Database Info

Someone make this app

To Dev:
Make an app where it asks if you'd like to save apps/memory/cache/etc to your SD card. =\

We already have that in two forms...
LucidREM's version of JF
Just open up terminal emu and type:
su
copy.sh app
copy.sh data (if u want to move data/data to sd)
And we have Astro. You can back up your apps to the sd card...
Simple as that...
There isn't a script thhat moves Cache to SD, but it's still extremely easy.

It's funny to see someone barking orders at developers when they can't even be bothered to search or read.
If you can't do the research what makes you think someone is going to jump just because you demand it?

no
(filler filler)

APrinceAmongMen said:
There isn't a script thhat moves Cache to SD, but it's still extremely easy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually there is.
It's post on this forum somewhere, it's called transfer.sh

I saw THOSE posts but that's not exactly what I meant.

i'm guessing he wants an app that does the "run apps from sd card" hack

The Terminal commands
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=494187
And the Transfer.sh Script
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=471653

71CH said:
no
(filler filler)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol'd.
/agree

I think the OP wants a GUI to do it prettily, how about someone throw it together and put it up on the market, a fair price (hahahaha) would be $10. This might motivate the lazy folk who are terrified of the terminal to figure these rather simple processes out.
Honestly, with the scripts already written, all you have to do is enter a couple quick and easy commands into the terminal and bam! No problem.
It's one thing to ask for help doing something, it is quite another to ask someone to do all the work for you. Just my opinion.

the way i read the post seems like he wants to install apps BOTH on his sdcard and phone and have an app that can let him/her choose/select whether to install on sdcard or phone itself, not a awful question
but in my mind whats wrong with haviing ALL the apps on the sdcard, theres virtually no lag and you get more space on you phone
while on the sdcard app topic i got another question, only need a yes or no so i wont make a new thread:
- i have a 8gb card with 1gb ext2 and the rest fat32
- im am looking to buy a 16gb card and have a 2gb ext2
- can i copy paste all the files on the from ext2 to the other?
- do i need a memcard reader? because i dont see the ext partition when i mount my phone?

haitiankid4lyf said:
the way i read the post seems like he wants to install apps BOTH on his sdcard and phone and have an app that can let him/her choose/select whether to install on sdcard or phone itself, not a awful question
but in my mind whats wrong with haviing ALL the apps on the sdcard, theres virtually no lag and you get more space on you phone
while on the sdcard app topic i got another question, only need a yes or no so i wont make a new thread:
- i have a 8gb card with 1gb ext2 and the rest fat32
- im am looking to buy a 16gb card and have a 2gb ext2
- can i copy paste all the files on the from ext2 to the other?
- do i need a memcard reader? because i dont see the ext partition when i mount my phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Copying from one SD card to another should work. If not, just undo the apps-to-SD process by moving the files back to the phone (there should be instructions in this thread near the bottom) and re-do it with the other SD card.
I'm fairly certain you won't have to do the latter, though.
Depends- Are you on Windows?
If so, use a Live CD of Ubuntu to boot into (installing is optional), it will effectively allow you to view the ext2 partition (as Windows doesn't read ext2 partitions)
Good luck

haitiankid4lyf said:
while on the sdcard app topic i got another question, only need a yes or no so i wont make a new thread:
- i have a 8gb card with 1gb ext2 and the rest fat32
- im am looking to buy a 16gb card and have a 2gb ext2
- can i copy paste all the files on the from ext2 to the other?
- do i need a memcard reader? because i dont see the ext partition when i mount my phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you will need two things .. a card reader .. linux .. you can attempt to undo the apps to SD as stated but if you lack the space on the phone now you've run into a problem .. most people move apps to the SD because they lack space on the phone so trying to put them back will bring trouble
since many people have already touched on this i'll just direct you to the other thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=497275

Partitions, appstosd, MoDaCo

I used the recovery partition to create FAT32, ext2, and swap partitions on my sd card.
1) What size does it make each of these partitions?
2) What is each used for?
3) When loading the MoDaCo update.zip (and rebooting after first boot) after creating these partitions, what does it do with each of them? My free space on each seems to change, and I think it's loading some apps to the SD card? But not others?
4) How do you see how much space remains on the fat32 and ext2 partitions? Which one is shown in the SD card info settings page, and which one is used for USB mass storage mode? Neither seems to change much even after I install a bunch of >1MB apps.
Thanks for any help.

