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[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. )

[Q] how to fix sd card ?

i have an 8 Gb sd card that was functioning very well,
untill i partitioned it using cwm and the phone turned off in the middle ( battery was out )
now i have an unallocated space with 1 Gb, i cant format it, and minitool partition wizard says bad disk
please dont say buy a new one it was class 6 and sd cards are very expensive where i live

synos_x said:
i have an 8 Gb sd card that was functioning very well,
untill i partitioned it using cwm and the phone turned off in the middle ( battery was out )
now i have an unallocated space with 1 Gb, i cant format it, and minitool partition wizard says bad disk
please dont say buy a new one it was class 6 and sd cards are very expensive where i live
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try again in cwm...
or else insert sd few more times in pc using memory card reader(adapter) til it stops saying bad disk and then try to format in minitool

tried both and still not working
thanks anyway

synos_x said:
tried both and still not working
thanks anyway
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wats the problem with cwm? Wat error it shows?

Insert it in PC card reader. Find some partition manager, other than mini partition tool, for PC and try to repartition it.
If you use Windows 7 go to Control Panel->System and Security->Administrative tools -> Computer Management -> Storage -> Disk Management
and check if your card (and it's partitions) is shown. If it is try to remove existing partitions and create new FAT 32 partition spaning over entire disc.

i've used easeus partition master, and
easeus partition recovery + partition table doctor +hdd regenerator + sd formatter + minitool partition + [email protected] partition recovery+ flobo
i think it's hopeless
@tomashokenberi all of the programs including disk management , are showing one unallocated partition (1 Gb) and everytime i try to format the partition, the program fails, all of them
@vikraam the cwm just says formatting then done ( nothing else )
somebody said to me to try an mbr tool or program, and i havent found one that works on my pc (x64) do you have suggestions

How many partitions are actually shown in disk management? One or more? If there is more than one partition try to delete all partitions then create one new partition.
Also if your Windows PC uses some "ext2/3 enabler", that is software and driver that allows access to ext2/3/4 partitions from windows it may interfere with disk management and create problems.

it is showing only one partition, i've tryed gparted live cd, on several different pcs and different sd adapters all saying ( access denied, or write protected ), and yes the switch is correct,,
so what should i do now, make a hole in it and use it like a Key Chain

synos_x said:
it is showing only one partition, i've tryed gparted live cd, on several different pcs and different sd adapters all saying ( access denied, or write protected ), and yes the switch is correct,,
so what should i do now, make a hole in it and use it like a Key Chain
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol
P.S. : i came all the way down to find a solution

vickkr said:
lol
P.S. : i came all the way down to find a solution
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gave me the same bad disk error, I tried every partition manager but nothing worked!
I found my solution by changing my sdcard adapter (or usb card reader) and it works perfectly fine now

tomashokenberi said:
Insert it in PC card reader. Find some partition manager, other than mini partition tool, for PC and try to repartition it.
If you use Windows 7 go to Control Panel->System and Security->Administrative tools -> Computer Management -> Storage -> Disk Management
and check if your card (and it's partitions) is shown. If it is try to remove existing partitions and create new FAT 32 partition spaning over entire disc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
THANKS... , :') yo are realy realy solved my problem

solved
tomashokenberi said:
Insert it in PC card reader. Find some partition manager, other than mini partition tool, for PC and try to repartition it.
If you use Windows 7 go to Control Panel->System and Security->Administrative tools -> Computer Management -> Storage -> Disk Management
and check if your card (and it's partitions) is shown. If it is try to remove existing partitions and create new FAT 32 partition spaning over entire disc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Problem solved

fix sd card
Did you try with a pc via a partition magic program?

bad disk
tomashokenberi said:
Insert it in PC card reader. Find some partition manager, other than mini partition tool, for PC and try to repartition it.
If you use Windows 7 go to Control Panel->System and Security->Administrative tools -> Computer Management -> Storage -> Disk Management
and check if your card (and it's partitions) is shown. If it is try to remove existing partitions and create new FAT 32 partition spaning over entire disc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks, though this is an old post but you helped me with my sd card also.

