SD card weirdness - General Topics

Hey all
I just bought an SD card from eBay and I'm suspicious that it's an original Sandisk card... My first concern was about the box being decidedly homemade looking (and the card itself wasn't in any vacuum sealed container either) - but now I find I'm having trouble with it as well.
I couldn't find out what size SD cards are supported by my XDA2i so I just went ahead and bought a 1GB one. However, if I transfer around 512MB onto it - it then informs me that the card is 'full'? But when it's formatted and clean, it shows free space as 998MB... What is going on???
Any help is very much appreciated thank you.
Paul

1024mb unformatted, around 998mb formatted is about right.
I have a branded SanDisk 1gb card, and it's fine, there's no difference in file transfer speeds or use than with my high speed PNY 1gb card.

Although thinking about this more, I have read a few reports of counterfeit flash ram chips that report one size, when they are in fact much smaller.
It's apparently been reported on ebay many times where people have bought 2gb usb flash drives, and they are in fact 128mb, even though Windows reports 2gb.
Maybe you should see if you can get a refund?

Is there any way to check to see if the card has been tampered with in any way? It doesn't matter what I do with it, it continually reports being a 1GB card until I put up to 512MB on it and then it claims free space only up to 512MB?
Paul

Incorretct SD sizes??
What file system have you formetted the SD card as?
What size files are you putting on there?
Remember that there is always a lot of wasted space when using small files...

i've tried two 1 Gig SD cards in my XDA 2i now and both of them have the same thing go wrong with them
Seems the 2i doesnt support 1 gig cards properly and sometimes (especially when transfering large files) stop functioning and/or slow down to crawlspeeds.
Alot of the time mine has reported being full even though it isnt. Eject it then insert it again to fix it but the transfer will be rejected.
The only reliable way round it is to transfer smaller files, try Zip'ing the files into smaller chunks ?

I have a pcmcia 1 gig card, its an ata flash type, it used to give me the gig storage until i formatted it on an ipaq, now i can only get 512meg, nothing i do can fix it.

I've formatted it as FAT and I've transfered 56Meg of ScummVM stuff onto it, the rest are large 3ivx files (which are between 50 and 150Meg each). Thing is that I also have a Dazzle card reader which gives the same results? Mind you that's quite old now I guess...
Paul

Related

SD cards of doom

hi all i have 12 XDA 2 under the Qtek brand. And i have had stupid amounts of issues with sd cards. i have gone though over 30 of em.
im using the latest firmwares and im usign them for tomtom 3.09 and email attachments.
but i keep getting the SD cards dying. do most users find this normal?
i had a sandisk 256MB with my xda1 and that never gave any problems but were a bit slow
with my xda2 i had a 128MB sandisk card also slow
now i have a kingston 512 elite pro and it's fast and ok
never had a sd card die in any device
but sd cards have limited writes before they die but they have 1000's of writes before that
i have had many SD cards varing from dane elec. Viking. and kingston.
all of these are 512k and not (hi speed) just standard. but i hav e had to send so many back for completly dying. my supplier thinks i eat them or something
odd maybe there is something wrong with your xda so it gives them too much power or something
you mean 512MB right ?
Try Kingston. Mines a 256mb and I haven't had any problems at all. TomTom is fast (both version 3 & 5) and never had any die on me
I've also had a 256MB Kingston, which has been faithful in my XDA 2i.
I thought ok, time to get bigger, so put in a 1GB Toshiba, followed by a 512MB Toshiba.
Both of which are now DEAD!
90 quid, Mwaa... Bye bye!
I tend to agree with RudeGar - I would imagine that the HTC manufacturers didn't want the extra cost of a variable regulator to power the SD card, so if it negotiates a lower voltage, they are not able to supply it...
Linux just reports "block read error" when trying to access a dead card, Windoze hangs!
Anyone found a way around this problem?
Cheers,
Richard.
My 256 meg sd card today passed away, it was a viking I think and it contained my tomtom program and maps. I am glad it didnt happen while travelling as I get lost easily, anyway it has now gone to silicone heaven and I am heartbroken.
Anybody got a any cheap replacements :?:
My Kingston 256 MB is OK too, but now I'm very leery of upgrading to higher capacity... :?
yess it is
oh yes it is
dunno if this will help anyone, but i started with a regular sandisk 128mb, then upgraded to a sandisk ultra II 256, then a kingmax (not kingston!) platinum 512mb, then now a toshiba 1gb. All this on my xda2.
all have been fine except one time where i had a problem with the kingmax platinum, but i suspect that was because i dumped it in a card reader, and did some major transferring in and out of large files (movies, etc). Soon it would show a greatly reduced capacity in both my xda and card reader. Got cnetx's flash format, fixed & formatted it, and now it's fine, though i've since moved it to my digicam, and now use the toshiba 1gb.
I had a Toshiba 512 SD which completely died within a week now I have a Kingston 512 MMC+ had it a month and still going strong and very fast.
sd cards...
Hi all, I've got a maxell 128mb and a Panasonic pro high speed 512mb. My Maxell gave me a bit of a scare when i had my Xda2. All my data was wiped off !!! I inserted the card the one day and it was as empty as the day it was born. Took it back to Dixons and that was not much help. They said i can send it away to try and retrieve my lost data.
I cut my losses and formatted the card on my PC. No probs since
I am now using both cards in my xda2i and i've had no data loss.(touch wood)
I have been using 128 and 256 Ridata cards for 3 years without any problems. Also I have used a 512 Astone for the past 9 months for movies also without incident.
I always keep my spare ones inside a case and don't expose them to direct sunlight. They may be tough critters but you can damage them if they are mistreated.
MMC or SD
I have an XDA IIi (Well the Qtek version of it) and am going to get a memory card in the order of 512Mb for it. There seems theres been a lot of bother been had with the SD cards. Has anyone had any problem eith MMC's? Are there any disadvantages to using MMC cards (speed etc)? Can anyone reccomend a cheap SD card at this size that they have had no problem with? Cheers
Tom