Also, what's taking up all my internal phone space? If the update.zip moved apps to the SD card, why do I only have 50 MB left of internal space?

jonnythan said:
I used the recovery partition to create FAT32, ext2, and swap partitions on my sd card.
1) What size does it make each of these partitions?
2) What is each used for?
3) When loading the MoDaCo update.zip (and rebooting after first boot) after creating these partitions, what does it do with each of them? My free space on each seems to change, and I think it's loading some apps to the SD card? But not others?
4) How do you see how much space remains on the fat32 and ext2 partitions? Which one is shown in the SD card info settings page, and which one is used for USB mass storage mode? Neither seems to change much even after I install a bunch of >1MB apps.
Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
32 mb swap, 500mb ext2 rest fat32
swap is for linux swap if its used in the rom, ext2 is for your apps, and fat32 is for your storage
yes it loads all of your /data/app and /data/app-private apps on your sd card, your /system/app stays there
you can do a df -h under adb to see your free space

jonnythan said:
I used the recovery partition to create FAT32, ext2, and swap partitions on my sd card.
1) What size does it make each of these partitions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe it makes a 32MB Swap partiton, a 500 MB Ext2 partition and the rest fat32.
jonnythan said:
2) What is each used for?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Fat32 is normal files like music, pictures, etc. The ext2 is used for apps2sd. Don't worry, 500MB is more than enough for this. The swap is used for bakcground applications so they run better without slowing the phone down as much.
jonnythan said:
3) When loading the MoDaCo update.zip (and rebooting after first boot) after creating these partitions, what does it do with each of them? My free space on each seems to change, and I think it's loading some apps to the SD card? But not others?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Fat32 it shouldnt do anything. Obviously you will have less space because the other partitions are taking some of it's space. It loads the apps onto your ext2 partition but not all of them. System apps such as the calculator, browser, phone, etc stay on the system partition because it's faster.
jonnythan said:
4) How do you see how much space remains on the fat32 and ext2 partitions? Which one is shown in the SD card info settings page, and which one is used for USB mass storage mode? Neither seems to change much even after I install a bunch of >1MB apps.
Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have Windows, Linux or Mac. I don't know about Mac but I know Linux can view ext partitions natively (obviously, it's the native filesystem). For Windows you might be able to load the disk management application but if that doesnt show it you need a partitioning application or any other application that can read ext partitions off an sdcard. Don't know any off hand except paragon partitioning manager 9.0 (8.0 never seemed to work with my sd cards)
jonnythan said:
Also, what's taking up all my internal phone space? If the update.zip moved apps to the SD card, why do I only have 50 MB left of internal space?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See the above explanation.

nelson8403 said:
32 mb swap, 500mb ext2 rest fat32
swap is for linux swap if its used in the rom, ext2 is for your apps, and fat32 is for your storage
yes it loads all of your /data/app and /data/app-private apps on your sd card, your /system/app stays there
you can do a df -h under adb to see your free space
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That answers my questions, thank you.
I found another though. I unmounted my SD card via Settings to see if the apps would fail to work in an effort to try to figure out if they were actually installed there. Predictably, they failed to work, but the system didn't pick the card back up after I reinserted it. So I rebooted the phone with the SD card in.
Then everything died. The apps didn't come back, but the phone still had them listed and tried to launch them, resulting in force-closes. An ext2 repair didn't fix it, so I just went back to my last Nandroid backup and reapplied update.zip.
I learned that this is a Bad Thing to do, but I'm wondering if this was a fluke or is it generally inadvisable to unmount the SD card for this reason?

im a noob to the whole android thing.but how do i partition the sd card and create ext2?????

jonnythan said:
I learned that this is a Bad Thing to do, but I'm wondering if this was a fluke or is it generally inadvisable to unmount the SD card for this reason?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since this is a simple symlink, if you reboot the phone without the target of the symlink being there, and the phone tries to use it...
The results are left as an exercise for the reader.
Now for anyone who asks why it isn't smart enough not to break... that's like asking why your car doesn't run if you take half the spak plugs out.

posguy99 said:
Since this is a simple symlink, if you reboot the phone without the target of the symlink being there, and the phone tries to use it...
The results are left as an exercise for the reader.
Now for anyone who asks why it isn't smart enough not to break... that's like asking why your car doesn't run if you take half the spak plugs out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, but I'm asking why it still doesn't work once you put the spark plugs back in
It's not a big deal, I certainly learned not to do it.

jonnythan said:
Ah, but I'm asking why it still doesn't work once you put the spark plugs back in
It's not a big deal, I certainly learned not to do it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because booting the phone with it thinking the app was installed but it not able to find it trashed other data structures.

