HD24tools

version0.9.0

ReferenceManual

MarcBrevoort
20062007

TableofContents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................................4
Thankyouforreadingthismanual!.................................................................................................4
AbouttheHD24toolssoftware.............................................................................................................5
KeyfeaturesoftheHD24toolssoftware..........................................................................................6
What'snewinthislastversion?.......................................................................................................8
Beforeusingthesoftware.....................................................................................................................9
Choosingyourhardware................................................................................................................10
Systemrecommendations..............................................................................................................11
Precautions.....................................................................................................................................12
InstallingHD24tools(Windows)...................................................................................................13
InstallingHD24tools(Linux).........................................................................................................16
InstallingHD24tools(Mac)...........................................................................................................16
Normaloperation................................................................................................................................17
ThemainscreenofHD24connect.................................................................................................17
Driveinfo.......................................................................................................................................18
Project/Songtab.............................................................................................................................20
TheRecorder..................................................................................................................................24
CopyingaudiofromHD24drives.................................................................................................27
CopyingaudiotoHD24drives......................................................................................................30
CrossapplicationAudio.....................................................................................................................33
Introduction...................................................................................................................................33
UsingJACKunderLinux..............................................................................................................34
HD24Driverecovery.........................................................................................................................35
Introduction...................................................................................................................................35
Afewwordsaboutdrivelayout.....................................................................................................35
Typesofrecovery..........................................................................................................................36
Generalrecoveryprocedure...........................................................................................................37
Disasterscenarios...............................................................................................................................40
Powerlossduringaliverecording................................................................................................40
Whathappensduringapowerloss?..........................................................................................40
Accidentallyinitializedthedriveonthecomputer........................................................................41
Whathappensifthecomputerinitializesthedrive?.................................................................41
Howcanyourecoveraudiofromanaccidentallyinitializeddrive?.........................................42
Quickformattedthe(wrong)driveontheHD24recorder.............................................................43
WhathappensiftheHD24recorderquickformatsadrive?....................................................43
Howcanyoupreventyourselffromaccidentallyquickformattingthe(wrong)drive?............43
Howcanyourecoveraudiofromanaccidentallyquickformatteddrive?................................43
'InvalidFormat'/'CorruptSuperBlock'fornoobviousreason......................................................44
Whathappened?.......................................................................................................................44
Howcanyoupreventthissituation?.........................................................................................44

Howcanyourecoveraudiofromthissituation?......................................................................45
'Audioblockoutofrange'error.....................................................................................................46
Whathappened?.......................................................................................................................46
Howcanyoupreventthissituation?.........................................................................................46
Howcanyourecoveraudiofromthissituation?......................................................................46
'UnexpectedEndofSong'error.....................................................................................................47
Whathappened?.......................................................................................................................47
Howcanyoupreventthissituation?.........................................................................................47
Howcanyourecoveraudiofromthissituation?......................................................................47
Otherdisasters................................................................................................................................48
UsingHD24hexview..........................................................................................................................49
Introduction....................................................................................................................................49
Commandlineoptions...................................................................................................................49
InsideHD24hexview.....................................................................................................................49
Navigatingthedisk........................................................................................................................50
Knownissues......................................................................................................................................51
Introduction....................................................................................................................................51
Drivesizedetection(Windowsonly)............................................................................................51
Headerfilelimitations...................................................................................................................51
Crashes...........................................................................................................................................51

Introduction
Thankyouforreadingthismanual!
Thank you for downloading the HD24tools software. This software was
designed to help users of the Alesis ADAT HD24 recorder perform daily
tasksthatwerepreviouslydifficultorimpossibletoachieve.
ThesupportoftheHD24communityhasbeenofgreathelpindeveloping
this software. As we are actively seeking to continuously improve this
software, you are encouraged to contact the author about any feature
requests,bugreportsorideasforimprovementsyoumayhave.
Asthestreamofresponsetothesoftwarehasbeenincreasingatasteady
rate, the author has put together these pages to help everyone get the
information they need. By reading this manual before asking questions,
youhelptheauthorearntimetocrackthereallytoughones!Shouldyou
have read this reference and still have questions, feel free to email the
author,sothatthismanualmaybeimproved.
Hopefullythesoftwareandthismanualhelpyougetthemostoutofyour
AlesisHD24recorder.
Sincerely,
MarcBrevoort

Disclaimer:TheauthorisnotaffiliatedwithorsupportedbyAlesis.

AbouttheHD24toolssoftware
The HD24tools software was originally developed to fulfill the need of
transferringaudiodatafromFSTdiskstoLinuxbasedworkstations.After
fulfillingthisneed,thesoftwarehasbeenextendedwithsomeadditional
features,andportedovertovariousotheroperatingsystems,platformsand
architectures.Asaresult,theHD24toolssoftwarewillallowyoutotransfer
youraudio overalmostanyconnectiontoalmostanycomputerrunning
almostanyoperatingsystem.

KeyfeaturesoftheHD24toolssoftware
The HD24tools software consists of two main programs; one is
HD24connect, the other is HD24hexview. Normal users will probably
mostly use HD24connect, which is the program that allows transferring
audiofromHD24ADATFSTdisks.KeyfeaturesofHD24connectare:

Allows transferring audio to computers whether they run Linux,

WindowsorMacOS
Allows using the original Alesis FirePort 1394, as well as lowcost
alternativessuchasexternalUSBbracketsorUSBsmartcables
Automatic splitting up large files into smaller, customsized pieces
duringtransfer
Inthecaseofdisaster,allowssafe,readonlydatarecovery,allowing
DoItYourselfdatarecoverywithoutrequiringanyknowledgeofthe
FSTfilesystem
Permitsaudiotransfersbetweenlocatepoints
Advancedtransportcontrolallowsfastaudiopreviews directlyfrom
FSTdisk
Direct streaming audio to other audio applications (Currently for
Linuxonly)

Writingdiskcontentstofileorprinter

BatchtransferofmultiplesongsfromHD24drivetoPC

Exporttomono,stereoormultitrackfiles

Import from mono, stereo or multitrack files up to the length of

existingsongs
Advancedrecoveryfeaturesallowing100%safe,readonlyrecovery

Theotherprogram,HD24hexview,isahexeditor.Ithasthefollowing
features:

Directly displaying the ondisk data, permitting fast navigation of

largediskswithminimalmemoryrequirements

Blockselection

Writeblocktofile

Checksumcalculation

Sectoraccessrelativetoendofdisk

Readonlymode(default)andexpertmodetohelppreventaccidents

Doublesasahexeditorforbinaryfiles

Finally,somefeaturesarepartofthecoreengineandsharedbyboth
programs:

AutomaticdetectionofHD24ADATFSTdisks

AllowingtoforceusingnonFSTorcorruptdisks

Permittingtheuseofimagefilesandalternateheaders

Permitsusinganymethodofhookingupyourdrivestothecomputer

Additionally,thesoftware supportsmostfeaturesthatyouhavecometo
expect from the official software: Multidisk support, free space preview,
support for both FST version 1.00 and 1.10, 99 projects, 99 songs,
exportingtovariousfileformats,andsoon.

