How to moves files back and forth from your Zune
I was getting irritated this morning with some of the limitations of my Zune device and came across this great blog. I found it very helpful for moving and backing up my media files. What I'm referring to is a registry hack. Very simple and works great.
Here's the original blog url by Adam Pash (http://www.lifehacker.com/software/zune/use-your-zune-as-a-portable-hard-drive-217010.php)
Here the registry hack
- Make sure your Zune is not plugged in and your Zune software isn't running
- Open regedit by going to the start menu and selecting "run". Then Type regedt32 and hit "OK"
- Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\ControlSet001\Enum\USB\
- Search for "PortableDeviceNameSpace". This should be contained in the Vid_####&Pid_####\########_-_########_-_########_-_########\Device Parameters within the above ...\USB\ The ##'s listed here will be numbers and letters specific to your Zune
Change the following values:
- EnableLegacySupport to 1
- PortableDeviceNameSpaceExcludeFromShell to 0
- ShowInShell to 1
- Plug in your Zune, and make sure the Zune Software starts up.
- At this point you can open up "My Computer" and browse your device, though it does NOT show up as a drive letter.
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Now you have a 30GB portable harddrive/media player. Very handy.
Remember to backup the above-mentioned registry keys before making any modifications or editing.
How-To Copy from the Zune
After the hack, you should be able to copy, transfer or download (or upload) files, musics, videos, songs and etc from Zune to your PC by drag and drop or copy and paste, just like when you're using an external portable hard disk. You will still be able to synchronize or sync through Zune Software too (this is still the way to copy files to Zune, see below).
Why can't I copy Copy to the Zune?
You can perform task to delete the files on Zune directly after patching. However, you cannot copy or transfer the files onto Zune directly. If you try to upload or send a file to Zune directly via My Computer or Windows Explorer, you will see this error message dialog: "Cannot Copy File - could not be placed on the device. You do not have permission to create this item." It will look something like this:
How-To Copy to the Zune
To copy or transfer or upload files to the Zune, you have the use the following trick. Either you sync your files to the Zune by using Zune software, or you can sync large file, and half way into the process, shut down the Zune software. In this case, the relationship between PC and Zune player will always stay in 'sync' mode, and you can now copy or transfer over as much files as you want.
Here's how:
First, start Zune and initiate a long transfer
Kill the zune process in Process Explorer, if you have it, or Task Manager
Now you can copy files to your Zune using Windows Explorer. (notice I copied a Word 2007 doc called iPhone.docx to the Zune).
You can continue to copy files over, until you open Zune player again and the sync is stopped or completed.
References:
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2006/12/24/enable-copy-and-transfer-of-data-with-zune-to-use-as-portable-hard-disk/
http://phaleux.com/?p=8
http://www.lifehacker.com/software/zune/use-your-zune-as-a-portable-hard-drive-217010.php)