www.fantomdrives.com FAQs

My Drive was working fine yesterday but now it’s gone!

2011-05-14T06:38:29+10:00

There are a number of reasons that a drive may not mount correctly. For instance, the disk may have been shut down improperly or may have suffered hardware failure.

Please Use the following steps to troubleshoot the problem:

Shut down your system and turn off power to all devices.
Disconnect all external devices
If possible, use the original cable provided with your MicroNet device or a known good cable to connect the drive directly to the port on your computer.
Turn on the drive. If you do not hear and feel the drive spin up when you connect the power, the drive may need to be replaced. Please open a trouble ticket here: http://www.fantomdrives.com/helpdesk
Turn on your computer.
If the drive appears on the desktop (Mac) or in My Computer (Windows), perform any functionality tests you wish to perform. If not, and you have verified that the port on your computer and the drive’s data cable are working, please open a trouble ticket here: http://www.fantomdrives.com/helpdesk

Does Fantom Drives perform data recovery?

2011-05-14T06:35:06+10:00

Data recovery is a highly specialized field requiring advanced technology that we do not have. If data recovery is desired, we advise that you contact an established professional data recovery firm. For a checklist of what qualities you might seek, see www.drivesavers.com/why_drivesavers/index.html or www.ontrack.com/services.

Some software applications may also be helpful in situations where the drive hardware is
in working order, but the volume is corrupt or unreadable. A couple examples are www.stellarinfo.com, www.binarybiz.com, and www.prosofteng.com. There are many companies that provide these services; it is best to be selective. MicroNet / Fantom Drives does not refer or recommend any data recovery service, as we are not affiliated with these companies in any way.

I emailed Micronet support but never got a response. How soon should I expect an answer?

2011-05-14T03:11:26+10:00

All support and RMA queries are answered within one to two business days. If you have not received an email following that time, our correspondence may be flagged as spam and placed in your bulk mail or trash folders. To prevent this from occurring, please check that “support@micronet.com" and "rma@micronet.com" are in your email client’s whitelist.

What is the rotational rate (RPM) of my MicroNet / Fantom Drives product? Why should I care about this specification?

2011-05-14T06:30:26+10:00

Micronet/Fantom Drives has multiple storage products. Some list the rotational velocity as part of the specification, and some do not. We do so in order to qualify a broader selection of disk mechanisms at the best possible costs, while offering more specific requirement products to offer customers storage solutions more tailored to their needs. The rotational velocity is an aspect of the storage product's overall performance, and may be required for specific professional applications such as pro audio capture- consult your application vendor's system requirements for more information.

Environmental tolerances and care instructions

2011-05-14T05:56:45+10:00

It is not recommended that you expose any of our hard drive products to temperatures outside the range of 5°C (41°F) to 45°C (104°F). Doing so may damage the drive. Also, avoid placing your drive near a source of heat or exposing it to sunlight (even through a window).
Never expose your device to rain, use it near water, or in damp or wet conditions. Doing so increases the risk of electrical shock, short-circuiting, fire or personal injury.
Always unplug the hard drive from the electrical outlet if there is a risk of lightning or if it will be unused for an extended period of time.
Do not place heavy objects on top of the drive or use excessive force on it. Never use benzene, paint thinners, detergent or other chemical products to clean the outside of the device. Instead, use a soft, dry cloth to wipe the device.
Always operate your drive on a steady, level surface. Do not move the unit while it's turned on.
Plug your drive into a grounded electrical outlet. The use of "ground-defeating" adapters can cause damage not covered by your warranty.
Do not open your MicroNet drive or attempt to disassemble or modify it. Never Insert any metallic object into the drive to avoid any risk of electrical shock, fire, short-circuiting or dangerous emissions. Your drive contains no user serviceable parts. If it appears to be malfunctioning, contact MicroNet Support.

How can I test my disk to make sure it is not defective?

