Samsung T5 Portable SSD - 500GB - USB3.1 External SSD (MU-PA500B/AM). Works great for multitrack recording on my QU-16.
Link here : Amazon Samsung MU-PA500B/AM
This was recommended on this forum and I can confirm that it works great for multitrack recording. I’m running firmware v1.93. I recorded 2 sets now, each a little over 3 hours. I didn’t see any audio interruptions when listening back. The only issue I did see, was when I do a 2nd multitrack recording without reformatting. I saw 16 channels recorded fine, but 2 of the 18 WAV files were only a a few kilobytes.
So as long as I format the drive immediately before recording, it seems like this can run for hours and hours without issue.
Thanks for the help in this forum. It has been a headache finding the right drive.
Is there a way to format a usb stick on a mac in the right format for the QU console? Or something close?
I have a drive that will show up saying formatting is necessary and the progress bar just freezes and doesn’t format. I thought if I could get it at least close to the right format first it might have an easier time formatting on the console. Any thoughts or experience on this?
The drive I’m using is SanDisk Ultra 32G, USB 3.0. Seems to have mixed reviews on the spreadsheet…
s there a way to format a usb stick on a mac in the right format for the QU console? Or something close?
I have a drive that will show up saying formatting is necessary and the progress bar just freezes and doesn’t format. I thought if I could get it at least close to the right format first it might have an easier time formatting on the console. Any thoughts or experience on this?
The drive I’m using is SanDisk Ultra 32G, USB 3.0. Seems to have mixed reviews on the spreadsheet…
The USB drives have to be formatted in the mixer using the format menu.
As I have posted many times, the Kingston Data Traveler series all work, I have some over fours years old and some I just purchases a couple months ago.
I also have a couple older SansDisk Extreme USB 3 models that work, I have heard that the newer version SansDisk Extreme do not work, I have never tired one of the newer ones.
I know you posted that but my Kingston did not work on our Qu.
Some documentation indicates you can format it on a PC if you use FAT32 with 32K blocks.
I presume you would have to put the correct directory structure on it with the proper names spelled as AH is looking for them.
I know you posted that but my Kingston did not work on our Qu.
Some documentation indicates you can format it on a PC if you use FAT32 with 32K blocks.
I presume you would have to put the correct directory structure on it with the proper names spelled as AH is looking for them.
If I remember right you did not follow through with all the steps.
Thanks Volounteer,
That’s the kind of info I was looking for. I figure it’s worth a try. I also may have different luck if I update the console firmware (I’m just assuming it’s out of date).
@kevcarlson I wouldn’t get your hopes up. There are many of us on this thread who have tried firmware updates, tried multiple different USB sticks, tried multiple different ways of formatting the drives on Macs and PCs, and still are unable to get the Qu to recognize the USB stick.
As far as I can tell, it is a physical problem with the mixer itself, with some mixers being more prone than others. If you’re reading this thread, you’re one of the unlucky ones. A&H have been completely unresponsive and unable/unwilling to support.
I believe you when you say yours worked for you in your Qu.
My failure rate has been 3 for 3 on our Qu.
I got one old model that was a white box noname from Staples years ago to work.
All others including kingston since then have failed. And I have tried a lot of different ones.
The odds may, or may not favor success now, with that flashdrive which worked for you.
For sure the AH database and comments show that a lot of flashdrives that ‘work’ (or worked previously also fail now.
My research showed that the manufacturers change the chips in the drive and do other things so that even with the exact same brand model submodel size and other factors they can still be different devices and can not be compared 100.00000% meaningfully. I suspect that AH may do that to the Qu too. So while I cannot blame AH for the problem that is uniquely theirs, I have to think that they need to share a lot of the responsibility for the problems so many of us are having.
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The simple fact here is: some of us have got Allen-Heath Qu boards whose USB ports do not work. This is not because of stupidity; it is not because of inexperience; it is not because of doing things wrong. It is because some of the boards are defective. This is not just my conclusion; it is the conclusion of the A-H tech that I spent hours on the phone with, over multiple days.
Listen, I’m happy for the 20% or 70% or 99.9% of people whose QuDrive ports work. Good on you! I wish I could be one! But your advice on how to make it work does not work, for my board.
The simple fact here is: some of us have got Allen-Heath Qu boards whose USB ports *do not work*. This is not because of stupidity; it is not because of inexperience; it is not because of doing things wrong. It is because some of the boards are defective. This is not just my conclusion; it is the conclusion of the A-H tech that I spent hours on the phone with, over multiple days.
Listen, I’m happy for the 20% or 70% or 99.9% of people whose QuDrive ports work. Good on you! I wish I could be one! But your advice on how to make it work does not work, for my board.
My frustration comes from mentioning numerous times USB drives that have proved to work on numerous QU boards, said USB drives are available and easy to get with the click of a mouse and yet people complain about their XYZ USB drive not working ect. and all but refusing to try a known working drive.
Yes it would be great if you could put any ole USB stick in a QU, hit format and be done but as we all know that is not the case.
Early on I tried a few different drives that did not work, then from a recommendation or selecting it from the list of posted drives ( I can’t remember) I tried the Data Travelers, bingo we have a winner, they have worked ever sense, the search was over.
You may indeed have a bad USB port on your mixer but until you try a known working USB drive as a test and properly go through the formatting steps how do you know? Did you try a Data Traveler in your mixer?
