Music can't be seen in Windows Explorer

Hi, I’m a long-time Sansa Fuze user and I only recently applied the Firmware update to my device. My Sansa is somewhat beat-up but it always works fine and I rarely have to soft reset it. When I applied the update I found the minor changes were good, and everything seemed to work fine.

However, I recently went to add some songs and found when my computer connected to it that I couldn’t see my music in Windows Explorer. I can still see and listen to all my mp3s on the device itself, but when I go to browse through the folder on my computer the ‘Music’ folder only contains sample music. I’ve checked every folder on my Sansa and there’s absolutely no trace of my music. Although I haven’t tried to add music yet, I’m concerned that my mp3s are stuck on the device since I can’t access them.

I’m an XP user. I’ve tried several solutions such as hard resetting and fiddling with the USB settings, but nothing seems to work. Also, it seems to only connect to my computer so far, as I have tried to connected it to another and then it simply didn’t recognize it (as in it didn’t even get a message pop-up and pretty much ignored the device).

If anyone has a solution, it would really help. Thanks.

EDIT: My apologies, it seems that I got it solved by changing the device’s USB mode to MSC. Hope this information helps someone else, though. 

Message Edited by ErisNik on 05-09-2010 07:02 PM

Updating the firmware changed the USB setting back to the default, Auto Defect which will connect in MTP mode whenever possible. That’s why you were able to see the sample songs only after the update. They are factory-loaded in MTP mode and your computer can only see the songs loaded in 1 mode at a time.

Changing the USB mode setting to MSC will generally ‘fix’ this easily-forgotten & panic-inducing situation. That is, of course if your songs were transferred in MSC mode to begin with.

Always take note of where the Sansa player is displayed when connecting; this will give you a hint of wha’ts going on. In MTP mode, the device will be displayed under Other and a single device will be shown. In MSC, it will be under Devices With Removeable Storage and there will be 2 separate drives (each labeled with their own drive letter) representing the player’s internal memory and the external card slot.

I live in eastern europe and i have recived from a friend from US a Sansa Fuze 4 Gb. He already uploaded music on it. My free space in only 15 MB. The problem is that i want to save the music he uploaded on the Sansa Fuze disk on my computer but i cannot access it. When i connect the Sansa to my computer i see the Audible, audiobooks, music, photo, podcast, etc folders but on all my folders it is written that they are empty. I have only music on the Sansa, a few photos, no videos, no audiobooks. I tried to free some more space in order to install the latest firmware but i must delete some songs which i don`t want to do until i can save them to my computer. I changed also the usb mode from MSC to MTP with no success in accesing the music already existing on the Sansa. I use the Windows XP on my computer. Can someone give a solution ? Thanx

Your computer may not be det up to “show hidden files and folders”. Connect your player to your computer, then open Windows Explorer and go to TOOLS, Folder Options… and click the VIEW tab. Scroll down and check the box next to ‘Show hidden files and folders’.

Once you can see and access the music files, you can copy them to your computer’s hard drive for back-up.

RobertNick wrote:
I tried to free some more space in order to install the latest firmware but i must delete some songs which i don`t want to do until i can save them to my computer. I changed also the usb mode from MSC to MTP with no success in accesing the music already existing on the Sansa. I use the Windows XP on my computer.

Your computer may not be det up to “show hidden files and folders”. Connect your player to your computer, then open Windows Explorer and go to TOOLS, Folder Options… and click the VIEW tab. Scroll down and check the box next to ‘Show hidden files and folders’.

Once you can see and access the music files, you can copy them to your computer’s hard drive for back-up.

Thank you for the solution, but unfortunately i does not work either. Any other solution ? By the way my computer sees the Sansa Fuze with all it`s folders (which appear to be empty) only in MSC mode. In MTP or in the automatic connect does not recognize it.

Any other suggestion would be of great help because i do not want to format it and lose all the music i have on it.

Thanx

RobertNick wrote:

Thank you for the solution, but unfortunately i does not work either. Any other solution ? By the way my computer sees the Sansa Fuze with all it`s folders (which appear to be empty) only in MSC mode. In MTP or in the automatic connect does not recognize it.

 

Ok, this is key information that wasn’t clear in your 1st post. Your computer can only see (and access) the music you load onto the player while connected in that same mode. So . . . your US friend loaded all this music for you with the player set to MTP mode. Unfortunately, you cannot access MTP mode on your computer so that you can save it (back it up) on your computer, or free up sapce so that you can upgrade the firmware.

You said you have Windows XP. What version of Windows Media Player do you have? You can check this under Help > About. XP originally was issued with WMP 9. WMP 10 or above is needed for MTP connections as these later versions have the dirver(s) necessary to ‘manage’ the device. Maybe it’s as simple as upgrading WMP?

I have upgraded my WMP to version 11. I have read other posts where it said that an older version might be a problem to recognize the Sansa Fuze. In the WMP 11 my Sansa Fuze is seen only in MSC mode.

Try rolling back WMP to WMP 10.

Or go to Device Manager and see if you have a yellow triangle in a USB device (the Fuze). Uninstall (not disable) it, reboot and reconnect. Windows may fix the driver that way. 

Thank you for the tip. I remained at WMP 11, but i tried the uninstall, reboot and reconnect version. Previously i have switched from MSC to MTP and then i went to Device Manager, uninstalled the yellow triangle, reboot (disconnected the Sansa Fuze) and reconnect. It has worked for me.

Once again thanks to everyone for your support.

Have a nice day:smileyvery-happy: