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[artandy]

 
Can anyone help??! My computer crashed mid-synch and something bizarre has happened to my ipod.
All the music (except about 6 albums) has disappeared from the ipod screen and is unplayable. I know its all still there because all the files are still hidden in the ipod's hardrive. I've tried re-copying them into musicmatch but when i try to synch, the ipod is saying its full. It can't be full! According to the screen there's only six albums in there!
I am at a loss at what to do and wish someone could come help restore my ipod to its former glory........

[SteveG]

artandy,

Try right clicking on the iPod drive letter and look for an option for 'Rebuild database from iPod' or something similar. It sounds like your files  are on the iPod but the database on iPod got screwed up. The rebuild should solve it.

If all else fails, reintialize your iPod and start over.

Steve

[house]

I had a similar problem too.  When I synched my iPod, it would copy all the files to the iPod and from Setup/About it would say that there is 0 songs, but 37GB.  I can see all the files from MC and Windows Explorer.  But it just can't be found when the iPod is not docked.  I tried resetting the iPod, rebuilding the database, restoring, reinitializing, and reinstalling MC.  Nothing worked.  Then I saw a thread about a new version of hh_portable.dll (9.0.126).  I installed that, and now it works again.  So maybe try that and hope that'll help you out.

[SteveG]

Everyone,

FYI....

The iPod is seen by your PC as a generic removable drive. You can store any files you want on it, but for iPod to recognize and play the files the files must be of certain filetypes (e.g. mp3, aac, aa, etc) and the information about the files must be stored in a precise way in a database file which is stored on iPod. This database file is the key to your iPod functioning as a portable audio player, as opposed to a large removable storage device that does not play files.

This database file is not officially documented, is very complicated,  and its implementation varies from program to program which makes its creation and management difficult, but not impossible.

When you have files on the player but they are not 'recognized' by the player, almost certainly the database file has been written incorrectly. The best solution is to reinitialize your player and start from a clean slate (in regards to the database). Alternately, the 'Rebuild database from iPod' option allows a recreation of the database with the files on the iPod and will work in most cases, but there are complications that can arise if other applications have accessed the iPod database of if unexpected events have placed files on iPod in unanticipated locations.


Steve

[house]

Actually, it doesn't work again.  I did another sync to update some songs, and after I disconnected the iPod, it again showed 0 songs.  I reset the iPod and the songs came back.  When I sync a small playlist, I don't have this problem.  But when I sync the full capacity of the iPod, this happens.  So I took about 1.5GB of the playlist and synched again.  This time, it froze while deleting files and would not disconnect.  I had to reboot my computer.  Then everytime I try to open the iPod in MC, MC would crash.  I finally had to use iPod Updater to reformat so that MC wouldn't crash.  I have never had this problem before with my 2g 20GB iPod (I am using a 3g 40GB now).  Nor did I have this problem with iTunes when it was installed (it had been uninstalled).  What could possibly be the problem?  I have 1 playlist that I sync all the songs to.  Should I split it into smaller playlists to see if it'll work?  What else can I try besides going back to using iTunes?  Please help!

[SteveG]

house,

Try reinstalling whatever version of MC you are running so that it installs the correct portable plugin and see if that improves things for you. If you are still having problems, let me know what version of MC you are running.

Steve

[house]

Steve,

I am running version 10.0.150 with the handheld plugin 9.0.126.  Last night, I split the 1 playlist into several smaller playlists.  

I formated the iPod and reinitialized.  Synched the playlists, and when I came back a few hours later, the iPod was frozen and WinXP had a warning that the write cache failed to write c:\...\iTunes etc.  (Don't remember exactly what it said, and I never have had that happen before).  

I reset the iPod and tried to access it from MC again.  It couldn't read the database and asked me to rebuild the database.  So I did and the files were there again.  So I synched it again to get the files that didn't copy on there.  Disconnected the iPod and it can read the database and see all the files.

So I did another sync and added a few more files, ejected the iPod, and again, it can read the database and sees all the songs.

I don't know if there is a limitation on the number of songs that can be on a playlist or what.  But splitting it up seems to have worked (At least for now.  I'll see what happens in the next few days.)

[SteveG]

house,

There is not a limitation by number of files.  There may be a problem with certain files you are sending. Try synching certain playlists and see if you can isolate the files or playlists that are corrupting the database.

Steve

[house]

Still unsucessful.  Tried 10.0.153 and ver. 11.  So I have switched to iTunes for the past few days and have had no problems with songs not showing up.  Something else that is different is that when I used MC, it takes about 3~4 minutes for the iPod to recover after disconnecting.  But using iTunes, it takes less than 1 minute to recover.  I guess I'll just stick to iTunes until this gets fixed.  I just hate to have to manage 2 separate libraries because I still like using MC for playing on the computer.

[SteveG]

house,

Something else that is different is that when I used MC, it takes about 3~4 minutes for the iPod to recover after disconnecting.

Are you saying that after you disconnect iPod from MC (in the right click menu) the iPod takes longer to be accesible than with iTunes?  This is strange and has never been reported before.

In regards to your other issues, no one else is reporting this. We need to isolate what you are doing.  Can you stay with MC 10 and provide a brief test that replicates your problem.

Steve

[house]

house,

Something else that is different is that when I used MC, it takes about 3~4 minutes for the iPod to recover after disconnecting.

Are you saying that after you disconnect iPod from MC (in the right click menu) the iPod takes longer to be accesible than with iTunes?  This is strange and has never been reported before.

In regards to your other issues, no one else is reporting this. We need to isolate what you are doing.  Can you stay with MC 10 and provide a brief test that replicates your problem.

Steve

Yes, that is correct.  It takes significantly longer for MC synched iPod.  This was also the case with my old 2G iPod also.  I just thought it was because it had a different database structure so it would read it differently.  Apparently that's not normal

The only time I have seen this problem happen is when I sync the entire playlist, which takes about 2 hours.  I really don't have a lot of time to do that, but I'll try to do it when I have time.  

[SteveG]

house,

When you format your iPod, how do you do it? From within Windows?

Try breaking your Playlist in two and sync one half, make sure it works, then sync the other half and let me know the results.

Thanks,

Steve

[house]

Steve,

Last night I completely uninstalled iTunes, MC10, MC11, formated the iPod with the iPod updater 7-15-2004.  I reinstalled MC 11.0.46, reimported all my songs, and did a sync to 1 playlist with 6333 songs.  This morning, all the songs showed up, but it still takes significantly longer for it to become accessible after disconnecting.  I will try to make some changes to the playlist (add some songs, delete some songs, change upload replay gain volume, etc.) and sync again when I get home from work.  I'll see if that screws up the database and let you know.  Thanks.

[SteveG]

House,

Where exactly is the slowness in the disconnection? If you initiate the removal of the iPod from the task bar ('Safely remove hardware" icon)  with MC closed, is it still slow (when compared to the same removal after running iTunes)?

Steve

[house]

It is when I physically disconnect the iPod from the computer.  It stays on the screen with the check mark for much longer.  I can hear the iPod hard drive reading when it's on the check mark screen until when it's accessible.

[SteveG]

house,

Does the behavior change if you disconnect the iPod from within MC (using the right click eject option)  as opposed to the task bar removal mentioned above?

Steve