What'snewinthislastversion?
Newfeaturesin0.9:

NewtabbedGUI
Writesupport(finally!)allowingwritingaudiotoexistingsongs;either
mono,stereoormultitrack
Exportingdriveimages
RecordertabwithmetersthatfaithfullysimulateHD24meterlevels
during playback, three peak hold modes, slider seek, proper
solo/mutebuttonsandtransportcontrolswhichshouldbefamiliarto
mostHD24users
Addedpunchin/punchoutlocatepoints
Changed default time display to 30 frames per second instead of
1/100secondforbetterfutureMIDIcompatibilitywithHD24

Largertransportcontrolbuttons

Signaldetectionontransfertab

Beforeusingthesoftware
Important:Thesoftwareisprovidedfreeofchargeinthehopethatitwill
be useful, but is provided AS IS with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY,
expressedor implied.Theauthorcannotbeheldliableforanydamage
thatmayarisedirectlyorindirectlyfromthesoftware.Usethesoftwareat
yourownrisk.
HD24connectversion0.9.0isthefirstversionwithwritesupport.Assuch,
althoughthesoftwarehasbeentestedextensively,writesupportshouldbe
considered EXPERIMENTAL. It is strongly recommended make backups
before using write support, either using the functionality provided by
HD24toolsorusingtheHD24recorder.

Please also take in account the regular disclaimers that apply for the
operationalconditionsforyourhardwareThatis,donotattempttohot
swap a drive that is not hotswappable, do not use in overly moist
conditions,switchoffdevicesbeforehookingthemup,andsoon.Consult
yourhardwaremanualstoinformyourselfaboutfurtherlimitations.
Aconsiderableamountoftimewasspenttodevelopthesoftware.Ifyou
useandlikethesoftwareandwishtosupportit,pleaseconsidermakinga
donationtotheauthor.Spreadthenews.Pleasedonothostthesoftware
on other sites you can always download the latest version from the
followingpage:
http://ringbreak.dnd.utwente.nl/~mrjb/hd24tools/download.html

Choosingyourhardware
AsHD24toolssoftwareworkswithavarietyofhardware,youmaywantto
takeamomenttopickthehardwarethatsuitsyoubest.

The Alesis Fireport will work on any computer with a firewire

interface,andallowshotpluggableoperation.Itwillalsoallowyouto
usefeaturesspecifictoAlesis'FST/Connect.
Ifyoudonotwanttogetanyadditionalhardwarebeforeperforminga
testdriveoftheHD24toolssoftware,youcantestwithadriveimage
or connect your FST drive directly to the IDE interface of your
computer.ThedrivewillneedtobejumperedastoMASTER.DONOT
DOTHISifyouareuncomfortableswappingarounddrives.
IfyoudonotmindswappingdrivesfromHD24caddiestoanexternal
USBbracket,almostanyexternalUSBcasewilldo.
TheoriginalAlesisHD24drivecaddiesweredesignedbyacompany
called ViPowER, Inc. You may wish to consider using one of the
compatible products that they have manufactured. Depending on
your needs, you could use either of the following (and possibly
others):

ViPowERSuperRackmodelVP10KFU133
Thisisaninternallymountabledrivebaywhichconnects
directlytoyourIDEinterface.FastbutNOThotswappable.
RequirestheADATdrivetobetheonlydriveontheinterface.

ViPowERSwapRackVP1028LSF
Aninternallymountabledrivebaywhichconnectstoan
externalUSBinterface.Hotswappable.Requiresanavailable
USBport.

Others
CompatibilityofHD24toolswithotherViPowERhardwareis
likelybutunconfirmed.

Alesis' FST/Connect only supports FireWire drives. It will notwork with

aforementionedUSBdrivebays.

Systemrecommendations
TheHD24toolssoftwareshouldbeabletorunonalmostanysystemwith
almostanyspecification.Mostlikely,itwillworkonyours.Tofindoutifit
does,giveitatry.Shouldyoufindthatitdoesn't,pleasecontacttheauthor
sothatwecanconsidermakingHD24toolsworkonyoursystemaswell.
Requirementsforrunningthesoftware:

Sufficientdrivespacetoholdthesoftwareandaudiofilestobe
transferred
Windows2000,WindowsXP,MacOSX10.3,10.4(powerPC)orUbuntu
Linux(otherdistributionsmayworkaswell)
Soundcard(foraudiopreviews)

Precautions

WhenconnectingordisconnectinganHD24ADATFSTdrive,alwaystake
intoconsiderationtheprecautionsthatapplyforyourhardware(switching
offdevicesbeforeswappingdrives,etc).
UntilsomeonereleasesanofficialFSTdriver(whichisnotlikelytohappen
anytimesoon),youroperatingsystemwillnotsupportHD24ADATFST
disks.Thismeansthatyouroperatingsystemwillrecognizethatthereisa
diskconnectedtoyourmachine,butitwillnotunderstanditscontents.
Because of this, ADAT disks are usually incorrectly recognized as
unformatted, and the operating system will possibly offer to initialize or
formatitforyou.UnderWindowsthismaylookasfollows:

You should Cancel such dialogs and steer clear fromsuch initialization
actions.Ifyouinitializethedisk,itwillnolongerbereadablebytheHD24
recorder.Shouldyoubereadingthisafteritisalreadytoolate,stepsto
recover from this disaster are provided in the recovery section of this
manual.

InstallingHD24tools(Windows)
TherecommendedwayofinstallingHD24toolsonWindowsisbyusingthe
graphicalinstaller.The.zipfilethatyoudownloadedcontainsafilecalled
setup.exe,which,whenrun,willinstallthefullversionofHD24tools,all
requiredlibraries,documentationandrescueheaders.
Whensetupisstarted,itwilldisplayascreensimilartothefollowing:

ClickNexttocontinue;youwillnowbetakentothelicenseagreement.

Thelicenseagreementisprettyliberal:youareallowedtousetheprogram
free of charge and spread unaltered copies of it. You are encouraged to
donatetothedevelopmentofHD24toolsifyoufindtheprogramuseful.To
continue,acceptthetermsinthelicenseagreementandclickNext.
Youwillnowbeaskedwheretoinstalltheprogramfiles:

Thesuggestedinstallationdirectorywillbefineformostpracticalpurposes.
Unless you have specific wishes about the folder where you want
HD24tools to be installed, the default should be fine. You may want to
writedowntheinstallationfolderatthismomentforfuturereferenceyou
willneedtoknowwheretheprogramisinstalledtorunit.
After clicking Next, the files will be copied to the given location. Note:
HD24toolsisquitelight,socopyingthefileswilltakeaverysmallamount
oftime,sometimesunderasecond.Thisisnormal.

