need help recording to USB on psr950, error message "This drive is busy now."

[mches]

When I start recording using my USB drive on my psr950, I sometimes get an error message that says "This drive is busy now" and the recording stops.  How do I correct this problem?  What am I doing wrong?  As far as I know the USB is not busy doing anything else other than recording my current song.  Does anyone have any suggestions?  If I cannot correct this problem then I need to return the unit to Guitar Center and get a new one as I am still within the 60 day return time period.  Can anyone help??

[DrakeM]

I use a simple 1 gig USB device. It was a free USB stick a supplier gave to my daughter, who gave it to me. I use it and have not had any issues recording to it.

I have hardly any thing saved to the Keyboards on board USER SPACE. I have 6 registrations I use with the VH2 containing my mic set ups only, if that might be the reason. 

Regards
Drake

[travlin-easy]

Just format the drive with the keyboard.

Gary

[mches]

I will try the format and see what happens.  thanks!!!

[Bill Grosse]

Aw come on folks, this has been a known defect in the Yamaha PSR keyboards starting with the s900 to and including the s950.

Only a few USB stick brands work reliably with these keyboards.

Since Yamaha refuses to correct this defect, they should include a usable USB stick with each new keyboard they ship.

Bill G

[motekmusic]

 

I have also had that problem on my s910 .   Does one need to format a brand new 1gb stick before ever doing a recording.....
as already have a 1gb new stick ,,just for doing recording and sometimes that does not even hold.
The only way I found that works is to take the midi file over to the Ty 3 to get it recorded.   I realize that not all members
have this option of using a 2nd board to record, but I share the frustration involved in getting an audio file completed on the
same board that has the midi....  It takes considerable , time, patience and ingenuity to get the job done.   and yes agree
that Yamaha should include a usable stick... Also am surprised that since this was a problem with the 900. that the subsequent
machines did not get a correction......

elaine

[Dick Rector]

This has been discussed a few times. Use a dedicated stick just for recording and you wont have a problem. If there is already stuff on the stick you often get this message.

[Bill Grosse]

Sorry Dick, but that is only a partial answer - you still must purchase the correct manufacturer's USB stick.

I've tried brand new, never used before USB sticks formated on the keyboard and they would not work.

Somewhere on this forum is posted a list by Yamaha of the USB sticks they say will work.

Bill G

[EileenL]

This is usually caused by the USB stick not being fast enough to record Audio. On Yamaha Tech  Dept. recommendation I tried a verbatim mini stick 32 Gb and it works perfect every time.

[travlin-easy]

I've been using these since the PSR-3000 and they work fantastic. http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/260730621503?lpid=82

Gary

[LivingRoomMusician]

This is usually caused by the USB stick not being fast enough to record Audio. On Yamaha Tech  Dept. recommendation I tried a verbatim mini stick 32 Gb and it works perfect every time.

Would a USB 3.0 stick help with the speed issue?

[pjd]

Hi --

Unfortunately, flash memory is notoriously slow to write -- just what you need when recording. If the flash memory write speed is slow, then a faster USB interface (2.0 or even 3.0) won't help.

I wish that manufacturers rated the write speed of USB jump drives just like SD cards (e.g., class 4, class 10, etc.) I've had similar kinds of write failures on other digital audio recorders (non-Yamaha, non-keyboard) due to slow flash speed. Comes with the territory, I guess...

All the best -- pj

[LivingRoomMusician]

This USB 3.0 drive does have speed specifications. Of particular relevance for audio recording purposes is the up to 10 X the write speed compared to that of USB 2.0 drives http://www.verbatim.com/prod/usb-drives/professional-usb-drives/v3-max-usb-3.0-drives/

Google finds many other such USB 3.0 drives with similar, vastly improved write speeds.

The issue is whether these fast writing USB 3.0 drives will prevent the 'drive busy' error message in the title of this thread.

[pjd]

Hi LRM --

Agreed. The PSR-S950 only supports USB 1.1 and 2.0. The PSR-S750 only supports USB 1.1.

I think the key phrase in your message is "up to." Sure, the 3.0 interface is faster, but the transfer speed may still be limited by the write speed of the flash memory within the drive. This is why the effective transfer speed of USB 2.0 can vary across drives. Anyway, this is getting too computer science-y. 