faced the same problem....
simple solution:format with blackberry

Command Prompt
I don't know if the problem was solved. I have suggestions. They are worth trying but not guaranteed to work.
The 'Disk Management' thing doesn't work. I use Windows 10. It gets stuck (becomes entirely Unresponsive) until I pull out the card from the reader. And the same also happens when I double-click or right-click on the SD card in Windows Explorer.
Maybe this can work-
Check the Lock switch on Card. It should not be locked.
On the computer, disable any antivirus feature of auto-scanning USB disks when connected. Also disable Windows USB AutoPlay.
Connect Card to computer with a good card reader.
With Windows Explorer, find the drive letter of the connected SD Card.
Open Command Prompt as Administrator and write
format <drive letter followed by colon : and no slash>
Example - Attached to this post.
If error appears "Insert New Disk and press ENTER", just press 'ENTER' directly.
If error appears "Cannot open volume for direct access", write the format statement in 5th step again.
These errors appear 3-4 times, but keep following the above steps till these statements appear -
"The type of the file system is FAT32. Verifying <your card size>"
Good luck !!
Otherwise, try this http://www.cardrecoverypro.com/

[Q] Damaged SD card / won't mount - fix?

So in short my Droid Charge's SD card is screwed up.
I keep getting the message Damaged SD Card message in my notifications and I click it every time to format but then it doesnt do anything. When I try to view my photo gallery it says the sd card is blank or that there is no sd card. It wont let me use the camera because theres no sd card.
I'm rooted running Tweaked 3.0 with the latest FP5 updates after unrooting back to stock in order to get them. Tried to Odin back to stock a few times and then reflashing Tweaked a few times and still the same thing. Did factory/data reset, cache wipe, dalvik wipe a thousand times as well.
I am able to mount the sd card briefly in ClockworkMod Recovery, to view the files on the sd card but then about a minute or less later the sd card seems to unmount itself and becomes unrecognizable. Same for when I connect the phone via USB to my Windows 7 PC. If I pull out the physical sd card from the device, put it back in, hit connect to storage...the PC will recognize it for about a minute basically teasing me, letting me transfer a couple small files...and then unmounts itself and stops being read. Because of this I cant seem to partition the sd card in Windows 7 nor can I get it to complete and Check Disk.
I even bit the bullet while trying to format the sd card in CWM, and then while connect to the PC and I cant even get the card to format...
Obviously I'd prefer to some how save all the files on there before having to format if possible.
Tried searching around the forums but nothing seems to be similar to my problem. The ONLY thing I can come up with for the cause was that I mistakenly flashed the charge.PIT file while flashing Tweaked 3 in Odin. Not sure if thats the cause...
Any help and suggestions would be great. Thanks!!

It sounds to me like it's actually dead, or on its way. Try plugging it into your computer. Make note of the file name (eg F:\) Go to command prompt and type this:
Code:
chkdsk (drive letter with colon and backslash) /f /p
If that doesn't work, your last shot is probably this:
Code:
chkdsk (drive letter with colon and backslash) /r
Sent from my SCH-I510 using xda premium

Can you mount your SD card directly to your PC (i.e., pull it from your phone and use a card reader)? I've had troubles with SD cards in the past and by using a non-phone card reader have been able to save what was on the card or resurrect it back to the point of usability in the phone.

jusliloleme said:
Can you mount your SD card directly to your PC (i.e., pull it from your phone and use a card reader)? I've had troubles with SD cards in the past and by using a non-phone card reader have been able to save what was on the card or resurrect it back to the point of usability in the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I forgot to say be sure to do this with an SD or USB adapter rather than through your phone.
Sent from my SCH-I510 using xda premium

This actually sounds a lot like what can happen to SD cards on some HTC devices if the S-OFF goes bad. The two ways to fix it were to put it in a card reader and reformat it in Windows as FAT32, or there is a way to repartition and reformat it on the phone, but it requires you to know the pull /dev path to the SD card, and I don't know it for this phone.