After installation is complete, open an explorer window and write the

installation directory in the address bar (typically C:\HD24tools). After
goingtothatfolder,youcanstartHD24connectbydoubleclickingit.

InstallingHD24tools(Linux)
UnderLinux,installationshouldbesimilartotheinstallationonWindows.
Youcanextractthesetupfilefromthedownloaded.tar.gzor.tgzarchive
andthenrunit.Bydefault,installationwillbedoneinthe~/HD24tools/
directory.
ItshouldbenotedthatduetotherelativelysmallnumberofLinuxusers,
the Linux installer has not undergone a lot of testing. If things do not
installsmoothly,pleasecontacttheauthorsothatwecanworkoutthe
finalissuesintheinstaller.Themostlikelycauseforthingsnotrunningis
thatHD24toolscannotfindtheportaudioandlibsndfilelibraries.
On Linux, drive detection may fail if the user does not have direct
read/writeaccesstothedrive.Thiscannormallybesolvedbyrunningas
root(notreommended)orbyalteringyour /etc/fstab filetoallowdirect
readaccesstocommonusers.Forinstance,ifyourFSTdriveisusuallyon
/dev/hdcthenyourfstabentrymaylookasfollows:
/dev/hdc

none

auto

devmode=0775

InstallingHD24tools(Mac)
OnMac,noinstallationisneeded;simplydownloadandopentheproper
.dmg imageandrundirectlyfromthere.Shouldyouwishtoinstall,some
peoplehavereportedsuccesscopyingoverthefilesfromthe .dmg image
directlytotheirdrive.

Normaloperation
ThischapterdealswithnormaloperationofHD24connect.Thismeansthat
in these chapters, it is assumed that you start up HD24connect with a
normal,validHD24ADATFSTdrivealreadyconnectedtoyoursystem.

ThemainscreenofHD24connect
ThefollowingisanexampleofwhatthemainscreenofHD24connectmay
looklikejustafterstartingup,whenavaliddrivewasfound.Theimage
maydifferslightlydependingon theplatformandoperatingsystemthat
youarerunning.

Driveinfo
TheDriveInfotabcontainsinformationaboutthecurrentlyselecteddrive,
aswellasadirectorylistingofthecontentsofthecurrentlyselecteddrive
ordriveimage.

Ifyouhavemultipledrivesconnectedtoyoursystematthesametime,the
Drivename dropdownboxwillallowyoutoswitchbetweenthedetected
drives.The Rename buttonwillallowyoutorenamethedrive(inmemory
only,fornow).Thescreenshowsthenumberofprojectsondisk,alongwith
thefilesystemversionthatthedrivewasformattedwith.

The Free space preview shows an estimate of the available recording

time, based on a given sample rate and number of tracks that you can
select with the dropdown menus next to it. By changing the number of
tracks and sample rate, the preview will be automatically adjusted to
match.
To increase efficiency for people that work with many different drives,
HD24connectdisplaysthedrivecatalogonscreen.Ifdesired,thiscatalog
canbeexportedtofileortoprinterwiththefollowingtwomenuchoices:

File>Exportcatalog...
Thischoiceallowsustowritethecatalogofthecurrentdisktofile,
permittingyoutopreviewthecontentsofthecatalogortoaddlayout
inyourfavoritewordprocessor.

File>Printcatalog...
Thischoicewillsendthecatalogdirectlytothedefaultprinter.

Project/Songtab
ThenexttabisProject/Song.

TheProjectinformationareashowsadropdownboxwhichallowsyou
tochoosetheprojectthatyouwanttolookat,alongwiththetotalnumber
ofsongsintheproject.

By default, the last project accessed on the HD24 recorder will be

displayed.The Numberofsongsfielddisplaysthetotalnumberofsongs
that are recorded within the currently selected project. The Rename...
buttonissimilartotheRename...buttonontheDriveInfotab.

Below the Project info, you will find the Song Info. This area contains
various controls that are related to individual songs. By default, it will
display the last song accessed by the HD24 recorder. The information
displayedincludesthenumberoftracks,songduration,samplerate,bit
depth (usually 24 bit) and writeprotect status. Again, there is an (in
memory)Rename...button.

HD24connect displays durations and time codes in the format

HOURS:MINUTES:SECONDS.FRAMES.Thismatchesthebehaviourofthe
HD24recorder.
Aspecial,unnumberedsongentrynamed Allsongs isavailablein
the Songnamedropdownbox.Whenselected,thisselectsalltracksofall
songs of the entire project for batch transfers from HD24 drives to
computer.Theexportrangeforthesongwillbefixed,meaningthatonly
entiresongswillbeexported.
Inadditiontothesesettings,the Songinfo areashowsthelistoflocate
pointsthataredefinedforthesong.Theusual25locatepointsthatare
definedbytheHD24recorderarelisted,aswellasavirtuallocatepoint
ENDwhichislocatedjustafterthelastsampleofthesong.
Locatepointscanbesetinmemory,andalthoughtheyareneverwrittento
disk,itisactuallyusefultobeabletodothis,becauseHD24connectallows
ustotransferaudiobasedontheselocatepoints.

TheEdit...buttonnexttothelocatepointlistallowsustoeditthelocate
pointthatiscurrentlybeingselected.Whenthisbuttonisclicked,adialog
willpopup.

Thisdialogwillpermitustochangethenameofthelocatepoint,butmore
importantlyalsothetimecodebeforewhichthelocatepointissituated.
The button above the subseconds allows us to switch back and forth
betweenhundrethsofseconds,frames(30th seconds)andsamples,which
permitsussampleaccuratewaveexportA,shouldwewishtodoso.
Thecheckbox,whichisonlydisplayedforlocatepoint1and2,isenabled
by default. When editing locatepoint 1 and 2, this will cause these
locatepointstoautomaticallybeusedasstartandendoftheexportrange,
respectively.
Itshouldbenotedthatthelocatepointsshouldbeseenasbeinglocated
between the samples; a locate point that has a value of 1 (sample) is
located just before sample 1 and just after sample 0. This notion is
importantwhenwewanttoexportdatasplitupinseveralblockswithout
overlapping samples: we should not do anything such as incrementing
sampleoffsetstoallowthis.
JustlikeontheHD24recorder,locatepoint0(whichiscalledSTARTby
default) doesn't indicate a position within the song but the offset of the
songitself.Duringsongexports,HD24connectwillignoretheactualvalue
ofthislocatepointandalwaysconsiderittobejustbeforethestartofthe
song.Becauseofthis,youmaychangethevalueofthislocatepoint,but
thiswillhavenoeffectwhatsoever.