All the best -- pj

[LivingRoomMusician]

In the realm of what we as consumers can practically do, the keyboards themselves are not the speed bottlenecks for audio recording, as some USB drives do work, while others do not. It is thus a practical matter of choosing sufficiently fast USB drives that will work reliably with the keyboards.

You can plug USB 3.0 drives into USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 ports and normally benefit from improved speeds, including improved writing speeds. It would be fraudulent of the many manufacturers of USB 3.0 drives to specify much faster writing speeds and yet put the same old slow parts in their products. Secondly, comparing apples to apples, the writing speeds of USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 drives were also specified 'up to', although these 'up to' specifications refer to much slower writing speeds.

If nobody here has actually used USB 3.0 drives with their PSRs S900, S910, S950, perhaps someone here can entice Yamaha to comment.

[tyrosaurus]

Just for information.  The USB interface on Yamaha keyboards in general does seem to be rather slow sometimes. I have a Tyros4 and sometimes even saving or copying a file from working memory to the internal hard disk is slow and there is no flash memory being written to here!

I recently bought a 16 GB Verbatim 'Store N Go' USB 3 stick.  

I know that the Yamaha OS only operates at USB 2.0, but it should cope with USB 3, although obviously only at USB 2 speeds.    

In practice, this device is very much slower to read from and write to in the T4 than an almost full, really old 1 GB Philips USB 2 drive which I deliberately set up with exactly the same files and folders as a comparison!

The device flies on a USB 3 port on my computer so it would seem to be OK.

Regards

Ian

[LivingRoomMusician]

The Tyros 4 has apparently different issues, although as stated in the previous post the Tyros 4 does not have a 'drive busy' issue when recording audio with the indicated USB 3.0 drive. I have not heard of a 'drive busy' issue for the USB 1.1 of the S750 either. I hope this remark does not trigger a flood of 'drive busy' postings from Tyros 4 and S750 owners

Anyway, this makes me think that recent keyboards have no internal speed issues with regard to audio recording, although as reported many times on this forum, the S900, S910, S950 do have a compatibility issue with external USB drives when it comes to audio recording. The writing speed of the external USB drive seems to play a major role in this regard.

I doubt that Yamaha will send compatible USB drives to all owners of the S900, S910, S950, but at least Yamaha could post a list of compatible USB drives (compatible for audio recording purposes, in particular) for these keyboards, along with instructions for use (such as formatting the USB drive on the keyboard, for example, if that has any bearing on the compatibility issue)

(The issue with buying a specimen from a volume production is that one specimen may work, but the next specimen may not work, unless carefully verified for compatibility. This compatibility verification is best done by Yamaha, not by individual users.)

[browzer]

I ran some tests and posted this a year ago when there was the same discussion about this problem.

http://www.psrtutorial.com/forum/index.php?topic=19831.msg136136#msg136136

Ronnie

[travlin-easy]

The only time I ever got the drive busy message was when the USB drive was not formatted in the keyboard itself - regardless of the make and model of the USB drive. After formatting, never got that message again. I do, however, suggest purchasing one of the recommended drives - just makes sense to go with a proven product.

Gary

[mches]

Hello and Thanks to all who responded:

I have been using a lexar 2.0 jumpdrive jde128-04-500.  After I format the drive using my PSR 950 the drive will last for about three recordings and then I get the "drive busy" error - again.  So, I simply format the drive and use it again.  I do not need to save my of my recordings. I will eventually purchase a new flash drive that is listed on the Yamaha website "approved list."  But, for now I am satisfied.  Thanks for all the help!!!

Mark

[bob4play]

Gary

On the USB sticks you use, are you able to move styles or registrations from one USB stick to another USB stick.   I can,t  make it work.   I got several sticks with the intent of moving styles and registrations between them and it does not work.   Thank you for any help.  I see you get sticks off eBay....could it be a stick problem?  I do understand that the Yamaha software uses pointers to get to a style and on a new stick where I thought I had saved it, the system is looking for the original stick not the one I thought I saved.

Thanks

Bob

[Fred Smith]

Gary

On the USB sticks you use, are you able to move styles or registrations from one USB stick to another USB stick.   I can,t  make it work.   I got several sticks with the intent of moving styles and registrations between them and it does not work.   Thank you for any help.  I see you get sticks off eBay....could it be a stick problem?  I do understand that the Yamaha software uses pointers to get to a style and on a new stick where I thought I had saved it, the system is looking for the original stick not the one I thought I saved.