BTW, people trying to do stuff with the SD card removed after putting the apps on the SD card is probably one of the main reasons it currently is root only.
The OS needs to be modified to handle removable app storage gracefully (not something that happens in a standard phone.)

So should you format the card prior to flashing Modaco's ROM so the system knows to install all the apps to the ex2 partition. Or can you format the card AFTER you have already flashed Modaco's ROM and still have the apps automatically install on ext2 partition? I only ask cuz I formatted after flashing the ROM and wanna make sure it's installing it on the ext2.

I formatted mine afterwards and it moved all my apps over to the sd card automatically.

Formatting SD Card...

When I format my card by putting it in the slot my laptop has it doesn't wipe the ext partition... I say this because it's showing that the 2gig card is only a 1.27gig card. This can't be right?
Any help is appreciated.

What OS are you running?

Windows 7 (64 bit)

I don't have a card reader so I can't test it but try to right click on My Computer and select manage. Then go into Disk Management.
The problem is windows can't recognize ext partitions so it won't mount them
Otherwise look up a partition manager to run under windows. I always partition under linux or with dedicated tool you boot to off a CD. I am not sure a good one to recommend to run under windows. Maybe someone else can recommend one.

If you made a 4gb ext partition on an 8gb card, windows will now only see this as a 4gb card until you reallocate the ext partition.
I'm running Windows 7 64-bit and I use Paragon Manager to modify the ext partitions. I am not sure if there is a legitimately free version of this program.

Thanks everyone. I'm downloading Paragon Manager now. I made my ext partition too big and want to put more music on there. I also feel like partitioned the card twice... I think I have an ext 2 & an ext 3 partition.
Again, thanks!

Sd Formatter
mrcharlesiv said:
When I format my card by putting it in the slot my laptop has it doesn't wipe the ext partition... I say this because it's showing that the 2gig card is only a 1.27gig card. This can't be right?
Any help is appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use SdFormatter from this link: http://www.sdcard.org/consumers/formatter_3/

Question:
Over the last few months I (like most people here) have tried several roms. I moved from the sdcard that came with the phone to an 8gb, no problems there.
The way I backup my sdcard is I make a folder on my desktop and literally just drag and drop the whole card over, hasn't let me down yet. When I switched I formatted the 8gb card and just copied my latest sdcard backup to the 8gb and everything works great. I am at the point where I have a lot of stuff on there from from things like apps I've uninstalled, etc. and I'd like to clean it up. I have everything I would want to keep backed up on my desktop.
So here is my question:
If I reformat my sdcard will the phone copy/install anything on the clean sdcard it needs to run?
If so then I'm thinking I could just copy what I want (nand backups, pictures, music, etc.)
Thanks

nebenezer said:
Question:
Over the last few months I (like most people here) have tried several roms. I moved from the sdcard that came with the phone to an 8gb, no problems there.
The way I backup my sdcard is I make a folder on my desktop and literally just drag and drop the whole card over, hasn't let me down yet. When I switched I formatted the 8gb card and just copied my latest sdcard backup to the 8gb and everything works great. I am at the point where I have a lot of stuff on there from from things like apps I've uninstalled, etc. and I'd like to clean it up. I have everything I would want to keep backed up on my desktop.
So here is my question:
If I reformat my sdcard will the phone copy/install anything on the clean sdcard it needs to run?
If so then I'm thinking I could just copy what I want (nand backups, pictures, music, etc.)
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes and yes. I have cleaned house a few times by deleting everything off my 8gb card and bringing back just my pictures, music and backups.
If you are using an ext partition to store apps and want to delete this data, you will need to format this with a program that can handle this ext partition or the easiest way is through recovery (wipe ext partition). Otherwise, if you want to keep your apps on the partition you can just delete everything off the card through windows or even format it there.

