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[Q] What MicroSD format do I need for the Transformer

Hey guys,
I had a 16gig micro SD lying around that I want to use on the transformer. If I format it before use, I get the option of doing FAT32,NTFS or ExFat. Any ideas which one I should use?

My 16GB MicroSD is currently formatted as a FAT32 (which seems to work fine). Only major issue is the file size limit (2GB).

Thanks man.

MAC vs PC
If you own both a MAC and a PC then make sure you choose Fat32 as MACs cannot read NTFS. I used Fat32 so i can pass my music library around from computer to computer when needed.
Can anyone validate that this is still true, it was 1 - 2 years ago..

[Q] Change filesystem

I have a question about HTC Sensation's filesystem. The stock filesystem is FAT32 which is fine for the most part. However, one of things I get this phone is because it can play 1080P video. I was hoping to put my Blu-ray 1080P quality mkv video on a microSD card and get the HDMI cable to play this on TV. As you may know, 1080P Blu-ray movie file size are way larger than 4GB supported by FAT32.
Is there a way to change file system from FAT32 to something else which support single file size larger than 4GB?
PS. I personally used old microSD card and tested both ext4 and NTFS and no luck with it

The phones file system is EXT, the SD card is FAT32

EddyOS said:
The phones file system is EXT, the SD card is FAT32
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, and he knew, and you knew that. Had you actually read the op, you would have known he was talking sdcard, not internal memory. Your response helped the op how?
Op: unfortunately, we're pretty much stuck with fat32. You could look into sd-ext (ext3/ext4 partition on the sdcard), but you really wouldn't be able to use it in windows, and I'm not sure what it will take to get working on the sensation.
Sent from my Dynatac 8000x

cco2 said:
I have a question about HTC Sensation's filesystem. The stock filesystem is FAT32 which is fine for the most part. However, one of things I get this phone is because it can play 1080P video. I was hoping to put my Blu-ray 1080P quality mkv video on a microSD card and get the HDMI cable to play this on TV. As you may know, 1080P Blu-ray movie file size are way larger than 4GB supported by FAT32.
Is there a way to change file system from FAT32 to something else which support single file size larger than 4GB?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where does it mention SD card? Seems you've jumped to conclusions yourself. It does mention about storing movies on the SD card but NOTHING about its file system

EddyOS said:
Where does it mention SD card? Seems you've jumped to conclusions yourself. It does mention about storing movies on the SD card but NOTHING about its file system
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He wants to store bluray on the microsd card, but as he said, the file size is limited to 4gb by FAT32. It's very clear what he's asking, and telling him about internal being ext doesn't help him with his question.
You can extract pretty clearly what he's asking. FAT32 + microsd + 4gb + bluray. It's not like he's using the wrong terms and being confusing.
So I ask you EddyOS, how did you telling him internal memory is ext and microsd is FAT32 help him answer his question when he was clearly asking how to get around FAT32's 4gb filesize limit?
Sent from my Dynatac 8000x

It didn't, I was just asking for clarification that it was the SD card file system he was on about. And I can get a 1080p video on an SD card, they're not THAT big unless you use stupidly high bitrates

EddyOS said:
It didn't, I was just asking for clarification that it was the SD card file system he was on about. And I can get a 1080p video on an SD card, they're not THAT big unless you use stupidly high bitrates
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry if it seemed I attacked you for no reason, the op may have edited his post, and I can't tell from the XDA App.
But, I'm guessing the op doesn't do his own compression of the bluray stuff, so getting it below 4gb w/ audio and still in 1080p without using horrible bitrates doesn't work very well.
Sent from my Dynatac 8000x

I was about to say we should stop bickering, I was assuming he was on about the SD card but was pointing out the obvious in case they didn't get it.
I've got Fast & Furious (the 4th one) as an MP4 and it's 2.1GB - 1080p, 48kHz Audio (317kbps). It is 23 fps but looked fine on my HD TV

