Reformat Zen Neeon with Linux

[fredrik]

My Zen Neeon is acting up, I think it's due to some encoding of file names that it can't handle. Anyhow, I would really like to reformat that disk but I don't have Zen Neeon Media Explorer and I don't have Windows. Do you think I can format the drive with Linux just as well?
I am guessing the command would be somewhere along the lines

mkdosfs /dev/sdd

But I am not sure if I dare do that Anybody has experience of this?

Best regards,
Fredrik

[CrowdAds]

[ZenChick]

I'm not even sure the Neeon is mountable as a drive... Is it?

What about formatting it via its Recovery Mode?

[fredrik]

Recovery mode? I didn't even know there was such a thing I can't find anything about that in the manual. How do I enter recovery mode then?

[fredrik]

Oh, about mounting it. No, actually I don't know much about that. I just saw something about that for a completely different player.

[ramakandra]

...hey there, which neeon have you got...
...the hard drive version or the flash version?...
...because the hard drive version has no recovery mode...

[fredrik]

Yep, I have the hard drive version. No, haven't found any recovery mode I guess I will have to find a windows computer and the Neeon Explorer software to format the hard drive. I won't buy anything from Creative Labs again.

[ZenChick]

The Neeon was definitely the black sheep of the Zen family - but please don't judge all of Creative's players by it. The ZVM, for one, is actually a very flexible, accommodating player.

[fredrik]

Well, I guess you are right about that. I don't say that all Creative players are crap, but I'm not an easy forgiving customer that will rush to the shop to buy anything from Creative any time soon

[ZenChick]

This might be worth trying. The Neeon's aren't on the list of supported players, but what's the worst that could happen at this point by trying?

[trikon000]

1. Unplug the player from a computer if it is plugged
2. Install the latest driver if you have not done so. If you have a Creative MuVo, MuVo USB2.0, MuVo TX FM, MuVo N200, MuVo V200, Zen Nano, Zen Neeon or Zen Nano Plus player, you can download the file MStorage_PCDRV_LB_1_07_00_250.exe or latest version.
3. Remove the battery from the player (except Zen Neeon which has a built-in battery).
4. Press and hold the Play button while connecting the player to the USB port.
5. Continue to hold the Play button for about 10 seconds after connecting your player is connected to the USB port.
6. When the Find New Hardware dialog box appears on your computer screen, release the Play button.
7. If this is the first time a player is installed as Player Recovery Device, Windows will find a Player Recovery Device (or USB Device), and prompt you for drivers. Click on No, and select "Do not search. I will choose the driver to install". Windows will install the drivers automatically.
8. Once it is installed, you can then update the player's firmware.


I pulled this from somewhere and had it in a text file somewhere in my repair folder. otherwise I would have quoted the source. It might have been from the creative forums, not sure.

[ramakandra]

...that is the only "on the fly" recovery mode for the neeon...
...it was designed for style...
...not ease of long term use...