A Inhighsampleratemodes(88.2and96kHz),locatepointsonlyoccureverytwosamplesandassuchtruesample
accuracycannotbeobtained.

The Go button (next to the Edit... button) will move the transport
cusor/tapeheadtothecurrentlyselectedlocatepoint.Incombinationwith
manually setting locate points, this allows us sampleprecise jumps to
anywherewithinthesong.Itshouldbenotedthatitisnotpossibletojump
beyondtheendofthesong.FortheGobuttontowork,thetransportmust
havebeenpreviouslyactivatedbyclickingthestopbuttonontherecorder
tab.

TheRecorder
Before exporting audio, you may wish to audition it. The Recorder tab
facilitatesthisbyofferingaconvenient,familiarinterface.

Thetopofthescreenshowsa24trackLEDdisplay,similartothedisplay
oftheHD24recorderitself.WhenauditioningadrivewithHD24connect,it
willfaithfullysimulatewhattheHD24recorderwouldhavedisplayed.
Therearethreerowsofbuttonsunderthedisplay.Thefirstrowofbuttons
recordenablestracks.Therecordenablebuttonsarepresentintheuser
interface in preparation for realtime recording functionality. Clicking the
dotontheleftofthisbuttonrowallowsyoutorecordenablealltracksat
once. As realtime recording functionality is not yet implemented, the
RecordertabislockedtoRehearsemode.

The second and third button rows contain Solo and Mute buttons. This
allowsyoutosingleouttrackswhileauditioningthesong.
Underthethreebuttonrows,wefindthelocationslider.Thisslidershows
howfaraudioplaybackhasprogressed,andallowsustoquicklyjumpto
anypointinthesongbydraggingitshandlewiththemouse.
The bottom left shows an information display. This display shows the
currentplaybacklocationandstatusmessages.Beneaththedisplay,there
arefourbuttons,andthereisadropdownontheright.

The Peakmode buttonallowsustochoosebetween Nopeak

hold, Temporary peak hold and Continuous peak hold.
These are similar to the peak modes of the Alesis HD24
recorder.
The Peakclear buttoncomplements Continuouspeakhold
modebyallowingustoresetthesignalpeaksmanually.
The Allinput and Autoinput buttonsareincludedforthe
realtimerecordingfeaturewhichwillbeimplementedinafuture
release. Under Linux, The All input button permits
monitoringsignallevelscomingfromyoursoundcard.
The Stereo input mapping dropdown is included for the
realtimerecordingfeaturewhichwillbeimplementedinafuture
release. It is currently disabled. It will give control over how
stereoaudiosignalsareroutedfromyouraudiohardwarecard
toHD24tracks.

ThetransportcontrolsarearrangedinalayoutsimilartotheLittleRemote
Control that came with your HD24 recorder. The Rehearse button is
locked. It is included for the realtime recording feature which will be
implementedinafuturerelease.

During audio playback, it is possible to set four locate points by

clickingSETLOCfollowedbyoneofthebuttonsinthedarkenedarea
(Loopstart,Loopend,PunchinorPunchout).
ClickingAUTOLOOPtogglesloopmode.Whenloopmodeisenabled,
playbackwillendattheLoopEndlocatepoint(Locatepoint2)and
resumeattheLoopStartlocatepoint(Locatepoint1).Thisismostly
usefulwhenstreamingaudiodirectlyfromdisk.
ClickingLOC0rewindsthetransporttothebeginningofthesong.

TheLOOPSTARTbuttonresetsthesongcursortoLocatepoint1(or
setsLocatepoint1afterSETLOCispressed)
TheLOOPENDbuttonsetsthesongcursortoLocatepoint2(orsets
Locatepoint2whenSETLOCispressed).Mostusefulwhentransport
isstopped.
ThePUNCHINandPUNCHOUTbuttonssupplytwoextralocatepoints
thatcanbesetontheRecordertab,butcurrentlyhavenoadditional
functionality.
TheRewindbuttonmovesthesongcursorbackwardsby5seconds,
ifpossible.
The FFWD buttonmovesthesongcursorforwardsby5seconds,if
possible.
TheSTOPbuttonstopsaudioplayback.Inaddition,thiswillinitialize
transport control and redetect what audio playback mechanism is
available. Under Linux, this is useful to switch between Portaudio
andJackwithoutrestartingtheapplication.

Duringaudiopreview,thetrackselectioncheckboxesonthe CopytoPC
tabwilllightupfortracksthathavesignal.Itispossibletoswitchbetween
songs during audio preview. However, any locate points set inmemory
beforetheswitchwillbelost.

CopyingaudiofromHD24drives
The CopytoPC tabpermitsyoutoselectadirectoryforfileexport,as
wellasmarkingwhichtracksshouldbeexported.Bydefault,alltracksare
markedforexport.Ifthesonghaslessthan24tracks,onlytheamountof
tracksallocatedforthesongisdisplayed.

TheInvertbuttonwilltogglealltracksbetweenselectedandunselected.
This is useful for quickly switching between exporting all tracks and
exportingno(orjustafew)tracks.
Clickingthe Range... buttonpopsupadialogwhichwillletuschoose
whichrangetoexport.

Weselectthisrangebychoosingtwolocatepoints.Regardlessofitsvalue,
locate point START is always located before the beginning of the song,
whereas virtual locate point END is always located after the end of the
song. This means that selecting START and END will always export the
entiresong.
Beforeperforminganexport,wemaystillchooseinwhatformatwewishto
export by selecting the desired format in the Format dropdown box.
Currentlysupportedare24bitWAVfilesand24bitAIFFfiles.Although
these formats should be readable by most systems, some software
programshavetroublereading24bitPCM.Inthatcase,theexporteddata
willmostlysoundlikeloudnoise.ThiscanberesolvedbyfindingaCODEC
thatsupports24bitPCM,orbyloadingtheaudiointoaprogramthatis
24bitcapable.
Inadditiontomonoexport,HD24connectpermitsexportingtheaudioas
stereopairsandasmultitrackaudio.Whenexportingtostereo,youneed
to select an even number of tracks. Exporting as multitrack audio will
exportallaudiotracksinthesamefile.NotethatpropermultitrackWAV
and AIFF support is rare and may not work with your favorite audio
program.
Finally,totransferasound,wecanclicktheTransferbuttonwhichwill
startatransferof

theselectedtracks

totheselectedprojectdirectory

fromtheindicatedstartingpointtotheindicatedendpoint

inthegivensamplerateandformat.

