Red Button - MP3 Player Recovery Tool for Creative players

[Chuck]

I stumbled across this today: Red Button - MP3 Player Recovery Tool

Have not tried it myself yet - too much data to backup and my player works fine, but anyone with a problem keep this in mind:

Creative came up with all-in-one solution for any possible software/firmware issues with any of the following mp3 players:

ZEN Vision W
ZEN Vision
ZEN Vision:M 60GB
ZEN Vision:M 30GB
ZEN Stone Plus
ZEN Stone
ZEN V Plus
ZEN V
ZEN MicroPhoto
ZEN Nano Plus
MuVo V100
MuVo V200
MuVo Micro N200
MuVo TX/TX SE
MuVo TX FM
MuVo Slim
DMP FX100

Universal software is a good innovation I think

[skippyg]

http://www.epizenter.net/e107_plugin...pic.php?123955

[snoopy]

I tried this program today because I had a problem with a Vision M charging.. i have the player over a year now and i upgraded the firmware..problem solved..really quick and easy to use..

Super..spread the word

Snoopy

[Peaty]

I had to use it just now on a friends Zen Stone. I'm not sure how it happened but the stone was locked up. If you turned it on, the green light would come on but no sound. The only way to turn off the green light was to us a paper clip and reset the unit. I tried looking at it with creative media light. I seemed to see what the firmware was (1.02.01) and the charge level but nothing else. No music or directories. It did not identify the stone either. The stone would not show up in my computer. I ran the recovery tool and it first downloaded some drivers then updated the firmware. When it updated the firmware it had the format player box checked and grayed out so I could not de-select it. It updated the firmware to 1.06.01 and while the songs were wiped out the player works fine now. I'd be interested in knowing if in other cases you are able to make it so the player is not formatted. I may need this someday for my Zen Vision-W and I'd hate to wipe out all the stuff. On the Stone it's not a big deal it's only a gig.

[sockatume]

I think the option not to format the player only exists if there's a working firmware on the device. In your case, the firmware had keeled over and therefore a complete format is mandatory. I've certainly upgraded MuVos without formatting before, but never recovered one that way.

[BobbyRS]

Originally Posted by sockatume

I think the option not to format the player only exists if there's a working firmware on the device.

.... or a non-corrupt filesystem.

Originally Posted by sockatume

In your case, the firmware had keeled over and therefore a complete format is mandatory.

A corrupt firmware may not mean a Format is required unless the filesystem has also been corrupted.

[aarons510]

[This rather late addition to the thread is for the benefit of those, like myself, who come across this page as the result of a search.]

Originally Posted by BobbyRS

A corrupt firmware may not mean a Format is required unless the filesystem has also been corrupted.

A corrupt file system can often be repaired using your computer O.S.'s equivalent of the Mac's Disk Utility. This will often be possible provided the computer sees the device as a drive (in MSC mode), even if as a drive that is not mountable because of file system corruption.

[aarons510]

Originally Posted by Chuck

I stumbled across this today: Red Button - MP3 Player Recovery Tool

[SNIP]

Creative came up with all-in-one solution for any possible software/firmware issues with any of the following mp3 players:

[SNIP]

Universal software is a good innovation I think

My guess is that all these players are based on SigmaTel chips, possibly even all on the 3700. SigmaTel provides, at least to manufacturers of players, a recovery tool that, presumably, is customized by the manufacturers like Creative.