2012-02-16T04:38:07+10:00

Modern disks drives have a diagnostic on board processor that monitors the disk during operation and records various diagnostic values including any detected failures. This diagostic method, S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology; often written as SMART) is a monitoring system for computer hard disk drives to detect and report on various indicators of reliability, in the hope of anticipating failures. For more information about SMART and its values, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.M.A.R.T.

SMART data can be accessed and used for active testing using a SMART diagnostic program. There are numerous SMART monitoring tools available- we recommend the following:

Smartmontools (All Platforms)* http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/
HDDScan (Windows ) http://hddscan.com/
SMARTreporter (Mac)* http://www.corecode.at/smartreporter/

*SMART data is only available on Macs through a SATA/eSATA connection.

How do I format my disk drive for use on Windows Vista/7?

2012-02-24T07:54:18+10:00

1. Open the disk management console. A list of the attached drives and their respective volumes will appear. Select the Fantom Drives Disk. The Disk Management Console can be accessed by right-clicking on the "Computer" icon and selecting "Manage" from the drop down menu. Disk Management is found under "Storage" in the resultant window.

2. Right-click on the drive letter and select Format in the pop-up menu. The Format dialog box will appear. If the hard disk is not signed for use, the New Partition option will be unavailable. In this case a signature can be written on the hard drive by right clicking on the disk description window and selecting "Initialize Disk". The following dialog box will prompt you to choose The partition style for the new volume- select MBR for volumes smaller then 2TB, or GPT for volumes larger then 2TB or for volumes that you do not need to access with Windows XP or earlier.

3. Under Capacity, verify the drive capacity. It should be close to the stated capacity of your drive in gigabytes.

4. Select the disk, and right-click the "unallocated" section of the volume. In the context menu, left-click "New Simple Volume." The new volume dialog box will appear. follow the on screen instructions to complete volume formatting.

How do I enable/disable disk spindown (sleep mode) at idle?

2012-01-07T03:26:40+10:00

Depending on your host operating system and usage patterns, you may wish to change your computer's the default behavior regarding spinning down of disks. Because of modern low-friction bearings and lubricants, once you get the disk spinning up to speed, it takes very little energy to keep it spinning. However, after you turn the disk off and let it spin down, it requires quite a bit of energy to rapidly bring it back up to operating velocity, and puts the disk under strain of acceleration. This strain can shorten the disk's life expectancy, costs power, and gives you a performance hit as the disk must be spun up before access.

When to enable spindown

A disk that is not used in day to day operation may be set to sleep at idle. This is a convenient substitute for turning off the disconnecting the disk.

When to disable spindown

A disk that is used frequently should not be set to sleep, as the constant start/stop cycles will greatly strain the mechanism and shorten its service life. Also, some computers and Operating system combinations have trouble accessing disks after issuing wake up commands.

How to access disk sleep control

Windows XP

By default, Windows xp is configured to spin down the hard drive after a short period of inactivity. To enable/disable disk idle spindown, navigate to Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Power Options

In the Power Options Properties dialog box that appears, select the "Power Schemes" tab. in the "Power Schemes" drop-down list, select the proper scheme. In the "Turn off hard disks:" drop-down list select "Never" to turn off disk idle sleep, or a value in minutes to enable. Then click on the [Apply] and [OK] buttons.

Windows 7

Access the Power Options by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Security, and then clicking Power Options.

On the Select a power plan page, click Change plan settings next to the selected plan.
On the Change settings for the plan page, click Change advanced power settings.
On the Advanced settings tab, double-click Hard disk. Under the "Turn off hard disk after" Setting, select "Never" to turn off disk idle sleep, or a value in minutes to enable.

Click OK, and then click Save changes.

Can I leave my external data storage device on all the time, or should I turn it off when not in use?

2011-05-14T06:54:02+10:00

Hard disks are designed with the express intention that they will be left on 24/7, but there is no particular reason that you should leave the drive on all the time. Drive reliability may be affected by repeated power cycles, but over prolonged periods of inactivity it may be advisable to deactivate your drive.

Does sending the Fantom Drives product to a data recovery firm void the warranty?

