2 GB Fuze FAT Is Corrupted, USB Device Not Recognized

I’m hoping that the 1 MB that it says it has left is after the database has been created and updated. So far this time I’ve been able to play it enough to run the battery down completely without any issues. I’m charging it up again now to see what happens after the 2nd run through.

As soon as I turned it on after charging it I got the ‘not enough space’ message.

@c1u31355 wrote:
1MB is less than one song. Along with your songs the Fuze has to hold the database and its own firmware. Sounds like you have overstuffed it.

What would you recommend as the amount I should have left free after putting songs on it?

I went through the whole routine again, formatting, error checking, etc. I put some music on the device, leaving 400 MB free, figuring that would be enough to prevent database corruption. I played five songs at the most and then turned it off. When I tried to turn it back on I saw the ‘not enough space for music DB’ message. What can I do to get this thing working???

Message Edited by TomJensen on 05-03-2010 06:26 PM

I’ll give that a try, though I think that it’s going to result in trashing the Fuze. No matter which PC I get the files from, or what files they are, the problem persists. The only thing I haven’t tried is transferring in MSC mode. Other than that, I’ve tried a number of different computers and file sources and the problem just won’t go away, though this most recent error was the quickest I’ve ever had the failure occur. What is MP3Tag? A piece of software?

I’ve got to say, you’re going about this in a way designed to prolong the problem. 

You’re getting the database message because you keep putting back on a bad file. It not be a bad file for Windows, which has lots of ways to deal with it, but it is bad for the Sansa’s itty-bitty brain. 

And you’re refusing to use MSC mode, which eliminates the possibility of MTP/Windows Media Player adding weirdness. 

This is a solvable problem, but you have to seriously eliminate variables. 

Format it. Put it in MSC mode. Add files a few at a time. When it goes kerflooey, you’ll know which file did it. 

mp3tag is free software for tag editing. If you’ve gotten files from odd sources, it helps you clean up the tags. You’d be surprised what kind of stuff people put into their mp3 tags. And that’s usually what trips up the Sansa. 

Message Edited by Black-Rectangle on 02-05-2010 08:03 PM

I’ll try all the proposed solutions, though being as stubborn and tenacious as I am, I still am having trouble grasping the possibility of a bad file. I’m using different files every time, from different computers. Perhaps each batch of files I’m using has at least one badly tagged file in it; I don’t know. I’m just trying to prepare myself for a long, tedious task of putting files on and testing them. And even then I’m not sure whether I’ve achieved anything or not. Sometimes it goes days before the error, other times hours. I guess I could just play the same songs every day for a week and then move on to the next batch. If that’s the approach I need to use I’ll be back here in a year or so to report! :slight_smile:

I have a couple of questions as I approach my task of testing various groups of files. These both refer to the ‘not enough space for DB’ message.

1)  If it’s being caused by a file or files, would it be a file that has been played, or does the file simply have to be in the devices database?

  1. Does file size or track length have any bearing on this message’s occurrence?

It doesn’t have to be played. As far as I know, the Not Enough Space message occurs as the database is being read.

Size…you’ll be happy to know…does not matter. 

Instead of testing your current files, why not run them all through mp3tag before transferring with:

Write Options, under Tags/Mpegs, set to ISO-8859-1

Running Auto-Numbering Wizard with leading zeroes.

Comments all blanked out (you can also set this as a default)

Keep an eye on foreign characters or anything non-alphanumeric in any field.

Do this BEFORE you put the albums on and you may never have the problem again. 

And please, use MSC. I can’t vouch for the behavior of MTP. 

The chkdsk utility or using Windows’ manage function path both require the Sansa to be in MSC mode.  It will recover the FAT regardless of the transfer mode used for your music, be it MSC or MTP.

Of course, if the device was in MTP before the corruption, you’ll have to manually force MSC for the check / repair process.

I can’t overstate the importance of having proper ID3 tags on your music.  Windows Media Player, by default, uses ID3v2.3, ISO 8859-1 for the tag metadata.

Bob  :smileyvery-happy:

I hate to appear ignorant as I go into this process, but I really am. First of all, I’ve never transferred music tracks in MSC mode. Does that treat it just like another disk drive, but the songs will still be playable on the device? And if I strip all of the tag information from the files how will I determine which track(s) is causing the problem?

Message Edited by TomJensen on 05-03-2010 06:25 PM

Everyone is making this more complicated than it has to be.

Make sure you have copies of your songs and then Format the Fuze  (with the command on the unit, under Settings/System Settings ) to empty it completely. 

Put in in MSC. Yes, it will play the songs. It LOOKS like a flash drive to your computer. It’s still a music player in your hand. 

If you don’t format it, it will see all the songs you have put on in either MSC or MTP mode–although your computer can only see one mode (MSC or MTP) at a time. 

DON’T strip the tags completely. Strip Comments, fix any weird characters, look for any other fields that are

insanelylongfilledwithuselessunreadable30r948y02d98hgarbageorembeddedfiles and strip them,

and Save (by the default you have set under Options/Tags/Mpeg) as ISO-8859-1.

Put an album or two on the unit at a time, unplug, let it refresh. If you see the database problem, you’ll know it was the last album you added. But with clean tags, you are unlikely to have the problem.

Using Black-Rectangle’s procedure now. It may take a while since I have a lot of albums and tags to go through.

And, yes, I could buy a new player, but I like this one and don’t really need something with 500 GB on it. What I really need is some way of getting this thing to play on my car’s stereo. And, no, I’m not going to buy a new car stereo, either. 

And, as an aside, my suspicion is that if I have poorly tagged albums, it’s probably the bootleg Grateful Dead sets that I have. You know how those Deadheads are… 

Message Edited by JeffGeorge on 02-09-2010 12:08 PM

Tie-dyed or acid-laced tags could definitely be a problem. And the Fuze is very picky about versions of “Fire on the Mountain.”

@black_rectangle wrote:
Tie-dyed or acid-laced tags could definitely be a problem. And the Fuze is very picky about versions of “Fire on the Mountain.”

I knew that Phish version I downloaded was trouble! 

I have 4 GB Fuze and have same problem.  After downloading an update from sansa, computer now won’t recognize

device, so the solutions don’t work w/out having device recognized.   I’ve had it for under a yr, but bought it as refurb

from woot, so can’t return.  I’ve emailed sandisk with problem, waiting to hear back.  Like the player, very disappointed

it’s crashed when I’ve only had it a couple of months . . .

The update probably switched it to MTP. Go to Settings/System Settings/USB Mode and change to MSC.

I just saw something interesting with my device that I hadn’t seen before. I’m going through the routine of modifying tags and testing tracks to see which ones are good and which ones may be causing a problem. I powered up the device with the ones that are currently on it and everything looked good, so I plugged it in to try another batch of albums. The autoplay of listing the Explorer for the files popped and I noticed that the directory names were all wacky, even though I had had no problem with the current batch of songs. This concerned me so I immediately disconnected the device and wouldn’t you know it: I got the ‘not enough space’ message. I just thought that was a little weird, that it seemed able to read the db fine on power up but someone lost it once I plugged it in. Wacky piece of equipment.