Can't copy to 4x memory card

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K0rN b4LL
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Can't copy to 4x memory card

Post#1 » Wed Aug 03, 2016 7:30 pm

I was digging through some boxes in my closet and found an old 4x memory card for the DC. I currently have all my save data on two VMU's and figured it would be best to put them all on the same card. A couple of files transferred fine but suddenly some of them said that the file cpuld not be copied. I was confused and thought maybe I had hit the limit for that part (since 4x cards are separated into 4 parts) but even after removing the files I had already copied and the 4x was empty it still wouldn't copy them. Is there something wrong with it or is there some kind of compatibility issue with the 4x?

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scaryred24
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Re: Can't copy to 4x memory card

Post#2 » Wed Aug 03, 2016 10:05 pm

The only compatibility issue I have heard of comes from select software like Vigilante 8 Second Offense which will happen to say the memory card isn't formatted and Rayman 2 will not detect it at all. It might be possible but it can only be written too so many times before the chips on the board gets burned out. I went through like a half a dozen memory cards back in the day because of the limitations of the read/write cycle. I got one second hand last year and I am afraid of the same thing too. Either that or it might be one of those Mega 4x Memory Card that intec made which isn't known for reliability. Then again Intec for the PS1 and Saturn and they had an issue where the data would get backed up onto it but after a power cycle it would be wiped clean. That's my best guess.
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Tarnish
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Re: Can't copy to 4x memory card

Post#3 » Thu Aug 04, 2016 2:50 am

Might be a silly question, but weren't those files copy protected? Certain games create copy protected saves, like Soul Calibur, Jet Set Radio, Propeller Arena, Alien Front Online and probably Phantasy Star Online (from the top of my head). Those files cannot be copied in the normal fashion.

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K0rN b4LL
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Re: Can't copy to 4x memory card

Post#4 » Thu Aug 04, 2016 9:42 am

Why the hell would they put a thing like that in? Who cares what device I put my files on. The more wierd things I find out about the DC the more I'm starting to see why it went under.

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scaryred24
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Re: Can't copy to 4x memory card

Post#5 » Thu Aug 04, 2016 2:30 pm

K0rN b4LL wrote:Why the hell would they put a thing like that in? Who cares what device I put my files on. The more wierd things I find out about the DC the more I'm starting to see why it went under.

It's copy protection and a lot of game systems had that. On the PS2 you couldn't migrate online settings from one PS2 to another via memory card transfer, but you can rewrite the file if you have two of them. As for the Dreamcast being a failure it was because Sega was well ahead of their time and a lot of dumb marketing decisions especially the 32X alone. By the time they started to get good again it was too late and they lost the trust of 3rd party developers causing them to run out of cash.
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Tarnish
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Re: Can't copy to 4x memory card

Post#6 » Thu Aug 04, 2016 4:32 pm

K0rN b4LL wrote:Why the hell would they put a thing like that in? Who cares what device I put my files on. The more wierd things I find out about the DC the more I'm starting to see why it went under.


It's not the end of the world, there are solutions to it.

That is, if that really is your problem. Copy protected save files are marked by (as far as I've seen) a red or green border instead of a black one. When you try to copy these files separately, you can see the copy feature is greyed out, meaning it's not avaiable/disabled.

I'm sure there are other methods as well, but to move copy protected files I use "Dream explorer". This is a homebrew disk image you have to burn to a CD, then boot it in your DC. It allows you to disable the copy protection to files, and also to then copy them to other VMUs/memory cards. Just a note that copy protection is re-enabled to the file when the game that uses it rewrites that save file.

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Aleron Ives
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Re: Can't copy to 4x memory card

Post#7 » Thu Aug 04, 2016 5:06 pm

K0rN b4LL wrote:Why the hell would they put a thing like that in?

For one thing, it prevents you from duplicating your items in PSO by copying your save file, so it's an anti-cheating measure.
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scaryred24
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Re: Can't copy to 4x memory card

Post#8 » Thu Aug 04, 2016 7:20 pm

Tarnish wrote:I'm sure there are other methods as well, but to move copy protected files I use "Dream explorer". This is a homebrew disk image you have to burn to a CD, then boot it in your DC. It allows you to disable the copy protection to files, and also to then copy them to other VMUs/memory cards. Just a note that copy protection is re-enabled to the file when the game that uses it rewrites that save file.

The double standard here is that the Dream Explorer save file is copy protected.
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