Sorry if I cause confusion. My question is about the microSD card's filesystem. As for the video quality, yes you are right about it if it's in mp4. However, some people use mkv file format which tend to be way bigger than mp4 for some reason.
It is true I'm talking about the extream case of high bitrate quality video with 5.1 channel DTS sound or more than 1 track of sound but it does happen especially the video length is longer than 2hour.
Personally I tested both NTFS and EXT4 (format old microSD card and stick into phone) and phone prompted to prepare the SD card (ask to format into FAT32). This is why I'm asking in this forum to see if maybe the rooted phone can add support to other file system or not.

cco2 said:
Sorry if I cause confusion. My question is about the microSD card's filesystem. As for the video quality, yes you are right about it if it's in mp4. However, some people use mkv file format which tend to be way bigger than mp4 for some reason.
It is true I'm talking about the extream case of high bitrate quality video with 5.1 channel DTS sound or more than 1 track of sound but it does happen especially the video length is longer than 2hour.
Personally I tested both NTFS and EXT4 (format old microSD card and stick into phone) and phone prompted to prepare the SD card (ask to format into FAT32). This is why I'm asking in this forum to see if maybe the rooted phone can add support to other file system or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ntfs doesn't work because a) the filesystem is not open source. it's microsoft (and if android tried to include it, they'd need to work out a huge deal with ms).
ext3/4 won't work unless you can figure out how to get sd-ext working, and how to read the ext3/4 partition from within windows correctly.
it kinda seems you're SOL buddy.

Mkv is much better quality than mp4. Op, you could dual boot Linux Ubuntu on your home computer to access the sd-ext partition if you wanted to go that route.
Also, if you stay fat 32 this thread may be useful
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=763461

I do run and use Ubuntu within Windows7 on daily basis for other purpose so I'm fine with using Linux as main source of transfer file into SD card.
Main issue will be how can I tell Sensation to use it when i format it on microSD? When I format it as ext4 and mount it with phone, I get message of "Do you want to prepare the SD card" which mean phone will auto reformat it from ext4 to FAT32 after I press yes. If I can get around with this problem, then I don't mind using Linux for it.

cco2 said:
I do run and use Ubuntu within Windows7 on daily basis for other purpose so I'm fine with using Linux as main source of transfer file into SD card.
Main issue will be how can I tell Sensation to use it when i format it on microSD? When I format it as ext4 and mount it with phone, I get message of "Do you want to prepare the SD card" which mean phone will auto reformat it from ext4 to FAT32 after I press yes. If I can get around with this problem, then I don't mind using Linux for it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
like i keep saying, you need to find the sd-ext script somewhere on xda (i don't know where it is, but google searching could help), and then you could try to get it working.

geoffcorey said:
like i keep saying, you need to find the sd-ext script somewhere on xda (i don't know where it is, but google searching could help), and then you could try to get it working.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry for not knowing what's sd-ext. This is actually my first android phone so I'm learning all those related stuff. I will do some research on that.
Thanks for the help

cco2 said:
Sorry for not knowing what's sd-ext. This is actually my first android phone so I'm learning all those related stuff. I will do some research on that.
Thanks for the help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sd-ext is making a 2nd partition on your sdcard, in the ext3/4 format.

Sorry for bringing this thread up again but I actually had thought of the same I only have 1 SDCard the one I got.
Now as far I am concerned why bother with NTFS or ext and so forth when Microsoft have made a open source file system thats new, faster and better than NTFS and Fat32 many just either forgot or not heard of it which maybe has a chance FAT64 also know as exFAT its able to do the following:
Max file size 64 ZiB, 512 TiB recommended[1]
Max number of files up to 2,796,202 per directory[2]
Max filename length 255 UTF-16 characters
Max volume size 64 ZiB, 512 TiB recommended[1]
Allowed characters in filenames Unicode UTF-16 except U+0000 (NUL) through U+001F (US) / (slash) \ (backslash) : (colon) * (asterisk) ? (Question mark) " (quote) < (less than) > (greater than) and | (pipe)
Anyone tested the exFAT or FAT64 on Sensation and if so will it take it? According to what I know any program that accept and take FAT32 should take FAT64/exFAT as well but i haven't dared to test it.

