SD Card & Bolero Unit

[KBPhoto]

So no solution then - just have to live with it?

I'd first explore the suggestions above (post no. 12) to see if you can copy to SD card, 'see' the extra files, delete them and then go to the Bolero/Columbus with a 'good' card.

It's a new one to me, but one I'll look at when I get a chance and might mean that I am one step closer to ditching the PC altogether!

[ejstubbs]

No idea how a MAC or iTunes would handle this.

The same.

[KBPhoto]

Some of my CDs have track names but most do not. It's down to the individual CD. If you rip a CD on a PC using Media Player you can set Media Player it to check on line for album, track, artist etc. Once copied to SD card all the info is displayed. No idea how a MAC or iTunes would handle this.

iTunes automatically (assuming that you have that option selected) downloads CD & track info as well album artwork from the internet. This will then automatically be transferred to the file name and ID3 tags so will automatically show artist, album and song title on the Bolero/Columbus.

Simples!

However, this has nothing to do with any device being able to display track info from CD's as this is dependent upon the device being used and the CD having CD text!

[weasley]

I have loads of CDs ripped to my PC using iTunes. In iTunes the various track, album and most artwork is present and correct. They are all ripped in AAC. For the Bolero I converted them to MP3 (in iTunes) and copied to the SD card.

I noticed that for most albums, on the Bolero all I get is effectively the file name, which is the track number followed by the text of the track name, then the ".mp3" extension. However on at least one album I get a property formatted track name, album name and artist name for each track. I keep meaning to get the card out and take a look at the file info data, but each album was treated the same way and shows up correctly in iTunes. I wonder if one album did have CD text and this was transferred rather than iTunes looking it up in Gracenote?

[Expatman]

I'd first explore the suggestions above (post no. 12) to see if you can copy to SD card, 'see' the extra files, delete them and then go to the Bolero/Columbus with a 'good' card.

It's a new one to me, but one I'll look at when I get a chance and might mean that I am one step closer to ditching the PC altogether!

I have copied the files to an SD Card and used a piece of software on my Mac which allows me to see otherwise hidden files on the SD card, I then deleted those hidden files before putting the SD card back into the Bolero unit - and the greyed files are still there! I then put the SD card back into my Mac and, guess what, the files I deleted were back again. So somewhere between deleting them, removing the SD card from the mac and loading it in the Bolero unit the files magically reappeared? I did this twice to be sure and got the same result --- strange!!!!

[KBPhoto]

Delete them, don't look at the SD card on the Mac then take the card to your Bolumbus to see if they are there.

Try from the Mac terminal rather than using extra software as well.

[Expatman]

Delete them, don't look at the SD card on the Mac then take the card to your Bolumbus to see if they are there.

Try from the Mac terminal rather than using extra software as well.

Just tried that - still there!

[Sanqhar]

Don't you have to empty the "trash" on the Mac.

I thought the Mac also creates a "trash" on the SD card when you delete files. Empty that trash as well.

tom

[domhnall]

you might find someone with an answer if you queried this in the ICE forum - the Columbus is common to several models

[Expatman]

Don't you have to empty the "trash" on the Mac.

I thought the Mac also creates a "trash" on the SD card when you delete files. Empty that trash as well.

tom

Tried that, emptied all trash but the "unseen" files persist, they just keep reappearing! Guess I have to get used to scrolling down through the "greyed" fake MP3 files in each album to get to the playable files.

Next time I visit a friend with a PC I will see if I can delete the unwanted files on that.

[deadcert01]

Apolgies if already covered in the thread but is the SD card formatted in HFS+ or MS-DOS (FAT)? Should be the latter to work correctly with the Bolero, I had trouble with this but not the exact symptoms you are describing.

http://www.iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=1075

[Hairball]

The Bolero works with FAT32 format from what I read in the manual, I have no idea about formatting in this way on a mac though sorry.

[darrenm2001]

Tried that, emptied all trash but the "unseen" files persist, they just keep reappearing! Guess I have to get used to scrolling down through the "greyed" fake MP3 files in each album to get to the playable files.

Next time I visit a friend with a PC I will see if I can delete the unwanted files on that.

I'm a Mac user who has had Skodas with the Bolero unit so I'm well versed in what you need to do with an SD card on a Mac! You need to:

1. Stop the Mac from indexing the card as this is the thing that creates all the 'fake' files with the dot at the start of them.

2. Stop the trashcan from working, i.e. files get deleted instantly, not stay in the trash using up space. This is an optional but handy step.