2011-05-14T07:06:04+10:00

Micronet/Fantom Drives will honor warranty associated with the disk drive you purchased from a authorized reseller or distributor, that was sent for data recovery to one of the following firms:

Drivesavers (www.drivesavers.com)
Kroll Ontrack (http://www.krollontrack.com)

Please check with Micronet/Fantom Drives support if you wish to use a data recovery service provider not listed above and retain your factory warranty.

Micronet/Fantom Drives' warranty is void if a returned disk drive exhibits a defect attributable to misuse or tampering, improper installation, alteration or to other causes as specified in our warranty policy. To retain the warranty status of your drive, obtain a written verification from the company (on its company letterhead,) that performed data recovery or other services on your hard drive.

Any agreement you may reach with the service provider is a matter between you and the service provider. Micronet/Fantom Drives makes no warranty, express or implied, regarding the services provided by the service provider, including but not limited to, any warranty regarding the quality or reliability of services performed by it. Your selection of the service provider is at your own risk. Micronet/Fantom Drives assumes no liability for any loss or damages of any kind that relate to, arise out of or result from the performance of services by the service provider, including, but not limited to any loss of data.

Are MicroNet / Fantom Drives devices compatible with my (non-TiVo) DVR?

2012-04-04T02:01:02+10:00

All MicroNet / Fantom Drives products are compatible with DVRs capable of addressing external disks over their respective interface. For example, our G-Force eSATA+USB external disks are compatible with DVRs capable of addressing eSATA or USB external disks.

That said, our products are explicitly supported for use with Windows PCs and Apple Macintosh computers. We can provide support for use under those platforms- we do not have the equipment, training, or authorization from other equipment vendors such as DVRs to support their platforms.

While many DVRs have the ports, the individual provider firmware may or may not allow access to an external device; if you received your DVR from your cable or satellite vendor, consult with their customer support about whether the USB/eSATA ports are active, or if there is a firmware update required. Alternatively, consult the manufacturer of the DVR regarding this feature.

Even though I have lots of free space, I get an error saying there is not enough room on the drive when I try to copy a large file. Why is this?

2011-05-14T06:44:19+10:00

The default file system on some of our drives is FAT32, which has a maximum file size of 4GB. To copy larger files, please reformat the volume using MacOS Extended Format (Mac) or NTFS (Windows). You can find instructions for formatting your drive on your computer in your product manual.

My MicroNet / Fantom Drives device won’t power up.

2011-05-14T06:32:12+10:00

Make sure the drive is plugged in and is receiving power. On many models the power adapter has a power light, which will light up when connected to a live receptacle. Turn on the power switch. If the power LED does not light, the power supply or the drive may have failed. For further troubleshooting please open a ticket here: http://www.fantomdrives.com/helpdesk

I heard that disk drive manufacturer "X" makes the best/worst disks! Can I have a MicroNet product with/without this manufacturer's disk mechanism?

2011-05-14T06:29:16+10:00

All disk mechanisms used in Micronet/Fantom Drives products are qualified based on a rigorous testing process for performance, compatibility, and durability; any disk mechanism must meet or exceed the spec required for a particular Micronet or Fantom Drives product. While Micronet cannot normally guarantee a particular make or model of disk drives in a finished Micronet product, specific requirements can be met on a custom order basis- consult your authorized Micronet/Fantom Drives reseller for more information.

Is my Fantom Drive USB/eSATA product compatible with TiVo? How do I use it?

2011-05-14T06:42:24+10:00

Yes! Your Fantom Drives is compatible with TiVo with the following caveats:

1. The USB and/or eSATA ports may not be enabled on your TiVo receiver. Check your TiVo version and firmware to verify that the port you are using is active. If it is not, it may be made usable by a firmware update or by performing a "kickstart 62." For more information this may help:http://www.google.com/search?q=tivo+external+disk+drive

2. Please be aware that TiVo requires the use of its own file system, MFS, before the disk can be used to store TiVo content. Consult your TiVo receiver documentation for more information.