Potential MuVo MP3 player format workaround

Jan 20, '04 09:31:00AM

Contributed by: Anonymous

The Creative MuVo MP3 player kinda works with Mac OS X, but when (not if) the MuVo flash drive needs reformatting, we are forced to use Windows. Inspired by an old tip at BeTips, this hint shows that it may eventually be possible to repair the MuVo player with Mac OS X alone.

WARNING: The hint below is experimental (for me anyway). You will still need Windows admin access for an acceptable reformat of the MuVo drive. A typographical error in the commands below can erase the wrong drive/storage device, so get the device numbers right! Try this only as a last resort AND only if you have admin access to a Windows box (for the MuVo repair you will require). The method below is a hint and in no way a solution.

The idea is to create a healthy disk image of the entire MuVo drive, then restore from the image when the MuVo's file system (custom version of FAT16?) becomes corrupted. The following steps come closer to repairing a MuVo 128 MB player on Panther than anything else I've come across:

  1. If iTunes is running, quit the application. My MuVo worked fine until it started popping up in iTunes.

  2. [SEE WARNING ABOVE] To make the disk image, the MuVo drive module needs to be physically connected to the computer but unmounted (I do this by selecting the MuVo partition in Disk Utility then selecting Unmount Volume from the File menu). Next, execute a command similar to the following:
    
    cat /dev/diskX > ~/MuVo.iso
    
    Replace X with the number shown in Disk Utility or df. For example, if the MuVo partition is named disk2s1 or /dev/disk2s1, use the following command:
    
    cat /dev/disk2 > ~/MuVo.iso
    
    This creates an ISO image of the drive module in your home directory.

  3. [SEE WARNING ABOVE] To restore the partitions, do the command in reverse:
    
    cat ~/MuVo.iso > /dev/diskX
    
    This step, however, has serious problems. It takes over an hour to complete on my 266 MHz Panther-powered iMac, and if I let the command complete, the MuVo's file system is still corrupted.

  4. Brace yourself for this step. I have found that if I physically remove the MuVo drive about halfway into the process described in step three, my MuVo drive appears to be restored. I have to do this cold turkey -- while the cat process is still running and without using Disk Utility to eject. At this point, the mouse cursor usually freezes for a few seconds until the runaway cat process quits with the following message:
    cat: stdout: Input/output error
    
  5. Before connecting the drive with the MP3 module, reconnect/mount the drive to your Mac then unmount/eject in a sane manner. Maybe it's my imagination, but this seems to repair some of the trauma caused by the abrupt dismount in step four.

    I have gone through these five steps many times with the same disk image which contained a single MP3 file. After step five, the MuVo player was usually able to play the MP3 file. Unfortunately, the MP3 file skips once to many times depending on my luck with the crazy dismount in step four. Furthermore, when I copy files to or delete files from the "restored" drive, the drive's file system always returns to a corrupted state.

    Would it kill those jokers over at Creative to give even minimal support for MuVo on the Mac!?!? Actually, there is supposed to be an upgrade available (soon?) that will allow Mac OS X to do something like:
    newfs_msdos -F 16 /dev/diskX
    
    This command and Disk Utility currently work for MuVo's drive, but they are incompatible with MuVo's MP3 module. I hope someone finds this hint useful or can add to it.

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    Mac OS X Hints
    http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20040104112338738