3. Run a command from Terminal that deletes all of the 'dot' files.

All of the above things are done in the Terminal. If I can find them on the web tonight I'll post them here, otherwise it will have to wait until Sunday when I get home and look through my files for the information.

[KBPhoto]

The Bolero works with FAT32 format from what I read in the manual, I have no idea about formatting in this way on a mac though sorry.

Finder > Applications > Utilities > Disk utility

Select the memory card > Erase (tab) > Volume Format (MS-DOS) > Erase (Button)

That will format it to FAT32 ready for Bolumbus.

[ejstubbs]

I have a Mac and I regularly copy tracks from iTunes on to an SD card to play on my Bolero (I drag and drop straight from the iTunes track listing on to the card, I don't navigate to the actual .mp3 files in the Finder). I'm struggling to understand what the actual issue is with the "." prefixed sidecar files that OS X puts on the FAT32-formatted SD card. Yes, they get scanned when you put the card in the slot but as far as I can see that's the last you see of them. They don't appear in the track listing on the MFD, and they Bolero doesn't try to play them.

Or am I missing something?

[darrenm2001]

As promised, here's how to make your SD card more Bolero/Amundsen+ friendly when using a Mac.

Start the Terminal which can be found at: Applications / Utilities / Terminal

For the purposes of these instructions our SD card is called 'barney'.

Type: cd /volumes/barney (and press Enter). You will see something similar to the following:

[computer name]:BARNEY [username$]

We'll start by removing all of the hidden folders:

Type: rm -dr .* (Enter)

You may get the following message: rm: "." and ".." may not be removed

And: override rwxrwxrwx [username]/staff hidden for ._.Trashes?

Type y and press Enter

You may see the following: rm: ._.Trashes: No such file or directory

Just ignore it.

Now type: touch .Trashes (Enter)

And then: touch .metadata_never_index (Enter)

Followed by: mkdir .fseventsd (Enter)

Finishing with: touch .fseventsd/no_log (Enter)

What you've just done is create a file called .Trashes which stops the trashcan from working on the SD card. The next line stops the Mac from trying to index the SD card (creating all of these hidden files in the first place). We then create a directory which is related to the file system events log. The final bit stops the Mac from actually filling this directory with these log events.

You'll still be left with some detritus. To dump all of the .DS_Store files (you'll find one in every directory) do this:

Type: sudo find /volumes/barney -name ".DS_Store" -depth -exec rm {} \; (Enter)

You will be asked for your login password so type in now and the .DS_Store files will disappear.

Type: sudo find /volumes/barney -name "._*" -depth -exec rm {} \; (Enter)

This line deletes all files that start with a dot underscore. You may be asked to enter your user password again.

Finally we need to use the dot_clean command to remove all of the ._xxxxxx files which is the whole point of this thread. I think the line above deletes them all but use the following command too just to make sure.

Type: dot_clean -mn /volumes/barney (Enter)

Now I couldn't actually find any of these files on my SD card to try this out on but hopefully I've got the syntax of this command right. It can't do any harm if I've got it wrong so don't panic.

Once you've done all of this quit the Terminal.

Edited 16 September, 2012 by darrenm2001

[Expatman]

As promised, here's how to make your SD card more Bolero/Amundsen+ friendly when using a Mac.

Start the Terminal which can be found at: Applications / Utilities / Terminal

For the purposes of these instructions our SD card is called 'barney'.

Type: cd /volumes/barney (and press Enter). You will see something similar to the following:

[computer name]:BARNEY [username$]

We'll start by removing all of the hidden folders:

Type: rm -dr .* (Enter)

You may get the following message: rm: "." and ".." may not be removed

And: override rwxrwxrwx [username]/staff hidden for ._.Trashes?

Type y and press Enter

You may see the following: rm: ._.Trashes: No such file or directory

Just ignore it.

Now type: touch .Trashes (Enter)

And then: touch .metadata_never_index (Enter)

Followed by: mkdir .fseventsd (Enter)

Finishing with: touch .fseventsd/no_log (Enter)

What you've just done is create a file called .Trashes which stops the trashcan from working on the SD card. The next line stops the Mac from trying to index the SD card (creating all of these hidden files in the first place). We then create a directory which is related to the file system events log. The final bit stops the Mac from actually filling this directory with these log events.

You'll still be left with some detritus. To dump all of the .DS_Store files (you'll find one in every directory) do this:

Type: sudo find /volumes/barney -name ".DS_Store" -depth -exec rm {} \; (Enter)

You will be asked for your login password so type in now and the .DS_Store files will disappear.

