Refreshing Your Media lasts for a really long time

What is a normal amount of time for my player to display ‘Refreshing Your Media’ after being turned on? I am using a 32 GB microSD card that is mostly full, and it is taking around 15-20 minutes for the player to load. This seems sort of excessive since I want to use my player in the car, and most rides take less time than that. Is there a way to make this process go quicker?

That time sounds about right, but it shouldn’t be doing that every time you turn it on, only if contenet has been changed or accessed via a computer.

That time sounds a little on the long side, but it shouldn’t be doing that every time you turn it on; only if content has been changed or accessed via a computer.

What is happening during the database refresh cycle is the player is reading and cataloging the information contaned in the ID3 tags of the files. Cleaning/editing your tags of un-needed or extraneous garbage, excessively long titles, artists, etc. and smaller sized album art (if embedded) can speed up the process.

I have a thought regarding extended refresh time with a large capacity microSDHC card.

With a large capacity, the  File Allocation Table for a 32GB volume is really large. You can try formatting as FAT32, _selecting 32kb cluster size instead of the teeny 4kb size that Windows loves to use. _As the Sansa reads that large volume, a more compact FAT just might  speed things up.

Bob  :smileyvery-happy:

You can also try Rockbox, wich will probably go much faster (and allow you to update while playing music). I don’t own a Clip ZIp, but I’ve always found the database software on the Fuzev2 and the Fuze plus to be quite slow. Rockbox’s db, on the other hand, takes only a minute or two, where the stock firmware can take four or five. Plus, with Rockbox, you don’t actually need a db, and can just browse by file if you so desire.

On the down side, Rockbox’s interface (especially the menus) isn’t as nice as the stock firmware. Also, the Rockbox website lists the Clip Zip as “unstable”, meaning that there may be a few minor bugs with this particular device, but the Clip Zip wiki states it as being “fine for day-to-day audio playback”.

The amount of time for the refresh under the OF is normal/not surprising (unfortunately).  

Thanks everyone for the helpful tips. I’m in the process of trying them all out and will let you know what works to speed things up. Bob, I think my microSD card is already partitioned into FAT32 format, at least that’s what it tells me under the ‘properties’ tab when I look at the card in My Computer. 

Unfortunately was not able to use Rockbox :(… It cannot be installed on my Clip Zip using Windows 7. During the formatting step in the Rockbox installation, it asks me to specify the location of my Clip Zip, which cannot be done because Windows will not assign a drive letter to a portable device. Nor is it possible to manually assign a letter to the Clip Zip myself, believe me I searched the Microsoft forums high and low for a solution to this problem.

Have you set the player’s USB mode, under its Settings, to MSC mode?  That may/should do the trick–in that mode, the player is seen as a drive.

You skipped the installation step where you put it into MSC mode. FWIW, the installation directions may help you with this: http://download.rockbox.org/daily/manual/rockbox-sansaclipplus/rockbox-buildch2.html#x4-60002

Nice echo in this room.   :wink:

@miikerman wrote:

Nice echo in this room.   :wink:

:stuck_out_tongue:

Mine has 8gb and still almost empty (no more than 1 gb occupied). I was afraid that everytime I copy a single file, the whole memory must be checked to organize the content. Is it not possible to create any kind of log file or something like an index, to check quickly only the differences and not the whole stuff?

I am really scared about copy a lot of files, besides I have to copy and delete frequently.

@b4thman wrote:

Mine has 8gb and still almost empty (no more than 1 gb occupied). I was afraid that everytime I copy a single file, the whole memory must be checked to organize the content. Is it not possible to create any kind of log file or something like an index, to check quickly only the differences and not the whole stuff?

I am really scared about copy a lot of files, besides I have to copy and delete frequently.

 

 

No. Anytime the content on the player is accessed via your computer (and this could even be as simple as your A/V software scanning the files), the player will refresh its database upon disconnecting.

Why are you scared to add more than 1 file at a time? You’re actually doing more harm to the memory that way. Flash memory has a finite (limited) number of write cycles, so to maximize the memory life, you want to minimize the number of times you change things on it.

I didn’t know about that limited number of writes. Then I will prevent to write little things.

The refresh situation indeed is unfortunate.  The only way to avoid it, apart from not adding to or taking away from the player’s content, is to switch to the Rockbox firmware.  

Is there any difference, in terms of destruction of the flash memory, between deleting a file using the menu (I usually delete every single file after listening) and connecting the clip to the computer and delete it using Windows?.. in other words, is it advisable to delete individual files (4 or 5 each day) using the menu, or it is better to wait and delete all files together only once a week (for example) when connected to the computer?

Not sure of the answer to your question.  But candidly, I wouln’t be concerned (or, at least, overly concerned) about the flash memory issue–it is likely that you never would face any “limitation” of the memory and that its lifespan will more than meet your needs.  Flash does, in many applications and including as a hard drive substitute in computers.

There is no difference. However I would not worry about it. The player will fail from other causes long before the flash memory chip reaches its maximum number of write cycles.