Some members have reported having problems removing the hack from bogus memory chips. I have been experimenting with TestDisk to find an easier way to restore the chips correct size. Please read the guide completely before starting so that you understand the full process.

Using TestDisk you can delete the partition table completely and then create a new partition with Windows Disk manager. In over 20 tests on 5 different players the firmware remained intact. I have had no problems with this process but as all my players are legit I have not tested the process on a hacked chip so feedback would be appreciated.

You can download TestDisk HERE


Run TestDisk and select your player from the drives listed.
"BE VERY SURE YOU HAVE SELECTED THE RIGHT DRIVE BEFORE PROCEEDING. I ACCEPT NO RESPONSIBILITY IF YOU DELETE THE WRONG PARTITION BY MISTAKE"



Select the partition table type



Select the delete option



Press Y to confirm



Then Y to reconfirm



Then select OK and exit TestDisk



Disconnect your player then reconnect it. Now when you try to access your player Windows will give the following message.



After deleting the partition and reconnecting the player open the Disk Tool and go to the Partition Encrypt tab. Move the slider all the way right then back all the way left and press the start button.



This will create a new partiton on your player and then format the drive and the hack should be removed and your chip reading the correct size.


Revised 12\10\2006

the correct link to download TestDisk is Here

OOOP's thanks ok1

You are wellcome tadad1 thanks for my new name!

You put the link for TestDisk 6.4 and i put the link for TestDisk 6.3!

Here is the link for TestDisk 6.5 WIP for people wanna download it.
theses links are all for windows NT/XP/2000/2003

For other peple who want TestDisk for other systemes ( Linux, Mac OS X,....etc) you can get it from Here

Hello,

This tiny tool is amazing and free!
BTW, tested against my fake 4GB that is a 512 Mb Ram and here are results...

Before following the above advice, it was stating 474 MB, after the use of this tool it states... 470 MB... :/

Have any other people had encountered same problem or is it normal ?

Thanks

Gerome, The player locks off a certain amount of space for the firmware but the fact that you lost 4MB is interesting, I have not had this problem. Did you format the chip in fat or fat32?

Gerome, Could you do me a favour and use TestDisk to delete the partition again. unplug then reconnect the player, then open the MP3 Player Disk Tool and set it to do a Low Level format and tell me what results you get.

Thankyou.

Hi!
I tried this tool on a normal flash memory ( simple 128 Mb flash memory ) , well it works good but i had the same probleme as Gerome its when i formatted it usin FAT32, but its fixed when i used FAT , no chrged space its 0 Mb, but the memory volum its about 125 Mb, i think that 3 Mb is for the Boot sector!

ok1, I think you may be right. Fat32 seems to consume more space.

Hello,

tadad1 wrote (View Post): › Gerome, Could you do me a favour and use TestDisk to delete the partition again. unplug then reconnect the player, then open the MP3 Player Disk Tool and set it to do a Low Level format and tell me what results you get. Thankyou.

I followed your path and then after partition deletion + unplug + replug my player, opened the MP3 Player Disk Tool i could not format it to low level 'Unable to format encypted...' messagebox error...
So I've been obliged to follow the entire description at the top of this topic, recreate a FAT partition and low level formatting it via MP3 Player Disk Tool, but it recognized it as a 470 Mb capacity this time... versus 474 MB before...
Is is normal ?

Gerome, There are a couple of reasons why this could be happening. Either your previous partition table had errors and the size was misread or the new partition table and bootsector are using more disk space. I have noticed that when I use Windows to Partition a harddrive it will leave a small amount unpartitioned. I will see if I can find a way to fix this. Thankyou for helping with the test though.

Gerome, I have repeated the process to delete the partition but then instead of partitioning it with Windows I have used the MP3 Player Disk Tool to add the new partition. After deleting the partition and reconnecting the player open the Disk Tool and go to the Partition Encrypt tab. Move the slider all the way right then back all the way left and press the start button.



Before doing this my player read as 2,039,545,856 bytes after it read as 2,045,247,488 bytes an extra 5 MB so I would say the problem has to do with Windows inefficient partitioning method. Can you try it and let me know if this recovers your 4MB?

Thanks Gerome.

Well my player was buggered anyways so I figured I would give this a shot before I returned it. It was supose to be 8GB and turned out to be 1GB. You can get more info on what player I had as well as pics at http://www.mympxplayer.org/viewtopic.php?p=10432#10432

Hello,

tadad1 wrote (View Post): › Can you try it and let me know if this recovers your 4MB? Thanks Gerome.

No
BTW, i wouls know if it is possible to find a tool that would recover or redo the MBR as it has be written but i think it'll be difficult to find sucha tool... :/

Hi!
I olso owned a 4GB Player, wich turned out to be an 512 MB one .

I ran testdisk on Ubuntu/Linux, but the hack was not removed, before i used the option
[ MBR Code ] Write TestDisk MBR code to first sector

After that I formated with "gparted" and there were 470MB left!
Tomorrow I will call my seller

xandl12