Finally we need to use the dot_clean command to remove all of the ._xxxxxx files which is the whole point of this thread.

Type: dot_clean /volumes/barney (Enter)

Now I couldn't actually find any of these files on my SD card to try this out on but hopefully I've got the syntax of this command right. It can't do any harm if I've got it wrong so don't panic.

Once you've done all of this quit the Terminal.

Thanks for your comprehensive instructions, I will try it and let you know what happens!!

[KBPhoto]

I've just run through this comprehensive set of instructions that darrenm2001 posted earlier and can now feedback that it kind of works...

While no new ._* files seem to be being created, it hasn't removed any of the existing ones.

At this point:

Type: rm -dr .* (Enter)

You may get the following message: rm: "." and ".." may not be removed

And: override rwxrwxrwx [username]/staff hidden for ._.Trashes?

Type y and press Enter

You may see the following: rm: ._.Trashes: No such file or directory

I got the first error message, but not the second or third and I didn't have to type 'y' and press enter. Reading the instructions, I don't think that this is an issue.

Where did I (or the instructions) go wrong with clearing out the existing ._* files?

[darrenm2001]

I've just run through this comprehensive set of instructions that darrenm2001 posted earlier and can now feedback that it kind of works...

While no new ._* files seem to be being created, it hasn't removed any of the existing ones.

At this point:

I got the first error message, but not the second or third and I didn't have to type 'y' and press enter. Reading the instructions, I don't think that this is an issue.

Where did I (or the instructions) go wrong with clearing out the existing ._* files?

Nothing wrong with what you've done, just needs an extra command to shift those stubborn stains, er, files...

Type: sudo find /volumes/barney -name "._*" -depth -exec rm {} \; (Enter)

As before, this example assumes your SD card is named barney - change it to whatever your SD card is called. If your name has a space in it, e.g. BOLERO MUSIC, you will have to enclose the "/volumes/bolero music" in double quotes, as shown.

This line deletes all files that start with a dot then underscore. You may be asked to enter your user password again.

I don't think I got the dot_clean command quite right either - I wasn't sure at the time. Please try this instead:

Type: dot_clean -mn /volumes/barney (Enter)

If this doesn't get got shot them please let me know. My iTunes collection and SD cards seem oddly free of these dot files which makes these instructions difficult to write! However, I'm confident this will remove them once and for all. I will edit my original post to reflect these extra commands.

Edited 15 September, 2012 by darrenm2001

[KBPhoto]

Thanks for the update and I appreciate your efforts, but I've tried it again and it still doesn't clean the ".*" files from the SD card!

I tried just the new commands initially, then went back to the beginning and followed your modified instructions adding the new "sudo" command after the one you initially suggested.

All the ".*" files are still there...

Any other ideas?

If I were to try this on a USB hard drive that I use on a Mac and a PC, would I need to make any changes to the commands? (e.g. would the "mkdir .fseventsd" need to be changed as it is not an SD card (the last two letters) or does this have nothing to do with it being an SD card?)

Thanks.

[darrenm2001]

Thanks for the update and I appreciate your efforts, but I've tried it again and it still doesn't clean the ".*" files from the SD card!

I tried just the new commands initially, then went back to the beginning and followed your modified instructions adding the new "sudo" command after the one you initially suggested.

All the ".*" files are still there...

Any other ideas?

If I were to try this on a USB hard drive that I use on a Mac and a PC, would I need to make any changes to the commands? (e.g. would the "mkdir .fseventsd" need to be changed as it is not an SD card (the last two letters) or does this have nothing to do with it being an SD card?)

Thanks.

Ooh, I'm not letting this beat me!

Please can you give me a couple of examples of exactly what the filename looks like,

e.g. .01 Song or ._01 Song or whatever they're showing as (including any extension, e.g. .mp3). I've got shot of these before on my brother's hard disk so it can be done.

My Yeti should only be a week away from collection now so I've got to get it to work!

With regard to whether you need to change this if you're using a hard disk instead of SD card the answer is no, it's identical. I believe 'fseventsd' actually stands for 'File System EVENTS Directory' - the fact the last two letters are SD is just a red herring but I can see your thinking here.

[KBPhoto]

I too could give in and just use the PC to clean it all off manually before putting it in the car...

But what would we all learn by doing that?

I appreciate your patience and assistance.

The files all begin with "._" so a full file name, for example, would be "._01 Room On The Broom.mp3" and are normally 'hidden' in a Windows environment (simply unseen on a Mac).