Thanks Danknee!!
I thought that was the case but wanted to make sure.
I haven't had the need to use a2sd yet so that's not a problem.

One more question:
I've formatted and put everything I want to keep back. Should I just reboot or do I need to reflash DC!.0, the reason I ask is because there was literally nothing on the card after formatting (not surprising). So I put HTC Sync back in case I need it, will the phone build the file structure it needs as it needs it or should I do anything else at this point?
Thanks

You can just reboot. The SD card doesn't have anything on it that would be replaced by flashing anyway. Since you aren't using apps2sd, you could technically have two different SD cards that you swapped in and out. You would just need to unmount and remount them to prevent corruption during the swaps.
Apps save settings on the card, but these will be resaved when you use these apps again. Conversely, the apps you never use again won't be taking up any space now.

danknee said:
You can just reboot. The SD card doesn't have anything on it that would be replaced by flashing anyway. Since you aren't using apps2sd, you could technically have two different SD cards that you swapped in and out. You would just need to unmount and remount them to prevent corruption during the swaps.
Apps save settings on the card, but these will be resaved when you use these apps again. Conversely, the apps you never use again won't be taking up any space now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome, thanks.
I totally understand what you just posted... So HTC ships these phones with SOME files that you can't get back by reflashing? (ie. HTC Sync) just curious

nebenezer said:
Awesome, thanks.
I totally understand what you just posted... So HTC ships these phones with SOME files that you can't get back by reflashing? (ie. HTC Sync) just curious
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, you can flash back to a stock sense ROM with no problems. What I meant was that you could actually use your phone with no memory card and it would be fully functional except that some apps couldn't save settings and data.
The SD card is completely optional and all the system files and system apk files are stored in your phone's internal memory.

danknee said:
No, you can flash back to a stock sense ROM with no problems. What I meant was that you could actually use your phone with no memory card and it would be fully functional except that some apps couldn't save settings and data.
The SD card is completely optional and all the system files and system apk files are stored in your phone's internal memory.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry for the confusion... I understand the phone can operate sans sdcard. if I'm not mistaken I believe I installed HTC Sync on my pc from my sdcard meanin that if I deleted it without backing it up I would have to (Jeez, I just realized what a waste of time this is, but I'm in too deep to stop) get HTC Sync from another source, ie HTC's website?

LOL yeah, you are probably right about HTC sync. I downloaded sync from the HTC website anyway (to make sure I had the lastest version). Besides that, I can't think of anything else on the stock 2gb card that is irreplaceable..

[Q] G2X, cant mount sdcard on cm7

Hi,
I have a g2x and i recently rooted it using superoneclick and i tried to back up using nvflash
however when i boot into recovery and try to install a zip or do anything with an sdcard, it says cant mount sdcard.
i ended up installing cyanogenmod 7 using rom manager.
but at the moment i cant do anything that involves using the sdcard because it cant mount.
any ideas on how to fix this?
thanks in advance

When you're in recovery, have you simply tried taking out the memory card then putting it back in?
Sometimes the simplest solutions work. It used to not mount my sd card too and just popping it out and back in made it read it.

buru898 said:
When you're in recovery, have you simply tried taking out the memory card then putting it back in?
Sometimes the simplest solutions work. It used to not mount my sd card too and just popping it out and back in made it read it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks ill try it and let you know but how come nothing ever gets loaded onto the phones internal sdcard I still have the 5 gigs that I initially had and nothing is ever loaded onto it including the apps I download, any way I can change this?

EgyptianBoi said:
Thanks ill try it and let you know but how come nothing ever gets loaded onto the phones internal sdcard I still have the 5 gigs that I initially had and nothing is ever loaded onto it including the apps I download, any way I can change this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's the way they memory is partitioned. ~3 GB for the System and Apps, 5GB for other stuff. There's a workaround/fix for CM7 in the development forum (atleast I think there was) but I don't know if it works anymore.

