XP-50 prepared .svq files unable to read!

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Viswanathan.N
Posts: 4
Joined: 15:19, 12 November 2011

XP-50 prepared .svq files unable to read!

Post by Viswanathan.N »

Hello, I am Viswanathan from India. I am having an XP-50 since 1997. I had encountered small problems that had been well taken care of at Chennai(Capital of TamizhNadu State).
But I am encountering a very serious problem for the past 1 year. About 40% songs successfully created in my XP-50 are not opening now! I get messages like 'unformatted disk', 'Song I/O error' etc.
(1)I consulted a computer data retriever(he is neither a musician, nor keyboard electronic repairer). Thinking that the floppies have fungus, I requested him to retrieve all data and write in fresh floppies, which he sincerely did. But the problem persists still, based on the fresh floppies as well.
(2)I tried with another XP-50 of my friend, (thinking that, only my XP-50 has the problem). The messages from this XP-50 are also the same.
(3)I took a risk of replacing my floppy drive altogether with a fresh one. No solution either.
Now my hunch is this: most of the times I had not reformatted the fresh floppies(thinking that the 'IBM pre-formatted', printed on it works fine on XP-50).So, while creating the music, somehow , it didn't pose a problem...
Please help!I am desperate to save all my works!
Viswanathan.N
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V-CeeOh
Posts: 3956
Joined: 18:13, 28 September 2004
Location: Portugal

Re: XP-50 prepared .svq files unable to read!

Post by V-CeeOh »

I also retrieved some data from some of my old XP-50 disks recently. I just copied the songs files to a PC, formatted some new disks, copied song files back to the new disks and all went well.
However I remember I had an issue on a disk because it somehow failed to copy the SONGLIST.SV file and the disk didn't work. So you might have a similar problem or maybe your disks were not properly formated - as I remember they have to be FAT formated. Hope this helps.
Viswanathan.N
Posts: 4
Joined: 15:19, 12 November 2011

Re: XP-50 prepared .svq files unable to read!

Post by Viswanathan.N »

Thank You Mr/Ms.V-CeeOh from Portugal!!
But I don't know how to do FAT formatting, will it suffice that I format the fresh floppy disks in our XP-50 itself for this and proceed through a PC as mentioned by you?
Also, is it possible to load the .svq floppy files to any IBM compatible softwares directly(at present my XP-50 has got some other problem, related to power section, and the IC-Chips are not yet available)
rcraven
Posts: 629
Joined: 14:36, 9 September 2007
Location: Melbourne Australia

Re: XP-50 prepared .svq files unable to read!

Post by rcraven »

FAT is the name of the older disc system on PC.
So PC formatting is what you need.

Royce
Viswanathan.N
Posts: 4
Joined: 15:19, 12 November 2011

Re: XP-50 prepared .svq files unable to read!

Post by Viswanathan.N »

Dear rcraven from Melbourne, Many thanx about what FAT formatting is! To sum up, these are what I should do (correct me if I am wrong): 1)Format fresh floppies in my Roland XP-50 & keep them ready, 2)Copy old('troublesome')floppy files onto the hard-disk of my PC, 3)Insert the Roland formatted fresh floppies into the PC and copy the music files from the hard-disk.
If these are are the correct steps, where does FAT formatting step come in(is V-CeeOh reading this message as well?)?
rcraven
Posts: 629
Joined: 14:36, 9 September 2007
Location: Melbourne Australia

Re: XP-50 prepared .svq files unable to read!

Post by rcraven »

Roland adopted the FAT disk file system for their gear so it could be read by the PC.
In other words both the XP and the PC read and write a FAT file system.

That being said, there can be small variations in the floppy drives.
When formatting, the disk is 'setup' by writing tracks.
After formatting the disk is 'like new' (sort of)
These tracks can be in slightly different places depending on the floppy (age and if it is out of alignment)
Usually the difference is so small that everyone can read it, but sometimes not.

If your PC can read the floppies then copy them to the hard disk.
Format a floppy using the XP then pop the disk into the PC and write the files to the floppy and see if the XP will read it.
If not, format the floppy on the PC , copy the files and see if the XP will read this disk.

Royce
Viswanathan.N
Posts: 4
Joined: 15:19, 12 November 2011

Re: XP-50 prepared .svq files unable to read!

Post by Viswanathan.N »

Thank You Very Much Royce!You 've given me a lot of options in a nut-shell, to work and succeed:-) in achieving my desired result! I'm eagerly waiting for my XP-50 to be set right. I'll confirm you then...
Thanx again,
Viswanathan.N
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