Moving from Windows to Mac

Hey Sansa people, it’s been awhile. I searched here and on the Internets and didn’t really find the info I was looking for. I have a Clip+ and uSD mostly loaded via Windows 7 (MSC mode). I’ve been running Rockbox, but when I load/change content on the internal storage I do that running Sansa firmware. I usually load/change the uSD via card reader to avoid Sansa refresh issues. I’ve just bought a Macbook Pro (OSX Mavericks) and need some info on how this transition works. Can I take these mostly loaded onboard and uSD storage and just MSC ‘plug and play’ on the Mac? Or do I need to delete all content, start over loading from the Mac? If so, do I have to reformat for the Mac (which I assume also means reloading the Sansa firmware and Rockbox)? Also, I saw some info about Macs adding additional files that potentially brick the unit. Is that true? TIA for the help.

As long as the files on the player and the card were originally transferred in MSC mode, you should be OK. If not, then you should probably format the player and re-load. I assume that they were since Rockbox does not work with MTP mode.

Yes, a Mac will add ‘finder’ files (O size but with the same file name) that will cause issues. There is software available that will eliminate these.

@tapeworm wrote:

Yes, a Mac will add ‘finder’ files (O size but with the same file name) that will cause issues. There is software available that will eliminate these.

Wonderful. Thank you Steve Jobs for making my life easier. WTF?

Anyone have a recommendation on software to handle this?

Finder files are usually in folders named MACOSX. They have names like ._01-First Song.mp3  (see the period underscore that starts the filename?) and are 0kb in size.  They make the Sansa unhappy because it sees the .mp3 extension and thinks they are music and tries to play them, but there’s no music in 0kb. Don’t get too worried --they won’t usually crash the Clip. You’ll just see them whizzing by as the unit tries to play them. 

You may not even need software.  I’m on Windows, so I delete the MACOSX folders from albums I’ve saved before sending them over.  I guess that on a Mac, which needs the finder files on the computer, you’d send the albums over, search the unit for MACOSX folders and delete them from the unit before disconnecting. 

Another way to do it would be to list the files on the Clip (or within each album) by size, which would group all the 0kb together, and delete the obvious finder files. You can get rid of DS_Store from the unit too. That’s assuming–and since I am Mac-free I don’t know–that Mac doesn’t completely hide the MACOSX files from the user.  

If so, maybe this: http://www.mikesel.info/show-hidden-files-mac-os-x-10-7-lion/

@Black-Rectangle Thanks for the info. So lovely that OSX requires terminal commands to do something (show hidden files) that can be easily accomplished in Windows GUI folder menus. Let alone that it creates messes requiring clean up in the first place…

Fyi for anyone finding this thread later…

Tinkertool provides easy GUI options for showing hidden files and to prohibit placing of .DS_store files on network drives. Won’t stop placement on USB sticks, removable storage, music players etc. however.

CleanMyDrive, available free from the app store, supposedly will remove such files from external drives. Haven’t used it yet so can’t personally vouch for it.

To transfer files from a Mac to a device without the Mac’s dropping of “ghost files” onto the device:  freeware Hidden Cleaner.  Seems to be nicely regarded and widely used. 

@miikerman wrote:

To transfer files from a Mac to a device without the Mac’s dropping of “ghost files” onto the device:  freeware Hidden Cleaner.  Seems to be nicely regarded and widely used. 

I saw that, thanks. Been googling, checked the Rockbox forum etc. and there doesn’t seem to be any indication that the .ds_store files cause any problem with Rockbox. Other than the occasional (unavoidable) Sansa refresh everything I do is RB, so hopefully there’ll be no problems if something slips through.