Jufjufjuf said:
It's the way they memory is partitioned. ~3 GB for the System and Apps, 5GB for other stuff. There's a workaround/fix for CM7 in the development forum (atleast I think there was) but I don't know if it works anymore.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right now if I go to storage in settings I have my SD card then I have internal storage with 1.48 gigs and then I have additional storage /mnt/emmc which has 5.21 gigs. At the moment apps installed from the android market go to the internal storage and apps online go to the SD card but I can move them to the internal memory. It seems that at the moment the one place with the most memory can't be used so I'm guessing thats the partition your talking about
o there's no way of changing this partition?
And can you give me the link to that? Thanks

Yaay got the SD card working in recovery it worked taking it out and putting it in again

EgyptianBoi said:
Right now if I go to storage in settings I have my SD card then I have internal storage with 1.48 gigs and then I have additional storage /mnt/emmc which has 5.21 gigs. At the moment apps installed from the android market go to the internal storage and apps online go to the SD card but I can move them to the internal memory. It seems that at the moment the one place with the most memory can't be used so I'm guessing thats the partition your talking about
o there's no way of changing this partition?
And can you give me the link to that? Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're right, I don't believe it can be used (natively for apps atleast, you can always move media and files there). Unless you mount that internal partition to be the external SD card and do a Move to SD on the apps (both are settings in Android/CM7 somewhere) there's not much else you can do. The problem is that some apps don't work on the SD, of course you could keep those on the system partition.
Sorry if my replies are starting to get confusing, it's late here.

I use link2sd which creates a mount point script that uses the extra partition on external sdcard. I used minitool partitioned to create a 10gb ext4 on my 32gb class 10( I'm an app junkie lol). Most if not all apps/games moved with link2sd work flawlessly, I'm happy with it
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium

Jufjufjuf said:
You're right, I don't believe it can be used (natively for apps atleast, you can always move media and files there). Unless you mount that internal partition to be the external SD card and do a Move to SD on the apps (both are settings in Android/CM7 somewhere) there's not much else you can do. The problem is that some apps don't work on the SD, of course you could keep those on the system partition.
Sorry if my replies are starting to get confusing, it's late here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks i think i managed to get it! i found the settings i think you're talking about in the cyanogenmod settings and managed to switch the sdcard and additional storage. now the 5 gigs appears as the sdcard and the actual external microsd appears as the additional storage
i guess thats the best im gonna get
thanks a lot!!

d12unk13astard said:
I use link2sd which creates a mount point script that uses the extra partition on external sdcard. I used minitool partitioned to create a 10gb ext4 on my 32gb class 10( I'm an app junkie lol). Most if not all apps/games moved with link2sd work flawlessly, I'm happy with it
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks ill try it and see how it workds

d12unk13astard said:
I use link2sd which creates a mount point script that uses the extra partition on external sdcard. I used minitool partitioned to create a 10gb ext4 on my 32gb class 10( I'm an app junkie lol). Most if not all apps/games moved with link2sd work flawlessly, I'm happy with it
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Jufjufjuf said:
You're right, I don't believe it can be used (natively for apps atleast, you can always move media and files there). Unless you mount that internal partition to be the external SD card and do a Move to SD on the apps (both are settings in Android/CM7 somewhere) there's not much else you can do. The problem is that some apps don't work on the SD, of course you could keep those on the system partition.
Sorry if my replies are starting to get confusing, it's late here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ya i thought i had everything working but now for some reason, my phone says it cant mount the system. any ideas why?

[Q] SD Card Not Writeable?

It seems that my SD card is not writable when inserted. Is this true? I tried to create a new folder on it with root explorer (I am not rooted though) and it said that my device needs to be rooted in order to accomplish that task.
Any ideas?
Jonn

Did you try something like es file explorer? I would try that.

That didn't work either. It says "operation failed".
I actually noticed that it wasn't working playing act raiser and it wasn't saving my position. Moving the ROM to internal storage worked. I then tried to create a folder.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

Huh. Just tried a different SD card and that one worked. Weird.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

I spoke too soon. After removing the sdcard that worked and putting it back in, it no longer is writeable.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

It works again if I pull the card out, restart the shield and put the card back in. Perhaps something up with the mounting process?
It appears that once a card is mounted, if it is removed and re-inserted, it remounts as read only.
Jonn
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

It looks like sdcard mounting is messed up. I can't get any of the sdcards i have tried to mount.

