Database Info

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] Questions About A "Read Only" Micro SD

A week or so ago, I flashed this ROM onto my phone. ([ROM] (v1.2.6_r2) Nexus AOSP Gingerbread 2.3.4 - Faux123 [Jun-26-2011] - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1068367&page=189)
I had to end up switching back to stock ROM. Ever since the flash back to stock, my memory card has been "locked"
In the process of flashing my phone back to stock, my external Micro SD card became locked to "Read Only". I cannot format or erase any of the content that was stored on my card during the flashings. It literally seems to be "LOCKED" onto the card.
I've tried the windows format option in the Device Manager. I've also tried the Windows Command prompts. NOTHING has worked. Formatting the card in my phone does nothing. No data gets erased.
With the card in my phone, I can access all my files (movies, music, pics, etc). But I cannot modify, delete, or add any new content! (Example, I cannot select my External SD as a valid storage location for new pics in the camera.)
Does anyone have any ideas on how to reformat this card to get it working for me again. It is a 16gig card. I hate to throw it out.
Thanks.

I would recommend trying Panasonic's sdcard formatter. It seems to be pretty good at formatting sdcards that other programs have trouble with.
http://panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/sd/download/sd_formatter20.html
Another thing you could try, you can format your sdcard inside clockwork recovery mod. (Under the mounts and storage section if my memory serves)

mstrk242 said:
I would recommend trying Panasonic's sdcard formatter. It seems to be pretty good at formatting sdcards that other programs have trouble with.
http://panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/sd/download/sd_formatter20.html
Another thing you could try, you can format your sdcard inside clockwork recovery mod. (Under the mounts and storage section if my memory serves)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes thats good one ! +1

avetny said:
yes thats good one ! +1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the suggestions
That did not work. I ran the SD formatter and the windows formatter and my content is STILL on the card.
CWM won't format the card either.
Any other ideas?

Did you try partitioning the card? Just one 16GiB FAT32 partition?

Joe-retired said:
Did you try partitioning the card? Just one 16GiB FAT32 partition?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Joe -
That is officially over my head.
How would I go about doing that?

Can you get the card replaced under warranty?
Since you tried formatting the sd card, I am assuming you have backed up everything on it.
As easy way is in Clockwork recovery mod choose -> advanced; then choose -> partition;
when prompted for a partition size for the ext partition choose the smallest, also the smallest for swap (I think you can choose 0 for this one) continue to follow prompts and the card will be partitioned.

One more thing to try if that doesn't work:
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php
Go to this site, download the cd or usb disk version and boot off it. Now, plug your card into your computer (NOT through the phone, use a usb reader. If you don't have one, you can probably pick up a cheap one for around 10 bucks.), you may need to rescan the disks after you plug the card in, to make sure gparted sees it. Now, delete the entire partition, so there is no partition at all on the card.
Boot back into windows, plug the card in, try to format it again. I've seen this happen when you have a damaged mbr on the sdcard. Also, when you format in windows, (if your system will allow it), id try to format it to a 64k cluster size instead of 32k. (on a 16gb card 32k is the default cluster size.) It'll speed it up a bit. (not really needed, but a nice boost.)
The last thing you can try, if all else fails, boot into clockwork recovery (assuming you have it installed) and format the sdcard through there.
If all that fails, I'd say you have a bad card. But try those steps first, hate to see you throw the card away if it's still good. )

[FIX][CWM] Error: Unable to mount SDCARD in CWM (and CF-ROOT)

Hi people!
I have seen many people have a problem with the above mentioned error in CWM. Although there are any threads on the topic, none of them are really clear (and often speculate) the method to fix it. And there is a lot of confusion regarding the "sdcard" in the i9003. This is my attempt to clarify and provide a reasonable fix (which worked for my Class 10, 16GB Micro SD (SDHC)).
It goes like this:
-> Boot into CWM recovery
-> Choose any options pertaining to the external sd card (such as backup, restore or install file from .zip)
-> The command returns with an error about how it can't mount "sdcard".
Now, there are a few thing that you have to be mindful of:
1) The "sdcard" mentioned in CWM for the i9003 is actually the external sd card.
- It is done this way so that everything works with the external sd and not with the internal 2GB sd that is present on our phone.
2) The internal sd is referred to as "sd-ext".
3) This pertains to the CWM of our phone. After booting into Android, it is back to "normal".
I tried to do a format in Windows 7's default formatting tool with FAT32, exFAT and NTFS (just eliminate the possibilities) with "default allocation size". It didn't work. Even choosing a larger allocation size did not work.
The Fix:
-> The optimal recommended filesystem for an android SD Card is FAT32.
-> Using the "SD Formatter" (version 3.1 as of this writing) from the SD Association ended up solving my problems.
-> The download link, for Windows (A MAC version is also available), from their site is here. You have to click "I Accept" and accept the terms of the EULA (but who really reads those things anyway ) ?
-> Use a card reader (using your phone is not recommended), make sure you have selected the right card and that you have backed-up all the data on your card (incase you didn't know - formatting erases all your data!).
-> I chose "Quick format" under options and made sure "Format Size Adjustment" was off (These are available under "options").
-> It's done in a few minutes, and it works GREAT! :-D
Cheers people! Hope this clears up some stuff!

