So, I've got a new SanDisk 64gb Class 10 micro SD and want to use it for app and data storage, as well as for nandroid recoveries.
Unfortunately, the stock format - exFAT - is not recognized by many apps or by any of our custom recoveries.
Now, you've got two virtually bulletproof options to reformat that disk to FAT32 ... you choose your poison.
**************** HARDCORE *******************
I call this the "Use your teeth to open that bottle of beer" method ...
1. Place the card in your PC's card reader and determine the drive designation (i.e., G:\, H:\, etc.)
2. Download the program Fat32Format to your PC from here: http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?fat32format.htm. The download link is actually situated about mid-page.
3. Unzip the downloaded file with 7Zip (which you can get here: http://www.7-zip.org/)
4. Navigate to the folder with the unzipped fat32format.exe file; while holding down the [Shift] key, right click on the folder.
5. A menu should popup. Scroll down and click on <Open Command Window Here>.
6. You are now in virtual DOS (.. don't be scared ..)
7. Enter the following command sequence> fat32format h: (or whatever drive designates the location of your SD card)
8. You will be prompted to confirm a wipe and format of your SD card. Type "y" and hit enter.
9. In approximately 5 seconds, your SD card will be FAT32 formatted.
10. Remember to follow whatever procedure you normally would before removing a drive from USB.
***************** EASY PEASY ******************
This, on the other hand, is the "my hands are as soft as a baby's bottom" method ... (thanks to lynkdead)
1. Place the card in your PC's card reader and determine the drive designation (i.e., G:\, H:\, etc.)
2. Download the fat32format utility in GUI version from here: http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/guiformat.exe. Click on the picture to retrieve the file.
3. Launch the guiformat.exe.
4. Choose the drive that corresponds to your SD card.
5. Choose the size of the SD Card you are formatting.
5. Check the Quick Format box.
6. Press Start.
And voila !!!
Enjoy your new SD card !!!
Pj
Phoenix, AZ
p.s. Needless to say, this process will erase all data on the card. Also, you will no longer be able to transfer files larger than 4gb to the card.
http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/guiformat.exe
If you use the GUI version from the same website it's WAY easier.
Just launch the .exe, choose the drive that corresponds to your SD card, make sure Quick Format is checked, and press start.
I thought I'd give people to a chance to explore Command Prompts as sort of a baby step to ADB or Terminal Emulator.
The GUI method works just as well. :good:
Thanks for the heads-up ... I edited the OP to reflect both options.
Pj
Phoenix, AZ
Sorry, I don't download and run any unknown/noncorporate apps, for the fear of them being trojans. Do you have any other methods?
Can one not format a mounted sdcard to fat32 on their pc by using "right click/properties/tools/format" or something? Does Microsoft not provide an official tool to format an sd card?
The functionality is built into Windows, through the command prompt. It is, however, excruciatingly slow.
Fat32formatter is open source and has proven to be the only reliable method of formatting large drives without spending any money.
Let us know if you find a good alternative ...
Pj
Phoenix, AZ
pdinphx said:
The functionality is built into Windows, through the command prompt. It is, however, excruciatingly slow.
Fat32formatter is open source and has proven to be the only reliable method of formatting large drives without spending any money.
Let us know if you find a good alternative ...
Pj
Phoenix, AZ
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, basically - use command prompt on windows7? "format X: /FS:FAT32", where "X:" is the sdcard drive name.
Right? (just reading "format /?" in windows)
That should work, though others have reported trying the native Windows format command and later running into trouble with a damaged disc prompt when the card was inserted into the phone.
Pj
Phoenix AZ
nabbed said:
Sorry, I don't download and run any unknown/noncorporate apps, for the fear of them being trojans. Do you have any other methods?
Can one not format a mounted sdcard to fat32 on their pc by using "right click/properties/tools/format" or something? Does Microsoft not provide an official tool to format an sd card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you don't trust it you can always upload the files to VirtusTotal, run them against your own virus scanners, or just rely on the handful of people here who have run the program without issue.
In Windows if you try to simply right-click format it doesn't give the FAT32 option, only exFAT. You can try it through the command line, and it appears to work, though once you actually try to use it CWM throws a fit. Other tools that I've tried also don't work (likely because they simply do exFAT even though they say FAT32, since the difference usually doesn't matter).
This tool works, I've had zero issues, and it hasn't tripped any of the virus scanners I've run against it.
