Sansa Updater for Sansa Express - can it be trusted?

Last October I ended up ‘bricking’ my Sansa Express while trying to update its firmware.  Thankfully I got it back working, but it took several hours of poring over the forums and trying different things.  Today, while syncing some new tracks to the device, a window popped up telling me there’s an update available.  Can I trust it and how do I find out what the potential benefits of the update are?

You can read the Release Notes in the Sansa Express 01.01.12 Firmware post. Most here however, would recommend un-installing the Updater and just updating manually. The instructions are in the post.

Thanks, tapeworm.  Yes, I am familiar with that thread - most of the people posting there had some of the same problems as I had last October - the procedure of holding down the volume key is particularly hit and miss and the other steps mentioned in the instructions sometimes occur and (for me) sometimes did not.   Let me rephrase my question, then - has the installation procedure for the latest release of the firmware  been improved and what are the benefits/bug fixes in the latest version of the firmware?  If  I’m going to have the same upgrade problems as last October for no real benefit, I’ll be sticking wth the current versison.    At least the device works and serves my needs at the moment, some users were forced to abandon theirs after the firmware update screwed things up.

@brownie wrote:

 

Let me rephrase my question, then - has the installation procedure for the latest release of the firmware  been improved . . .

 

No.

@brownie wrote:

 

and what are the benefits/bug fixes in the latest version of the firmware?

 

As I suggested before, read the Release Notes in the post I linked to.

@brownie wrote:

 

If  I’m going to have the same upgrade problems as last October for no real benefit, I’ll be sticking wth the current versison.

 

It’s very possible you already have the latest version, seeing how the most recent update for this model is 4 years old now. If you upgraded less than a year ago, you’ve already installed this version. Check the f/w version on your player to confirm.

The Sansa Updater interface screen will show your installed version on the left, along side the icon for your device.

Havd a look at the checklist that pops up, the available updates will be listed there, and you can choose whether you’d like any of the options. Quite often, the Updater itself has an update, or there is an update to the user guide…

Bob  :stuck_out_tongue:

I realise now the updater was alerting me to a new update of the updater itself, NOT an update in the firmware.  As you rightly suggest, I already have the last/latest version of the firmware installed, namely 1.01.12 (this is the version that appears in the left-hand panel of the updater and if I look it up on the device itself, it has an ‘A’ at the end).  So, since I can’t update the firmware on the Sansa Express and the Sansa Express is my only Sansa device, there’s no real point in updating the updater, is there?

You got it, Bob - there is an update for the updater itself, but sadly none for the Sansa Express firmware…  

@brownie wrote:

So, since I can’t update the firmware on the Sansa Express and the Sansa Express is my only Sansa device, _ there’s no real point in updating the updater, is there? _

Nope. I would recommend you un-install it from your computer. It is a resource hog, slowing down your system and is nothing more than nag-ware whenever you plug in your player; it ‘phones home’ looking up an update that will never come and then has to tell you about it.