Max drive size in Yamaha AW1600 ?

[Pilsener]

Does anyone know what's max hard disk size supported by the Yamaha AW1600 recorder ?

[J M Fahey]

Nope, but why not ask Yamaha themselves?

[Jag]

I'm not sure of the maximum capacity either but, looking at the manual, a couple of things come to mind that you should be aware of.

The spec sheet indicates that it contains a 40GB IDE drive, as shipped from the factory. Even if it can accept a larger drive, you may have difficulty locating a *new* IDE drive of any capacity. There are plenty being sold on eBay, etc. which are claimed to be new but I'm not sure how much stock I'd place in that claim. I'm not saying there aren't any out there (I have some and no, this isn't a sales pitch) I'm just saying, qualify your source.

The other issue will be the periodic thermal recalibration that an IDE drive performs (cheaper SCSI drives did this too). In the days when I was first working with dedicated hard disk recorders, I can tell you that this function of the technology often resulted in hiccups during recordings. Many great takes were ruined by this, necessary, feature of the technology. Be sure that, at the least, you are using a "multimedia" rated IDE drive. From tests we did at the time, we found that recalibration rarely, if ever, occurred during recordings as long as we used drives not larger than 40GB. If I recall, I once read a white paper that said that thermal recalibration would not be an issue with IDE drives of less than 60GB capacity. I always stuck to that rule of thumb and don't think I ever had a problem once I became aware this limitation of the technology.

If your current drive has failed, you might want to purchase 2 or 3 new ones of the same capacity. That way you have future spares. They shouldn't be too expensive.