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content removed – personal comment that does not contribute to the thread @MikeC assumes that if a drive works in his Qu that the ‘same’ drive will work in every Qu.
He believes that if we use the flash drive he says will work and it fails then it is our incompetence not the drive or Qu.
If an AH tech actually admitted they had problems why wont they just publically admit the problem and tell us what they can about it. If they were HONEST people would realize that stuff happens and work around it.
It would be nice if they would pretest flashdrives and preformat them and have their dealers sell them.
But it they still might not work due to chip differences in different Qu builds then they really need to do a recall and fix the Qus that have problems.
As a quick response to some of the more recent comments in this thread:
The hardware used for the Qu-Drive connection is the same in every unit. I can see how there may be some confusion here with previous statements we have made regarding the hardware/chipsets used by storage devices though. We discovered these can vary from drive to drive even when the name and details of the drive are identical. So it became impossible for us to guarantee the chipset and therefore the functionality of any device.
Procuring devices with a specific chipset is incredibly difficult and expensive, even when ignoring economies of scale. It would therefore end up being very costly to end users if we were to supply drives - you could easily purchase perhaps 5 or 6 different devices of the same size from your standard retailer for the price of one from us. So that wouldn’t work. The idea behind using ‘direct to USB’ for Qu-Drive, rather than say, building a hard drive into the Qu or using an SD interface, is because USB storage devices are available everywhere and cost very little.
We know not every drive is suitable, that’s why this thread and the form and results spreadsheet exist - because we want to help engineers find a drive that is suitable for use as their Qu-Drive.
If you believe the issue is due to the Qu rather than having an incompatible device. Please contact us using support.allen-heath.com and we’ll be able to check you’ve gone through all the recommended steps. You can also contact your local distributor https://www.allen-heath.com/where-to-buy/, as they will be able to fully test your Qu, including the USB hardware, to ensure it’s all running correctly (and of course fix it if it’s not!).
As I have posted here many times and no one took me up on the offer content removed – personal comment that does not contribute to the thread I will send you or anyone a formatted Data Travel to try in your QU mixer and you can keep it! I have also requested that you send me your drive that did not work to try in my QU and again no one took me up on that offer.
Process of elimination is part of trouble shooting.
That offer is still open by the way to anyone.
It’s no secret that the QU as well as some other brands of mixers are picky as to the USB drive they like, then on the other hand my cheap little Soundcraft Ui works with anything you stick in it…even drives that are formatted for the QU, go figure!
I have tried drives that did not work, on my desk right now is a SansDisc Cruzer I tried a couple years ago that did not work, no big deal.
For that matter I also have tried a Kingston HyperX model that did not work.
So not all USB drives work in my QU either, no big deal I just stay with what does work.
I have a couple projects next week that are getting a UQ24 and a 16. I’ll let you know
how the Data Travelers work in those!
That is a very generous offer that would prove nothing useful.
I just used the ones that fail on AH on my computers with no problem.
No need to ship them anywhere with the extra hassle and expense of doing that.
I never have problems with PCs and flash drives, although I did have to dl some drivers to use some flash drives on my 98SE box.
My XP just works with any drive.
So does my win8 laptop.
At least after I fixed its self destruct of the usb controller and turned off the options that did that, presumably to be ‘helpful’ or ‘useful’ that only some microcrap programmer could think made sense at all.
I did have problems with win10 somehow destroying certain flash drives so they would not work on XP again.
But if I only use them on win10 they seem to work. I try never to use win10 if I can avoid it. It will soon be a linux ubuntu box.
If the problem is drivers then AH needs to write some more, as flash drives keep changing all the time.
If it is a hardware problem they need to do a recall and fix that.
Best solution would be for them to sell the formatted and GUARANTEED flash drives to save us all the hassle.
We should be able to go to any store and buy whatever drives are on sale that they have on the shelf and expect them to work.
Having to hunt down special brands models and sizes to merely hope that they might have a chance of working is ridiculous.
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I noted that they (USB Drives) do not work on my Qu. Are you really upset that I point out that there are problems with flash drives on Qu?
Else I am not sure what your concern is.
It does seem strange that I can buy any flash drive anywhere and it works on my PC.
Only AH has this problem. Really wish you would tell us why. New drivers always fixed that problem on my 98SE.
XP just works. PERIOD. Why not the Qu?
It seems like you are trying to protect us from ourselves and causing the problems just like win8 and win10 do when they try to be ‘helpful’.
How about an option to just work. All we need to do is back up the settings. We dont need the extreme speed to record 32 channels.
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There is a problem with USBs on Qus and the evidence says it is A&H who is likely responsible. Please fix it or at least tell us why you cant.
I just tested two new drives, and added them to the list:
PNY Elite-X Fit 64GB - Good. Recorded 4 hours (38GB!) of multitrack with no errors. Transcend 710S 64GB - Bad. Many errors on multitrack recording, about 2 per minute.
Both went fresh from the package into the Qu-Pac for formatting. I did several recording tests on both, re-formatting before each test. The above results were the same each time. Looks like I’m the first to try the 64GB versions of these. (According to the list, the 32GB versions of both will work.)
I wanted to try these for their form factor; they are physically tiny. I’m glad the PNY Elite-X Fit worked. It’s half the height
of the Qu-Pac’s volume knob! Doesn’t get in the way, won’t get whacked.