Brennan BB1 upgrade....

AndyPK · Dec 1, 2020

I‘ve just bought a ‘baby’ Brennan, BB1 storage device to use in the ‘van - decided against the B2 as too expensive and overkill for taking ‘on the road’

. It comes with 32Gb of storage which I am increasing to 256Gb via Micro SD. The problem is that the card needs to be formatted to fat32 in order for the Brennan to recognise it, but Windows 10 seems not to want to format any cards larger than 32Gb...... I’ve tried a couple of third-party programs which claim to be able to allow W10 to format larger sd cards to fat32, but neither have worked

. Do any Funsters have any suggestions as to how I can format my larger capacity card to fat32.........?

Gellyneck · Dec 1, 2020

AndyPK said:
I‘ve just bought a ‘baby’ Brennan, BB1 storage device to use in the ‘van - decided against the B2 as too expensive and overkill for taking ‘on the road’ . It comes with 32Gb of storage which I am increasing to 256Gb via Micro SD. The problem is that the card needs to be formatted to fat32 in order for the Brennan to recognise it, but Windows 10 seems not to want to format any cards larger than 32Gb...... I’ve tried a couple of third-party programs which claim to be able to allow W10 to format larger sd cards to fat32, but neither have worked. Do any Funsters have any suggestions as to how I can format my larger capacity card to fat32.........?

You can do it in Windows 10 using Power Shell or Command Prompt but it can take ages.
As another alternative can could use this freeware https://www.aomeitech.com/pa/standard.html

XxAnthxX · Dec 1, 2020

Use a Command Promtpt to format your flash drive irrespective of it’s size.

Type cmd in Cortana Search > Right click on Command Prompt > Run as Administrator > Copy and paste below line and replace G with your flash drive disk letter.

format /FS:FAT32 G:

However.....have you read the below link from Brennan?

https://www.brennan.co.uk/imagprod/newBrennan/bb1UpgradeSD.pdf

kevenh · Dec 1, 2020

Nearly bought a Brennan. I liked them being UK and the idea of a CD being ripped while it played (or just ripper, etc.).
I went for a different option in the end. A rip with Windows "CD Ripper"* to NAS then play

EDIT: * - is from dBpoweramp

AndyPK · Dec 1, 2020

XxAnthxX said:
Use a Command Promtpt to format your flash drive irrespective of it’s size.

Type cmd in Cortana Search > Right click on Command Prompt > Run as Administrator > Copy and paste below line and replace G with your flash drive disk letter.

format /FS:FAT32 G:

However.....have you read the below link from Brennan?

https://www.brennan.co.uk/imagprod/newBrennan/bb1UpgradeSD.pdf

Yes......followed it to the letter, but got the message ‘Failed’ when trying to ‘create P3’. After reading the BB1 forums, it appears this happens when the sd card is not fat 32, hence my question.

XxAnthxX · Dec 1, 2020

AndyPK said:
Yes......followed it to the letter, but got the message ‘Failed’ when trying to ‘create P3’. After reading the BB1 forums, it appears this happens when the sd card is not fat 32, hence my question.

Ah right so I guess the Brennan doesn’t format the card during the preparation then.

Windows command prompt will save you looking for alternative software then.

68c · Dec 1, 2020

I seem to recall some third party manufacturers do not want to pay Microsoft to use NTFS system so they use the old FAT32 instead. Thats why Windows 10 is not much help as Microsoft want the money. Using the CMD command allows access to the lower level operating system. There are many Apps/Programs that will do what you want, free or paid for. Just Google Format SD Card FAT 32.

AndyPK · Dec 1, 2020

68c said:
I seem to recall some third party manufacturers do not want to pay Microsoft to use NTFS system so they use the old FAT32 instead. Thats why Windows 10 is not much help as Microsoft want the money. Using the CMD command allows access to the lower level operating system. There are many Apps/Programs that will do what you want, free or paid for. Just Google Format SD Card FAT 32.

‘......Microsoft want the money....’ - surely not?!?

AndyPK · Dec 1, 2020

Ok....I used the command prompt
format/FS:FAT32 G: (G is my usb reader with the sd card in it)

....it then told me it was verifying 236.5Gb......took 26 minutes before saying
’The volume is too big for FAT32. Format failed’

B#gger!

kevenh · Dec 1, 2020

Does Brennan support the exFAT files system or does Microsoft still encroach?

Edit: https://www.howtogeek.com/235596/whats-the-difference-between-fat32-exfat-and-ntfs/
FAT32 should be OK at 256GB

edit2: oh!! Windows: https://www.howtogeek.com/316977/how-to-format-usb-drives-larger-than-32gb-with-fat32-on-windows/

AndyPK · Dec 1, 2020

No, Brennan does not support exFAT either unfortunately........

kevenh · Dec 1, 2020

AndyPK said:
Ok....I used the command prompt
format/FS:FAT32 G: (G is my usb reader with the sd card in it)

....it then told me it was verifying 236.5Gb......took 26 minutes before saying
’The volume is too big for FAT32. Format failed’

B#gger!

Was it a Powershell cmd prompt? Or regular 'DOS like' cmd prompt?

