Database Info

[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!!

[Q] Internal SD-card (USB-Storage) won't mount when Android boots, only ext-sd

Hello,
Internal SD-card (USB-Storage) won't automatically mount itself when Android starts. It only mounts my external SD-Card. In CWM i can access everything (internal sd, external sd, system etc.) i can format them also. when i connect my phone to the pc i can read and write to both SD-Cards. Everything seems fine, but when android boots (with my ext sd inserted), i enter my pin, and my homescreen appears. Everything is ok but only my external sd is mounted, not my internal (USB-Storage). But when i boot without the external-sd inserted it mounts my internal-sd without problems. Weird. When i insert my ext-sd (phone is running) after my int-sd got mounted, it also mounts my ext-sd. What´s the reason for this behavior? Does anybody know how to fix it? can´t be a format (rfs/ext4 or FAT like) problem i think, but maybe i am wrong.
My Phone is:
Samsung Galaxy S i9000 running
CyanogenMod 10.1 / cm-10.1-20130111-NIGHTLY-galaxysmtd.zip (Stock CM-Kernel, also used semaphore jb 1.9.3)
Maybe someone has an idea how to fix this problem. I´d really appreciate any help.
Greetings,
Strainhunter

fixes, i think^^
I think i fixed the problem.
I copied all the files on my external sd (yes, the problem with the internal sd (usb-storage not mounting was the external sd )
then i formated emmc in CWM--rebooted--> and the copied the files back to the ext-sd. Till now i rebooted the device multiple times and both sd´s are mounting fine^^
Thanks to me^^
Greetings, Strainhunter

Update: Problem came back -> got fixed
Hello Again,
After recently the problem came back, i experimented a little and found out that the problem did go away when i made my nandroid backups in tar format, but came back when i made them i dup format. I think it was the big "blobs"-folder on my ext-sd that caused it.
Just wanted to update this thread, because if someone encountered this problem too, he maybe want to have a look at his Nandoid-backup-format.
MfG,
Strainhunter

I can't partition internal memory.

Got a Tab10DUALC Sunstech tablet (RK3066 chip, 8 GB Flash NAND).
As I started to install some apps it quickly became out of space, checking storage settings I found out that internal storage was about 1gb full and Nand flash 5.26gb free.
So I started to search how to root it and after a lot of trials and errors I got to flash CWM and root it.
Now, I wanted to make a partition out of that 5gb non used space but when I tried that with CWM recovery (advanced, partition) despite having doing it correctly, when the tab restarted it all reseted back to the way it was, this is, no ext2 or whatever.
I've tried just about everything, Link2SD tells me there's no SD CARD 2nd Part. I went to recovery and mounted USB and tried partition it with Mini Tool Partition Wizard and while succeed, when restarting, the tab reported bad SD so made me reformat (Link2SD reported unmountable 2nd Part) so it all came back to the way before, no partition.
Could it be some safe measure or something that doesn't allow me to get this partitioned? I've tried just about everything and can't come up with any other ideas. I mean, I don't want to use my only mini SD card if I can help it, I just don't understand why I can't use that extra 5gb while running out of space on the internal memory.
I also tried moving a few apps to SD and got all kind of errors like not loading.
Thanks for any idea on how to fix this.