I don't have a 64g card yet, but only my old 16 for more. Why not have the s3 format your card. I did that with my 16g and its a fat32.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app
... NEVER use fat32 with anything above 32 GB.... there is a reason for this it is designed for a max of 32GB you need to use the phone to format it. it will become a newer ext partition.
Either format it in the phone fully booted into Android, or download EaseUS Partition Master (free) & format it as a Primary Drive FAT32 file system. Either way will work.
Sent from my E4GT packed full of "The Goodness" of TNz Blend ICS on Tapatalk 2 Pro, the SGS3 is on my hip...
drksilenc said:
... NEVER use fat32 with anything above 32 GB.... there is a reason for this it is designed for a max of 32GB you need to use the phone to format it. it will become a newer ext partition.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How u r so wrong. You wont be able to use asop cm9 or cm10 when released. unless the 64gb card is in fat32 format. the only disadvantage I see is the 4GB file limit.
why wouldnt cm9 be able to use ext4 thats what the 4.0 version of android was built on and why the partitions can scale.
drksilenc said:
why wouldnt cm9 be able to use ext4 thats what the 4.0 version of android was built on and why the partitions can scale.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not a matter of a specific ROM being able to read it, it's a matter of external storage not being recognized by your recovery(only sees fat & fat32 at /mnt/sdcard), and the OS cannot see external storage formatted as ext2/3/4, only FAT, FAT32, & exFAT.
not my best explanation ever
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2
carhauler1969 said:
It's not a matter of a specific ROM being able to read it, it's a matter of external storage not being recognized by your recovery(only sees fat & fat32 at /mnt/sdcard), and the OS cannot see external storage formatted as ext2/3/4, only FAT, FAT32, & exFAT.
not my best explanation ever
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You sure about that last bit? I was going to reformat my 64GB extSD as ext4 (when I got around to it), since Microsoft's exFAT is patent FAIL, and it's the only other fs the phone supports that'll handle files larger than 4GB. No good reason why it shouldn't be supported on stock touchwiz or on CM10||AOKP
drksilenc said:
... NEVER use fat32 with anything above 32 GB.... there is a reason for this it is designed for a max of 32GB you need to use the phone to format it. it will become a newer ext partition.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I noted above, none of our custom recoveries recognize the exFAT format, which means that you cannot boot, backup or flash from that giant 64gb card. Many users have reported the same problem with their favorite apps ...
No one has reported issues with a FAT32 64gb card , so I don't think this is an issue.
Either way, it is your choice ...
PJ
Phoenix AZ
zmore said:
You sure about that last bit? I was going to reformat my 64GB extSD as ext4 (when I got around to it), since Microsoft's exFAT is patent FAIL, and it's the only other fs the phone supports that'll handle files larger than 4GB. No good reason why it shouldn't be supported on stock touchwiz or on CM10||AOKP
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try it and report back ...
PJ
Phoenix AZ
This convinced me to go FAT32: http://www.epiccm.org/2012/06/why-not-exfat.html
I suspect the phone respects your card's native format. My 64gb SanDisk remained exFAT formatted even after running it through the phone. Thus, the need to format it with my computer. If your experience is different, please let us know.
PJ
Phoenix AZ
pdinphx said:
This convinced me to go FAT32: http://www.epiccm.org/2012/06/why-not-exfat.html
I suspect the phone respects your card's native format. My 64gb SanDisk remained exFAT formatted even after running it through the phone. Thus, the need to format it with my computer. If your experience is different, please let us know.
PJ
Phoenix AZ
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is what I wanted to be certain on cards >32gb. I know Team Epic posted points on how to avoid exFAT, but only for 32gb that you can run thru the phone.
nabbed said:
Sorry, I don't download and run any unknown/noncorporate apps, for the fear of them being trojans. Do you have any other methods?
Can one not format a mounted sdcard to fat32 on their pc by using "right click/properties/tools/format" or something? Does Microsoft not provide an official tool to format an sd card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can confirm download is not a Trojan. I did the second option and it worked perfect took 5 seconds.
