1) Go to "pcprogress.com" under their "notebook drives" section and order the Toshiba TOMK2016GA, 20gig,2.5",9.5m,1ms,1mb,4200RPM drive. Current price is $168 ($156 + $12shipping). It will arrive by 2-day FedEx.

2) Next you will need to upgrade your OS for the 1680 to something above version 2.008 (otherwise you will only format 8.4gig with only 4 partitions - you want to end up with 20gig formatted and 8 partitions). The latest version is 2.021. To do this:

3) You will need to have a "sound card to MIDI adaptor cable" to connect the 1680 to your PC (sorry for those MAC users, but I'm only gving stepsfor PC). I bought the "Voyetra MIDI cable pack" at Circuit City for $20. You will connect the sound card end into the PC joystick port (this will NOT be a USB - its a mulitipin port -can't remember what they call it). You will then connect the MIDI "out" part of the cable into the MIDI "in" of the 1680 (the cable is labeled with 'out' and 'in'). Turn "off" the power to the 1680.

4) Get on the net and go to "rolandus.com". lick on the"non-flash" version of the website. Place cursor on "support" and a menu will appear to the right. Click on "software" upgrades. Click on "updates R-Z". Scroll down near the bottom of the list to the one that says "VS 1680 version 2.021 (PC) containing MID files,etc". I went with this one rather than the one that says anything about ZIP files. You will see an underlined section that reads "PC SMF Updater" (or similar - the PC SMF is the important part). Click on that to download it to your PC (remember where you saved it on your drive. You will need the updater to launch the upgrade for the 1680.

5) While still at the version 2.021 site, click on "version 2.021" to download that to your PC. This will be downloaded as a compressed file (takes a few minutes). If you don't already have "WinZip", you will need to go to "winzip.com" and download the free version. You will need WinZip to unzip the compressed files.

6)Now that you have all that junk on your PC, and you have gotten the new drive FedEx, you are ready to upgrade. First, go into the PC's "start" menu and "find" the file or folder with the "SMF" updater. You will see that one of the files has an icon that looks like a little red stop sign. Click & drag that icon onto your desktop to make it a shortcut (you will need it later).

7) Go into the PC "start" menu and find the "Winzip" file and open it (or just click on the "WinZip" icon on your desktop). This will begin to ask you registration and license ageement questions and will eventually ask which files you want to "unzip". It should show a listing of all potential files to unzip - you want to unzip anything that has to do with "Roland 1680" or "version 2.021" .

8)Go back to your desktop and double click the red stop sign icon for "SMF updater". This will launch the updater. A menu box will appear. In the "MIDIout device" section you should be able to scroll down to something like "Montego II MPU-401" (the MPU-401 is the important part - that's what you want). In the "SMF path" part it should read something like 'C:WINDOWS/Desktop/VS1680v2002'. Next, click the "Scan SMF" part and the box should show about 16 files listed for the 1680version 2.021. This is all good. Now STOP what you're doing!

9) Now the tricky part (I had to call Roland for this, so I hope you appreciate my pain). Go to your 1680. While holding down "track 7 status" and "track 7 select" buttons, turn "on" the power to the 1680. This will put you into a scary looking blue screen that will read something like "update system?". Press "yes" or enter. THe screen will now say "waiting" (it is waiting for you to send the MIDI update info from the PC). Go to your PC and click "send" in the SMF box. This will begin to send the info to the 1680 and you should be able to see a bunch of wierd numbers flashing across the screen of the 1680. The process will take a few minutes. When it is done, just follow the prompts on the 1680. Congrats - you now have version 2.021.

10) Now for the "void your Roland warranty" part . TURN OFF THE 1680!!! Touch some metal to discharge any static you may have. Remove the metal plate on the outside of the 1680 near the 'record' button (2 screws). Inside, you'll see a black plastic cartridge that houses the hard drive. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO PULL IT OUT until after removing the 2 black screws that secure it into the VS (4 total screws to remove - 2 outside, 2 inside).

11)Gently pull the slim metal handle to remove cartridge.

12)Unscrew the 4 metal side screws that hold the shiny metal sheath in the cartridge.

13)Gently push the silver sheath down to move it out of the black cartridge.

14) You'll see a green multi pin connector at one end. This is attached to the metal sheath with a strip of double-sided foam adhesive tape. You may have to pry the foam tape off he sheath with a butter knife or some such thing (I just used my fingers)

15)Slide out the connector and old drive from the sheath. Take note of which side of the drive is up or down in relation to the sheath and cartridge so you don't put the new one in upside down. Also take note of where the drive slides into the sheath in relation to the 2 foam sheets that also go into the sheath.

16) Take note of where the multipin connector fits onto the drive (it should be centered) and disconnect it from the drive by holding the connector in one hand and the drive in the other, rocking it gently apart back and forth.

17) Connect the multipin connector to the new drive and reassemble and reinstall the cartidge into the 1680.

18) Turn on the 1680. It will give you a screen that says "initialize drive". Say 'yes' and you will be running in a few minutes.

19) To check if you were successfull, hit "shift/utility", "drive check" and you should see 20gig formatted and partitions 0-7. If not, you will have to go to "shift/utility', "initialize drive" with both 'physical format' and 'surface scan' set to "on" and reinitialize the drive - this will take about 6-7 hours, so hopefully you won't have to do that .