For styles and registrations, it's very unlikely it's a stick problem.

What do you mean by "does not work". What happens versus what you want to happen?

Regards,
Fred.

[motekmusic]

 

Hello,
The other day before the s910 went out to repair I decided to try again to record without that message coming up.
The one that works for me is the SanDisk,, I have the 8gb unit, but it is only half full.   I do not know how it would
work, once it is filled more up like 75%...  The Tyros 3 is gone so cannot use the audio facility.   
I have some other usb sticks and even when formatted do not work.   I also try to delete as many audio waves as
possible so they do not bunch up.   It is good to know that my current scandisk will be able to record a whole song.... lol


regards
elaine

[nhsinger]

When I get this message, usually using the cheapest "no-name" sticks, I usually just clean them up with the PC  disk ErrorChecking with "Scan and 'Recover bad sectors" checked (sometimes doing multiple scans) and they'll work pretty well for some time before they become corrupted again.  Take Gary's advice and initially format a new stick on the keyboard, using a Yamaha recommended brand.  If you do a lot of recording, use a dedicated smaller device and keep it CLEAN!  I know it's a frustrating idiosyncrasy, but it has never really stopped me from doing what I wanted to do on the S900 or the S910.

Good Luck!

Dave

[Graasol55]

Hello! ...I use PSR S900, and also PSR S950.   In order that there was no record stop, it is necessary to use memory sticks specified in the instruction. I use 32 Gb the KINGSTON DT100G2 memory sticks or 16 Gb of DT101G2. Problems practically aren't present. If it happens that happens extremely seldom - I repeat record.

[johnnyjaihar]

i have found a solution for the drive is too busy errors on all 7xx/9xx series keyboards . The problem is Occuring due to Fragments in the usb/hdd drive that is plugged in . So always make sure u have De-fragmented ur usb/hdds by plugging them to a pc. For windows 10 users Use Auslogics disk defragmenter . After any copy pasting activity in to the usb in psr keyboard or computer make sure to do this de-fragmentation process.

[OregonJim]

i have found a solution for the drive is too busy errors on all 7xx/9xx series keyboards . The problem is Occuring due to Fragments in the usb/hdd drive that is plugged in . So always make sure u have De-fragmented ur usb/hdds by plugging them to a pc. For windows 10 users Use Auslogics disk defragmenter . After any copy pasting activity in to the usb in psr keyboard or computer make sure to do this de-fragmentation process.

  A quicker way to accomplish the same thing is to simply reformat the drive just before recording.  That's why some suggest keeping a separate flash drive for recording only - it won't get fragmented if it is empty when you start recording.  Of course, the write speed of the drive must be sufficient to handle the recording process as well.  There is, unfortunately, a great variance in write speed performance among the many USB flash drives on the market- some of them have documented speed ratings, many do not. 

A comparison chart such as this may help if you're shopping for a fast drive:

http://usb.userbenchmark.com/

[travlin-easy]

I use a separate flash drive for recording - never have a problem.

Gary

[Keyboardist]

Eileen is right a faster USB stick should do the trick and this has be addressed in the past a few times by me and others.
When I 1st bought my S950 I used a regular corsair USB2 flash drive and got that same message at times Drive Busy-so I bought a corsair voyager gt extra speed drive 3.0 and even though the psrs950 has USB2, it made the problem totally go away !!!
Try a faster one or the one I mentioned and you should be good.
Also buy yourself a 2ft-3ft or so USB extender cable so you don't have to reach around the back or leave the drive in the back as you can just plug it in from the front side with which makes it very convenient.
Mount the cable on the left side of the Psrs950 with Velcro and just plug the drive in from there or attach it to the speaker stands if your using them.

Craig

[joshua777]

Pl someone from india suggest a pendrive i can use for s950 to avoid drive busy errors.

I have kingston 16gb 3.0 . It immediately gives drive busy error after 20 seconds. I formatted it on the keyboard itself.

Another one is HP. If formatted on the keyboard, it gives errors 3-4 times and the 5th time it works.

Or can i connect the keyboard to laptop and can i get the exact quality data i receive to my pendrive when recorded?

If possible how do i make it work?