DP-04 Rescue Operation

[Mustache]

Hello; long time user, first time poster here.

I'm having a dilemma. I seem to be having the unfortunate realization that multiple SD cards of mine, with hours of recordings going back years, are suddenly corrupted. I've tried multiple ways of getting the audio off the cards, so far none successful.

However, I think I might finally be onto something close. I created an image of the "unreadable" card onto my MacBook, and have been experimenting with importing that image as raw data into audacity. There is definitely still audio present, but unless I can dial in the setting on the import just right, I think im SOL.

I was wondering if anyone would happen to know the settings for the following parameters as it relates to data on the DP-04:

Encoding:
Byte Order:
Channels:
Start Offset:
Sample Rate:

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The reason I'm going down this route is from reading other success stories online, however none of them were specific to the info off a dp-04. So far I have got the closest with the following settings:

Econding: Signed 16-Bit PCM
Byte Order: Little Endian
Channels: 2 (stereo)
Start Offset: 1
Sample Rate: 44100


Any information you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Brody]

Hi, you could try to contact Tascam support directly to get exact information. The manual is available here: https://tascam.com/us/product/dp-004/download and says that everything that it records are 16-bit 44.1k WAV files onto FAT32 partitions (so yes, Little Endian byte order).

One thing that might trip you up is that as far as I understand it, there should be at least two partitions (and there can be more) on each card. The first partition is MTR and the second is FAT32. The only files that go to the FAT32 partition are those which you export or backup.

It probably goes without saying, but you can make backups with Tascam Portastudios, (including the DP-004) and a backup strategy should be standard for any SD card user as they are delicate media. In the future, you can save the backup files to any other device you want, and if a card gets corrupted, you can re-initialize (wipe) the card and restore the backups. Unless the card is physically damaged in which case you can just replace it.

Hope it helps and good luck