MS750 is back in business

[GaryProtein]

Originally Posted by jdandy

Larry.......Uh oh! I have my backup on a 1TB USB 2.0 hard drive. I made the backup on my Windows 7 desktop that is network connected to the MS750 via a wired Ethernet connection from my router. I still own an older Sony Vaio laptop that has XP as it's operating system but the USB ports are 1.0. Will I be able to access the import directory from my Win7 desktop for the backup installation. I don't believe XP supports USB 2.0.

I guess the worst case scenario would be to reinstall all my CD's by hand like I did in the beginning. I still have all my CD's so it could be done.

That's still a pretty "worst case." It took me a full year to copy 2000 CD's onto a computer so I could play them all in my office. I pledged to myself that every time I walked by the computer room, I would put another CD in to copy. It wasn't fun. HD back-ups are good!

[Pider]

Henry and Dan.... What a great story! Congrats all around.

[lwschwartz]

Dan… Were you able to get your files copied back over to your MS750? Are you back up and running? On a side note, how would you compare the music coming from your MS750 to the music coming from a W4S modified SONOS? Obviously, the DAC in your Esoteric sounds much better than the DAC in the MS750.

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by lwschwartz

Dan… Were you able to get your files copied back over to your MS750? Are you back up and running? On a side note, how would you compare the music coming from your MS750 to the music coming from a W4S modified SONOS? Obviously, the DAC in your Esoteric sounds much better than the DAC in the MS750.

Larry.......Yes, my MS750 is up and running. Now I am trying to add the remaining CD's that were not on my backup, recording them one at a time.

I don't have a W4S modified Sonos so I can't compare it to the MS750. I only use my Sonos zone players to audition new music to purchase. I don't stream Internet music as a source of entertainment, strictly for auditioning new music.

As for the DAC in the MS750, I have only listened to it once when the server was brand new. It sounded alright. At the time I had the MCD500 so I used the MS750 coaxial digital output to the MCD500 DAC, then the MCD1100 DAC, and now the Esoteric K-03 DAC. The MS750 sounds fabulous through the K-03 DAC. I am so happy to have the MS750 operating again. I really like this music server. I wouldn't own the Olive 04HD if the MS750 was able to playback files up to 24/192, but even at 16/44.1 playback I like the MS750 very much.

[lwschwartz]

Dan… I am glad to hear it is up and running. I agree, the MS750 is one of my favorite pieces as well. I run a backup on mine every week. TeraCopy will skip the files that are already backed up so it is usually a painless process. Having replaced the power supply and hard drive, you should have several more years of trouble free operation but just in case, the back up is nice to have.

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by lwschwartz

Dan… I am glad to hear it is up and running. I agree, the MS750 is one of my favorite pieces as well. I run a backup on mine every week. TeraCopy will skip the files that are already backed up so it is usually a painless process. Having replaced the power supply and hard drive, you should have several more years of trouble free operation but just in case, the back up is nice to have.

Larry.......I use Teracopy. It's a good file backup program and free. too. At my rate of new music purchases I will probably perform a backup about once every couple of months. Thanks for you r guidance.

[mike175gr]

Is there a good (and free) program like Teracopy for Mac? I already have a back up on my Western Digital my book live NAS of my MS750, but I would like to keep it updated without having copy over the entire HD.

[Vantage5340]

Originally Posted by mike175gr

Is there a good (and free) program like Teracopy for Mac? I already have a back up on my Western Digital my book live NAS of my MS750, but I would like to keep it updated without having copy over the entire HD.

The two most well-known ones are Carbon Copy Cloner and Super Duper. I don't think they are free (but we are not talking about big money here though). Having said that, they are very reliable and easy-to-use. And they do incremental back-ups, which is what you are looking for. I use Super Duper myself, just a matter of personal choice.

[jdandy]

I have noticed an improvement in my MS750 since I installed the new power supply (thank you Thedo) and the new 750GB hard drive. As I rip CD's back on the hard drive that weren't part of my backup the cover art has downloaded perfectly for every CD so far. Before the MS750 failure I rarely captured cover art from Gracenote and usually wound up having to edit the file in the MS750 and manually add the cover art. I don't have a clue what is different now but cover art is downloading perfectly for me now. The MS750 is operating like a brand new component.

[lwschwartz]

Dan… What happened to MS750 is a new hard drive with very few bad sectors and a fresh O/S install. As the hard drive starts to fail, the O/S has parts of it that no longer function correctly. The O/S does not have any self healing properties the newer ones do. Secondly, the tolerances on the new power supply are much closer to factory spec that what you get with a supply that is gradually failing.

This is all good news. You should get at least a few more years out of it. My first IBM PC worked for me for 20 years and last I knew, was still working at the school I donated it to. That was when IBM had the circuit boards made in Alabama at facility that also did military spec work.

I was told by the guys at McIntosh that to reinstall the O/S with the BIOS install as well is helpful to do once or twice a year as it reformats the drive, marks bad sectors, and overwrites any errors in the O/S.