SOLVED! The firmware on my Clip Sport Go was 1.04. I updated to 1.05 and that fixed everything. I dropped the upgrade file (archived here for safekeeping) onto the player (from Windows), let it upgrade, then formatted it from within the player (not sure that was necessary), and now it’s auto-mounted on linux and works perfectly!

I picked up a SanDisk Clip Sport Go and it does not want to mount in linux. I tried it on my Windows 10 laptop and it mounts as a drive just fine. Transferred music over, everything is great. On Linux Mint 20.3 (Una) here is what happens…
When I plug it in, after a LONG time (30s? 1 minute?) I eventually hear the “device connected” sound, but nothing mounts. If I then opened the Disks application I could see it there, but there is no option to mount it. From what I figured out, the first partition is the firmware, the second is for storage and this larger storage partition is what gets mounted to transfer files.

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I picked this up on ebay (for $22.80 delivered) on a whim. I had never heard of it before, but it has a (upgradeable?) microdrive and had a great 50s/60s retro scifi look to it. It was still sealed and had a list price on the box of $150. Despite the 2004 date on it, the battery actually charged and worked! Amazing. It uses a USB mini cable to transfer and a separate 5V DC charger for charging.
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This is more for me than anyone else…

• iRiver HD10: Crap and Brushed Metal 2.0
• Sansa Clip: Cliplined
• Sansa Clip Zip: Cleanscreen-HighContrast, FuzzyLogic, and Doppelgaenger
• Sansa e200: lebellium Samsung-like
• Sansa Fuze: iLike, Interbellium, minimal_retro, Strict Fuze, ThinMod
• Sansa Fuze+: munchie and Orbit

I picked this up for $10 from FB marketplace. It’s in fantastic condition and came with the AC adapter and a case. But… the battery only was lasting about 30 minutes. So, I decided to see if I could replace it. This is one of the easiest -players to open – all screws are visible and easy to get to.

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I previously showed how I upgraded a ZIF Creative Vision:M to use microSD. This time I have an IDE version, not ZIF. I couldn’t find any good info on upgrading the IDE version so I thought I’d document it here.

Parts needed:

• $8 NFHK CF Compact Flash Memory Card to 50pin 1.8 Inch IDE Hard Drive SSD Converter Adapter
• $13 QUMOX Dual Port CF Adapter Reader for microsdXC TF to Compact Flash CF Type 1 Memory Card
• $12 Amazon Basics 128GB microSD card I used Amazon Basics, but any good card should work.
• $16 Cameron Sino Rechargeble Battery for Creative Zen Vision M

So for about $50 you give your Creative Vision:M a new battery and upgraded microSD storage.

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