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I had two PCs. One of them was the one I was syncing my phone with, but I've disassembled it. I've enabled syncing on the other one, but all music+videos+pictures from the old relationship are marked as "reserved space and other content".

Is there a way to make Zune distinguish data types again, without reuploading everything?

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I don't this can be done in Zune itself, I see no option that does this anywhere. Actual fixing could require root access to the device to resolve the wrong metadata. A simply attempt could be to get your computer name to be the same as the other computer, if Microsoft wasn't smart enough to take something more unique. I feel like it's faster to copy some GB than jumping through hurdles that might or might not work... – Tom Wijsman Apr 25 '12 at 15:37
I know, I've done that before (I reinstall Windows relatively often), but in addition to media files the old reserved space (5% by default) is included there too. In my case that would be ~800 MB down the drain (luckily, I always turn it off). – Olegs Jeremejevs Apr 25 '12 at 15:44

4 Answers

up vote 2 down vote accepted

If you still have access to the data from the old PC you can manually copy over the app data folder for Zune from the old PC to the new PC and Zune should then recognize the phone from its previous sync relationship. I've done this myself when I repaved my old system and wanted to keep song ratings album image data intact.

  1. Go to "C:\Users\{account name}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\" and you should see a Zune folder. Copy the entire folder somewhere where you can access it from the new PC (network share, usb drive, cloud service such as SkyDrive etc.) as you'll be coping it over there. Don't forget to replace {account name} with your actual Windows user account name

  2. On the new PC go to this same exact spot "C:\Users\{account name}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\", again making sure to replace {account name} with your actual Windows account name, and copy over the Zune folder from the old PC.

  3. Restart Zune and reconnect your phone. Zune should now recognize your phone from it's previous sync relationship and your done.

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up vote 4 down vote

No, since this is stored locally on your disassembled PC. But you need to connect your phone to the new PC and make sure you are connected as guest. Drag the items to the sync tab and press the sync button.

Or... reassamble your old PC and hit the "forget this phone" button on the old PC Zune instance: Zune settings phone

Then connect to your new PC and do as you usually do.

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Well, my old HDD is formatted, but I have a backup of the AppData folder. I'll try to merge it with an existing one and see what happens. – Olegs Jeremejevs Apr 25 '12 at 17:39
I hope it works! Good Luck! – Benny Skogberg Apr 25 '12 at 17:46
No luck. After that I tried to open the ZuneStore.sdf, but the SQL Server 2008 R2 Management Studio gave me a "the parameter is not valid". – Olegs Jeremejevs Apr 25 '12 at 23:59
1  
So what are you supposed to do if your laptop gets stolen, for example? – paradroid Apr 28 '12 at 8:01
@paradroid Good Question. I'll see if I can find an answer to that! BRB – Benny Skogberg Apr 28 '12 at 8:41
up vote 0 down vote

You can reset the certificates Zune issues to a device. In your circumstance you didnt have the opportunity to "forget this phone".

So here is a link that will show you how to get new certificates for the device you are moving to a new pc. http://www.governor.co.uk/news-plus-views/2011/3/29/zune-can't-connect-to-your-phone-disconnect-it,-restart-it,-then-try-connecting-again

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I don't think this is my issue. I can connect my phone, Zune successfully recognizes it and lets me sync anything I want in any way I desire. – Olegs Jeremejevs Apr 25 '12 at 21:49
up vote 0 down vote

In the past I've done it as simply as:

  1. Install Zune on the new computer,
  2. Plug the phone in (and let it get recognised as a guest).
  3. Click [Change sync relationship]
  4. Work through the wizard.
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