USB Flash Drives on Pa3x - Recommendations

Rob Sherratt · Post by **Rob Sherratt** » Tue Jul 12, 2011 9:29 am

Here are some recommendations about using USB Flash drives on your Pa3x/Pa2x/Pa800

Most modern USB sticks are supplied for use on the PC. Most of them (manufactured since 2007) contain a hidden "autorun" U3 partition that contains some software to auto-load the content of the USB device onto the PC. The addition of the U3 partition is a feature that was added to USB flash drives without the USB manufacturers paying any regard to the incompatibility this could create when used on anything like a keyboard workstation or a Linux computer etc.

So, if your USB stick contains a "hidden U3 partition" (and 95% of them do), then the "hidden U3 partition" has to be removed before you can use the USB stick on the Korg Pa2x or Pa800 family.

Wikipedia USB Flash Drive wrote: The U3 company works with drive makers (parent company SanDisk as well as others) to deliver custom versions of applications designed for Microsoft Windows from a special flash drive; U3-compatible devices are designed to autoload a menu when plugged into a computer running Windows. Applications must be modified for the U3 platform not to leave any data on the host machine. U3 also provides a software framework for independent software vendors interested in their platform.

So, if the USB flash drive that you purchase is NOT supplied with a mechanism for removing the hidden U3 partition, then it will NOT work on the Pa2x or Pa800. Worse still, it can cause a locked up and permanently damaged Pa3x, Pa2x or Pa800 if you try to use such a USB flash drive to install a new version of the Pa operating system.

This could be "fixed" if users can persuade Korg to supply a software update to the Pa3x/ Pa2x / Pa800. This is something Korg have declined to do over the last 2 years since they were first notified of this problem (by me in fact). There was at one time a memo (written by me) about this in small print on the Korg USA web site, but it is now so well buried that I cannot find it to give you the link to the article.

Regards,
Rob

worth · Post by **worth** » Tue Jul 12, 2011 11:36 am

your a good man Rob.

joche · Post by **joche** » Tue Jul 12, 2011 2:24 pm

Thanks for this recommendations.

musicrazy · Post by **musicrazy** » Tue Jul 12, 2011 4:28 pm

But i must say that the u3 hidden partitions are compatible with pa2x and pa800 but are not with pa3x.

dimitris · Post by **dimitris** » Tue Jul 12, 2011 4:46 pm

Thanks, Rob!

Regards,
Dimitris

miden · Post by **miden** » Tue Jul 12, 2011 7:27 pm

This hidden folder can be easily removed by enabling "show hidden folders and files", and "show system files" on any windows 7 PC, this will show this partition on the thumb drive and all one has to do is delete it.

pemaleso · Post by **pemaleso** » Tue Jul 12, 2011 8:46 pm

Many thanks for this post.

Rob Sherratt · Post by **Rob Sherratt** » Wed Jul 13, 2011 12:28 pm

If You have a Sandisk USB drive with a U3 partition, here is the link to Sandisk's U3 partition removal tool which runs on a PC.

http://drivers1.sandisk.com/DriverDownl ... emoval.zip

After you've removed the partition, you should reformat your USB stick (on the PC) using FAT32 as the file system. Preferably do a full format, not a quick format.

Then it will work on your Pa3x/ Pa2x/ Pa800/ M3 etc. There is no other method apart from this to make Sandisk U3 flash disks work on Korg keyboards.

Regards,
Rob

hellboy44 · Post by **hellboy44** » Sat Jul 16, 2011 2:08 am

Just saw this!

THANK YOU for this important Info Rob - cheers muchly...

Can anyone confirm what Dennis has said below in regards to SAFELY using almost any Thumb Drive for the PA3x.....???????

miden wrote:This hidden folder can be easily removed by enabling "show hidden folders and files", and "show system files" on any windows 7 PC, this will show this partition on the thumb drive and all one has to do is delete it.

miden · Post by **miden** » Sat Jul 16, 2011 6:22 am

HB, apparently it is not as easy with the newer thumb drives....I am investigating it now to see if my method will still actually work...My info was based around thumbdrives from about 3-4 years ago. I just assumed they were still the same....

I have used my method a Sandisk x 2, and on a Kingston....but they are a couple of years old now.

Dennis

Rob Sherratt · Post by **Rob Sherratt** » Sat Jul 16, 2011 9:21 am

Here is more information on U3 USB drives for those wishing to follow up...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U3

The U3 technology will eventually be phased out in favor of a Microsoft replacement called StartKey. As far as I know, the release of StartKey has been delayed for at least 3 years leaving U3 as the only alternative. It is strange that there is currently no TechNet article about StartKey given that Microsoft announced that it would be released in 2008.

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/pres ... k07PR.mspx

On my Sandisk Cruzer U3 USB drives, the U3 partition was not visible under Windows, and I had to use Sandisk's U3 partition removal tool to get rid of it. Then I reformatted the drive to get the free space back. After that, the Cruzer drives worked fine on all my devices, the Pa2x, M3 and my Lionstracs Groove X-R system.

Best regards,
Rob

Rob Sherratt · Post by **Rob Sherratt** » Sat Jul 16, 2011 9:28 am

Kingston make U3 USB drives as well. I have not bought one of these myself, but I am confident in saying that they are likely to cause data corruption and other damage to the Pa3x/ Pa2x/ Pa800 unless you remove the U3 partition.

http://www.kingston.com/flash/u3center.asp

And no, I do not know how to remove U3 partitions from Kingston's products. Users will have to ask Kingston to provide a removal tool I think. Either that or people will have to ask Korg to produce a software update to the Pa3x/ Pa2x/ Pa800/ M3 that "defends" against the data corruption that these U3 USB drives are causing.

liongold · Post by **liongold** » Sat Jul 16, 2011 11:40 am

The guys at Sweetwater were having trouble upgrading my 3x 76 to 1.10 via thumb drive until I referred them to Rob"s post. After they read it, problem solved!

They boxed it, shipped it, and it's sitting at my Fedex center as we speak. I'll have it Monday.

Rob Sherratt · Post by **Rob Sherratt** » Sat Jul 16, 2011 12:11 pm

A favor to ask?

I hope Sweetwater will stock the new Groove X-R now they know I am not a complete idiot

It would do me a great favor if you could please ask them to see http://corcyraglobal.com. We can send a unit to Sweetwater on approval via Frank at Audioworks. Frank can do deals with Sweetwater if they will kindly speak with him.

Best regards,
Rob

miden · Post by **miden** » Sat Jul 16, 2011 7:41 pm

You can also try low-level format tools , one such one is available here:

http://hddguru.com/software/2006.04.12- ... rmat-Tool/