Mini sd 4gb

Hello, I've seen on Ebay a minisd of 4gb.
Is it compatible with Treo 750v? Anyone has tried it?
Hey,
Ive tried one in the XDA mini S it works in mine, but doenst work in my dads? think its something to do witht he contact length on the actual mini sd card, the longer the better. BUY A WELL KNOWN BRAND!
Actually I believe it has to do with the either the operating system's or hardware's ability to address 32bit file allocation tables. 16bit FATs only address (under normal circumstances) 2GB volumes. I believe official SD specifications require any hardware requiring more than 2GB to be SDHC (SD High Capacity) wich addresses volumes differently than none SDHC hardware/cards.
So in short, without having first hand experience to try it, I do not believe 4GB cards will work on the Treo. I'm sure, however, that someone will quickly come along and correct me if I'm wrong ;-)
I found this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=289848&highlight=sdhc and then found one on eBay from the link on that page. I won my bid and just paid for it. I should receive it within two weeks, at which time I will try to get back on here and let everyone know if it works for me.
My phone is actually a (UT Starcom) Audiovox PPC 6700 from Sprint, but I would guess that there isn't much difference pertaining to the miniSD driver and what it can/can't read. Also, I can't see WM5 having trouble with the FAT32 file system, but I could be wrong. You *can* format FAT16 up to 4GB, but it is HIGHLY inefficient compared to FAT32 at the same size.
I just hope MS releases a driver for SDHC support soon. After all, miniSD still uses the SD driver. The only difference is physical dimensions, hence why you can put a miniSD card into the SD adapter and it works in SD card readers. The pin-out is the same, etc.
Here's hoping all works well for me. I want to be able to ditch my iPod and only carry my phone.
I have not formatted a memory card with FAT 32. I do not know how WM5 will handle FAT 32 but I know that SDHC has more to do with addressing memory than simply FAT structure. There are hardware differences between SDHC and non-SDHC.
The physical similarities between the SD cards will not make up for the fact that they are internally different. Just like a CD will play in a DVD player but not vice versa. An SD card will work in an SDHC slot but not vice versa.
4GB SD cards do exist but do not fall within legitimate*SD card standards. They may or may not work based on the card manufacturer, the host device, and the direction of the wind. Keep your fingers crossed and your receipts handy.
main question open again
So coming back to the main question,
has anyone tried the 4GB miniSD card (they are all HC, FAT32 formatted) on Treo 750?
I am waiting to decide whether to buy a 2GB or go for the 4GB and come to the same capacity level as the iPhone (4GB version!).
thanks
Phal
4GB miniSD cards and the Treo 750
I've got a 750v -- had it for several months. I was using a Transcend 2GB 80x miniSD card that worked just great. No issues with "disappearing", pretty fast read/write, etc.
I wanted a 4GB card so decided I would try a SDHC card from Transcend. It does not work in the Treo 750v. Works fine in my newest PC card reader, but no-go on the Treo. Figured as much, but wanted to try.
Then I bought another 4GB card (non-HC) from eBay that was branded Topram. It suffered the issue of not being able to see the card on the Treo without doing a soft-reset first, and it was very slow in writing to it -- like 1-2MB/sec from a USB 2.0 card reader. Didn't much care for that.
Just recently bought yet another 4GB card (again non-HC) from eBay. It was a generic card. I'm getting 3MB/sec write speed from my PC card reader, which is slower than my original 2GB Transcend 80x card, but not as bad as the Topram card. On the Treo itself, it's read speed is about the same as with the 80x Transcend 2GB card, which was pretty good. Overall the Treo feels about the same with the 4GB card versus the 2GB card installed, in terms of launching Tomtom or playing MP3s.
It also does not suffer any "disappearing" or the need to soft-reset the Treo to recognize the card. I've ejected it many times and put it back it, and have never had any issues with this. I'm going to stick with this card for now, as it seems fast enough and isn't causing me any grief.
This card is shown here: http://cgi.ebay.com/4GB-MINI-SD-SEC...QtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem?hash=item110080023472
So, that's my (long winded) story on 4GB miniSD cards and the Treo 750v.
Mark
Peteshoard said:
Hey,
Ive tried one in the XDA mini S it works in mine, but doenst work in my dads? think its something to do witht he contact length on the actual mini sd card, the longer the better. BUY A WELL KNOWN BRAND!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just bought a 4GB mini SD from MobyMemory.com for my O2 XDA mini S. The first card would not register at all with the device. I sent it back and the replacement now at least registers (as 4GB) but after loading any sort of volume of data on the card/device it locks the PPC up!
What BRAND of 4GB mini SD card did you get working with your "XDA mini S" (and did you have any problems once you'd actually started using it to store anything over a few MB)?
Tresend 4gb mini-SD card doesn't work with Treo 750...
stay away from ebay when buying memory(card, flash drive, etc...)
90% of them are fake. Although they might work just fine, chances are it'll crap out on u eventually.
WISH I WOULD OF FOUND THIS SITE EARLIER.
Yeah I just bought a transcend 4 GIG mini-sd for my TREO 750. IT makes the noise as the TREO recognizes it but it doesn't show up in file manager. I have formatted it with my USB SDHC card reader, I can only select FAT32, and it shows 3.75 GIG.
NO GO ON TREO 750 (CINGULAR)
-anyone have any ideas on how to get it to work?
-Keith
please email me
[email protected]

