I am attempting to backup my Uniti Core (firmware 2.5.5), using a new SSD 2TB in the front (and rear) panel, with NTFS format. The formatting process gets to 92% total progress and then errors with ‘Format Failed’. Anybody have any ideas?
Maybe you have a bad SSD, do you have a PC you can try formatting it on to see if you get any different results?
I have formatted 4 or so drives on my Core in the past without any problems. So probably not the Core.
Another thing you could try is to do a full power off restart of the Core, so not just using the front panel button.
I have found that if the Core is behaving oddly, that often fixes it.
Also you could try formatting the SSD to something other than NTFS and if that works, then try formatting it again to NTFS.
Thanks, but SSD has formatted fine on my PC.
I tried formatting it to HFS+ and it got to 99%, but the same error occurs - Format Failed. Tried the hard restart, no change.
Sounds like a faulty SSD then, even though it worked ok in your PC.
In what format?
Both formats fail, have used 2 different SSD’s.
I meant when you format it on your PC .
Is this a bare 2TB SSD in a separately purchased external enclosure from a 3rd party manufacturer or a branded ‘all in one’ external USB device?
I only ask as I purchased a Samsung 2TB Evo 560 (I think) ages ago and tried external OS installation and boot on a Mac with a 3rd party enclosure. It failed consistently until I swapped the USB cable that came with the 3rd party enclosure for one provided with a Samsung T5 SSD device.
Not saying it needed a Samsung cable to work with a Samsung SSD, just I suspect the Samsung cable that came with the T5 external drive was better quality than the cable provided by the 3rd party enclosure manufacturer.
Seems a bit odd to me that the Core has to format the drive in the first place if the drive file system is a standard type and not a proprietary Naim one.
Just out of interest will an external backup be readable on a computer (assuming it can handle the file system) or only by the Core?
Part of the formatting process is to make a backup folder with the right naming convention.
Yes you can read it on a PC or whatever. In fact you can edit files on the backup disc and then if you restore the modified backup to the Core, it will just copy the altered files and leave all the others as they were (ie a differential restore).
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Have you done a “quick” or a “full” format on the PC?
Any quick format only touches (small) parts of a large drive, so it won’t detect any defective areas unless by chance.
Though, SSDs have so much internal mapping of which storage areas (including some overhead) are actually used, it’s a bit strange itt always fails on the last stretch. Might be SSD has too many defect areas and cannot compensate.
Or other effects, like getting too warm from constant writing, unstable USB connections, … hard to tell.
Cheers, I’ve always fancied a relatively hassle free solution like the Core rather than using cheaper solutions on a PC/Mac, good to know a bit more about it, though not really on the radar for purchase currently.
I have done a full format on the PC, no problem. Have also used another SSD with exactly the same results. The core even gives the disk a name (NAIM-e876e7), whch can be seen when trying again.
The only other thing you could try before contacting Naim technical support would be to reset everything. It would be trivially easy to delete and reinstall the Naim app, so why not try that. Also you could do a factory reset of the Core. You do that by taking the power off, hold in the front panel button and turn on the power again. Keep holding the front panel button in until the light next to the front panel USB socket flashes, then let go the button and let it finish starting up.
You will need to redefine the music store, but likely the Core will ask you whether you want to make the existing music store active. Then you could try formatting the backup disc again.
I did not know this. Or maybe I misunderstand.
So if say, I wanted to alter 5 cd’s (that were ripped on the Core in the first place), I could copy them to a thumb drive, alter them on the laptop, then insert thumb drive into the Core, and do a “restore”.
This won’t “break” the internal Core hd?
Also, if this is the case to what extent can the files be altered. What is safe, and what may not be safe.
Thanks!
No! Not at all. If you do that then all the albums you didn’t alter will be deleted. And anyway you can only restore a backup, not just a few files that took your fancy to copy onto a USB drive.
So you have to do a full backup, then change what you want on the backup and then restore the whole backup, which won’t take long as it will only change files that have been altered.
Incidentally I didn’t discover this. It was another forum member who did and I am expecting that a note about this will be referenced in the forum FAQ soon.
OK. Thanks!
What is the brand/model of the ssd?