Still no dice...
Ya I tried using an SD adapter that held the micro SD card, put that directly into my laptop's SD card slot and still had the same experience...it briefly reads and mounts...where i have enough time to dig few a couple folders on there and drag a couple small text docs off...then stops working.
I tried using those command prompts in CMD (chkdsk D:\ /f, chkdsk D:\ /p, and chkdsk D:\ /r) but none of them did the trick. Also the "/p" seems to be an invalid command for chkdsk? I cant seem to get it to partition in any utilities either.
Still cant format it using the adapter either in CMD or the regular Windows 7 interface.
There may also be an issue stemming from the possibility that I think its just acting as read/only. Is there a way to make it read/write? The option doesnt seem to show when i right-click on the briefly mounted sd card for its properties.
My last attempt last night was using Sandisk RescuePRO Deluxe. I started it around midnight and by 7am it was only at roughly 6.5% complete for some reason...arg.
Thoughts?

Did you try the disk management in Windows? Or diskpart?
Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk 2

I did try disk management in windows and the sd drive label wouldnt stay showing long enough for me to get that to work. I dont understand why its able to mount and then shortly after just unmount itself.
Havent tried diskpart, is that a command in CMD?
JihadSquad said:
Did you try the disk management in Windows? Or diskpart?
Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

ultimatdan said:
I did try disk management in windows and the sd drive label wouldnt stay showing long enough for me to get that to work. I dont understand why its able to mount and then shortly after just unmount itself.
Havent tried diskpart, is that a command in CMD?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah its a terminal level partitioning tool.

Do I just type in "diskpart" to cmd?
JihadSquad said:
Yeah its a terminal level partitioning tool.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

ultimatdan said:
Do I just type in "diskpart" to cmd?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IIRC you will want to run cmd as administrator (by right clicking on its icon in the start menu). You should also look up some sort of guide if you haven't used it before.

Ughhhh
Still not working Im getting error messages not letting me format. It will select the disk though but then when i try to go further i get "diskpart has encountered an error"
JihadSquad said:
IIRC you will want to run cmd as administrator (by right clicking on its icon in the start menu). You should also look up some sort of guide if you haven't used it before.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Ever tried HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool?? Its supposed to work but dont have a card reader to find out ..>(
http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Hard-Disk-Utils/HP-USB-Disk-Storage-Format-Tool.shtml

I had the same problem with my S3 and tried to recover data from card but nothing worked. Luckily I had most of it backed up. At the end had to get a new card
Sent from my SCH-I510 using xda app-developers app

Same issue happened with my ADATA card. I was able to recover the files by wiping the SD Card in TWRP first. Then recovering the boot partions/files using TestDisk. It worked for a while but ultimately, like Lehocki said, I had to get a new card. I was able to return it and get a replacement.

Weird, I had just had the same problem and am also using Tweaked 3.0. Interesting. I also had luck recovering many files using TestDisk,,,however several files were corrupted.

Same problem.
ultimatdan said:
So in short my Droid Charge's SD card is screwed up.
I keep getting the message Damaged SD Card message in my notifications and I click it every time to format but then it doesnt do anything. When I try to view my photo gallery it says the sd card is blank or that there is no sd card. It wont let me use the camera because theres no sd card.
I'm rooted running Tweaked 3.0 with the latest FP5 updates after unrooting back to stock in order to get them. Tried to Odin back to stock a few times and then reflashing Tweaked a few times and still the same thing. Did factory/data reset, cache wipe, dalvik wipe a thousand times as well.
I am able to mount the sd card briefly in ClockworkMod Recovery, to view the files on the sd card but then about a minute or less later the sd card seems to unmount itself and becomes unrecognizable. Same for when I connect the phone via USB to my Windows 7 PC. If I pull out the physical sd card from the device, put it back in, hit connect to storage...the PC will recognize it for about a minute basically teasing me, letting me transfer a couple small files...and then unmounts itself and stops being read. Because of this I cant seem to partition the sd card in Windows 7 nor can I get it to complete and Check Disk.
I even bit the bullet while trying to format the sd card in CWM, and then while connect to the PC and I cant even get the card to format...
Obviously I'd prefer to some how save all the files on there before having to format if possible.
Tried searching around the forums but nothing seems to be similar to my problem. The ONLY thing I can come up with for the cause was that I mistakenly flashed the charge.PIT file while flashing Tweaked 3 in Odin. Not sure if thats the cause...
Any help and suggestions would be great. Thanks!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ref : Thanks!