SD Card capacity

I've read 2 different things about how much memory the Captivate will see. Does anyone know for sure if it's 48 or 32 gigs?
I put my 32Gb Sandisk in my Captivate today...and it mounted ok, all 21Gb of installed music and movies on that card seemed to work fine, based on my random sampling.
Keep in mind that it makes a "fake" /sd directory in the root of the internal /sdcard, and that points to the external storage when using an Android file explorer like Astro. And also keep in mind that there's a lot of apps that just don't know about this directory, so they can't "see" the external storage.
Windows sees two distinct storage devices, however, as it should be.
It has build in internal 16GB (2GB of that is reserved for apps) rest 14GB is data for whatever, Plus whatever Micro SDHC card you will add.
16+16 SD = 32GB
16+32 SD = 48GB
I have put 16GB micro SDHC to it (32GB cards are to expensive) connected to windows i get two drive letters one for Internal 14GB Data partition and one for my own 16GB card.
Hope that helped you.
ghost77 said:
It has build in internal 16GB (2GB of that is reserved for apps) rest 14GB is data for whatever, Plus whatever Micro SDHC card you will add.
16+16 SD = 32GB
16+32 SD = 48GB
I have put 16GB micro SDHC to it (32GB cards are to expensive) connected to windows i get two drive letters one for Internal 14GB Data partition and one for my own 16GB card.
Hope that helped you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep the ATT site spec sheet says 32gb is supported by the phone. And from all appearances it does indeed seem to work with the phone just fine.
Now the real question. Who is going to tear apart the phone and replace the internal SD card (since I assume it's literally an internal microSD card as seen in other devices) with a 32 GB card and see if it can handle 32+32 GB.
AJerman said:
Now the real question. Who is going to tear apart the phone and replace the internal SD card (since I assume it's literally an internal microSD card as seen in other devices) with a 32 GB card and see if it can handle 32+32 GB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you seem like a willing volunteer
hmm if only i had two 32gb sd cards i would but they expensive
The real reason for replacing the internal SD card would be because it's so damn slow.
I agree with the slow part hence the mods to change the cache onto the external which speed up the phones.... any word on if the internal SD card is replaceable or not? If it is, that would be great news as its definately not as fast as a class 6 card and replacing it with one would definately speed things up.
tbae2 said:
you seem like a willing volunteer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
labbu63 said:
hmm if only i had two 32gb sd cards i would but they expensive
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha, exactly that. If I had the money for two 32 GB cards I'd try.
Edit Hmm... I saw a tear down of the Galaxy S and I didn't see an internal microSD card, so maybe it doesn't use a card like the Streak. Might be built in and unable to swap. Oh well!