Related
For the last 5 hours I have had hell with my sd card I redid my phone with JF new build and wiped out my 8gb class 6 a-data sd card but all of a sudeen it been acting weird
one thing is in paragon it shows the partitions still there (ext2) which takes up the whole card and should not, while windows shows its fat32, and i can access it in windows but it wont show up in in partition program nor delete
while when i mount it into the g1 (where it ask to mount or dont mount when plug it into pc) it instantly unmounts and i click mount again but just makes a noise and unmounts also saying its blank
now my 2gb chip seems to work fine (sometimes well if i unstall the drivers and let them re install then it works for a great amount of time), but this 8 gb,...well
what do you guys think? is it fixable? I can record video of it all (errors and stuff included) if u want
idk if its my chip, my phone or my pc can anyone help?
i think this has something to do with the way windows handles sd cards with no partition table. i assume you formatted the whole card to fat32 using a third party utility? that will totally confuse the system, because it cached a version of the partition table and now there's nowhere to find the new one. a quick solution is to use the build-in format tool to format your sdcard (right click on sdcard's icon and select format...). this should force the system to recalculate the size of the partition. then you have to unplug the card reader and plug it back in. now paragon should work.
billc.cn said:
i think this has something to do with the way windows handles sd cards with no partition table. i assume you formatted the whole card to fat32 using a third party utility? that will totally confuse the system, because it cached a version of the partition table and now there's nowhere to find the new one. a quick solution is to use the build-in format tool to format your sdcard (right click on sdcard's icon and select format...). this should force the system to recalculate the size of the partition. then you have to unplug the card reader and plug it back in. now paragon should work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
after a long while, finally got windows to format the whole thing to fat32, but yet still acting weird
what kind of card reader are you using? certain card readers has their own controller and do not allow you to partition properly.
but i am sure mountd in android will allow you full access to the sdcard when it's mounted.
also how much total space do you have in that fat partition after format? a full 8gb sd should have approx. 7.45GB actually space. if your partition table is correct, windows should only format the fat partition and give you a size smaller than 7.45G.
I strongly suggest you try again under Linux using the phone as reader. any livecd with a partition manager will perform much better than windows.
Well i try it both on my phone and a mem card reader, but once I put it on my phone it does not detect a sd card (my 8gb im trying to fix) while detects my fat32 2 gb chip
on my laptop and pc cant format nor delete that ext2 8gb sd card
BUT that 8gb ext2 card im trying to fix loads perfeclty and can access it on ubuntu so im guessing its not physically broken
tanner2007 said:
but once I put it on my phone it does not detect a sd card
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean by "it", the GUI. How about doing an ls on /dev/block from the terminal on the phone to see what linux sees?
tanner2007 said:
on my laptop and pc cant format nor delete that ext2 8gb sd card
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, what do you mean by delete the card? You can delete a partition, but not a card: I'm not sure makes sense.
tanner2007 said:
BUT that 8gb ext2 card im trying to fix loads perfeclty and can access it on ubuntu so im guessing its not physically broken
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You say ext2, but yet above you claim to have reformatted as FAT. What does your ubuntu machine think it is? One way to tell is to mount it and try to set permissions on a file, if you can, it is not FAT.
What is your objective, do you want a FAT partition, an EXT2 partition, both?
Well I got it working guys, I dont know what was happening as I said before different programs where detecting different file systems, but soon as I found out how to do it ubuntu I saw it was working and erased the whole card (all partitions and everything)
and now it works again thanks guys ur tips helped
What are the chances someone will write a rom that has a different format for the file system on the internal storage of the Transformer? The reason I ask is because I have a lot of blue ray rips that I can not watch on my Transformer due to the file system limitations. Nothing over 2GB can be transferred to the device and I can not seem to get ah external SD card formatted to a different spec that will allow the full file sizes.
I know on my phone the dev reformatted the file system to something else for his from to allow the full file sizes. What are the chances of that happening with the Transformer? I have this big pretty screen I would love to take full advantage of. Watching my DVD rips is only so great
NTFS should be your friend, right? That's how I got my external hd to accept files larger than 4 gb. For the SD card ofc, dunno how to get the pad's file system there.
Or use the Linux ext2/3/4 systems!
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App
How about formatting the external SD card with the Linux ext3 file system, maybe with a Ubuntu Live CD, if someone only has a Windows PC.
That should work, shouldn't it?
Aymara said:
How about formatting the external SD card with the Linux ext3 file system, maybe with a Ubuntu Live CD, if someone only has a Windows PC.
That should work, shouldn't it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That will work. ext2/3/4 depending on what you want. I'd go ext2 as it lacks journalling, theoretically extending the life of your SD (correct me if I'm wrong).
The best option to do this would be to download the gparted live CD, booting into it, inserting your sd into your pc and then formatting it (it's fairly simple).
Only thing is, I don't think Honeycomb will automatically mount the ext SD card when inserted. You would have to do it via mount command in a terminal emulator on your TF. Maybe a custom ROM automatically mounts ext.
poltak11 said:
Only thing is, I don't think Honeycomb will automatically mount the ext SD card when inserted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why? Doesn't Android itself use ext4?