[q] sd card issues

Hi guys,
I hope this is the right section to post this issue.
Does anyone have a solution to completely erasing data from a sd card, my problem with my sd card is that i am not able to delete files from the card or add any new files. I am able to copy files from the sd card to the pc though. I have tried formating it on various computer operating systems as well as on an android system.
What i get is the format completes but after reconnecting the card to the pc or phone, all the files that were previously on the card have somehow returned and the files are not corrupt or anything because i am able to view images and play music from the sd card. Is there any method I could use or is it time to let the memory card go?

Check for Errors
Try check your SD card for errors on the computer (Mount it first).

JBmorris said:
Try check your SD card for errors on the computer (Mount it first).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi JBMorris, i have tried mounting it to the computer still no luck, I used a program called active kill disk to format it and check for errors but the program freezes on the verify and checking for errors section. I think something about the sectors not being readable so I might as well get a new sd card and thanks for the suggestion!

JazzedMontage said:
Hi guys,
I hope this is the right section to post this issue.
Does anyone have a solution to completely erasing data from a sd card, my problem with my sd card is that i am not able to delete files from the card or add any new files. I am able to copy files from the sd card to the pc though. I have tried formating it on various computer operating systems as well as on an android system.
What i get is the format completes but after reconnecting the card to the pc or phone, all the files that were previously on the card have somehow returned and the files are not corrupt or anything because i am able to view images and play music from the sd card. Is there any method I could use or is it time to let the memory card go?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
use a external card reader and then try to format
if not then use a software utility " low level format "
try if it helps

singh_aman said:
use a external card reader and then try to format
if not then use a software utility " low level format "
try if it helps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Singh, i tried using a software utility also tried the windows disk management and I'm still stuck with the same problem.I have decided to get a new card as my apps are not able to write to the sd card. Thanks for the help.

JazzedMontage said:
Hi guys,
I hope this is the right section to post this issue.
Does anyone have a solution to completely erasing data from a sd card, my problem with my sd card is that i am not able to delete files from the card or add any new files. I am able to copy files from the sd card to the pc though. I have tried formating it on various computer operating systems as well as on an android system.
What i get is the format completes but after reconnecting the card to the pc or phone, all the files that were previously on the card have somehow returned and the files are not corrupt or anything because i am able to view images and play music from the sd card. Is there any method I could use or is it time to let the memory card go?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you had encrypted it with some device before.... So if you insert in that device and remove encryption...
But if you have factory reset your device and remove encryption key.. Then it will be very hard (may be impossible) to format it or change permissions
Hit thank button if this post helped you

Killwish said:
I think you had encrypted it with some device before.... So if you insert in that device and remove encryption...
But if you have factory reset your device and remove encryption key.. Then it will be very hard (may be impossible) to format it or change permissions
Hit thank button if this post helped you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi killwish, that makes sense it is possible it was encrypted before as i used a different rom, so would you advice me to install the previous rom and try to format it?

JazzedMontage said:
Hi killwish, that makes sense it is possible it was encrypted before as i used a different rom, so would you advice me to install the previous rom and try to format it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bro you have flashed new rom... And encryption key is deleted.... So now I think it is impossible to do what you want....
May be some hacker will help you... Wait if someone give you the solution

now you have only 1 option left
try replacing it from service centre for free

singh_aman said:
now you have only 1 option left
try replacing it from service centre for free
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh.. Yeah it is the solution.. If your card is in warranty

You should format your SD card through CMD
To format a memory card from command prompt, follow the below procedure:
Connect the memory card to your PC through card reader.
Click on Start > Run > Type CMD and click on OK.
Assuming the letter of the memory card drive is G.
Now enter this command.
format /q /x G: and press Enter.
Note: Don't forget to replace the letter "G" with your drive letter.