WAVfilescancontainatmostaround2billionsamples,whichusuallyis
equivalenttoaroundfourandahalfhoursofmusic.Ifwetrytocreatea
longer WAV file, the resulting file is not be a valid WAV file, and will
probablynotplaywellinotheraudioprograms.
To work around this limitation, under heading Transfer options
HD24connectpermitssplittingupexportedaudiointochunksofagiven
maximumsize.ThiswillnotonlyovercomethelimitationsoftheWAVfile
format,butitwillalsopermitustosplitupouraudiointochunksthatare
ofaconvenientsizetostoreonothermedia,suchasDVD.
The heading Transferoptions alsopermitsustoexportfilesstamped
with a different sample rate than the rate at which they were originally
recorded.ThisismostlyusefulforpeoplethatowntheAlesisBRCandthat
synchronizetheirHD24toit.ThismaycausetheHD24tothinkthatitis
recordingat48kHzwheninrealityitisrecordedat44.1kHz.Asaresult,
exportedfileswillplaybacktoofast.Bystampingthemwithasamplerate
of 44.1 kHz, this problem is resolved. The audio is not resampled by
stampingexportfileswithadifferentrate.

CopyingaudiotoHD24drives
The CopytoHD24 taboffersfunctionalitytocopyaudiofromfiletoan
existingsongonthetheHD24drive.

Thescreenshows24trackslotswhichcorrespondtothe24tracksofthe
HD24recorder.UsingtheLoad...button,youcanselectwhichfilesyou
want to transfer to the HD24 recorder. At first, do not worry about the
order in which you add the files to the track slots. You will be able to
correctthislater.Thefiledialogthatpopsupafterclickingthe Load...
buttonwillallowyoutoselectmultiplefiles.Selectedfileswillbeassigned
tothefirstemptytrackslot.
When you select a file that contains more than one track (for instance
stereofiles),itwillnotfitonamonotrack.Youwillbeaskedwhatyou
wanttodo.Youcaneitherassignittoseveraltrackslots(oneslotforeach
channelthatthefilecontains)orassignittoasingletrackslot.

Bydefault,ifyousplitamultichannelfileintomultipletracks,thechannel
actionselectiontotherightofthetrackslotwillassigneach respective
channel to a track slot, whereas by default a multichannel file will be
mixeddowntomonowhenitisassignedonlytoasingletrackslot.Ifyou
wish to deviate from this default behaviour, simply select the desired
behaviourinthetrackactiondropdownnexttothetrackslot.
Tomovearoundfiles,clickthe trackslotsholdingthe filesyouwantto
move to another HD24track. Thiswill highlightthetrack slot.Youcan
thenmovethefilebyclickingtheupanddownbuttonsontherightofthe
tracklist.
Ifyouwishtooverwriteatrackwithsilence,youdonotneedtoselectafile.
Simplychoose Erase astrackactioninthedropdownrighttothetrack
slot.
Whenatrackslotisempty,thattrackwillbepreservedontheHD24drive,
unlessyouselectedEraseastrackaction.
Toclearatrackslotandpreservethetrack,youcanselectthetrackslotby
clickingit,andthenclickingtheClearbutton.
Afterallissetupforthetransfer,clicktheTransferbutton.

Currently,afewlimitationsapplyintransferringaudiotoHD24drives:

Onlyexistingaudiocanbeoverwritten.HD24connectwillcurrently
notextendsongsiftheaudiothatyouwishtowriteislongerthanthe
songlength.Thiscanbesolvedbyrecordingsilenceaftertheendof
thesong,usingyourHD24recorder.
Audiowillalwaysbewrittenatthestartofthesong.
Writeprotectedsongscannotbeoverwritten.Youneedtounprotect
themintheHD24recorder.
Eachtrackwillonlybeabletohold1audiofile.Thismeansnoauto
joinwillbeperformedonpreviouslysplittedaudiofiles.
Noresamplingwillbeperformed.Sendinga16kHzfiletoa48kHz
songwillresultintheaudiobeingplayedbacktoofast.

HD24tools version 0.9 is the first version containing write support.

Becauseofthis,itisagoodideatobackupthesongtobeoverwrittento
another drive that does not contain anything important, and then only
workwiththatbackup.Usethisfunctionalityatyourownrisk,andplease
reportbackanyquirksthatyoumayencounter.
For additional safety, you can save abackup of your HD24 drive to file
usingthe File>SaveDriveImage... menuoption.Thiswillcost
sometimeandrequirealotoffreedrivespace:asmuchasthecapacityof
thedrivebeingbackedup.

CrossapplicationAudio
Introduction
The Linux version of HD24connect currently supports the Jack Audio
ConnectionKit.Thistoolkit,whichisfunctionallysimilartoPropellerhead
ReWire, allows routing audio streams between any applications that
support it. In other words, HD24connect is capable of streaming audio
directlyfromHD24drivestoanyJACKenabledaudioapplications.
Atthispointintime,ReWireisnotsupported.Thereareafewreasonsfor
this:

TheReWirespecificationisonlyavailabletocommercialcompanies;
Supporting ReWire would take away the choice of opening up
HD24toolstothepublicinthefuture.

Shouldyouhaveanysuggestionswhichcouldresolvetheseproblems,I'd
begladtohearaboutthem.

UsingJACKunderLinux
HD24connectsupportsbothOSSPortAudioandJACKunderLinux,and
will use whatever is available at the time audio is activated. To enable
JACK output, make sure HD24connect is not playing back audio, then
start jackd in the usual way (most people use qjackctl). Clicking the
STOPtransportcontrolinHD24connectwillallowHD24connecttodetect
jackdandstarttheJACKclient.Afterthis,HD24toolswillshowupinthe
connectionslistinqjackctl:

Fromthatpointon,youneedtoconnectthetrackoutputsofHD24connect
totheaudioinputsoftheapplicationthatyouwanttoroutetheaudioto,
forinstanceArdour.Youcanuseqjackctltodothis.Ifyouwanttostop
usingJACK,closedowntheJACKserver.WhenHD24connectdetectsthat
JACK is no longer available, it will fall back to PortAudio for audio
playback.