[CM13.0] Internal storage problem

Hello.
I have just wiped my device and installed the newest CM13.0 - Marshmallow (LG G3 D855). After rebooting and configuring my phone I got an information that my SD card is unknown. After pressing the notification the phone asked me if I want to use my SD card as external or internal storage. I read about this in the Web and decided to choose the 2nd option. The card was formatted (it was stucked at 20% for couple minutes and after that time progress bar disappeared - no information about success or errors). Internet said me to reboot my phone after the operation is completed.
Now I have a problem. External storage disappeared. I was expecting it to be a part of my old internal storage (about 10GB + 64GB of my SD). What I saw was still 10GB and nothing more. I tried to go to the settings and checked `Storage and USB`. I found my card but I couldn't check the size and anything (there was an information "Checking...", which didn't refreshed even after 2h of waiting...). I think my SD was FAT32, but I'm not sure.
Now when I put the card into my PC i see it has 16MB of size. I tried to format it with size adjustment into NTFS, exFAT and FAT32 - the size of 64GB came back but after doing factory reset and configuring everything in the same way as I described before, I get same issues (using all the file systems).
After all I got angry and decided to choose using my SD normally as an external storage. In this case I see my card and I'm able to copy data on it, BUT... It has size of 16MB... I'm tired of this and really don't have any ideas how to repair it. I don't care if it is internal or external storage. I want this to start working as expected.
Informations:
- LG G3 D855
- CM13.0 (cm-13.0-20151127-NIGHTLY-d855.zip (290.07 MB))
- MicroSDXC ADATA 64GB CLASS-10 (AUSDX64GUICL10RA1)
[EDIT - SOLVED PARTIALLY]
I have partially solved the problem. I noticed that this 16MB is just a swap space. Probably that's why Android saw it as a partition to use.
I managed to set my SD as an external storage. I used EaseUS Partition Master. I deleted all partitions on my card. Next I created a new UNFORMATTED partition (just a raw partition). Then I put my card into the microSD slot in my G3 and started the phone. I chose `external storage` option and it worked! I tried the same for internal but it hangs at 20% and gets an exception. So for now until they fix this, I will use it in the old way.

Nickon said:
Hello.
I have just wiped my device and installed the newest CM13.0 - Marshmallow (LG G3 D855). After rebooting and configuring my phone I got an information that my SD card is unknown. After pressing the notification the phone asked me if I want to use my SD card as external or internal storage. I read about this in the Web and decided to choose the 2nd option. The card was formatted (it was stucked at 20% for couple minutes and after that time progress bar disappeared - no information about success or errors). Internet said me to reboot my phone after the operation is completed.
Now I have a problem. External storage disappeared. I was expecting it to be a part of my old internal storage (about 10GB + 64GB of my SD). What I saw was still 10GB and nothing more. I tried to go to the settings and checked `Storage and USB`. I found my card but I couldn't check the size and anything (there was an information "Checking...", which didn't refreshed even after 2h of waiting...). I think my SD was FAT32, but I'm not sure.
Now when I put the card into my PC i see it has 16MB of size. I tried to format it with size adjustment into NTFS, exFAT and FAT32 - the size of 64GB came back but after doing factory reset and configuring everything in the same way as I described before, I get same issues (using all the file systems).
After all I got angry and decided to choose using my SD normally as an external storage. In this case I see my card and I'm able to copy data on it, BUT... It has size of 16MB... I'm tired of this and really don't have any ideas how to repair it. I don't care if it is internal or external storage. I want this to start working as expected.
Informations:
- LG G3 D855
- CM13.0 (cm-13.0-20151127-NIGHTLY-d855.zip (290.07 MB))
- MicroSDXC ADATA 64GB CLASS-10 (AUSDX64GUICL10RA1)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i cant say this will work, but if i had your problem i would clean off the rom and flash it again, and while in twrp before booting, format your sd card. if that doesnt help, i dont know what else to try.
i didnt know this storage option was added to cm13, but anyways, i would never use external storage as internal. ii have seen people try for years, and usually come back with some problems.

bweN diorD said:
i cant say this will work, but if i had your problem i would clean off the rom and flash it again, and while in twrp before booting, format your sd card. if that doesnt help, i dont know what else to try.
i didnt know this storage option was added to cm13, but anyways, i would never use external storage as internal. ii have seen people try for years, and usually come back with some problems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried to reinstall... Same thing happens...

Nickon said:
Tried to reinstall... Same thing happens...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well, you have 10 post now, i would try asking in the thread where you got the rom. i dont know what else to suggest. sorry.

bweN diorD said:
well, you have 10 post now, i would try asking in the thread where you got the rom. i dont know what else to suggest. sorry.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From official Cyanogenmod website.

Nickon said:
From official Cyanogenmod website.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its impossible that there is a thread on xda in the g3 section though right? cause thats not what we do here, post roms and such...