TheBig1 · Dec 1, 2020

I wonder if a partition manager could do this format, as it sees the card as an external drive?

TheBig1 · Dec 1, 2020

having read the brennan uograde pdf, it says it formats the new partition during install

Gellyneck · Dec 1, 2020

TheBig1 said:
I wonder if a partition manager could do this format, as it sees the card as an external drive?

The one mentioned in #2 should do it.

AndyPK · Dec 1, 2020

Ok......thanks for all the advice everybody - I did try all of the tips, but nothing worked on any of the various SD cards I had. So......I found a BB1 o/s page ‘image’ (.png?) on the Brennan website, copied that to the 256Gb SD - and it worked first time! Bl##dy typical! I should’ve looked at the Brennan site more closely - isn’t hindsight a wonderful thing?!? Anyhow, thanks again, and I’m ‘ripping’ away.....!
(anyone want any CDs.....?

)

Itsmcb · Dec 1, 2020

Interesting device but I'm sure I can do everything this can do using my phone?

AndyPK · Dec 1, 2020

I would imagine so.......but it’s nice to have more gadgets.........!

martynstar · May 23, 2021

AndyPK said:
Ok......thanks for all the advice everybody - I did try all of the tips, but nothing worked on any of the various SD cards I had. So......I found a BB1 o/s page ‘image’ (.png?) on the Brennan website, copied that to the 256Gb SD - and it worked first time! Bl##dy typical! I should’ve looked at the Brennan site more closely - isn’t hindsight a wonderful thing?!? Anyhow, thanks again, and I’m ‘ripping’ away.....!
(anyone want any CDs.....? )

Can you put the link to that os page as I'm considering doing the same but can't see or find it - Thanks

kevenh · May 23, 2021

Reading about Brennan many years ago I nearly bought one as I loved the idea of ripping a CD while I played it, etc.
But in researching what it was doing I found a NAS to store media and a PC to rip Compact disks or DVD was many £ cheaper

Mountain man · May 23, 2021

Bought ourselves the Brennan JB7 about 10 years ago still play it most days on random play brilliant hearing some of the old music we bought year’s ago .

AndyPK · May 23, 2021

martynstar said:
Can you put the link to that os page as I'm considering doing the same but can't see or find it - Thanks

Hope this helps, martynstar

(it’s in the BB1 User Guide under ‘how to upgrade the SD card’)

kevenh · May 23, 2021

kevenh said:
Reading about Brennan many years ago I nearly bought one as I loved the idea of ripping a CD while I played it, etc.
But in researching what it was doing I found a NAS to store media and a PC to rip Compact disks or DVD was many £ cheaper

Sorry. 95% of my post was a repeat of an earlier comment.
My solution is a 2TB* sized media player, compatible with SONOS or direct to Amplifier or TV; via optical or HDMI connection.

*- currently, other standard SATA drive capacities are available.
TL;DR Brennan is a convenient CD ripping gadget but anyone with a little effort can create a better cheaper PC based solution for audio & video media.

meanders · May 23, 2021

AndyPK said:
(anyone want any CDs.....? )

Are yiu aware that if you sell or give away the original medium, be it CD, vinyl or whatever, you are then definitely in breach of the law. I think in the UK, current interpretation of copyright law is that you can take a single copy for your own backup, and are allowed to use the backup instead of the original PROVIDED you retain the original.

Selling the original means you the only have a pirated copy as the purchase has bought the right to use it.

There have been a few prosecutions mainly DJ's and the ilk.

Sullivictus · Dec 28, 2021

AndyPK said:
I‘ve just bought a ‘baby’ Brennan, BB1 storage device to use in the ‘van - decided against the B2 as too expensive and overkill for taking ‘on the road’ . It comes with 32Gb of storage which I am increasing to 256Gb via Micro SD. The problem is that the card needs to be formatted to fat32 in order for the Brennan to recognise it, but Windows 10 seems not to want to format any cards larger than 32Gb...... I’ve tried a couple of third-party programs which claim to be able to allow W10 to format larger sd cards to fat32, but neither have worked. Do any Funsters have any suggestions as to how I can format my larger capacity card to fat32.........?

Sullivictus · Dec 28, 2021

AndyPK said:
I‘ve just bought a ‘baby’ Brennan, BB1 storage device to use in the ‘van - decided against the B2 as too expensive and overkill for taking ‘on the road’ . It comes with 32Gb of storage which I am increasing to 256Gb via Micro SD. The problem is that the card needs to be formatted to fat32 in order for the Brennan to recognise it, but Windows 10 seems not to want to format any cards larger than 32Gb...... I’ve tried a couple of third-party programs which claim to be able to allow W10 to format larger sd cards to fat32, but neither have worked. Do any Funsters have any suggestions as to how I can format my larger capacity card to fat32.........?

I had a similar issue trying to format a 64Gb flash memory stick using Windows.
The answer for me was to use the Brennan B2 to format it in Fat32 via the 'C' USB port which it did without problem.
It might work for your SD card if you can find a friend with a BRE

Brennan BB1 upgrade....

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