HD24Driverecovery
Introduction
In HD24 ADAT recorder operation, a few situations can occur that may
cause data loss which can not necessarily be blamed on the recorder
itselfpowerloss,usererror,drivefailure,andsoon.Inmostcases,the
drive itself is not physically damaged it merely is left in a state that
doesn't allow us to get to the audio anymore without the help of some
specializedtools.
HD24connectischampionofuserfriendlydriverecoveryforthefirsttime
ever,aspecializedtoolisavailablethatissouserfriendlythatitenables
normal users to perform their own drive recoveries. In the following
chapters, we will discuss how. Drive recovery can be a very deeply
technicalsubject.Becauseofthis,theauthorwillattempttoexplainthings
simpleenoughtobeunderstoodbytheaverageperson.
Afewwordsaboutdrivelayout
Likeallfilesystems,theHD24driveconsistsofasystemareaandadata
area. The data area contains data, which for the HD24 recorder means
audio;thesystemarea(whichwewillalsocallthedriveheader)contains
informationabouthowandwhereondiskthataudioisstored.Important
partsofthesystemareaarethesuperblock(whichlikemostfilesystems
containsinformationaboutthedriveparameters),theprojectlistandthe
songlist.
Although audio data itselfisnotimmunetotrouble,littlecangowrong
withitsstructure.Becauseofthis,whenthedriveisleftinaninconsistent
state, this will usually mean an inconsistency in the structure of the
system area (or drive header). If this is the case, by restoring the
consistencyofthedriveheader,thedrivewillbereadableagain.

Typesofrecovery
Therearedifferentlevelsofperformingarecovery.Thismanualwillfocus
onreadonlyrecovery,whichmeanswewilllimitourselvestoreadingaudio
datafromdisk.Byperformingarecoveryasreadonlyprocess,wearesafe
fromdoinganymoredamage.
IfwewishtocreatearecovereddiskwhichisreadablebyaHD24recorder,
after transferring the audio to computer we can use the HD24 recorder
itselftowritetherecoveredaudiotoanewdisk(orevenformattheoldone
andtransferthedatathere)byusingthebuiltinFTPtransfercapabilityof
theHD24recorder.
Forthemostcommontypesofrecovery,therecoveryprocedureissimilar.
Nowthatwehavecoveredthebasics,letusexaminethisgeneralrecovery
procedure.

Generalrecoveryprocedure
AssumingyouhaveproperlyinstalledHD24tools,thereareonlyafewsteps
thatneedtobeperformedtoperformareadonlyrecovery:

Firstofall,DONOTusethedriveforrecordingbeforerecoveryis
complete.

ConnectthecorruptADATHD24drivetoyoursystem.

Next,startupHD24connect.

Itispossiblethatthedriveisnotproperlydetected,inwhichcase
HD24connectwillshowtheanerrormessagestatingNovalidHD24
driveisconnectedtothesystem.UsetheFilemenutoresolvethis
problem.

Ifthisisthecase,youneedtomanuallyselecttheADATHD24drive
with menu choice File > Recovery > Select device...
whichwillpopupadialogallowingyoutochoosebetweendriveson
yoursystem.Thedevicenamesinthedialogbelowmaydifferslightly
fromyoursystem.

Ifyoudon'tknowwhichdeviceistheADATHD24drive,donotworry.
ConnectanotherADATdrivetothecomputerandredetectthedrive.
Afterthis,theSelectdevice...dialogwillshowthe'Currentdevice'.
Writedownwhichdeviceitis;thenconnectthecorruptdrivetothe
HD24andselectthatdeviceforrecovery.
Normally you only need to manually select a device because
HD24connectdidn'tmanagetoautodetectthedrive.Becauseofthis,
driveselectionisusuallyfollowedbyapopupdialoginformingthat
thedevicedoesn'tlooklikeavalidADATdrive:

Ifyouarereasonablysurethatinfactyouhavechosenthecorrect
drive, click Yes. HD24connect will attempt to use its own virtual
superblocktoreadthedrive.

HD24connectwillnowaskyouthefollowingquestion:

OnlywhenyouaccidentallyinitializedanoncorruptHD24drive,itwillbe
enoughtoclickNo.Inanyothercase,orwhenunsure,clickYes.

Nowitistimetoselectaheaderfile.Ifthedrivewasautomatically
detectedproperly,youwillneedtochoosemenuoption

File -> Recovery -> Load Headerfile...

Nowyoucanbrowseforaheaderfilethatmatchesyourdisaster
scenario,afterwhichyouwillbeabletotransferaudiofromdiskto
yourcomputer.Forlikelydisasterscenarios,readthefollowing
chapters.

Therearecurrentlytwoheaderfiles:longliverecandunquickformat.
ThelongliverecheadertellsHD24connecttotreattheentireHD24drive
asasinglesong.Previousversionswerelimitedtosampleratesof44100
and 48000 Hz, and supported 16 and 24 tracks only. The last version
supports all sample rates and all track counts that the HD24 recorder
allows. Due to limitations in song length, only the first 27:03 or 24:51
hoursofaudio(at44100/88200Hzor48000/96000Hz,respectively)on
diskcanbeaccessed.

Disasterscenarios
Nowthatweareuptospeedaboutdrivelayoutandtypesofrecovery,we
canexploresomedisasterscenariosalongwiththeirsolutions.

Powerlossduringaliverecording
ThisisprobablythemostcommondisasterscenariotooccurintheHD24
scene.Arecorderistakenonlocationtoaliverecordingsession,wherea
power loss occurs either because the power fails, or a power chord is
pulledout,orbecausesomebodyaccidentallyhitstheoffswitch.
Whathappensduringapowerloss?
WhiletheHD24recorderisrecording,itisonlywritingaudiodatatothe
dataareaofthedisk.Thelengthofasongorrecordingisnotwrittentothe
system area, because during recording there is no time to update that
information;also,thefinalsizeofthesongisonlyknownwhenyoupress
theSTOPbuttonoftherecorder.Asaresult,whenapowerlossoccurs,the
systemareaisnotupdated,leavingthediskinaninconsistentstate,most
likelywiththesonglengthsetto0andnoinformationknownaboutwhere
theaudioisstoredondisk.
Howcanyoupreparetominimizethedamageincaseofapowerloss?
Thereareafewthingsyoucandotohelpreducethechanceofdataloss
whenpowerfails.
1. Ideally,getaUPS(UninterruptiblePowerSupply).Incaseofapower
loss,thiswillprovidetheHD24recorderwithbackuppowerandthe
problemdoesnotoccur.
2. Ifpossible,prepareyourdrivebyrecordingsilencetoasongaslong
asyouexpecttheliverecordingtolast.Asinformationaboutwhere
theaudioisrecordedtoisalreadyknownbeforerecording,thedisk
willnotbecorruptedincaseofapowerloss.
3. Ifthepreviousmeasuresaretoomuchtrouble,atleastquickformat
yourdrivebeforerecording.Thismakesiteasiertopredictwherethe
audiowillandupondisk.

4. Donotrecordanythingonyourdrivebetweenpowerlossand
recovery!
Howcanyourecoveraudiofromadrivethatsufferedapowerloss?
Followthegeneralrecoveryprocedureusingthelongliverecheaderfile.
Choose the correct sample rate / number of tracks for your recording.
Fragmentsofaudiorecordedatadifferentsamplerateornumberoftracks
thanselectedwillsounderratic;thisisnormalbehaviour.

