Long delay when swapping memory cards

It takes forever for the Fuze to start playing whenever I swap memory cards.  I have folder navigation enabled.  What gives?

Message Edited by ron_marz on 06-15-2009 06:44 PM

Database refresh. Your player still has to do it when it recognizes a change in the memory card, even if you take it out and put the same one back in.

It does this regardless of whether you’re using the ‘folder navigation’ feature recnetly added or not too.

Database refresh. Your player still has to do it when it recognizes a change in the memory card, even if you take it out and put the same one back in.

It does this regardless of whether you’re using the ‘folder navigation’ feature recently added or not too.

Thank you for your response.

Having said that… Oh, God:  I wish I had discovered this forum before I bought the Fuze.  Because I’ve now done some searching on the words “database” and “refresh” and “delay,” and it’s clear I’ve made a mistake.  I just assumed memory cards could be swapped in like cassette tapes in that they could be played back immediately.  But if I have to wait for these “refreshes” every time, it’s going to be interminable.

@ron_marz wrote:

Thank you for your response.

 

Having said that… Oh, God:  I wish I had discovered this forum before I bought the Fuze.  Because I’ve now done some searching on the words “database” and “refresh” and “delay,” and it’s clear I’ve made a mistake.  I just assumed memory cards could be swapped in like cassette tapes in that they could be played back immediately.  But if I have to wait for these “refreshes” every time, it’s going to be interminable.

How many cards do you have, and what size? With the current firmware, my 4GB +8GB Fuze refreshes in about 3 minutes. It used to take longer with older firmwares.

@marvin_martian wrote:


@ron_marz wrote:

Thank you for your response.

 

Having said that… Oh, God:  I wish I had discovered this forum before I bought the Fuze.  Because I’ve now done some searching on the words “database” and “refresh” and “delay,” and it’s clear I’ve made a mistake.  I just assumed memory cards could be swapped in like cassette tapes in that they could be played back immediately.  But if I have to wait for these “refreshes” every time, it’s going to be interminable.


How many cards do you have, and what size? With the current firmware, my 4GB +8GB Fuze refreshes in about 3 minutes. It used to take longer with older firmwares.

I’d rather change the question to: How many audio files do you have on internal and external storage? Some day I did a test to deal with another user question and created 9200 audio files (mainly mp3) on the internal flash memory of my 8GB Fuze. The database refresh time was about 13 minutes. So Marvin_Martian, I guess you have about 2000 files …

@ewelot wrote:


@marvin_martian wrote:


@ron_marz wrote:

Thank you for your response.

 

Having said that… Oh, God:  I wish I had discovered this forum before I bought the Fuze.  Because I’ve now done some searching on the words “database” and “refresh” and “delay,” and it’s clear I’ve made a mistake.  I just assumed memory cards could be swapped in like cassette tapes in that they could be played back immediately.  But if I have to wait for these “refreshes” every time, it’s going to be interminable.


How many cards do you have, and what size? With the current firmware, my 4GB +8GB Fuze refreshes in about 3 minutes. It used to take longer with older firmwares.


I’d rather change the question to: How many audio files do you have on internal and external storage? Some day I did a test to deal with another user question and created 9200 audio files (mainly mp3) on the internal flash memory of my 8GB Fuze. The database refresh time was about 13 minutes. So Marvin_Martian, I guess you have about 2000 files …

Correct, at the time I made note of the refresh time, I was around 2,100 files. 

At the moment I have two 4-GB cards with about 4,000 files on each, on my way to filling a third.  Refresh takes 7-8 minutes every time I swap.

@ron_marz wrote:
At the moment I have two 4-GB cards with about 4,000 files on each, on my way to filling a third.  Refresh takes 7-8 minutes every time I swap.

4,000 on a 4 GB card? No wonder it takes longer than it does for me. I have 1,287 on an 8GB card, and another 587 on my 4GB internal, with roughly 200 MB free on each. You must use a much smaller bitrate than I do. The refresh seems to be more related to how many files, than how big they are. You could buy a 16GB card though, and have room for all of them maybe…it’s a thought, anyways. :smiley:

@marvin_martian wrote:


@ron_marz wrote:
At the moment I have two 4-GB cards with about 4,000 files on each, on my way to filling a third.  Refresh takes 7-8 minutes every time I swap.