File size limit?

Does android use a FAT32 file system? I was trying to transfer a 6 gb hd movie onto my phone . Apparently it's too big. Is there any way to change the file system?

Yup, fat has a limit of I believe 4gb, this is why most torrents are split into multiple archive files.
For windows machines the only way I know around this is NTFS, but the phone won't read an SD card formatted in that way.

I'm going to be honest. Why were u transfering a 6 gig movie to ur phone. At these resolutions, even 720p h264 is a stretch, but I digress. Above poster is correct, inherent 4gb file limit of fat32 is present

i would like to know if it is possible to load and play a larger then 4gb file on my sd card on my galaxy s2. (like a bluray movie)
why would i like this? because i have bought a micro usb to hdmi converter and would love to use my phone to drive my projector.
please is there anyway?

spinny40 said:
i would like to know if it is possible to load and play a larger then 4gb file on my sd card on my galaxy s2. (like a bluray movie)
why would i like this? because i have bought a micro usb to hdmi converter and would love to use my phone to drive my projector.
please is there anyway?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, there is no way to place a file larger than 4 GB on a FAT32 file system. You could split file into 4 GB pieces but I am not sure how practical would this be.

Seems crazy that they would limit the functionality of the phone like that since it will do 1080p.
Is there any special rom that would allow the sd card to be formatted to a useful file system!?
I can not believe that no one has done this yet!
Thanks for the responses as i am new to this.

spinny40 said:
Seems crazy that they would limit the functionality of the phone like that since it will do 1080p.
Is there any special rom that would allow the sd card to be formatted to a useful file system!?
I can not believe that no one has done this yet!
Thanks for the responses as i am new to this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not only the phone... If your pc is using fat32, it's in the same boat.
Sent From my Two Tin Cans & String Device on The Wookie Network

[Q] [A510] Files larger than 4GB on external SD

Hi there,
I use my digital Sat-Box to record movies on HDD. Now the idea is to copy some of them onto SD in order to be able to watch the recorded movies in offline mode (each when travelling by train or airplane).
Since the movies have been recorded in HD the files are getting quite big or at least big enough to exceed the file size limit of 4GB for Fat32.
Any idea how to solve my problem? NTFS, Ext3 or 4 are not supported. At least the A510 user guide tells me to use only SD-Cards formatted as FAT or FAT32. Cutting in movies into parts takes quite some time and is also quite annoying.
Thanks for any solution.
Elendiir

Hi there,
the soultion is quite simple. Don't trust the user guide. Just format the SD card with NTFS and everything is fine. The A510 supports reading and writing of a SD under NTFS.
Thanks to Nully and Badticket of a German board for showing me the solution.
Cheers
Elendiir

As a note on having your external_sd in NTFS, you might check up on your recovery console, eg. CWM that it can access NTFS, in case you need to flash files located on the external.. Otherwise you might paint yourself up against the wall, or deal with a secondary card for flashing.. Just a thought.
Omnius
Sent from my A510 using xda app-developers app

The best way to get over 4GB file size limitation?

NTFS-partitioning for the micro SDHC does not work:
1) If i try to copy directly through the tablet to an NTFS-partitioned card, the tablet freezes
2) Dice player won't open a 4GB+ anyways, the message is something like "The file is not supported"
3) Internal storage cannot be partitioned as NTFS
One current solution is splitting MKV files before conversion.
For SRT external subs, either integrate them using MKVmerge, and then split in MKVToolnix, or save as ANSI and split on the fly using splitMKV (included in multiAVCHD).
Is there a more efficient way?
For example, I converted a ~9GB 1080p movie using DVD Catalyst, keeping the full resolution, into an Android recommended video format (Full HD though) + 160 Kbit AAC stereo. It turned out 6GB+ still.