This thread deserves to be made a sticky thread...
Moderators please make sure to consider this
Btw - nice job dude you explained it all very well!
Tapashocked via my gt-I9003 with a random keyboard of my choice !

Finally solution came..it works like a charm...thank you so much Bro..

I was bugged by the same problem a few moths ago....
I solved it by Going to Settings > SD card ad phone storage >SD CARD> Umount sd card > Format SD card....

@Lord: thanks mate!
@Symdroid: your welcome! Glad to have helped!
@Neojith: Yeah that usually works, but for some odd reason it didn't work for me last time.
Also, this works without fail even if your SD card is unrecognizable (or comes up as corrupt/damaged) in Android but is detected on the computer.
Sent from my GT-I9003 using XDA App

Man i dont hav any card reader....why cant i do this while it's inside the phone? :-(

Give it a shot... It may work (but be sure you're formatting the right card)!
I recommended a card reader as it is faster, and in most cases the card wasn't detectable by Android but was detectable using a card reader.
Sent from my GT-I9003 using XDA App

Got cranium ROM 3.1 and its not working on my phone. It shows the drive in the PC but i cannot access it. But the phone still reads whats on the SD card. It works well before with kPE...

kudos Erahgon, it worked!
FYI I didnt even use a card reader, used the phone itself (too lazy to search for a reader at home)

Srry guys, was outta town for a few days!
@vadexlux: Good to hear that it works from your phone as well!
@lbraddx : If it's not accessible even in Windows, your card is probably corrupted. Do a quick format in Windows, then use a data recovery software to recover your files. After that, format using the method in the first post, and remember to back-up your files.
Sent from my GT-I9003 using XDA App

Erahgon said:
Hi people!
I have seen many people have a problem with the above mentioned error in CWM. Although there are any threads on the topic, none of them are really clear (and often speculate) the method to fix it. And there is a lot of confusion regarding the "sdcard" in the i9003. This is my attempt to clarify and provide a reasonable fix (which worked for my Class 10, 16GB Micro SD (SDHC)).
It goes like this:
-> Boot into CWM recovery
-> Choose any options pertaining to the external sd card (such as backup, restore or install file from .zip)
-> The command returns with an error about how it can't mount "sdcard".
Now, there are a few thing that you have to be mindful of:
1) The "sdcard" mentioned in CWM for the i9003 is actually the external sd card.
- It is done this way so that everything works with the external sd and not with the internal 2GB sd that is present on our phone.
2) The internal sd is referred to as "sd-ext".
3) This pertains to the CWM of our phone. After booting into Android, it is back to "normal".
I tried to do a format in Windows 7's default formatting tool with FAT32, exFAT and NTFS (just eliminate the possibilities) with "default allocation size". It didn't work. Even choosing a larger allocation size did not work.
The Fix:
-> The optimal recommended filesystem for an android SD Card is FAT32.
-> Using the "SD Formatter" (version 3.1 as of this writing) from the SD Association ended up solving my problems.
-> The download link, for Windows (A MAC version is also available), from their site is here. You have to click "I Accept" and accept the terms of the EULA (but who really reads those things anyway ) ?
-> Use a card reader (using your phone is not recommended), make sure you have selected the right card and that you have backed-up all the data on your card (incase you didn't know - formatting erases all your data!).
-> I chose "Quick format" under options and made sure "Format Size Adjustment" was off (These are available under "options").
-> It's done in a few minutes, and it works GREAT! :-D
Cheers people! Hope this clears up some stuff!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've used above method but still failed..i flashed another CWM also failed. is there any other way?
please help me my phone is dead for a week now

Can you access the card from your phone? Can you access it from your computer?
What are the specs. of the SD card?