Aymara said:
Why? Doesn't Android itself use ext4?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah pretty sure it uses some kind of ext, but by default I'm pretty sure it only automatically mounts FAT formatted microSD. I tried this myself with Prime!1.5 a few days ago, with an ext4 Class 2 microSD and it wouldn't mount automatically, although it did recognise the device. Simple mount command in terminal should do the trick.
Although now I'm not sure if OP is talking about SD (via dock) or microSD (via tablet)... as the terms are used rather ambiguously on these forums...
poltak11 said:
... it wouldn't mount automatically, ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unbelievable, but true ... I found this problem confirmed in a german Android forum.
Aymara said:
Unbelievable, but true ... I found this problem confirmed in a german Android forum.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unbelievable indeed. It really doesn't make sense why non-FAT formatted microSDs aren't liked by Android.
i dont understand it either! Im glad i dont have that issue !
How to format a micro SD card.
I had a HTC Touch Pro2 16gb micro sd card that has about 14gb on it. It was starting to get really slow to copy any size file to it. so i copied off the full contents to my pc (with the micro sd in a card reader) and in windows explorer, did a right click, format, format fat32. I seem to remember the size wasn't exactly correct but cannot remember exactly. format went really quick and i started coping back over my file. the copy stopped saying there was not enough room. tried another format and now it says that there is just 241kb of size (my only option in the drop down), File Systme Fat is my only option, and Allocation Unit Size FAT is my only option. I do not have a Volume label. Any thoughts? Would love not to have to buy a new card.
Try to format in FAT32 once more and do full format, not Quick. preferably via PC
Dancer-Sk said:
Try to format in FAT32 once more and do full format, not Quick. preferably via PC
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True that. Had the same problem once. What I did was to use a different SD Card reader and delete off the contents first before trying format (non-quick).
If that doesn't work, google for an alternative sd card formatter.
Download Ubuntu Live CD and run it w/o installing. Connect your Cardreader and start the Program "Gparted".
Now you can format your SD-Card in many Datatypes, maybe Windows is faulty at your Cardreader, but with Linux it should work fine.
Ubuntu Download: www [dot] ubuntu [dot] com/download/ubuntu/download
P.S.: If Gparted is not listed in the App Drawer, get it from the Ubuntu Softwarecenter by simply searching "Gparted".
Hi,
Here is a tool what will make formatting a SD Card easy. Just download this tool and select Full erease. Then it will be okay. Also partitions which are hidden are now ereased try it and let me know!
Tip: Search in google SD Formatter 3.1 and select the first link!
The SDFormatter 3.1 did the trick. Windows XP formatter had no options for Fat32 and only saw 224kb of my 16gb micro sd card. The SDFormatter 3.1 recognized the full 16gb. Not really sure about the options. Even though there are only three the FULL options did not seem to work at first but after the quick my card was formatted, windows saw 16gb, copied my data back and now my phone is good. thanks.
Flash memory just gets slower when it get fuller, formating doesnt help that.
Dark3n said:
Flash memory just gets slower when it get fuller, formating doesnt help that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Formatting deletes every thing so it was to speed it up?!? ;/)
Sent from my MB855 using xda premium
I got a class 10 micro sdcard yesterday but when I tried to put music on it the write was like 2M/s. The computer froze in the process so I took the sdcard out before the process was finished. After I restarted my computer the computer wouldn't recognize the card anymore (no show in Computer). It wouldn't be recognized on my phone neither. It did show up on my friend's computer but if I clicked on the disk icon, it asked me to insert a card.....so I guess it might be corrupted because I got it out before the transfer was done.
So is there anyway to format the sdcard (micro sdcard)? I know there are many software that can format the sdcard but they won't work since the computer won't even detect the sdcard....
Wish I knew this as well. I have a corrupted 16GB Micro as well. Trying to format using SDFormatter tells me that it's in read-only mode or some nonsense like that.
Try this first:
http://hddguru.com/software/HDD-LLF-Low-Level-Format-Tool/
Even though windows won't say anything when it's inserted, doesn't mean it wasn't detected, just means windows couldn't mount it. Insert the sdcard and theh download and run the program, selecting the proper drive to wipe.
If that doesn't work u both could try linux. Download any live distro, I recommend slax. Burn it to a CD and boot ur computer from it with the micro sdcard inserted via adapter.