Accidentallyinitializedthedriveonthecomputer
Thisisamistakethatyouwillprobablymakeonlyonce,andmostlikelyit
willbethefirsttimeyouconnectanADATHD24drivetoyourcomputer.
The computer will not be able to read this drive, and because of this
assume that it is an invalid or unformatted drive. Because of this, it is
possiblethatitwillaskyouaquestionalongthelinesofThedriveisnot
initialized, do you wish to initialize it? or The drive is not formatted,
formatit?.WhenweanswerYes,thedrivewillnolongerbereadableby
theHD24recorder.
Whathappensifthecomputerinitializesthedrive?
Whenthecomputer'initializes'thedrive,itwilloverwritethefirstdata
blockofthedrive(commonlycalledMasterBootRecordorSuperblock)
withasuperblockthatisrecognizedbythecomputer.However,thiswill
wipeoutthesignaturebywhichtheHD24recorderandanyHD24related
softwarerecognizethedriveasADATHD24drive.Fortunately,this
problemisrelativelyeasytoresolve,fortworeasons:

TheHD24recorderkeepsabackupoftheoriginalsuperblock
elsewhereondisk;
HD24connectisabletouseitsownvirtualsuperblockwithHD24
disks.

Howcanyoupreventyourselffromaccidentallyinitializingthedrive?
Thereisnotmuchmoreyoucandoexceptbeingawarethatthecomputer
doesnotunderstandADATHD24drives.Don'tworryyouwillquickly
learnnottomakethismistakeveryoften.

Howcanyourecoveraudiofromanaccidentallyinitializeddrive?
Usethegeneralrecoveryprocedure;aftermanuallyselectingthedrive,
whenasked'Doyouwanttoloadaheaderfile?'answerNO.Thiswillcause
HD24connecttouseitsownvirtualsuperblock.

Quickformattedthe(wrong)driveontheHD24recorder
To help you prevent mistakes, the HD24 recorder will require you to
confirmuptothreetimesthatyoureallywishtoquickformatadrive.Yet,
accidentally quickformatting a drive is more common than you would
expect.Oneofthereasonsisthatitisnotalwaysentirelyclearwhichdrive
isbeingformatted.
WhathappensiftheHD24recorderquickformatsadrive?
Fortunately,whentheHD24recorderquickformatsadrive,allitdoesis
resettheprojectlistsanddriveusageinformation.Theaudioitselfisstill
there; and in fact, all song information still exists on disk as well. This
includestheallocationinformationwhichspecifieswheretheaudioresides
ondisk.
Howcanyoupreventyourselffromaccidentallyquickformattingthe(wrong)drive?
Making sure that the HD24 recorder only contains one drive when
quickformatting could help. Other than that, by asking for confirmation
three times the HD24 recorder already does pretty much everything
possibletopreventthissituation.
Howcanyourecoveraudiofromanaccidentallyquickformatteddrive?
Usethegeneralrecoveryprocedurewiththe unquickformat headerfile.
Thiswillattempttocreateasinglevirtualprojectwithallsongsinit.As
anyprojectislimitedto99songs,thetotalnumberofsongsthatcanbe
recoveredis99.

'InvalidFormat'/'CorruptSuperBlock'fornoobviousreason
This is probably the hairiest disaster scenario of them all, because the
causeisnotentirelyclear.Possiblecausesincludeexcessivevibrationof
theunitduringrecording;abadcontact;orperhapsabuginthesoftware.
Typically,thisproblemoccursduringlongerrecordings.Duringrecording
everythingseemsfine,yetaftertherecordingtheHD24recordersuddenly
claims 'Invalid Format' and the Fireport software claims 'Corrupt Super
Block',renderingthedriveunreadable.
Also,whenmanuallyselectingthedrivewithHD24connectandNOT
loadingaheaderfile,thenamelastrecordedprojectmayappeardamaged
(everyothercharacterinthenameismessedup).
Whathappened?
Itisstillnotentirelyclearwhatcausesthiscondition.Forsomereason,
duringrecording,fromacertainpointonsomethingwentwronginwriting
thedatatodisk.Everyotherbyteofdatawrittentodiskwasdamagedfrom
thatpointon.Asthesonginfo,superblockandprojectinfoareupdated,
thesetooaredamaged.Thelastpartoftheaudioofthelastsongthatyou
recorded may also be damaged. It is likely that some audio can not be
recoveredbecauseofthis.
Howcanyoupreventthissituation?
Asitisnotentirelyclearyetwhatcausesthissituation,notalotcanbe
saidabouthowtopreventit.However,herearesomestepsthatmayhelp:

Typicallythisconditiononlyoccursduringlongerrecordings.This
suggeststhatkeepingyourrecordingsshortwillhelppreventthis
situation.
Ifneeded,prepareadiskwithseveralsongssothatduringbreaks
youcaneasilystartrecordingtoanewsong.Onceasongisrecorded,
itsaudiowillnotbedamaged.

Bringseveraldisksshouldonediskgive'Invalidformat'while
switchingsongs,youwillhaveanotheronetocontinuethesession.

Howcanyourecoveraudiofromthissituation?
In this scenario, you will have the best chance of recovery by first
attemptingthegeneral recoveryprocedurewithoutheaderfile;thenwith
theunquickformatheaderfile,andfinallyusingthelongliverecheader
file.Mostlikely,partoftheaudioofthelastrecordedsongisdamaged.Itis
veryunlikelythatanydamagedaudiocanberestored.

'Audioblockoutofrange'error
This error message will be displayed when a song uses up more audio
blocksondiskthanitslengthwouldimply.
Whathappened?
Therearetwopossiblescenarios;one(theoretical)causewouldbethata
powerfailureoccurredrightafterpressingthe'stop'buttonontheHD24
recorder. This would however be extremely unlikely to occur. One other
possiblecausemaybethatanaudioblockwasincorrectlyassignedtothe
endofthesong.Thismayhavebeendonebyourrecoveryservicetoallow
forenoughsilencetofitthesonglength.Nodatalossiscausedbythis
process.
Howcanyoupreventthissituation?
PoweroutagescanbepreventedwithaUPS.Thelattercausecanusually
notbeprevented.
Howcanyourecoveraudiofromthissituation?
Ifthesituationwascausedbyapoweroutage,proceedwiththeprocedure
torecoverfromdatalossduetopowerfailures.Ifthesituationwascaused
byourrecoveryservice,itshouldstillbepossibletobackupthesongfrom
onedisktoanother.Afterthis,youcansafelyruntheHDScanutilityon
theHD24recordertorectifythesituation.