snehashish93 said:
You should format your SD card through CMD
To format a memory card from command prompt, follow the below procedure:
Connect the memory card to your PC through card reader.
Click on Start > Run > Type CMD and click on OK.
Assuming the letter of the memory card drive is G.
Now enter this command.
format /q /x G: and press Enter.
Note: Don't forget to replace the letter "G" with your drive letter.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it will also not work
Hit thank button if this post helped you

snehashish93 said:
You should format your SD card through CMD
To format a memory card from command prompt, follow the below procedure:
Connect the memory card to your PC through card reader.
Click on Start > Run > Type CMD and click on OK.
Assuming the letter of the memory card drive is G.
Now enter this command.
format /q /x G: and press Enter.
Note: Don't forget to replace the letter "G" with your drive letter.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Snehashish, i have tried using the cmd and get an "access denied error" even though i am using cmd with administrator rights. It seems to me there's nothing i can do as i have tried formatting using different methods.

Replacing Card
Hi guys,
Thanks for all the effort, my card doesn't have warranty and I will be replacing it, what I have learned from all this is to stay clear of encryption if you not sure of what it fully entails!
Cheers Fellas!

sd card write problem

hi yesterday I unexpectedly remove sd card (samsung) without unmounting from htc u11 now I can not write to it. can not format the sd card from phone as well from pc. recently I updated my htc u11 to oreo also. I dont know is it because of unexpectedly remove of sd card or oreo update because I dont remember that after oreo update I use(means download something) my sd card. If anyone have the solution thanx in advance.

How old was sd card? Could be just bad luck, and card died, happen to me. And what pc - win version you tried formated? It should let you do it whitout any problems.

If the external sd card was being written to at the time it was disconnected then it will be broken. If it wasn't then try to recover it using a pc.
The oreo update won't have changed anything with the external sd card so you can rule that out.

Sometimes, when you pull out the memory card unexpectedly (also the pen drives or even memory sticks on pc) you can lock the card. It denies to write on it. This happens due to the chip controller of the memory card. The only solution is to repair it on PC with special software tools from manufacturer or from russian/chinese/vietnamese forums which can reset that lock 'flag'. That sw contains drivers to raw access the chip controller.

MoshPuiu said:
Sometimes, when you pull out the memory card unexpectedly (also the pen drives or even memory sticks on pc) you can lock the card. It denies to write on it. This happens due to the chip controller of the memory card. The only solution is to repair it on PC with special software tools from manufacturer or from russian/chinese/vietnamese forums which can reset that lock 'flag'. That sw contains drivers to raw access the chip controller.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanx to all for the reply. This is samsung evo 32 gig sd card. @MoshPuiu please pm me if you know any forum or software.

Hi,
Try to format your SD Card using this tool "MiniTool Partition" on Windows.
https://www.partitionwizard.com/
Windows doesn't do the right job to format SD Cards.
Cheer's

luarpc said:
Hi,
Try to format your SD Card using this tool "MiniTool Partition" on Windows.
https://www.partitionwizard.com/
Windows doesn't do the right job to format SD Cards.
Cheer's
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanx for your reply I use it(minitool partition) and also easeus but no one work. They show that your disk is formated but when I check in explorer data is still there. Is there any other software or method to format.

raokashan said:
thanx for your reply I use it(minitool partition) and also easeus but no one work. They show that your disk is formated but when I check in explorer data is still there. Is there any other software or method to format.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try to search something like that: 'mass production utility', usually under this name you can find utilities to access the chips. It is time consuming to find what chip/controller your card use and find an utility which can access that chip since samsung do not publish such a tool...
You can try ChipGenius or another sw to find details, you may digg in sites like 'http://www.flashdrive-repair.com' to find a way of repair.

raokashan said:
thanx for your reply I use it(minitool partition) and also easeus but no one work. They show that your disk is formated but when I check in explorer data is still there. Is there any other software or method to format.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, are you looking for SD card recovery software like this list: https://www.cisdem.com/resource/sd-card-recovery-software.html#FAQ
Or to format the SD Card? https://www.techadvisor.co.uk/how-to/storage/how-format-sd-card-3529689/