The files I'm currently looking at are all (on the SD card) located in a sub-directory (if that make any difference). The ones I have been looking at are all children's songs and stories so are in a folder "Childen's" > "Room On The Broom And Other Songs".

On the SD card there is also a ".Spotlight-V100" and a ".Trashes" folder 'hidden' when I look at it on the PC (although these do not get seen on the Columbus) as well as a "._.Trashes" file.

Glad to know that I could also use this on the hard drive (when we Identify what the issue I'm having is).

[darrenm2001]

I too could give in and just use the PC to clean it all off manually before putting it in the car...

But what would we all learn by doing that?

I appreciate your patience and assistance.

The files all begin with "._" so a full file name, for example, would be "._01 Room On The Broom.mp3" and are normally 'hidden' in a Windows environment (simply unseen on a Mac).

The files I'm currently looking at are all (on the SD card) located in a sub-directory (if that make any difference). The ones I have been looking at are all children's songs and stories so are in a folder "Childen's" > "Room On The Broom And Other Songs".

On the SD card there is also a ".Spotlight-V100" and a ".Trashes" folder 'hidden' when I look at it on the PC (although these do not get seen on the Columbus) as well as a "._.Trashes" file.

Glad to know that I could also use this on the hard drive (when we Identify what the issue I'm having is).

I'm really not sure what's going on here as I've followed my instructions to the letter and they work just fine. In the root of the SD card you should end up with the following:

A .Trashes file

A .metadata_never_index file

A .fseventsd folder

A no_log file within the .fseventsd folder

The folder(s) with your music in them

No dot files or dot underscore files apart from the ones shown above

Two questions:

Is the SD card write protected? (Check the little sliding tab on the card.)

Are you typing the commands exactly including all of the upper and lower case and specifically all of the random looking backslashes and semi colons on the two 'sudo find' commands for removing the .DS_Store and ._* files/folders?

Instead of having to keep taking the SD card to a PC there's a couple of ways you can show the hidden files on the Mac. For example, if we just wanted to see all of the files/folders (including the hidden ones) in the root of the SD card we'd do the following:

Type: cd /volumes/barney (Enter) - this puts us in the right place on the 'barney' SD card.

Type: ls -a (Enter) - the -a attribute makes the Mac show all of the files and folders, not just the visible ones.

For example, my SD card has a single folder called test.

If I just used the ls command all I'd see is the following:

test

If I use the ls -a command I get this instead:

. .Trashes .metadata_never_index

.. .fseventsd test

Another method is to get the Mac to show all of the hidden files across the whole filesystem:

Type: defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE (Enter)

Type: killall Finder (Enter)

This sets the Mac to show all files. The second command reloads the Finder which then makes the hidden files visible.

To hide them again do this follow the two commands above but change TRUE to FALSE.

I hope this helps.

Edited 16 September, 2012 by darrenm2001

[KBPhoto]

I'm really not sure what's going on here as I've followed my instructions to the letter and they work just fine.

Two questions:Is the SD card write protected? (Check the little sliding tab on the card.)

Are you typing the commands exactly including all of the upper and lower case and specifically all of the random looking backslashes and semi colons on the two 'sudo find' commands for removing the .DS_Store and ._* files/folders?

It's not write protected - worth asking though - and I can add or remove files from the card.

Yes, I am typing the commands exactly as you put them (including the ' \;' at the end - but not the (enter) bit). And I've tried about 8 or 9 times so far. (See attached screen shot).

I can't have typed it wrong every time!

Instead of having to keep taking the SD card to a PC there's a couple of ways you can show the hidden files on the Mac.

For example, if we just wanted to see all of the files/folders (including the hidden ones) in the root of the SD card we'd do the following:

Type: cd /volumes/barney (Enter) - this puts us in the right place on the 'barney' SD card.

Type: ls -a (Enter) - the -a attribute makes the Mac show all of the files and folders, not just the visible ones.

etc.

I hope this helps.

I'll give that a try but am confused as to why I can't get your main instructions to work...

[darrenm2001]

I had to ask about the write protection just in case - it's the IT support guy in me trying to look for the simple and complex solutions!

Many thanks for the screenshot - I can clearly see you are typing it exactly as I've shown (with the obvious change to the SD card name).

It's a shame you live in Herefordshire and not Hertfordshire as we could have met up as this is really beginning to bug me! I'm going to try my instructions on a different Mac tonight (and a different SD card) just to make sure it's not a fluke.