Did you go into settings and actually click unmount before removing the SD Card? Many linux systems (android is linux) will mount devices which werent safely removed in read only mode for some bizarre reason.

I tried that as well. It still doesn't work.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

jonnberg said:
It seems that my SD card is not writable when inserted. Is this true? I tried to create a new folder on it with root explorer (I am not rooted though) and it said that my device needs to be rooted in order to accomplish that task.
Any ideas?
Jonn
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
when you go to storage under settings, under sd card does it show total space for card. if not maybe you have to format it to NTFS first. thats what I had to do with my new card. also said to do so on shield guide

evobunny said:
when you go to storage under settings, under sd card does it show total space for card. if not maybe you have to format it to NTFS first. thats what I had to do with my new card. also said to do so on shield guide
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did not read the destructions. The destructions have useful information? Where may i find these destructions? I assumed fat32 so that is what my sd is formatted to.

chevyowner said:
I did not read the destructions. The destructions have useful information? Where may i find these destructions? I assumed fat32 so that is what my sd is formatted to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sorry i cant post link yet cause im new to forum. but go there, (shield.nvidia.com/user-guide/sd-card) user guide said to format it to NTFS

Would has added this sooner, but I lost my sdcard reader.
Formatting it NTFS worked.
Still wont mount, but now i at least get the option to mount.

evobunny said:
when you go to storage under settings, under sd card does it show total space for card. if not maybe you have to format it to NTFS first. thats what I had to do with my new card. also said to do so on shield guide
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I formatted it to NTFS before I inserted it. It shows the total space and space available, it just doesn't allow anything to be written to it. I can take it out and put it in a PC and it works correctly. I also have another SD card that I tried and it worked for a few minutes, but I haven't been able to get it to keep working.
Jonn

jonnberg said:
Yes, I formatted it to NTFS before I inserted it. It shows the total space and space available, it just doesn't allow anything to be written to it. I can take it out and put it in a PC and it works correctly. I also have another SD card that I tried and it worked for a few minutes, but I haven't been able to get it to keep working.
Jonn
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sorry I dont know what else to tell you, i first had the same problem like yall when I stuck in a brand new card. nothing I downloaded would go on to card. and it didnt show the amount of space left under the storage menu. Then i found out it need to be formated to NTFS. Once i did that everything started downloaded and showing up on card.

jonnberg said:
Yes, I formatted it to NTFS before I inserted it. It shows the total space and space available, it just doesn't allow anything to be written to it. I can take it out and put it in a PC and it works correctly. I also have another SD card that I tried and it worked for a few minutes, but I haven't been able to get it to keep working.
Jonn
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only memory card I have gotten working (about 1 minute ago) is 512MB and formatted fat32
The card i want to us is a 16gb microsdhc formatted fat32 when this memory card is in my shield it knows it has a memory card but says it has no partitions on it.
I am running testdisk on the sd card and it found 9 partitoins. I will try and clean that up.

To be honest, I've never tried SD card support on the device. So I can't say one way or another. But I'll be looking at it soon enough since I got my first build of CWM for SHIELD waiting for me to debug in the other room once the kids go to bed.

I just tried two different 8GB class 10 transcend cards, an 8GB class 2 generic card and a 256mb sandisk card. I put each card in and copied a file from internal storage to it. Then I removed each of the cards without unmounting and put them back in and proceeded to copy a file to the card again. Every time it worked successfully. I do not even know what format they are in and didn't format them before testing. And, maybe the issue didn't show up because I didn't give it enough time. I am not sure.
Also, I know this is probably a really dumb question but the micro sd slot is spring loaded. You are pushing it in until you hear a good solid click right?

issues
Having issues of my own.
Bought a 64gb sandisk SDXC card for shield. It worked 100% fine in my SGS3 formated for exFat. But not in the shield...
It seems to work somewhat when formated for NTFS. But the file path is really messed up and 1/2 my apps cant see the SD card because of this. It something like (root/storage/sdcard1/....)
2 apps that are basically usless right now due to this are Power amp & FPse.

Android doesn't normally support either exFat or NTFS. The shield may include support for them but if I had a shield I would steer clear anyway and go with what android definitely trusts in FAT32.
Hopefully NVidia will do a firmware update to sort these problems though