Uniti is fussy about USB sticks

Posted by: Steve Cox on 17 March 2010

I have tried two different USB memory sticks with my Uniti. The first (a Staples own brand)worked immediately; the second (a Sandisk from my local HMV store) doesn't work at all, even after I deleted all of the files that came with it (doing this didn't stop it working on my PC). I assume this is something to do with driver incompatibility.
My question is, how can I tell when I see a stick that I like the look of, whether or not it will turn out to be one of the ones that works, or one of the ones that doesn't?
(If you want to know why I need to listen to music off a USB stick, I'll tell you the story of my firmware upgrade...)
Posted on: 17 March 2010 by 0rangutan
Any USB stick should work really - have you tried formatting the Sandisk one? FAT32 would be the most suitable choice.
John
Posted on: 17 March 2010 by ferenc
All the USB sticks should work, formatted FAT32. You need to reformat your stick probably. It happened once that the Naim DAC could not use a stick formatted on my Macbook using OS X to FAT32, but formatted the same stick on a Windows machine made it work.
Posted on: 17 March 2010 by Develyn
Please tell us your firmware upgrade story.
Posted on: 17 March 2010 by Michael Chare
The 2GB Kingston DataTraveler that I have has worked OK. - Not that I use it very much, but I have stored some 24/96 Naim test files on it so that I can try them out when the time comes.
Posted on: 17 March 2010 by gav111n
Steve,

I have posted on hifi corner about a similar problem that I am having with the nDAC. No resolution as yet.

Gavin.
Posted on: 17 March 2010 by Develyn
I've used 3 different flash drives with no issue. They are all different brands. I know this isn't any help just an fyi.
Posted on: 18 March 2010 by {OdS}
quote:
Originally posted by Steve Cox:
Sandisk ... doesn't work at all


Steve,

Most Sandisk flash drives will grant access to the storage aera via a software stored in the ROM. The host will need to "talk" to this software in order to be able to use the storage aera. This is notably useful when one needs to encrypt his data on the drive; encryption can be done on the fly by the drive itself. The downside is that thoses drives cannot be used on some sytems, like some Unix-based systems. It might be the case with the Unity, too. Hope that helps,

Christian
Posted on: 18 March 2010 by Steve Cox
quote:
Originally posted by Develyn:
Please tell us your firmware upgrade story.

I don't want to alarm you - there isn't a story really. It's just that after the upgrade I can only listen to the beginnings of tracks via wireless UPnP streaming, after which they cut out, whereas before it I had no trouble with this even though nothing else has changed (I needed the upgrade to listen to UTF16 tagged MP3s). This eliminates all the usual culprits, like cheap router, poor wireless connection, unsuitable media server software, etc.
UPnP is fine with a wired connection, so I am now experimenting with alternative server software, when not sidetracked by issues like this USB one. Trouble is, I enjoy the sounds that occasionally come out of my speakers so much that I spend more time listening than experimenting!
Posted on: 19 March 2010 by Steve Cox
I can report that the advice to format my stick worked. It would not have occurred to me to do this, so thanks to those who suggested it.
However, I can envisage a situation where a visitor brings some of his music round on a stick to see how it sounds, and formatting the stick if it doesn't work would not then be an option, so is there anything less drastic that I could try?
Posted on: 21 March 2010 by David23
I have had the same issue, Uniti would not work with my larger external hard drive through the USB, only small sticks.

Does anyone else have the issue where the Uniti can no longer conect with the USB stick until you power off/on the unit again. This happens after several days of the usb being plugged in or if I try to switch usb sticks - very annoying

Also any good reccos on a router? My Uniti wont connect with my old G-based Linksys, I'm going to buy a new one now (N Based)
Posted on: 21 March 2010 by winkyincanada
My TimeCapsule contains the best router I've ever used (I think pretty much equivalent to the Airport Extreme); but they ain't cheap.

Non-Apple products will be better VFM, but you get what you pay for.
Posted on: 01 April 2010 by David Dever
quote:
Originally posted by David23:
I have had the same issue, Uniti would not work with my larger external hard drive through the USB, only small sticks.

Does anyone else have the issue where the Uniti can no longer conect with the USB stick until you power off/on the unit again. This happens after several days of the usb being plugged in or if I try to switch usb sticks - very annoying

Also any good reccos on a router? My Uniti wont connect with my old G-based Linksys, I'm going to buy a new one now (N Based)


NETGEAR WNR3700 (gigabit) or WNR3300 (10/100)