USB B

[Bill Green]

Slowly trying to get to grips with the Brennan B2 and thought I'd watch a few of the videos o the site.

Wifi dongle in USB - Check

Bluetooth Dongle in USB C - Check

USB B is 'unused' - Well, mine certainly is - I don't have a USB B ?

How can I have the WIFI and Bluetooth dongles in AND plug in an external CD player?

Any help greatly appreciated

[Daniel Taylor]

As you've noticed, you can't plug three things into two ports, unless you get a USB expansion hub.  If you don't want to go that way, you can unplug one of the dongles when you want to use the CD player (of course do any connecting or disconnecting of USB with the B2 power off).  Or, if you decide to get a USB hub, you might consider getting one that gets it's power from the main A/C line.  That will provide more power to the external CD drive - some drives need more power than can be provided by the B2's USB ports.

[PMB]

Hi Bill,

Early production models had three USB ports on the rear panel - actually USB B has always been used by the internal HDD so has never been available for connecting external devices.

If you are considering a USB Hub it's preferable to get a USB 2.0 one to make sure it's compatible with the B2.

Or consider an Ethernet connection which will free up one port.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Bill Green]

Thanks both.

To be honest my first few months (probably more)! will be spent getting my 3000+ cd's uploaded so no real need for bluetooth right now, was just curious as to why my B2 didn't seem to be like the one in the video.

Thanks

[PMB]

Hi Bill,

When loading your CDs to the B2 we suggest ripping 20-30 at a time and leaving the B2 powered overnight to compress these before adding more.

And don't forget to do a backup when you have loaded all of the CDs.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[David Richards]

Hi Bill,

I hope Paul won't mind me mentioning that when he said "Backup" he was using it in the generic sense. If you want to do a backup on the B2, you should use "Export to A" (or C). Backup is retained for compatibility with the JB7. The complement of Export is "Import". As Export is incremental, you don't have to wait until you have uploaded all your CDs, just do it now and again during the process. That way you won't risk losing everything when you're 90% of the way through.

DR.

[Bill Green]

Thanks I hadn't really thought of backing up, but you're right in that I would hate to get 6 months down the line and lose everything.

So if I just plug in a 2TB (for example) in to my B2 I would select 'Export to A' and all backups subsequently would be incremental?

[Daniel Taylor]

I'm not sure if it's been mentioned yet, but the disk drive used for the backup (Export) must be formatted as FAT32.  Any other format will not work.

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Bill,

Yes, the 'Export' is incremental, so it checks if the artist/album is already in the 'Export' and if not then it copies that folder set to the 'Export' set.

One thing to be aware of is that if you are renaming artists and/ or albums, if that folder set has already been saved under its original name, then the next 'Export' run will save the renamed folders and you will have two versions of the same folders in the 'Export'.

The way to manage that is to begin a 'clean Export' every so often, so that you maintain a valid copy of your music collection.

Regards,

Peter.

[PMB]

Hi Bill,

The 2TB HDD will need to be FAT32 formatted to work with the B2 - power off the B2 > plug the 2TB into USB C > power on > using the front control go to the Maintenance menu > select 'Format USB C' - the display will show 'Partitioning' briefly, followed by 'Formatting' which should stay on screen for a minute or two (approx) for a 2TB HDD.

The 2TB will then be ready for an 'Export to C'.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Bill Green]

Thank you Paul.

I had ordered a 2TB HDD drive and had been looking for software to convert to FAT32, but this is perfect.

[Bill Green]

Sorry - Does this also apply to USB sticks for copying over files from my laptop to the Brennan?
Will I also have to convert the USB to FAT32?

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Bill,

Yes, the USB sticks follow the same requirements as external HDDs.  USB sticks are often delivered as 'exFAT' format  and, if so, will need to be reformatted to 'FAT32'.

Regards,

Peter.

[PMB]

Hi Bill,

It's best to format the USB memory sticks (using the B2) before using them to copy music or backup.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Dick Cooper]

Hi

Trying to solve a different problem I plugged a new USB drive into my B2 and got the message "USB C: Mount failed, expects FAT format". Checking on my laptop, it is exFAT, not FAT32, but the Brennan doesn't recognise it so I can't format in the B2 as suggested in the previous post. My laptop (Windows 10 Pro) only allows format to exFAT or NTFS. Any suggestions?

Thanks

[PMB]

Hi Dick,

The B2 can format the USB stick - plug it into USB C > using the front control go to the Maintenance menu > select 'Format USB C' - the display will show 'Partitioning' briefly followed by 'Formatting' and return to the clock when completed.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Dick Cooper]

Paul - indeed, it does as you describe. Sorry, I was put off by the error message.

Thanks