SoundTrap 500 Data recovery

Question

We have 2 ST500s both of which seem to have developed hardware issues (battery maybe). I've tried charging them directly by connecting to a wall charger but the blue light does not go off (24hrs+). It doesn't show up on the software so I can't download the data. It's a bit difficult to send these to-and-fro between New Zealand and India for repairs (we have 2 ST300s that stopped working too).

I wanted to know if anyone has successfully retrieved data from malfunctioning units on your own? Is it something you would recommend doing, considering all care is taken, how much damage would it cause?

I understand it doesn't really fix the issue for future deployments...

Answer 1

While it is plugged into the wall charger, also be sure to press 'STOP' several times to ensure the device is powered down.

We have also had strange inconsistent responses of units to different versions of the Soundtrap Host software.

Answer 2

I was able to recover data from an ST300 after letting it charge directly connected to the wall charger for several days. At that point, it had charged enough to be recognized by the Soundtrap host. For an ST500, I had some luck by using a different firmware version. This was sort of random though. One time one would work and then the other would, sometimes on one laptop, then sometimes on a different one.

Answer 3

The Sound Trap Host software includes a 'slow scan' option on the 'Retrieve' tab. Note - I'm currently using version 4.0.13.25535. Occasionally Soundtrap files will not show up until after I use the slow scan option.

BEWARE, sometimes the soundtrap memory will be full, but files do not show up upon connection if you don't use the 'slow scan'. We've learned that it's important to click the 'delete all' button to format your Soundtrap memory before each deployment, even if it looks like the card/memory is empty.