All our CompactDrive's are pre-formatted and tested before shipment. If you need to reformat the device again, it is highly recommended that you format the CompactDrive hard disk using the formatter.exe tool, which can be downloaded from our website. In this way you can achieve the highest reliability for the CompactDrive.

Note, the hard drive has to be formatted in FAT32, which is the default option with our own formatting ultility.

By using our formatter.exe, you are able to format hard drives (up to 100 G) in FAT32.

In most cases, formatter.exe should format your hard drive within a few seconds (about 8 seconds to format a 40 G hard drive). In some rare event, the format progress (shown on the progress indication bar) may be unreasonably slow (>30 seconds). In this case, please quit the program and run the formatter again. This is caused by the USB 2.0 synchronization issue and your PC decided to drop the speed back to USB 1.1.

Mac users please select the option "For Mac OS X".

* Support FAT16 and FAT32 memory card added.
* Support H.D.D. Auto-Shutdown function. The shutdown voltage is optional from 4.5V to 4.7V. When PD7X copy a new file it will check the voltage first. PD7X will shutdown the H.D.D and report No.-00 error when voltage is lower than shutdown voltage.
* Support Mac OS 9.0/10.2/10.3.

Installation:

1. Download the file, and run it to install. This will create two shortcuts on your desktop: 'PDX_FP1 Ver41010' and 'Upgrade for MacOS'.
2. Connect your CompactDrive PD7X to AC adapter;
3. Connect your CompactDrive to PC via the USB cable;
4. Switch to CARD position;
5. Run 'Upgrade for MacOS' and click 'detect'. It will tell the computer to detect your CompactDrive. If the program can not detect your PD7X, try to turn off the device, switch to CARD position and click DETECT button again.
6. Once your CompactDrive is detected successfully, you should be able to see your current HDD function version. If it is V911, then you just need to click Upgrade "HDD" button and perform the upgrade.
7. If your current firmware is V908 or earlier, you will have to run 'PDX_FP1 Ver41010' to upgrade the entire firmware. This operation is at risk and therefore not recommended.
8. Restart the unit.

1. Download the firmware.
2. Connect your CompactDrive PD7X to AC adapter;
3. Connect your CompactDrive to PC via the USB cable;
4. Switch to CARD position;
5. Run the program pdxfat1216.exe that you just downloaded, and the program should detect your CompactDrive automatically.
6. Click Upgrade button
7. Restart the unit.