in hard drives were I put my PC backup - one for the daily (incremental) and one for every week a full backup (not zipped) and the directory carries the date. Once it is full, FIFO principle is used (first in, first out). After a year the drives will be replaced by a fresh one.
    Folks, I've been there in why_is_nothing_on_this _f...._disk in nowhereland. Had that, did not wanted it and it will never happen again to me :thumbup:

    I envision hooking up my Kemper into the studio/office/home network, do backup and file management with a NAS server or in the cloud (for those of us on the road [USB wireless hooked up with the network/cloud]).

    labrat

    rope ladder to the moon or stairway to heaven? ?(

    Labrat,

    Thanks a lot for your advices.

    I have bought two additional USB keys (and even had the damaged one replaced by the seller, couldn't believe that - but it was actually 6€, and he explained me that under 30€, they just replaced the device without asking questions). Of course I do and have always done regular backups of my hard disks (I'm currently working on a Mac, I use Time Machine, and I even use two different backup hard disks in two different locations) and I think I didn't loose a single bit in the last 20 years...

    I like to emphasize here your very clever suggestion to use a short USB extension cable. I use that on my USB hub, but had yet to install one on the KPA. This is done now, and the cable fit perfectly under the KPA, beween the feet. It's much more handy like that: no need to move the KPA to access the USB port, and look under the connected XLR plugs, and of course, no more stress on the precious USB plug of the KPA.

    Thanks for the tip.

    Best regards.

    J.Jacques.