Erahgon said:
Can you access the card from your phone? Can you access it from your computer?
What are the specs. of the SD card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cannot access from the phone. but when i flash with odin there is part saying 'error can't mount sdcard-skipped wipe data' but when i check the sd card from my pc its empty and i lost all my file in sd.
here another weird thing, you said the 'sdcard' in CWM is the external sd. I can't mount 'sdcard' but I can mount 'sd-ext'; when i took out my sdcard then I can't mount 'sd-ext'. so I think in my case 'sd-ext' is my sdcard. thanks for replying though. can you figure out my problem?

iming88 said:
cannot access from the phone. but when i flash with odin there is part saying 'error can't mount sdcard-skipped wipe data' but when i check the sd card from my pc its empty and i lost all my file in sd.
here another weird thing, you said the 'sdcard' in CWM is the external sd. I can't mount 'sdcard' but I can mount 'sd-ext'; when i took out my sdcard then I can't mount 'sd-ext'. so I think in my case 'sd-ext' is my sdcard. thanks for replying though. can you figure out my problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flashing with ODIN? What were you flashing with ODIN? When you flash with ODIN it doesn't do anything to the external-sd card.
Have you done an internal-external sd swap? If so, and you want to flash a new firmware using ODIN, you must re-partition (i.e. Use the latona pit file) and then proceed with the flash. After the flash, you may once again swap the external and internal sd cards. I haven't tried this, so this is just my best guess. If this doesn't work, try using your old vold.fstab file (read this thread for more details).

Erahgon said:
Flashing with ODIN? What were you flashing with ODIN? When you flash with ODIN it doesn't do anything to the external-sd card.
Have you done an internal-external sd swap? If so, and you want to flash a new firmware using ODIN, you must re-partition (i.e. Use the latona pit file) and then proceed with the flash. After the flash, you may once again swap the external and internal sd cards. I haven't tried this, so this is just my best guess. If this doesn't work, try using your old vold.fstab file (read this thread for more details).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
still no luck

Fascinate owner here. Had the same issue with CWM red (3.x) and Green (4.x).
All I did was reformat the card in Android. You have to unmount it in Settings > SD Card. Then simply Format. All your data will be erased but CWM will be able to read your card again.

WOW... I have THAT trouble too (on a I9100!), read this (googled) post and think.. "hmmm.... all other works fine with the ext. SD-Card... that can't be the fix..."
BUT i test the fix and OMG!... Now all CWM troubles gone! PERFECT!
Thank you very very much! I love the XDA community! *smak* ;-)

Is there any way to do the same for the internal sdcard coz my external sdcard reads fine but internal phone memory as well as internal sdcard are corrupted!

WOW
hi dude..its works like..hapi man!!!Thanks alot!

Relaxasaurus said:
Fascinate owner here. Had the same issue with CWM red (3.x) and Green (4.x).
All I did was reformat the card in Android. You have to unmount it in Settings > SD Card. Then simply Format. All your data will be erased but CWM will be able to read your card again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have been seaching for this problem, and I was lucky enough to come across your post. After formating my SD card within android, the problem is solved, and now I can backup to and restore from my external SD card. I am using Galaxy Tab 2.
Thank you!!

Formatted my SD card...and now it won't work

My SD was acting a fool (after deleting many ROMs, it still said I had 73MB free). Nothing I did would change it so I decided to format the card. I used Disk Utility (on Mac) and formatted for FAT32. After I did that, my phone said it was in a format it couldn't recognize, so I formatted it from the phone itself. Now, when I enter recovery and attempt to install zip from sdcard, then choose zip from sdcard, it says "E:Can't mount /sdcard". I don't really know what to do, as I formatted it from my phone. I figured that was sure fire but I guess not so much. I tried to find what format I need the SD card in to work properly but I couldn't find anything.
Can someone help me out?

Fat32 is correct for the phone. Do you have a usb reader for the sdhc microsdcard or one of those sdcards that let the microsd card fit in to read it from the pc?
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium

Reboot in recovery, if it says it can't mount it... pop out the sd from your phone and pop it right back in and see if it works. No need to mess with mount points for it either.
Also, did you check if your lost.dir folder is taking up space? Sometimes that thing can get big.

