Are you going to provide information how to custom-install a second HDD in the Mk2 player? And will the software installed on the Mk2 be a full functional version with posibilities to format new HDD's?

I've got a new car, a new amplifier cables are already in the car - Everything prepared for the Mk2. Just waiting for it to come...

We don't provide the info officially, no, as with the Mk1. The Mk2 comes with a two-drive cable though, so you just need screws and a basic knowledge of linux.

Hugo

Don't worry... It's really easy to install a second hard disk. If you look at www.dmoore.com, he has step-by-step instructions. But you have to be careful because the interior of the unit is pretty fragile. Empeg doesn't encourage you to do it yourself, but they don't try to stop you from doing it, either. Just remember that you void the warranty when you open the unit yourself. If you send the unit back to Empeg and have it done for you, then the warranty isn't voided.

Tony Fabris
Empeg #144

Thanks, I've already read the 'dmoore' Page.

If you send the unit back to Empeg and have it done for you, then the warranty isn't voided.
Yes, sure I could but then I would have to wait another endless days till I have it back again. I'm sure I couldn't stand that pain ;-)

Yesterday I've prepared my car for the Mk2 with an 5-Channel Amplifier, ready connected to all speakers and all the cable necessary (and even more, which are not necessary)... Now it's only time to wait for the Mk2.
I've seen that there isn't very much room left in the dash for a hifi because all of the cables. But I'm sure I'll find a way. I have to!

So maybe someone could tell the size of the Mk2 (especially the depth). As far as I know the tuner is about 3x6x9cm (Info from Rob).

> I would have to wait another endless days till I have it back again

We do upgrades the same day the player arrives. Shipping from the US (as an example) takes 2 days to us and then 1 day return. To and from Europe is next day both ways.

> So maybe someone could tell the size of the Mk2

Check the dimensions of the Mark 1 at our site - the Mark 2 car cage is almost exactly the same, but the wiring loom is much more flexible so that helps if you have a depth problem.

Rob

Yeah, what Rob said: Their turnaround time is really fast. And they can make sure to do it right, without losing your existing music by accident or anything. If you're at all uncomfortable with the procedure dmoore posted, then definitely don't try it yourself.

As far as depth goes:

The Empeg is deeper than most car stereos, so you definitely want to check the specs from the web site and do some measuring. The biggest issue for me was that the cabling bundles coming out the back of the sleeve were bulkier than most car stereos. In order to make mine fit into my GTI, I had to do two separate things:

1) There was an inner support bracket rivited to the interior of the dashboard. This bracket was intended to hold up the back side of the factory car stereo. I'd had three other aftermarket stereos in the car, and they all fit this bracket, but the Empeg did not. So I had to drill out the rivets and remove it completely.

2) Even after removing the bracket, the extra cabling was still an issue. So I carefully disassembled the connector on the back of the docking sleeve and de-soldered the connections I wasn't using: In this case, the aux-in and the in-car serial connector. If you choose to do anything like this, you have to be extremely careful because some of those connections are fragile. The radio antenna, for example, was very fragile, and I had to re-solder it after breaking it. When re-assembling the connector, I also changed the direction that the wiring bundle came out of the sleeve (moved them from the right side to the left side). After doing this, the unit fit perfectly into my dash and looked pretty good.

Now, the wiring system in the back of the Mark 2 will be completely different, incorporating a separate box for the tuner module as well as an ISO connector for the other stuff. So you'll be in a different situation. But just keep in mind as you're doing your measurements that you need to allow extra slack space behind the unit for those things.

Tony Fabris
Empeg #144

With the Mark 2 the docking connector is on the left side of the unit, so the central support mount (which is common to many vehicles) will not be obstructed.

The wiring loom is far more flexible as well, so you shouldn't have problems with bending the cables to fit your dash. We worked with Auto Leads (one of the world's largest car cabling manufacturers) to perfect this aspect of the Mark 2.

Rob

An easier way to deal with this might be to purchase the unit with more hard drive space than you think you will need. Judging from other posts on this BBS, a good rule of thumb would be to take the maximum amount of storage you think you'll ever need, then double it, and you should then be OK for about a year before you run out. If you purchase it with a single 25 GB hard drive, you should have over 400 hours of storage, enough for most people. If you will need more than 400 hours in the forseeable future, then start out with two drives to begin with.

I think that, from a reliability point of view, a large single drive would be a better choice than two smaller drives, even if the large drive costs more. (Half as many drives = half the likelihood of a drive failure, or am I being naive and simplistic here?)

tanstaafl.

"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

I think that, from a reliability point of view, a large single drive would be a better choice than two smaller drives, even if the large drive costs more. (Half as many drives = half the likelihood of a drive failure, or am I being naive and simplistic here?)