are you trying to put a 4gb file or larger on your microsd, or the tablet itself?
honestly, and i love dvdcatalyst, but for the transformer infinity, i find that its really not needed. I transferred a 9gb mkv blu ray of Hunger Games to my 64gb card (formatted at exfat) and the movie plays superb. Subtitles as well. I am using BS Player to watch my movies. Conversion is really not required for the infinity, when using this app.

exFAT? 10char

Thanks! Didn't think of exFAT, saw it was available when I was formatting the card.
Still doesn't solve the internal memory of the pad problem (won't accept 4GB+ files), but I'll try to re-format the card when I'm home.

The internal memory cant be formatted from your computer because its mounted through MTP instead of USB mass storage. I wasnt aware that the internal storage had a 4gb limit, but if it is indeed fat32 there's nothing that can be done about it (yet, and even then that'll require an unlocked bootloader).
The microSD card is your only option. I second trying exFat.

Caution, not all 64 GB Micro SDXC might work! I have tried two Sandisk 64 GB. Both work formatted as FAT32 in my Galaxy Note, but only one works with ExFAT in the Transformer TF700...

Jotokun said:
The internal memory cant be formatted from your computer because its mounted through MTP instead of USB mass storage. I wasnt aware that the internal storage had a 4gb limit, but if it is indeed fat32 there's nothing that can be done about it (yet, and even then that'll require an unlocked bootloader).
The microSD card is your only option. I second trying exFat.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I'll give it a try.

Internal storage is ext4, which has a filesize limit of 16 TB. I believe it will be enough for all Infinity users The 4GB limit is under FAT16 and FAT32 only, which on your device you won't see anywhere besides the (micro)SD(HC) card!
If someone here really thinks your internal storage could be formatted FAT32, read about file permissions under Linux for the starters
And just to make sure, I've just copied a 5.46 GB file from full-size SDHC card in the dock to my internal storage (/sdcard/) with an average speed of 15 MB/s without experiencing any problems (within the tablet, so if you experience problems with USB transfers, consider it a problem with Windows handling MTP on your device or a similar issue).
This whole thread actually spreads disinformation. Better try to make sure, if you are unsure.
BTW, don't go with NTFS under Android in general and under .26 Infinity firmware in particular, it will give you trouble at some point on any device you connect to it. Just format your external cards to exFAT and don't even try to touch internal...
As to watching big .mkv files, try BSPlayer Free, it has played my 15 GB 1080p mkv files very smoothly. You can see more about apps for the Infinity in my apps (sticky) therad.

Thanks, everyone, exFAT seems to work perfectly fine for the micro SDHC card, I put a 10GB movie on it and it plays fine.
I installed BSPlayer Pro in addition to Dice Player as Dice wouldn't open it.
BSPlayer opens it perfectly, with subs, HW-accelerated and everything.
For the internal storage - great news about ext4, I am testing it again now, there may be a limitation of USB MTP protocol, as I remember it wouldn't copy a file over 4GB via the USB cable?
A 4.6GB file being copied, will post in a sec...
Um I don't know why I am such an idiot, it worked fine.
Thanks a lot again.

