My brand new SanDisk Sport Clip Plus won’t connect easily to my Linux computer, compared to my old Sansa Clip (version V01.02.18A). The new SCP no longer has a menu item Settings → System Settings → USB Mode where it could be set to “Auto Detect”, “MSC” or “MTP”.
The old Clip ‘just worked’ when plugged into the USB jack on my Linux computer (Ubuntu 18.04.06, bionic). It registered as a SD storage medium and automounted. It had folders, such as PODCASTS, already initialized. When I downloaded podcast .mp3 files to it, it automatically recognized them and organized them into folders by source.
The new SCP, when plugged in to the USB port is only recognized as a raw disk, as ‘/dev/sdd’. However, if I use ‘fdisk /dev/sdd’ and, without making any changes, just write the partition table, it connects and automounts as /dev/sdd1. See these commands:
‘’’
kevin@kevin-desktop:~$ dmesg | tail
[701073.668639] usb 3-4: SerialNumber: 87361B10340F3B74
[701073.669670] usb-storage 3-4:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[701073.672755] scsi host7: usb-storage 3-4:1.0
[701074.716150] scsi 7:0:0:0: Direct-Access SanDisk Clip Sport Plus PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
[701074.717053] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] 62333952 512-byte logical blocks: (31.9 GB/29.7 GiB)
[701074.717242] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Write Protect is off
[701074.717244] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Mode Sense: 00 c0 00 00
[701074.717250] sd 7:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg4 type 0
[701074.718012] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Write cache: disabled, read cache: disabled, doesn’t support DPO or FUA
[701074.726680] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Attached SCSI removable disk
kevin@kevin-desktop:~$ sudo fdisk /dev/sdd
Welcome to fdisk (util-linux 2.31.1).
Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.
Be careful before using the write command.
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/sdd: 29.7 GiB, 31914983424 bytes, 62333952 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x97a07632
Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/sdd1 452608 62333951 61881344 29.5G b W95 FAT32
Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered.
Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.
Syncing disks.
kevin@kevin-desktop:~$ dmesg | tail
[701074.716150] scsi 7:0:0:0: Direct-Access SanDisk Clip Sport Plus PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
[701074.717053] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] 62333952 512-byte logical blocks: (31.9 GB/29.7 GiB)
[701074.717242] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Write Protect is off
[701074.717244] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Mode Sense: 00 c0 00 00
[701074.717250] sd 7:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg4 type 0
[701074.718012] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Write cache: disabled, read cache: disabled, doesn’t support DPO or FUA
[701074.726680] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Attached SCSI removable disk
[701110.428940] sdd: sdd1
[701120.452391] sdd: sdd1
[701120.455564] sdd: sdd1
‘’’
However, even though folders for PODCASTS are created, loading podcast .mp3 files into there does not sort them into sub-folders or display a more human-readable name than the filename.
Is there any way to configure the new SCP to obtain the functionality of the old Clip? Any suggestions for working with the new SCP on a Linux system?
Thanks for any suggestions or advice.
-Kevin
Hi @KevinZ,
Have you opened a Support Case? If not opened, for more information, please contact the SD Technical Support team for the best assistance and troubleshooting:
https://kb.sandisk.com/app/ask
This seems like a bot-generated response. I’ve seen this exact response on dozens of postings on this forum. I doubt that there’s a single person working at SanDisk’s technical support department that seriously uses Linux with their MP3 players. If there were, a problem like this, that removes or encumbers an existing feature in a previous version, wouldn’t be allowed in production.
The last time I got a response from the SD Technical Support team, it was incorrect, even referring to their own website. See Screen too high after firmware update - #7 by KevinZ.
-Kevin
Just for thoroughness, I submitted my original question above. I’ll let folks know the response.
-Kevin
Thanks for the fdisk trick KevinZ.
Running Fedora 36, sudo fdisk -l (get the device name) sudo fdisk /dev/sdc, “q” (did not write the partition table) and Sport Plus appeared as available (KDE Desktop).
DIsk layout looks the same as my previous (broken) ScaDisc Clip Sport Plus. My old player didn’t have the mentioned sort/display features as far as I know.