4,000 on a 4 GB card? No wonder it takes longer than it does for me. I have 1,287 on an 8GB card, and another 587 on my 4GB internal, with roughly 200 MB free on each. You must use a much smaller bitrate than I do. The refresh seems to be more related to how many files, than how big they are. You could buy a 16GB card though, and have room for all of them maybe…it’s a thought, anyways. :smiley:

Indeed, the refresh time should depend on the number of files ONLY. This is because only the file headers must be read and processed. The audio data itself must not be touched at all.

IMHO the algorithm used to refresh the database is not as clever as it could be. E.g. if you fill up the Fuze with untagged mp3 files or with wav files only - which is a tag-free format per se - then there is no gain in database refresh time at all. With the growing demand for larger storage (internal/external) the need for faster refresh time comes into first place. Hopefully SanDisk is aware of that.

Another useful (experts) option yet to be implemented would be to disable the tag based browsing and stick with folder navigation only. This way the database is not used and must not be refreshed at all and you would have instant access to your music files! I know that this is probably not the way most users prefer to select their music but could help others which might have a strong need for >10000 files. But I’m pretty sure that it is not me in the next few years …

Message Edited by ewelot on 06-17-2009 01:29 PM

ewelot wrote: 

Another useful (experts) option yet to be implemented would be to disable the tag based browsing and stick with folder navigation only. This way the database is not used and must not be refreshed at all and you would have instant access to your music files! I know that this is probably not the way most users prefer to select their music but could help others which might have a strong need for >10000 files. But I’m pretty sure that it is not me in the next few years …

Message Edited by ewelot on 06-17-2009 01:29 PM

 Other potential solutions:

  1. database refresh is manually launched at a time convenient to the user.  Meanwhile, user can still browse by folder, or use tag database without access to newly loaded files.
  1. database refresh occurs in background.  Meanwhile … (as above)

 

 Another option would be to have the database for files on the card stored on the card (or stored on the player with separate files for each card).  Then as long as the card contents haven’t changed, you just swap and you’re good to go.  

I think the best option is to just buy a bigger card. :wink:

@ewelot wrote:


@marvin_martian wrote:


@ron_marz wrote:
At the moment I have two 4-GB cards with about 4,000 files on each, on my way to filling a third.  Refresh takes 7-8 minutes every time I swap.


4,000 on a 4 GB card? No wonder it takes longer than it does for me. I have 1,287 on an 8GB card, and another 587 on my 4GB internal, with roughly 200 MB free on each. You must use a much smaller bitrate than I do. The refresh seems to be more related to how many files, than how big they are. You could buy a 16GB card though, and have room for all of them maybe…it’s a thought, anyways. :smiley:


Indeed, the refresh time should depend on the number of files ONLY. This is because only the file headers must be read and processed. The audio data itself must not be touched at all.

 

IMHO the algorithm used to refresh the database is not as clever as it could be. E.g. if you fill up the Fuze with untagged mp3 files or with wav files only - which is a tag-free format per se - then there is no gain in database refresh time at all. With the growing demand for larger storage (internal/external) the need for faster refresh time comes into first place. Hopefully SanDisk is aware of that.

 

Another useful (experts) option yet to be implemented would be to disable the tag based browsing and stick with folder navigation only. This way the database is not used and must not be refreshed at all and you would have instant access to your music files! I know that this is probably not the way most users prefer to select their music but could help others which might have a strong need for >10000 files. But I’m pretty sure that it is not me in the next few years …

Message Edited by ewelot on 06-17-2009 01:29 PM

Aarrgh!  There was a typo in my earlier post (which was made right before bedtime and not proofread).  It should have said that I have two 8-GB cards (not 4-GB cards) with 4,000 files on each.  My apologies.