Could have been a bad flash, try to flash it again. I know I had a problem when I bought a new sd card. You can also try to flash it from a different phone. Otherwise, if you have access to a pc, I can tell you how to format it from the command line, which is, in my opinion, better to do if you're having a problem with the quick format that the phone does.

ericalanMICHAEL said:
My SD was acting a fool (after deleting many ROMs, it still said I had 73MB free). Nothing I did would change it so I decided to format the card. I used Disk Utility (on Mac) and formatted for FAT32. After I did that, my phone said it was in a format it couldn't recognize, so I formatted it from the phone itself. Now, when I enter recovery and attempt to install zip from sdcard, then choose zip from sdcard, it says "E:Can't mount /sdcard". I don't really know what to do, as I formatted it from my phone. I figured that was sure fire but I guess not so much. I tried to find what format I need the SD card in to work properly but I couldn't find anything.
Can someone help me out?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like what i did one day when i wanted to wipe everything so i did including formatting my SD card through recovery. so it left me with nothing on my phone including a bootable rom! lol. if this is the case with you. Here is what i had to do. Download a new rom to my PC then plug my phone into my PC via USB/ Boot into recovery/ Mount storage/ Mount SD card/ Copy the Rom to SD card then Flash the Rom. Not too sure if this helps, I hope it does, again it sounds like the same problem i had.

Sometimes SD cards break...for some reason they will just stop working, probably due to manufacturing techniques. My old 256mb card went bad, I just tossed it yesterday as a matter of fact. it had no name brand. I still have a 4gb pny that works perfectly and a SanDisk 32gb which also works great. If you do have to get a new SD card, I would recommend getting the highest class you can afford highest out the right now I believe is C10. That will increase your transfer speeds....both of my current cards are class4 and it can take a little bit of time to transfer gigs of data between the phone and computer. If you have any other device that can accept the "card" put it in there and check if it can send and receive data/ format to proper disk size, if not then your card is broken.

Once you go class 10 you don't look back lol
Loving my Lexar 32gb class 10 microsd.
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium

partitioning internal sd

hey everyone. so if i partition the internal sd card what exactly am i doing? from what i understand, the g2x has 8gb onboard, 1.5 of that is for apps, and 5 goes to user data. the rest i assume is for android?
so if i create a 2gb partition on the internal sd, what am i changing and what does it do to the rest of the space? do i need to create the other partitions in windows later and format them?

168 views and no replies? anyone??

Ok, let me try to explain this one...
In three words, Don't Do It!!!
Your internal sd card is pretty much just that, it's a storage card built onto the phone itself. Now it is already partitioned, and allot!
Not only does this one physical card hold your "internal sd card" contents but it also holds your ROM, cache, all your apps, and even your recovery!
Even though it looks like these are separate drives they are all one physical card, your internal sd card.
Now if you try to add to this mix of partitions on this internal card you run the VERY HIGH risk of messing up the lines and sizes of these partitions. Many things in Android assume that some of these are a certain size or at a certain place, and if you mess with it all hell brakes lose!
Now people sometimes partition the external sd card because they want 2 different file types, like half fat32 (like a normal sd card) and half ext4/3 for apps it use in Linux.
Hope this helps!!!
Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk

ok, well then i guess my question is more along the lines of why do we have that option in CWM Recovery and if i create a 2gb partition what happens? does it change the default 1.5gb partition so you have more room for apps?

dodgefan67 said:
ok, well then i guess my question is more along the lines of why do we have that option in CWM Recovery and if i create a 2gb partition what happens? does it change the default 1.5gb partition so you have more room for apps?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm honestly not sure, I've only ever messed with these partitions manually when unbricking my phone. So if you do it, you have a fairly good chance of bricking the phone, but i don't know how Android will react.
Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk

thanks, i was just curious, since CWM gives us the option, but ive never done it and until i can find a good reason to i probably won't even mess with it
but it just seems kind of bad having 5gb on the internal card going to waste, i have backups to my external sd, all my data is there too, so i probably won't even touch that 5gb...

Just be glad it's not the other way around
Ill take too much space over not enough any day!
Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk

well true, but still would like to know exactly what happens if you choose to run that in CWM Recovery

seek and ye shall find
found a guide for CWM and from what i see that option puts a partition on your external sd card so it can be used to install apps on IF the rom supports that. it says it does wipe everything else off the card though so you need to make a backup. you can also put a swap partition on it as well
looks like it does not touch the internal sd card phone memory which is what i thought it did
http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile...-and-how-to-use-it-on-android-complete-guide/