I've had a PSR740 for the last 5 years and just upgraded with a PSR3000. Going from 3.5" floppies to smartmedia and usb flash drives was one of the biggest reasons for upgrading.

My question is regarding external storage. I know I can use up to a 128mb Smartmedia card or I think any size USB flash drive. Is there any advantages/disadvantages to using either, other than you can get a flash drive with much more capacity then 128mb?

Smartmedia seems to be phasing out and thus you can get a much larger capacity USB flash drive. It would almost seem pointless then to even use the smartmedia?

Thanks,

Nick

You'll need SmartMedia if you ever want to update the operating system. Because of the slightly fragile nature of these cards it is better to load it, and leave it in the keyboard. The USB connection can then be used with a card reader or directly with a suitable card for any other loading operations.
Keith

As Keith does I keep a 128 smart media card in the 3000. I use a 2 gig retractable USB flash drive. I've got 1000s of midi files stored as well as karoke files,registrations, styles from other keyboards. Even with all those files it's only using about 800mb of the drive.

2 GigFlashDrive


[This message has been edited by Stephenm52 (edited 05-07-2006).]

Keep in mind that both the Smartmedia Card and USB drive is limited to just 70 files or folders in the root directory. You can have thousands of files loaded on either device, but they must be stored in folders in order to preserve the root directory size limitations. You can even have folders within folders, and because style files, midi files, registrations and user voice styles are very small you can have thousands of them stored on the Smartmedia card without fear of consuming all the space.

Good Luck, and enjoy that 3000,

Gary

------------------
Travlin' Easy

Thanks for the responses. Few more storage questions:

Is there any noticeable access time difference between playing a midi file from a smartmedia card versus a usb flash drive?

Is there any restrictions on the type or size of the usb flash drive used?

Nick...
My personal preference is to use the USB Flash Drive (thumbdrive), for a couple of reasons.
1. As mentioned, the SM card is somewhat fragile and needs more TLC than a thumbdrive (pen drive, memory stick, etc.)
2. I heard, but have not documented, that the SM card life may be limited to 10,000 accesses.
3. I have been teaching some other 3K users locally and have found it very convenient to use my thumbdrive when working on thier keyboard (portability of my my files for use in other PSR 3000s)
4. Since I don't have a card reader, I backup all my files in several places:
A. My PC (stationary backup)and a zip drive.
B. A second thumbdrive (portable backup)
C. and on the Smart Card, which I never remove from the keyboard.

I have noticed no signifant difference in access time between the SM Card and USB Flash. Both load lickety-split.

I have been using 128MB and 256MB in the USB and have not detected any difference. Even with the tons of files I have loaded, including .sty, .mid, multipads, external voices and tweaked settings, very little space is used, even on the 128.

Eddie

For "mainline" storage I have more than I need with the Smartmedia card; I have a 128 meg card installed. I never take it out (because they are quite fragile) and so I transfer data to / from it either using the "Musicsoft Downloader" program, or via a USB device.

My USB device is an external 20GB hard disc drive, which is self-powered when using the USB connection from the PSR3000. I formatted it using the 3000. Formatting media using the 3000 seems to be the best way to ensure that the 3000 will read the external device. The 3k has formatted this large drive in "FAT32" mode, and my PC is also perfectly happy to read/write to the device as well.

In terms of opening and playing a midi file the hard disc is just as fast as the smartmedia card; i.e. to my ears practically instantaneous.



[This message has been edited by MacAllcock (edited 05-07-2006).]

Thanks again for the responses. This forum continues to be a tremendous resource for so many including myself.

I ordered my Smartmedia card off of eBay and should get it in the next couple days. In the meantime, is there anyway to get styles on to my PSR3000 through a direct USB connection to my pc?

I downloaded the latest musicsoft downloader software (5.4.0 from Yamaha Japan website) and also installed the latest USB midi driver (2.1.6). When I do a "connection check" within musicsoft downloader, I get an error saying it can't communicate with the instrument. Not sure if that is because I don't have a Smartmedia card inserted or if there is another problem. Any input would be appreciated?