@donp wrote:


ewelot wrote: 

Another useful (experts) option yet to be implemented would be to disable the tag based browsing and stick with folder navigation only. This way the database is not used and must not be refreshed at all and you would have instant access to your music files! I know that this is probably not the way most users prefer to select their music but could help others which might have a strong need for >10000 files. But I’m pretty sure that it is not me in the next few years …

Message Edited by ewelot on 06-17-2009 01:29 PM


 Other potential solutions:

  1. database refresh is manually launched at a time convenient to the user.  Meanwhile, user can still browse by folder, or use tag database without access to newly loaded files.
  1. database refresh occurs in background.  Meanwhile … (as above)

 

 Another option would be to have the database for files on the card stored on the card (or stored on the player with separate files for each card).  Then as long as the card contents haven’t changed, you just swap and you’re good to go.  

 

I would be interested in any of these options, but can’t figure out how to implement them.  Disabling the tag-based browsing and sticking with folder navigation only, as donp suggested, would probably be the most appealing.  But as donp says, this apparently has yet to be implemented.

Message Edited by ron_marz on 06-17-2009 11:16 AM

Message Edited by ron_marz on 06-17-2009 11:20 AM

@donp wrote:

Other potential solutions:

  1. database refresh is manually launched at a time convenient to the user.  Meanwhile, user can still browse by folder, or use tag database without access to newly loaded files.
  1. database refresh occurs in background.  Meanwhile … (as above)

I’m afraid, but it wouldn’t work because you may have

  • deleted some audio files

  • changed the location of some files (e.g. moved to another folder)

  • have changed some tags of files which are still at the same place.

All these operations need a rebuild of the database, before you can use tag-based browsing. I think the only way to operate the Fuze without database syncing is folder navigation. As a side effect the user would probably be forced to use MSC connection only.

@ewelot wrote:


@donp wrote:

Other potential solutions:

  1. database refresh is manually launched at a time convenient to the user.  Meanwhile, user can still browse by folder, or use tag database without access to newly loaded files.
  1. database refresh occurs in background.  Meanwhile … (as above)


I’m afraid, but it wouldn’t work because you may have

  • deleted some audio files
  • changed the location of some files (e.g. moved to another folder)
  • have changed some tags of files which are still at the same place.

 

All these operations need a rebuild of the database, before you can use tag-based browsing. I think the only way to operate the Fuze without database syncing is folder navigation. As a side effect the user would probably be forced to use MSC connection only.

Using the MSC connection only would be fine with me – in fact, I’d prefer it – but I must be doing something wrong, because I *am* connecting by MSC and using folder navigation, but unfortunately, I still have to wait 6-8 minutes when swapping memory cards.  (Which, IMHO, is totally unreasonable.)

@ron_marz wrote:


@ewelot wrote:


@donp wrote:

Other potential solutions:

  1. database refresh is manually launched at a time convenient to the user.  Meanwhile, user can still browse by folder, or use tag database without access to newly loaded files.
  1. database refresh occurs in background.  Meanwhile … (as above)


I’m afraid, but it wouldn’t work because you may have

  • deleted some audio files

  • changed the location of some files (e.g. moved to another folder)

  • have changed some tags of files which are still at the same place.

 

All these operations need a rebuild of the database, before you can use tag-based browsing. I think the only way to operate the Fuze without database syncing is folder navigation. As a side effect the user would probably be forced to use MSC connection only.


Using the MSC connection only would be fine with me – in fact, I’d prefer it – but I must be doing something wrong, because I *am* connecting by MSC and using folder navigation, but unfortunately, I still have to wait 6-8 minutes when swapping memory cards.  (Which, IMHO, is totally unreasonable.)

You’re not doing anything wrong…that’s just the way it currently works. What donp and ewelot were suggesting up there were potential solutions that could work better than what is currently enabled.

Message Edited by Marvin_Martian on 06-18-2009 04:06 PM

FYI,  Refresh database is faster using MTP mode for internal Memory.  So if you have alot of songs in internal memory and swap a card it will help otherwise not much difference.

Message Edited by sansafix on 06-18-2009 04:28 PM

@sansafix wrote:
FYI,  Refresh database is faster using MTP mode for internal Memory.  So if you have alot of songs in internal memory and swap a card it will help otherwise not much difference.

Thanks.