Random numbers in file names/OFN files

While the file folders on the Clip+ itself were apparently not affected, some of the ones I loaded onto the micro SDHC card showed strings of random numbers in the file names and .ofn files were generated. I tried the solution in this thread, but changing the settings created a different problem–when connected to the computer, I could no longer see ANY of the files on the Clip+ itself, which showed up as one device. The card showed up as a completely separate device, and I could see the files loaded there. (Previously, the Clip+ had shown up as a device with internal memory and external memory.) I also had the “safely remove” icon now, which I didn’t have before.

The files still existed on the Clip+ even though I could no longer see them. Obviously, unacceptable. So I went back into settings and changed the USB setting back to the factory settings (autodetect). Now in some of the folders on the card, I suddenly had .sid files–I’d have song1.mp3, song1.mp3.sid; song2.mp3, song2.mp3.sid, etc., for all the files in a folder. These .sid files were all 0 bytes.

So … I’ve cleaned up all the folders on the card, getting rid of the numbers, and I’ve deleted all the .sid files. I disconnected the Clip+, waited for the refresh to complete, and then reconnected to the computer. And the random numbers and the .ofn files are back on the card.

Help!

OK, what you could do is:  reformat the Clip under its settings so that you have a blank slate; set the Clip’s USB mode to MSC mode; and go forward from there.

The explanations:

–  MTP USB mode can add numbers to your file names; MSC mode won’t

–  when you connect to your computer, it can only see the files that were transferred to the Clip under the mode that you then are connected to your computer under (the reason you didn’t see files when you originally switched modes).  Hence, a good reason to stay in one USB mode or the other (and to avoid the Auto mode, that can switch between the 2).  MSC is a nice, universal mode, good for everything but DRM’ed files.

em7 wrote:

While the file folders on the Clip+ itself were apparently not affected, some of the ones I loaded onto the micro SDHC card showed strings of random numbers in the file names and .ofn files were generated

Now in some of the folders on the card, I suddenly had .sid files --I’d have song1.mp3, song1.mp3.sid; song2.mp3, song2.mp3.sid, etc., for all the files in a folder. These .sid files were all 0 bytes.

 

So … I’ve cleaned up all the folders on the card, getting rid of the numbers, and I’ve deleted all the .sid files. I disconnected the Clip+, waited for the refresh to complete, and then reconnected to the computer. And the random numbers and the .ofn files are back on the card.

 

Where are you getting your music from (and how old is yopur computer)?

SID: The SID file type is primarily associated with ‘Commodore64 (C64)’. Note: audio/prs.sid is the official registered MIME type for this file type; audio/psid is the file type being considered for use by .SID files under BeOS. The file that starts with PSID is a PlaySID file while the RSID file is a RealSID file. The RSID format was designed to contain tunes that are not PlaySID compatible, but strictly require a real C64 environment to run.

OFN: The OFN file type is primarily associated with ‘Office FileNew File’ by Microsoft Corporation.

I agree that your problems could be caused by MTP (or Auto Defect) mode.

em7 wrote:

While the file folders on the Clip+ itself were apparently not affected, some of the ones I loaded onto the micro SDHC card showed strings of random numbers in the file names and .ofn files were generated

Now in some of the folders on the card, I suddenly had .sid files --I’d have song1.mp3, song1.mp3.sid; song2.mp3, song2.mp3.sid, etc., for all the files in a folder. These .sid files were all 0 bytes.

 

So … I’ve cleaned up all the folders on the card, getting rid of the numbers, and I’ve deleted all the .sid files. I disconnected the Clip+, waited for the refresh to complete, and then reconnected to the computer. And the random numbers and the .ofn files are back on the card.

 

Where are you getting your music from (and how old is your computer)?

SID: The SID file type is primarily associated with ‘Commodore64 (C64)’. Note: audio/prs.sid is the official registered MIME type for this file type; audio/psid is the file type being considered for use by .SID files under BeOS. The file that starts with PSID is a PlaySID file while the RSID file is a RealSID file. The RSID format was designed to contain tunes that are not PlaySID compatible, but strictly require a real C64 environment to run.

OFN: The OFN file type is primarily associated with ‘Office FileNew File’ by Microsoft Corporation.

I agree that your problems could be caused by MTP (or Auto Defect) mode. Since this seems to only be happening on the memory card though, maybe it’s formatted wrong. If it’s a new card, what brand is it, and where did you get it? We’ve been hearing about quite a few counterfeit cards out there, primarily bought from dealers in China on eBay.

Thanks, Miikerman and Tapeworm. Before I saw either of your replies, I tried reformatting the SD card (I did this mainly because I could not delete some files, even though they were NOT read-only). Then I loaded files onto the card directly, without inserting it in the Clip+. After I inserted the card, my files automatically landed in a folder called “MSC.” No random numbers or .ofn files; everything looked good. But when I added more folders to the MSC folder using drag and drop, next time I checked, some of those folders had numbers again.

Then I found the replies here and started over again–reformatted the card, reformatted the Clip+, put the setting on MSC, reloaded everything again. This seems to have worked.

Tapeworm, I’m using a two-and-a-half year laptop running Vista. The vast majority of the music is what I’m currently ripping from my CD collection. I have some CDs made from cassette tapes about ten years ago (.wav files that I converted to .mp3 files). The .sid files did appear with a couple of these, but I don’t know if they appeared on the files from commercial CDs. I also have a handful of .mp3 files that I think came from the original Napster. But I don’t think any of those went on the card, just on the Clip+ itself.

The card is new, purchased through Amazon (from eTECH)–it’s a SanDisk micro SDHC, 8gb. I did reformat it, as mentioned above, but it was initially FAT 32 anyway.

Great to hear–now, just keep avoiding the dreaded Auto setting.

:wink:

(Do note:  if/when you upgrade firmware, the USB connection setting, at least now, gets reset to Auto.  Just set it back after an upgrade.)