20) Wipe the sweat from your face, sit down and have a cold beverage and a snack. Congrats - you've just multiplied the memory of your machine by 8 and have the most powerful 1680 to date!

Good post. Glad to see you have been successful in upgarding your HD and OS.

------------------
BISH

JUST DO IT!!!

I just wanted to say thanks for your step-by-step guide. I was on the fence for weeks about doing the deed. I was a little squeamish - even though I do a lot of computer upgrades and builds, the VS-1680 is a different beast - and given Roland's design team, I was sure there would be some unexpected problem somewhere in the process. But your post got me over it. I went to PC Progress, and got a drive (the IBM, not the Toshiba - I've had some bad luck with Toshiba products over the years, and, hell, the IBM was a whole 3 bucks cheaper). I followed your directions, and, as of 30 minutes ago, I'm the proud owner of a VS1680 with a 20 gig drive.

Nice job - hey, you ever thought about writing a manual for Roland. You can speak English and everything.

Cheers,

Thanks so much for the HIGHLY detailed instructions. I printed them out and will use them when I upgrade. Thanks again.

The real bonus of this is the ability to take all those tracks and create a CD master without having to shuffle back and forth. I found that mastering has made it MUCH easier.

I have the 2.010 os (I upgraded to it about ten months ago). From what I hear you say, it should work with the 20g drive.

Is it time to upgrade again? What features come with the latest 2.021 os upgrade?

Thanks again for the step x step.

Any caveats to performing the same operation on a VS-880EX?? Can I use the same drive?
Will 2.012 do the trick? I'm tired of 2.1 GB already....
T

I wouldn't have done the upgrades either if it weren't for your post!! Excellent!! Can't thank you enough. I got my 20g Toshiba drive from PC progress and it was $145. Do they get cheaper every day, or what?

One tiny stumbling block I ran into (due to MY computer ignorance, as opposed to a flaw in the instructions) is I didn't know how to "unzip" the files after they were downloaded. Probably 99% of America knows this, but for the 1% like me - "unzip"ping is synonymous with "Extract"ing. I found that when I highlighted the file in the WINZIP directory ("...001.mid", "...002.mid", etc) then clicked the extract icon, it showed the destination (example: c:windows/desktop/vs1680 ...). Then make sure that's the same as the "path" on the SMF screen. Piece of cake.

My problem was that I had the directory up, and I figured since they were there, and I was in winzip, they must already be unzipped. (especially since everytime I clicked on one of those files my Media Player turned on) Not so. They have to be "extracted" and sent somewhere.

Before I get ragged on here, let me also say that I was momentarily IRATE when I noticed that the pins on the new drive would NEVER fit the socket inside the 1680. ... That is, until I discovered that the jumper on the old drive comes off, and fits on the new drive. Yes, people like me do exist.

But, that just gives testament to the wonderful job Steve did on these instructions. What originally seemed like rocket science, became easy. My only problem was getting caught up in computer lingo/semantics. The whole process only took me a couple hours, and now that I know what I'm doing, I think I could do it in under an hour. Everyone needs to do this!! 8x the memory for under $175, including the cable.

Unbelieveable!!
thanks steve!!

-mr. irritating

MR Irritating...
You see all you needed was to get a self inverting, A to D, self concatonating,
JK Flip Flop, with an inverted output.
Insert that in the drive slot, and let the fun begin...

Yeh wise ass IT people like me exist too...
sorry... : )

Thanks agian!!!!!!

Thanks for the helpful post. Finally installed my IBM 20 gig that had been sitting in the box for months. Used your post as a guide and I'm sure it saved me much time and headaches!!!

Thanks again

The Roland Burners are Fricken' expensive!

The Roland CDII Burner costs a whopping $549 @ musician's friend right now.

I got my Fully compatable CD burner (Plextor External) for $225 Shipped! It's the 12/4/32. It's worth the extra few dollars to get the external rather than putting it in a case yourself, esp. at that price.

How'd I do it?

First I searched and found them on EBAY, but Then I found them on the Plextor site. I bought a Refurb, but It still comes with a warranty and return option (if DOA). It's guarenteed and works awesome for backing up or writing CD's. In fact, I backed up the internal drive in order to install the 20 gigger. No problems what-so-ever!

The only note I should include is that you'll need a certain cable or an adaptor to hook it up. The VS has a SCSI-1 DB-25 pin Female Connector. The Plextor has a SCSI-2 HDDB50 pin Female connector. As long as you get a cable that can hook these two together, you're golden.

CompUSA charges around $50 for this cable (made by Belkin). I found a few on Ebay for $10 a piece. I ended up going to my local Janky Computer shop and decided on an adaptor for $14.95, which utilizes the scsi-2 cable that the Plextor folks provided.

Total cost to burn Cd's from the VS: $240!

Hope this helps someone out there.

-Mrduffy

-Ps. For bonus points, you can also purchase a SCSI to Firewire adaptor and use the burner on your girlfirend's G4 like I do. More cost savings!!!

For anyone who doesnt know I replaced my hard drive(as have many planeteers)almost a year ago and it has worked flawless since. It really does work. For the money it is well worth it. So just go do it.

You can also do a search and find lots of info on this.
peace