MicroSD card with no serial number - folders show 'off-line'.

[loweskid]

I have my music collection on three MicroSD cards - 2x 64gb and 1x 128gb, all Sandisk.  No problems with the 64s but the 128gb shows the folders off-line even when the card is inserted into the card reader (built into my monitor).

See image - the left side is Windows Explorer showing the card inserted.  The right side shows iMatch folder view.  iMatch is recognising the files and folders and everything works as it should - hovering the cursor over the folder shows the jpeg icon and I can play the files through iMatch.

The 'problem' is that I can't get rid of the 'off-line' icon.  I think this may be caused by the fact that the MicroSD card doesn't appear to have a serial number.  The other two cards show an 8 digit serial number in 2 groups of 4 separated by a hyphen but this card just shows 0-0.  I've tried re-scanning and closing/reopening the database but it made no difference.

So, just a couple of quick questions -

Is there a way to force iMatch to show the correct icon?  I've checked the help file - can't find anything.
Does the lack of a serial number on the card indicate that I might have a counterfeit?

This isn't important as everything else works as it should and I don't really need these cards in the database, but it's just mildly annoying.

[Carlo Didier]

The "serial number" you see is actually a volume id written by Windows when you format it. The fact that there is none may simply mean that the card has not been formatted by Windows (or any other device/software that generates such an id). You may write an ID to it with this tool (any correctly formated ID you wish, but it should not be the same as any other drive(s) you use): https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/volumeid

[Mario]

Have you just tried to relocate the drive? IMatch compares the serial number with whatever is stored in the database. If there is no serial number (which I have never seen before, this is usually required) IMatch should pick up the empty serial number just fine. Windows returns the serial number as a number and an "empty" number is impossible. So the 0-0 seems about right...

[loweskid]

Problem solved - Carlo gave me the clue.

I didn't realise that Windows created the serial number and I had formatted this card with the music player (Fii0 x3) which has its own format command, so I guessed this was the problem.  To confirm it, I formatted a spare card in the Fii0, copied one MP3 file onto it, imported it into iMatch and indeed it showed just the 0-0 serial number.  I then reformatted it in Windows and tried the relocate command but it froze with the 'relocating' message on screen.  I left it for about 5 minutes before I killed it.

So I used the volumeid utility that Carlo linked to and gave the 128gb card a random serial number then let iMatch rescan it.  That solved the problem.

I must remember to format the cards with Windows in future.

Thanks to Carlo and Mario.

[Mario]

Good to hear that you've got it solved.

But relocating is usually done in a few seconds. If this stalls for an extended amount of time, IMatch is probably hanging in some sort of file system function call...without the log file from that session we'll never know more...

[loweskid]

I didn't want you to waste your time on such an obscure problem but I suspect you are a perfectionist... , so I've reproduced the problem with the spare card and attached the log file.  To recap...

Formatted the card in the Fii0 x3 and copied one MP3 file onto it.
Imported the card into IMatch, which displays it as 'X3 [0-0]'.  Folder shows as 'off-line' but the file itself shows as on-line and it plays through iMatch.
Closed the database.
Used the volumeid utility and gave it the serial number 1234-5678
Opened the database.
Used the relocate command - iMatch hung.  The attached image shows the situation after about 3 or 4 minutes.
Forced closedown of IMatch.  Log file attached (debugging mode).

[Mario]

Looks like IMatch hangs in a database call for whatever reason.
Probably not worth the time...may only ever happen on your PC and with your file system...

[loweskid]

Probably not worth the time...may only ever happen on your PC and with your file system...

Agreed...