Then use this command with variation to ur specific hardware setup
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/???# bs=1M
icenight89 said:
Try this first:
http://hddguru.com/software/HDD-LLF-Low-Level-Format-Tool/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there is an official tool by the SD Association https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_3/
You could try right clicking my comupter>manage>storage and look for your card and format it from there may work may not.
kishke said:
You could try right clicking my comupter>manage>storage and look for your card and format it from there may work may not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wont work, need a low level format
zefie said:
there is an official tool by the SD Association https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_3/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
for this specific task, the fs is corrupt, I think my methods would be better
icenight89 said:
for this specific task, the fs is corrupt, I think my methods would be better
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SD Formatter has revived many of my cards, it will also re-partition them and format it to a single FAT32 (or FAT if its a small card) partition. All you need is the PC to see the device (such as the card reader) in device manager. Also, if you have a supported card reader (90% don't though) it can do low-level functions such as Flash NAND (of the SD Card) erase.
If it doesn't show up, I would agree to try the /dev/zero method under linux, followed by a SD Formatter wipe once the card is back to appearing in device manager.
Hi, I have only had my Infinity for a few days now and I loving it. Before, with my other tablet I used CWM to do my backups. I have now have TWRP. Being naturally cautious I and ask questions before I go ahead and do something that I may not be able to recover from. I want to use TWRP to do a backup to my external microsd card. When I open TWRP and select backup it will not let me select external storage, it stays on the internal storage. I can do a Titanium Backup of apps and data to it and I have transferred videos from my pc to the microsd card using the sd card adapter. Is there some other step that I need to do that I am not doing? Thanks
lartomar2002 said:
Hi, I have only had my Infinity for a few days now and I loving it. Before, with my other tablet I used CWM to do my backups. I have now have TWRP. Being naturally cautious I and ask questions before I go ahead and do something that I may not be able to recover from. I want to use TWRP to do a backup to my external microsd card. When I open TWRP and select backup it will not let me select external storage, it stays on the internal storage. I can do a Titanium Backup of apps and data to it and I have transferred videos from my pc to the microsd card using the sd card adapter. Is there some other step that I need to do that I am not doing? Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What type of format on your external SDcard? extFAT,FAT32 ??
buhohitr said:
What type of format on your external SDcard? extFAT,FAT32 ??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is exFAT while waiting on a response, I did some more research and found that it needs to be FAT32 but, my pc is a win 7 and it will only format to exFAT or NTFS. Any suggestions?
Will one of yer other devices listed below there format it fat32?
lartomar2002 said:
It is exFAT while waiting on a response, I did some more research and found that it needs to be FAT32 but, my pc is a win 7 and it will only format to exFAT or NTFS. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google Fat32format tool and use this to format your card.
...kind of weird...well more normal than weird.
If Windows (Windows 7 specifically) sees any of my SD cards with a drive letter they all can be formatted fat32 (right click) in Windows explorer...
Thats OK said:
...kind of weird...well more normal than weird.
If Windows (Windows 7 specifically) sees any of my SD cards with a drive letter they all can be formatted fat32 (right click) in Windows explorer...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's perfectly normal, there is a change from XP to Wins 7. In windows 7, by default, when you right click there are only 2 options; NTFS and extFAT. If you want to use FAT32 you have to format using command prompt.
Thats OK said:
Will one of yer other devices listed below there format it fat32?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not aware of any android app that can reformat sd cards.
buhohitr said:
It's perfectly normal, there is a change from XP to Wins 7. In windows 7, by default, when you right click there are only 2 options; NTFS and extFAT. If you want to use FAT32 you have to format using command prompt.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the info. My wife's laptop is still XP.
buhohitr said:
It's perfectly normal, there is a change from XP to Wins 7. In windows 7, by default, when you right click there are only 2 options; NTFS and extFAT. If you want to use FAT32 you have to format using command prompt.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not true on my desktop system.
If my PC sees any flashcard with a drive letter assigned a right click to format includes an option for fat32.
Actually fat32 is the default...I just checked it with a Patriot Class 10 8 gig card.
It's the same for 3 other SD cards in different classes and capacities not to mention xD and CF cards.
Thats OK said:
Not true onSanDisk esktop system.
If my PC sees any flashcard with a drive letter assigned a right click to format includes an option for fat32.
Actually fat32 is the default...I just checked it with a Patriot Class 10 8 gig card.
It's the same for 3 other SD cards in different classes and capacities not to mention xD and CF cards.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The card I need to format is a 64gb Sandisk ultra microsdxc card class 10 UHS-1. I think the class size and the size of the card might have something to do with it.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1956013
Did you happen to see the above thread?
The info might be helpful.
From a tablet running CleanROM 2.3