'UnexpectedEndofSong'error
Thiserrormessagewillbedisplayedwhenasongusesuplessaudioblocks
ondiskthanitslengthwouldimply.Asthelastpartofthesongisbeing
played,theHD24recordercannolongerfigureoutwhereondisktherest
of the audio is stored. Exporting the song with HD24connect will likely
resultinloudnoisefromthissamepointon.
Whathappened?
Most likely your song is extremely fragmented. This may occur in rare
cases,mostlikelywhenrecordingamultitudeofshorttakesasasingle
song. The HD24 recorder reserves a fixed amount of space to hold
allocationinformation(whichspecifieswhereondisktheaudioisstored).
Asaresultofthefragmentedrecording,theHD24recorderhasrunoutof
spacetostoreallocationinformation.
Some evidence seems to point in the direction that only 20% of the
available allocation space is actually used by the HD24 recorder; this
wouldbeapossiblebugintheOSoftheHD24recorder.However,asofyet
thereisnoproofthat this bugisforreal.Also,undernormal operating
conditions,eventhis20%shouldbeenoughformostpurposes.
Howcanyoupreventthissituation?
Leavetherecorderrunningbetweentakes;oruseanewsongforeachtake.
Howcanyourecoveraudiofromthissituation?
Treatthisinthesamemannerasapowerlossduringrecordingusethe
longliverec headerfiletofindandexportthelostaudiofragments.As
allocation information is lost, you may want to send in your disk for
recovery.

Otherdisasters
Althoughmostdisasterscenariosarecomparablewithpreviouslydescribed
scenarios, there may be situations where following the general recovery
procedureisnotenough.Youmayhaveprojectsthatstretchbeyondthe
limitationsofthe longliverec header,oryoumayneedtorecovermore
thanthe99songsofferedbythe unquickformat header, oryouhavea
specificscenariowhichisnotcoveredorsolveablebyanyoftheprevious
scenarios.
In such cases, youcantry tocreate aheaderfileand send itto usfor
diagnosticpurposes.Thiscanbedonebymenuoption
File>Recovery>Createheaderfile...
Thiswillallowtheauthortotakealookatthediskstructure,andpossibly
createacustomheaderwhichwillallowyoutoreadyourdisk.Afeemay
bechargedforcreatingacustomheaderfile.However,itmaynotalwaysbe
possible to perform a recovery based on a header file only. Specifically,
whenitisnecessarytoreconstructwhereandhowtheaudioisstoredon
disk, the audio itself (and thus the disk) will be needed to allow for a
recovery.
Ifthediskisrequiredforrecovery,orifthiswholethingofheaderfilesand
readonlyrecoveriesistootechnicalforyou,youcansendoveryourdrive
forrecovery.Anadvanceisrequestedtocoversendingcostsanddiagnosis.
Additionally,a(reasonable)feeischargedwhenrecoveryissuccessful.In
advance,pleasecontacttheauthorbyemailforpricingandcontactinfo.

UsingHD24hexview
Introduction
HD24hexviewisacommandlineondiskhexviewerandeditorwhichhas
somefeaturesthathelptomakeitsuitableforworkingwithHD24drives.
Howeveritcanalsobeusedtoviewandeditsectorsofotherdrives.
Ifyouarenotfamiliarwithhexeditorsanddriveeditors,youwillprobably
havelittleuseforaprogramlikeHD24hexview,andyouwillbeableto
safelyignoreit.Howeverifyouhaveatechnicalbackgroundandyouwish
tostudythecontentsofyourHD24drive,HD24hexviewisthetoolof
choice.

Commandlineoptions
WhenstartingHD24hexview,itispossibletopassitafewcommandline
optionstoalteritsdefaultbehavior.
dev=<devicefile>
WillallowyoutouseadeviceotherthanthefirstdetectedHD24
device.
Additionally,thiswillallowyoutouseimagefilesasdevice.
force
Allowsyoutouseadevice,evenifitisn'trecognizedasvalidHD24
device
header=<headerfile>
Allowsyoutoloadaheaderfile.
expert
Startshd24hexviewinreadwritemodeinsteadofreadonlymode.

InsideHD24hexview
Whileusinghd24hexview,themostimportantcommandtorememberis?
becauseitwillshowyouthehelppageoftheprogram.Youcanexitthe
programbytypingqfollowedbyenter.Thedisplayedcommandlistshould
beprettymuchselfexplanatory.Feelfreetocontacttheauthorifyoufeel
theoptionsneedmoreexplanation.

Navigatingthedisk
Therearethreewaysinwhichyoucannavigatethedisk.Thefirstisby
absolutesectornumbers,donewiththedcommand.Forexample,whenat
thepromptyoutype
d14
thiswilldisplaysector14(hexadecimal)ofthedisk.Keepinmindnotto
usespaces.Itispossibletonavigatetothenextandprevioussectorby
issuingthecommands+and,respectively.Itisalsopossibletoincrement
bybiggersteps;forinstance,
+7
willcauseHD24hexviewtodisplaythesectorthatis7sectorsafterthe
currentone.Finally,itispossibletonavigatetosectornumbersrelativeto
theendofthediskbyusingnegativenumbers.Forexample,
d1
willdisplaythelastsectorondisk.UnderWindows,thefirsttimeyou
navigaterelativetothedisksize,HD24hexviewmayneedsometimeto
figureouthowbigthediskreallyis.

Knownissues
Introduction
AlthoughHD24toolsisinausablestate,thereareafewsmallissuesand
limitations.Hopefullythesewillbeovercomeinafuturerelease.

Drivesizedetection(Windowsonly)
ThewayWindowstreatsdrives,thereisnoreliablewaytodetectthetotal
numberofsectorsonadrive.Theonlyknownsolutionsforthisareeither
obsolete (cylinder/head/sector method) or can only performed in a
hardwarespecificmanner(LBAcountusingDeviceIOcontrol).
HD24hexviewhasafeaturewhichallowsittoreadsectorsrelativetothe
lastsectorondisk.OnWindowsonly,HD24toolsusesaspecialalgorithm
todetecttheactualdrivesizebyitself,ratherthanrelyingonobsoleteor
hardwarespecificsystemcalls.Thismethodisnowverifiedandknownto
besufficientlyreliable.
Inmostcases,thedrivesizecanbefiguredoutinaveryshortamountof
time (up to a few seconds), but in some extreme cases the drive size
detectioncantakemuchlonger(overfiveminutes).Currently,drivesize
detectionisperformedonlybyHD24hexview,andonlyoncepersession.

Headerfilelimitations
The header files currently provided for free download on the HD24tools
download page have some limitations. The longliverec header can only
handlearoundthefirst24hoursofdisk.Theunquickformatheadercan
onlybringbackamaximumof99songs.

Crashes
The HD24tools suite is designed only to read ADAT FST disks. When
confronted with other drive formats than it recognizes, HD24tools may
crash.