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MicroSD card not working, need help!

I have a T-Mobile G2 with stock 8GB microsd card. I was recording a video about 45 secs into it and all of a sudden the phone froze, I am not sure if it got full caz just before taking the video I checked and there was ~1.8GB free space. After a while an message came up saying "Please insert a SD card" (something along those line), so I figured my card must be full.
So I decided to go try and delete some file on it, only to find out all my apps installed on SD card was now unavailable, this is when I started to worry. I rebooted the phone, no luck. I shut it down and removed and replaced the SD card, no luck.
Plugged it into a Windows PC (Win XP 32 bit), it would see it in My Computers for few seconds and would disappear, even if I try to access it, it was just disappear.
I have some pictures and videos that I had taken on vacation which I really need, any ideas?
Currently as a temp solution I have a 4GB Microsd card in it and everything is fine (obviously, apps still not available), but I need the data from my original 8GB as this is my main concern, please help.
Btw, I have tried using recovery software such as Recuva and testdisk but since windows won't even see the drive I cannot use such software.
Thanks a ton.

if the sd not detected in phone or pc, maybe the sd card already dead.

anyone please?
Thanks

Im not sure what else can be said. If you computer and phone cant see the card, then it's probably dead. All you can at this point is attempt to do a quick format of the card and try to use the recovery software on it to see if you can restore the file structure
Sent from my Desire Z via XDA App

mputtr said:
Im not sure what else can be said. If you computer and phone cant see the card, then it's probably dead. All you can at this point is attempt to do a quick format of the card and try to use the recovery software on it to see if you can restore the file structure
Sent from my Desire Z via XDA App
Click to expand...
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Yeh that is my last resort, but the problem is I cannot do anything as the drive disappears 2-3 seconds after windows detects it and when I try to do anything to that drive it just freezes for a while and closes itself.
any ideas??

if you have a digital camera insert the micro-sd via adapter make sure though to unmount the micro-sd via CWM for example, you should now be able to format the micro-sd card over the menu of your camera. if this doesn't work there's still hope you can try to format it on a linux based system but for now try to format it on your cam

Regular recovery methods won't work too good on an sd card, they were meant for spinning drives. Flash memory either works or it doesn't usually. Try cleaning the contacts and using different card reader/adapter combos. Try a linux live cd etc. If it's dead or corrupted, your kinda stuck. Even a format worked I wouldn't trust it again.

SD Card Issue

Big problem. I have a Lexar 32gb sd card and today it seems to have went corrupt.
I noticed it when my ring tone change from a song to default. if i put the sd card in my PC and try to read from it it says card needs to be formated. Please tell me there is a way to recover the info on the card??? when i put the sd in the phone it says preparing then says safe to remove sd card.
TIA
JC

Hopefully just a format is all you need. I lost a 32g USB drive recently, and fortunately Corsair has great warranty service.
Sent from my Bricked Energy Sensation.

My wife's sensation did the same thing, I had to take out the SD and put it into my SD card reader on my laptop, format it and then put it back in the phone. The phone then wanted to format it again which it did and now it seems fine.
By the way, the data was intact when I put it in my SDcard reader. I was able to back up the data before I formatted it.

He said he wanted to recover the files on the SD card, not how to get the **** thing working.
You might want to check if all of the connections are clean. If they're not, a format the ****-error is likely to happen. Pure alcohol might do the trick.
If it doesn't, you could search Google or the forums for terms like 'recover corrupted micro SD'.
Good luck!
Edit: Maybe this guide does the trick?

I've an other question. I made the mistake to format my SD card with CWM and now it's only a 4 GB card (it should be 8 GB). Does someone know how I can force format it to 8 GB (with Windows or Mac OS disk utility, I can't expand the size anymore, just reformat it) ?

you can use sdformatter, a great and simple tool for those types of things, or you can download easus partition manager, its free and pretty good software for drive management.

If you want to make a linux disc, such as Ubuntu, gparted is one of the best tools available for examining, repartitioning, flagging, and fixing disks. I believe you can just download gparted and boot it from a CD or flashdrive, but I think just downloading a linux distribution is easier.

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

Q) how to format FAT32 64gb card ? can't write/delete files.

Was wondering if anyone had any ideas on what I can possibly do??
The card came as EXFAT, but most roms only support FAT32.
I formatted the card to FAT32 which was fine .. but after copying a few files the card now refuses to write or delete files. I can still open and view media that's on it but that's about it. I can't even re-format it, it will say the disk can not be formated or write error. The card isn't corrupt though, I copied around 30gbs of video on it when it was in EXFAT partition before. J
I'm using an SD adaptor into my card reader, but yes I have ensured the lock switch is off.
edit - oh also, when you place the card into the phone it'll say that the card is damaged/blank.
Any help would be appreciated
Cheers,

thanhson87 said:
Was wondering if anyone had any ideas on what I can possibly do??
The card came as EXFAT, but most roms only support FAT32.
I formatted the card to FAT32 which was fine .. but after copying a few files the card now refuses to write or delete files. I can still open and view media that's on it but that's about it. I can't even re-format it, it will say the disk can not be formated or write error. The card isn't corrupt though, I copied around 30gbs of video on it when it was in EXFAT partition before. J
I'm using an SD adaptor into my card reader, but yes I have ensured the lock switch is off.
edit - oh also, when you place the card into the phone it'll say that the card is damaged/blank.
Any help would be appreciated
Cheers,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Make sure you format it in the phone

Every time I place the card in, it will say the card is damaged or blank
Then it tries to format it but then goes through the same loop of saying it's damaged/blank

thanhson87 said:
Every time I place the card in, it will say the card is damaged or blank
Then it tries to format it but then goes through the same loop of saying it's damaged/blank
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
unmount SD card before format SD card

ruscan.calin said:
unmount SD card before format SD card
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Click to collapse
alright i'll give it a go soon
cheers

i had experienced the same problem i tried my best using several fomat tools. think almost all the tools in the world....failed and bought a new one.....think its better go for new card

Did you try to format it on Linux? I've experienced some problems with SD cards formated on Windows (assuming that you run Windows )

vjz567 said:
i had experienced the same problem i tried my best using several fomat tools. think almost all the tools in the world....failed and bought a new one.....think its better go for new card
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
pretty much - there's nothing you can do. I decided to email Sandisk and here's their response:
I understand that the error that appear after format is “write protected”. First we would like to apologize for the inconvenience.
I understand that you are getting write protection error while accessing the flash drive. The flash drive has detected a potential fault and become “write protected” to prevent data loss. There is no method to fix this. You will need to back-up your data and replace the flash drive.
So you have to RMA it. I'm abit confused because others on XDA have successfully covnerted their 64gb cards to FAT32 without any issues.
Could it be a faulty batch of sd cards?.

[Q] SD Card Not Writeable?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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