d14b0ll0s said:
Internal storage is ext4, which has a filesize limit of 16 TB. I believe it will be enough for all Infinity users The 4GB limit is under FAT16 and FAT32 only, which on your device you won't see anywhere besides the (micro)SD(HC) card!
If someone here really thinks your internal storage could be formatted FAT32, read about file permissions under Linux for the starters
And just to make sure, I've just copied a 5.46 GB file from full-size SDHC card in the dock to my internal storage (/sdcard/) with an average speed of 15 MB/s without experiencing any problems (within the tablet, so if you experience problems with USB transfers, consider it a problem with Windows handling MTP on your device or a similar issue).
This whole thread actually spreads disinformation. Better try to make sure, if you are unsure.
BTW, don't go with NTFS under Android in general and under .26 Infinity firmware in particular, it will give you trouble at some point on any device you connect to it. Just format your external cards to exFAT and don't even try to touch internal...
As to watching big .mkv files, try BSPlayer Free, it has played my 15 GB 1080p mkv files very smoothly. You can see more about apps for the Infinity in my apps (sticky) therad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, I was about to say the same thing. Practically, there is no file size limit for Windows where MTP is supported natively by the OS (I suppose it would be similar for Linux as well). However, the 4-GB limit exists for Mac OS (no native support for MTP). There are some workarounds, but you cannot just use USB cable to transfer files larger than 4 GB.

need help
I formatted sandisk class 10 16 gb UHC-1 microsd to exFat(32 kilobytes) and I cant copy large files-it copies like 10% and then then gives me an error "device has stopped responding or been disconnected"-Im trying to copy 8 gb mkv file

Are you on .26 firmware? Read the threads about UHS cards here. The new firmware helped most of the users, before UHS cards were not working properly for the majority of them.
(I believe you mean UHS-1, which stands for Ultra High Speed)

UHS-1
yes Im on the .26 firmware and I have the UHS-1 16 GB-not working with exFat-tablet crashes and reboots-any suggestionsI
did a cold boot-seems to be working-Ill report back
---------- Post added at 11:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:52 PM ----------
still wont copy 8 gb mkv file-it copied more this time like 30% and stopped responding

Jotokun said:
The microSD card is your only option. I second trying exFat.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any recommendation on Allocation Unit Size for exFAT? My computer defaulted to 32 kilobytes, but that seems kind of small. Card is 32 GB.

Formatted to exFAT
Copied over files
Opened BSPlayer
Watched fate/stay night unlimited blade works in glorious 1080p
Samsung 32gb sdhc on M$ winderps 7 64 bit
My prime supported NTFS, maybe that would help those who got problems with exFAT.

clownberg said:
yes Im on the .26 firmware and I have the UHS-1 16 GB-not working with exFat-tablet crashes and reboots-any suggestionsI
did a cold boot-seems to be working-Ill report back
---------- Post added at 11:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:52 PM ----------
still wont copy 8 gb mkv file-it copied more this time like 30% and stopped responding
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Put the card in an adapter and plug into computer and copy directly. This will be Much faster anyway

NTFS support is *really* screwed up on teh infinity... Stick with exFat - it's as good as it gets for now.
Can't even copy a 1gb file with NTFS - causes the tablet to hang! Confirmed by other users also.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk 2

I have a 32gig class 10 card that worked with exfat with the Pime but since I put it in the Infinity it just locks up and reboots when trying to copy any amount of large data. I tried reformatting the card again and no change. I then tried just fat32 and transferring a large photo folder is working now but now I can't put large movies on the card.

djakx1 said:
I have a 32gig class 10 card that worked with exfat but since I put it in the Infinity it just locks up and reboots when trying to copy any amount of large data. I tried reformatting the card again and no change. I then tried just fat32 and transferring a large photo folder is working now but now I can't put large movies on the card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so its not just 64gb cards that this happens with. it happens to me with any size file. If i try to transfer something from the device to microsd, the tablet will freeze and reboot. But when it reboots, i'm able to transfer the file. I posted this issue on the facebook site for this device. I hope its taken care of soon. They are probably rectifying a few other issues to include in another update.
i dont want to switch to fat32 because i have my movies (4gbs and up) on it.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Xparent Red Tapatalk 2

Do you have an adapter for micro sd to normal sd? I used my adapter and plugged it right into my computer. The Micro sd is EXfat and when plugged diretly to my pc with the adapter I can transfer a large size file over 4 GB +. I am transferring a 9 GB file now.
But when my Micro sd is inside my galaxy note II it will not let me plug it to the pc via a usb wire and transfer any files over 4 GB.
Hope this helps