32gb Micro SD card compatability

I have gone through three 32gb cards now and none seem to be working. I try to swap the contents of my 16gb card to the 32gb card and the data gets corrupted each time. The data on the 16gb card is fine and I can transfer it to my PC drive, thumb drive, and even a different 16gb sd card and view all the files with no problem. But everytime I try to transfer it to any of the 32gb cards the data gets corrupted and the transfer fails. I have formatted each card with the panasonic card format software (ver. 3) and it still doesnt work. I have tried different format options and I have even tried to format it with my EVO and still no go. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks,
The Xoom's SD card slot doesnt work on stock Android 3.0/3.1. If you rooted to get an OS with an operational card slot, it is possible that the root did not install correctly.
Didact74 said:
I have gone through three 32gb cards now and none seem to be working. I try to swap the contents of my 16gb card to the 32gb card and the data gets corrupted each time. The data on the 16gb card is fine and I can transfer it to my PC drive, thumb drive, and even a different 16gb sd card and view all the files with no problem. But everytime I try to transfer it to any of the 32gb cards the data gets corrupted and the transfer fails. I have formatted each card with the panasonic card format software (ver. 3) and it still doesnt work. I have tried different format options and I have even tried to format it with my EVO and still no go. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Trying to understand...you are saying that the file transfer has failed from 16gb to32gb when using PC to transfer...not a Xoom issue yet? Have you just put a few files on the 32gb card and checked it in the Xoom? It sounds like you've done everything right...are you sure the cards are good?
I am rooted and have been using the card slot for some time.
I have tried to transfer the files by several methods. PC -> Card, PC -> EVO, PC -> card reader, PC -> Xoom, and vise versa. Nothing worked. I have tried putting just a few files on and it seems to work, but when I try to put all the files (about 9gb's worth) the info starts to become corrupt. I suppose its possible that all three cards are bad, but I have to think the odds on that would have been pretty high. The first card was a class 10, the second and third cards were class 4.
Didact74 said:
I am rooted and have been using the card slot for some time.
I have tried to transfer the files by several methods. PC -> Card, PC -> EVO, PC -> card reader, PC -> Xoom, and vise versa. Nothing worked. I have tried putting just a few files on and it seems to work, but when I try to put all the files (about 9gb's worth) the info starts to become corrupt. I suppose its possible that all three cards are bad, but I have to think the odds on that would have been pretty high. The first card was a class 10, the second and third cards were class 4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope someone with experience with a 32gb card jumps on this...I've never used anything larger than 16gb. It just doesn't make sense-have you tried transfering smaller chunks of data at a time? Anyway, I hope you can resolve this...if you do, please share. Good luck!
It really does sound like faulty cards. Where are you getting them from? It's well known that sd cards bought from eBay or Amazon Marketplace are more than likely fake.
For example, I bought a 16GB card from a guy on eBay and was only able to transfer 2GB of data to it then the card corrupted. I later found out that people are re-badging smaller cards to look like bigger ones. They also spoof the size on the card itself so it reports as a larger card when plugged in but they only take up to their former capacity before corrupting.
All were bought from Ebay so that would make sense. Where do you suggest buying the card? My local chain stores do not carry anything larger than 16gb right now.
Yeah, hopefully you can get your money back for them. I did but it took a little nagging.
I buy mine from ebuyer.com but that's a UK site so if you're elsewhere maybe Amazon (direct from Amazon only tho as the Marketplace is just like eBay for fakes) or maybe Best Buy? Definitely go to a reputable dealer anyway.
Didact74 said:
All were bought from Ebay so that would make sense. Where do you suggest buying the card? My local chain stores do not carry anything larger than 16gb right now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I either buy mine locally, or NewEgg ONLY.
_ttp://www(.)newegg(.)com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007962%20600006209%20600006235&IsNodeId=1&name=32GB
Hope this helps!
Are you sure your computer isn't putting the usb to sleep while it's copying?

400GB Micro SD Card, unformatted size different in PC

Hi there, not sure if this is the right place to answer this question.
Gutted to know that the amount of storage lost on a 400GB Sandisk Card was close to about 32GB. Of the 400GB capacity, 366GB formatted was available to store files. I found this out by multiple people and by putting in the adapter to my computer. I also realised the read/write speeds were slow but acceptable and comfortable for normal use. Later, I put the SD card into my phone (Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus at the time) thinking it would work without an issue. Well, it did. In fact, it worked even better. Read speeds were close to the advertised amount at almost 100mbps and the write speed was just under 50mbps so I was happy. I also came to realise that the formatted capacity on my phone was showing as 394GB instead of the 366GB most people get on their computers.
I now move phone to the Razer Phone, as soon as I pop the SD card into the phone, it asks me that it needs formatting to a compatible format I believe as the 400GB capacity may have been too large or in the wrong file format. I haven't done so yet since there's about 25GB of files I want to keep (transferred from my previous 32GB card).
So I couldn't find the answers online for these two questions.
1) Why was the formatted size different on a computer, and on the Xiaomi?
2) If I were to format the SD card to a compatible format, I'd lose out on a lot of storage due to an unused partition. Correct?
Any responses are appreciated.
Thanks a lot

Categories

Resources