I've thought lately that in addition to the above, having two drives tightly packed next to each other without having a fan could be a problem if the drives are spinning a lot in a warm car. I have two 10GB drives and I've been a bit worried about the temperature lately, as when I pull the unit out of the bay, I really can't hold empeg on my hands for too long. And while it's hot and attached to my PC, doing more /proc/empeg_therm gives easily 54 degrees and more. And the summer is coming and environmental temperatures just getting higher...

Kim

If you're that worried about temperature, why not cut a small hole in your Air conditioning duct (assuming you have A/C in your car - in Florida it's like required by law or something ) and shunt a small tube onto the cage. You might have to worry about condensation, but that could be circumvented (get it?) with a small trap in the tube.
Just an idea...
Jason

_~= Dearing =~_
"WAY too happy about having #99."

Half as many drives = half the likelihood of a drive failure

Yes, but when it fails, you loose twice as much data
Hence, no free lunch . . .

Henno
# 00120

...why not cut a small hole in your Air conditioning duct (...) and shunt a small tube onto the cage.

Because 1) That's going to WAY too much trouble, and 2) in the winter, you'd be blasting heat onto the cage.

I don't think you have anything to worry about, temperature-wise. These laptop hard drives are meant to run fairly warm. And on the Mark 1's at least, they aren't stacked atop each other, they're side by side, so they don't burn each other up too badly.

Although cooling is required for some kinds of hard disks. I once had a file server with multiple full-size 7200-rpm drives stacked directly atop each other. It took several months of continuous use before they burned up... Make sure your file servers have fans on their hard drives...

Tony Fabris
Empeg #144

Henno, I just recently heard about a revolutionary new computer process, called.... what was it, updown, no, downback, no, thats not it... got it! it was called backup. Apparently Bill Gates or somebody like that has worked out some way of actually keeping your data saved in more than one location, so it might even be possible to replace data lost in a hard drive failure.

No doubt it's just a passing fad, like that Window thing, (we'll all be back to good old C:\> prompts before much longer) but it might be worth looking into...

;-)

tanstaafl.


"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

You're a card, Doug.

One of the other discussions on this bbs is about how the hard disks on the Empeg can't, by design, be easily backed up via a high-speed connection. We won't know exactly what they're going to do on the Mark 2's until they actually ship, but at the moment, the only way to back up an Empeg hard disk is via a serial cable (sssssllllooooowwwww).

Tony Fabris
Empeg #144

what was it, updown, no, downback, no, thats not it... got it! it was called backup.

---

Hey; what a new concept! oh, wait... empeg doens't officially allow for anything to be pulled from it, and as far as I know USB transfers FROM it are only currently possible from a linux workstation:( damn... there goes that idea...
-m



...proud to have one of the first Mark I units

Yeah.... but what if (radical concept here, prepare yourself!) you backed up your files before you transferred them to the empeg... or even right afterwards. You can purchase a large hard drive used for no other purpose than keeping those backups for about $150, or you can copy all those MP-3 files onto CDRs for a cost of less than 10 cents per hour saved.

I know, your playlist information doesn't get saved, and I guess there's a lot of work to be lost there... but at least you don't have to re-rip and re-encode and try and track down all those pirated CDs that are now in your wife's car. Watch out, Tony, we'll start calling you Long John Fabris. Do you have your parrot, your eye patch and your peg leg yet? ;-)

You know, there might be a really good compromise from a legal/piracy point of view: don't allow the empeg to export music files, but do allow it to export the playlist information. Would that work? That seems like such an obvious idea it must have been discussed on the BBS before, but I don't recall seeing it.

tanstaafl.

"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

You know, there might be a really good compromise from a legal/piracy point of view: don't allow the empeg to export music files, but do allow it to export the playlist information. Would that work? That seems like such an obvious idea it must have been discussed on the BBS before, but I don't recall seeing it.

---

Actually, you can already export your playlist into a CSV format, and supposedly the emplode software (or future emplode software?) will prompt you as to the location of the music for restoring the music after a crash if you have that backup..
-mark

...proud to have one of the first Mark I units

Would it be possible to send an own Harddisk with the empeg that should be built in or would I have to select one of your Harddisks and on what prices are they?

I tell ya, the money is well spent on a dedicated hard drive for MP3s.In preparation for my Empeg, I just bought a 30 gig out the door for $198. I can't imagine prolonging the process of ripping selected tracks on 400+ CDs. I am simply ripping all of them, and will decide what to load, instead of rip to a 10 or 12 gig player.

Anyways, that's my take.

We don't fit user drives. It would be a logistical nightmare, and make it very hard to define the terms of warranty.

In any case we don't actually assemble empegs ourselves any more. The products are delivered to us complete, packaged and ready to ship. Hopefully this will enable us to get them out to you guys a bit quicker!

Rob