Nickon said:
[EDIT - SOLVED PARTIALLY]
I have partially solved the problem. I noticed that this 16MB is just a swap space. Probably that's why Android saw it as a partition to use.
I managed to set my SD as an external storage. I used EaseUS Partition Master. I deleted all partitions on my card. Next I created a new UNFORMATTED partition (just a raw partition). Then I put my card into the microSD slot in my G3 and started the phone. I chose `external storage` option and it worked! I tried the same for internal but it hangs at 20% and gets an exception. So for now until they fix this, I will use it in the old way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just ran into this problem on a LS990 (Sprint LG G3) and your post gave me a lead on how to fix it.
I didn't have a microsd reader handy so I used adb shell while in recovery and deleted the partition with fdisk
1. opens ADB
Code:
adb shell
2. This shows you the partitions on your device so you can pick out your external sd card
Code:
cat /proc/partitions
3. mmcblk1 was my external sd card, yours may be different
Code:
fdisk /dev/block/mmcblk1
4. P shows your partitions on the device
Code:
p
5. D deletes the partition on your selected device device
Code:
d
6. O creates a new empty dos partition table
Code:
o
7. N creates a new partition and I accepted all defaults
Code:
n
8. W writes new partition table to disk and exits fdisk
Code:
w
9. I then shut down my phone and removed the microsd.
10. Power phone back on. Once phone has completed boot, insert SD card and it'll give you the option to set up the SD card because it's corrupt. This time, choose portable.
**Note: I'm not an expert by any means and this may be completely unnecessary to go through, but this happened to work for me. Use at your own risk**

up any solution in 2016 ??

SD card stuck on checking

Hi guys,
I have a samsung sm-t520 which I recently resurrected with lineage os 14.1-20190104-Nightly-n2awifi. I think everything installed correctly, but after I inserted my sd card I put it as an internal storage. Later on I honestly don't know what happened, but the card wasn't being seen by the os. I am getting an sd card checking... I just wiped the system, it recognized the card for a second but after I selected format as portable, I got to where I was in the first place with sd card checking stuck. And nothing happens. I tried formatting the card through pc, but it couldn't (unable to format, I even tried with disk manager). There's nothing on the card, I tried to format in twrp but depending what I do it gives me error 1 after failed formatting. I'm not sure what I can do with it. It's a 64gb card. When I try to change the file type on the sd card twrp just keeps working on it and then it reboots to the os normally. (I'm not sure now if it's not happening randomly, really frustrating)
Help much appreciated.

dziech said:
Hi guys,
I have a samsung sm-t520 which I recently resurrected with lineage os 14.1-20190104-Nightly-n2awifi. I think everything installed correctly, but after I inserted my sd card I put it as an internal storage. Later on I honestly don't know what happened, but the card wasn't being seen by the os. I am getting an sd card checking... I just wiped the system, it recognized the card for a second but after I selected format as portable, I got to where I was in the first place with sd card checking stuck. And nothing happens. I tried formatting the card through pc, but it couldn't (unable to format, I even tried with disk manager). There's nothing on the card, I tried to format in twrp but depending what I do it gives me error 1 after failed formatting. I'm not sure what I can do with it. It's a 64gb card. When I try to change the file type on the sd card twrp just keeps working on it and then it reboots to the os normally. (I'm not sure now if it's not happening randomly, really frustrating)
Help much appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here is a method discovered by another member here to fix a corrupted sdcard that was used as adoptable storage.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/general/help/corrupted-sd-card-adoptable-storage-t3801250
For future reference, adoptable storage has to be reversed before factory resetting or reflashing the device, then you have to go through the adoptable storage setup again.
In my opinion(many others would agree), using adoptable storage or any other similar feature that uses external as internal is not worth the hassle and exposes your important data to corruption very easily. Also, when using adoptable storage, the device will not boit if the sdcard is removed or corrupted. It can even cause the device not function at all.
Sent from my LGL84VL using Tapatalk

Droidriven said:
Here is a method discovered by another member here to fix a corrupted sdcard that was used as adoptable storage.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/general/help/corrupted-sd-card-adoptable-storage-t3801250
For future reference, adoptable storage has to be reversed before factory resetting or reflashing the device, then you have to go through the adoptable storage setup again.
In my opinion(many others would agree), using adoptable storage or any other similar feature that uses external as internal is not worth the hassle and exposes your important data to corruption very easily. Also, when using adoptable storage, the device will not boit if the sdcard is removed or corrupted. It can even cause the device not function at all.
Sent from my LGL84VL using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the information. Well, I have worked with Linux last time maybe 10 years ago so I don't really understand what is happening in this post. Is there a translation available anywhere to windows? ddrescue is available on everything but windows from what I'm seeing - great... Also, is there just a way to reset the card so I can use it in an automated way?