I’ve read a few forum posts and watched some Youtube videos but still it seems to be unclear how to format my new MX500 SSD hard drive which I’ve just installed into the back of my Denon Prime 4?
The only instructions I could find in these forums were these below which I’ve followed but my SSD drive is not appearing in the list, however, the USB which is plugged into the controller does. I took it out in case the SSD would show up but it makes no difference.
I followed these steps:
Start Menu
Type “partition”
Click “Create and format hard disk partitions”
Look through the list at the top (or bottom) for a disk that has no file system and matches the capacity of the size you put into the controller.
Right Click → Initialize Disk
Pick MBR and OK
Format the disk (exFAT) and assign a drive letter if needed (all in right-click menu)
I also tried plugging the controller in via USB to my wife’s Mac (which doesn’t have Engine Prime installed) after watching videos where it just comes up and can be formatted and there was nothing appearing there either.
So currently I cannot see any sign of the new SSD drive appearing.
When I had installed an HD inside the Prime 4 (which I then removed because it was inconvenient to update the library), I had prepared the HD before inserting it into the Prime 4.
I connected the HD to my PC via a USB / SerialATA adapter, then I performed the operations you wrote and I formatted the HD. Later I also used the new drive with Engine Prime to transfer some songs and create the library. Only after I was sure of its functioning and its compatibility with EP, then I mounted the HD inside the Prime 4.
Ditto. Even if you don’t have an external docking station or adapter of some kind, there will usually be at least one spare SATA connection inside your computer - assuming it’s not a laptop.
I only have a laptop, I have an older desktop PC in the basement but I’m not technical enough really to start opening it up and tampering. So if I have a laptop do I need an adapter to format the drive?
Thanks for clarifying this, seems a bit complicated when this is a major selling point of the Denon, you would have thought if it’s being sold as full standalone then it shouldn’t require an external computer to do anything. And even with a computer, it’s complicated! This is my only gripe so far, however
However, I do not recommend using an internal HD because then when you want to transfer the songs from the main collection (on your PC) to the remote collection (on the Prime 4), you will always have to connect the two objects with the USB cable (the blue one) and this is not always comfortable.
I opted for an SDXC card which has these two advantages:
When inserted into the Prime 4 slot it is completely invisible.
You can easily remove it and connect it to your notebook in the appropriate connector and conveniently transfer the new tracks, update the collections both from the PC to the SDXC and vice versa, if for example you have made some changes to the Hot cues or loops from the console.
There are large capacity SDXCs (128GB, 256GB) with acceptable prices.
Hello, i’m sure you will get lots of good opinions… Here is what worked for me.
(1) Connect your new ext drive to a PC using an external harddrive case via USB cable
-or- Connect it Inside a notebook computer if you have a second harddrive port free.
(2) I then dowloaded AOMEI partition assistant (free) and formatted the new drive to FAT32 not EXFAT. After that i was good to go. Just load up your misic as normal. I hope this helps.
Installing the internal SSD always seem like a great idea at first, but like @DjAj mentioned, it becomes inconvenient when it’s time to add new tracks or sync back changes to the main collection.
Now if there was a way to manage the installed Drive wirelessly then it may suit my workflow better.
I just use swappable drives eg USB, ssd connected via usb.
