I have an sd card backup of about 150GB. I've randomly tested the files, and they are real, working files, perhaps 20,000 of them, mostly images and videos! So, my sd card died. So, I decided to restore a new one with the backup on my PC SSD. First I put the new card in the Android device, Android 10, Samsung Tab S4, and let Android format it. I removed it, put it in a USD<>microsd card adapter, and transferred the files. After every copy operation, I sync'ed the memory buffers to the sd card, so all data was written. I made the transfer in about 30 chunks.
Installed the card in the Android device, but only a few files had any contents. The remainder either weren't there at all, or were there, and the correct size, but all zeros. I verified that with a hex viewer, and by copying some files back off the sd card to the PC, and they were indeed zero-filled. I repeated the same process, but with card installed in the device, and using adb push.
Same problem. Many of the files that appeared to transfer were completely absent, and many more were zero-filled, but the correct size. Is there any way to restore a backup to an sd card in Android? I can't figure it out! A few files are written, but the rest are not. Do I maybe need a faster microsd card? It's driving me insane! I'm about to relinquish myself to the fact that it's impossible! Yet, other users don't seem to have this problem.
Guesses are welcome, but there should be some validation for them.
Thanks for all the help.
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I currently have a new TyTN II. I already had a 2gb microSD. Due to arrive in my hand shortly are a full version of TomTom 6 and a 4gb.
Is there a way to transfer all of the data/apps on the 2gb card to the 4 without having to re-install everything?
Just put the 2GB in your computer / an SD Card reader and copy the entire contents of the 2GB to a TEMP folder on your computer. Now remove the 2GB card and insert the empty 4GB card and recopy everything from the TEMP folder on your computer to the 4GB card.
SIMPLE!!!
leepriestenator said:
Just put the 2GB in your computer / an SD Card reader and copy the entire contents of the 2GB to a TEMP folder on your computer. Now remove the 2GB card and insert the empty 4GB card and recopy everything from the TEMP folder on your computer to the 4GB card.
SIMPLE!!!
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Thank you for your response. To clarify my question with an example, if I had TomTom installed to the 2gb, would the process you describe work without reinstalling the program?
When you say "TEMP", do you mean just create a new folder on the desktop, for example?
It seems that I have tried to simply copy the contents and the programs then had to be reinstalled.
Yes it will work that way. I've done it many times, although not with tomtom, but every other app I have installed on it works so I don't see any reason why it wouldn't. I've even copied my miniSD from my wizard on to my microSD for my Kaiser and all of the programs still work without being installed over again.
You can name the folder anything you want on your computer, besides, you may want to keep it for backup in case something happens to your card anyway. I backup my card about once a month since SD cards tend to corrupt a little too often.
I guess I have wasted a lot of hours of my life reinstalling apps when I have changed devices. HP4700 to TyTN to TyTN II over 3 years or so.
Thanks again for your help.
I need to transfer my files from my MicroSD card to a bigger one. Obviously, music, picture, video files etc are no problem, but can I also just drag and drop the program files of applications I've installed onto the card too? Will the apps still work?
Thanks
if you put them in the same path on the new card it should work unless it's some security program which will only run on the first sd installed on
strange name but title but heres the scoop. i have a samsung sch-1760 with a 2gb micro sd card. i have most of it filled up with music. well just today i'm messing around with syncing it to my computer and i try to play some music and stuff but i don't have my playlist. i then check my sd card and when i do it's empty except for a " wmdrm" folder. well i check my phone memorie and the card is saying that it has only has 277mb free. so now i'm getting agitated i put the card directly into my computer and can't find anything but a file named "EncFiltLog.menc"... my question is what happened to my files and why can't i see them
Bone123 said:
strange name but title but heres the scoop. i have a samsung sch-1760 with a 2gb micro sd card. i have most of it filled up with music. well just today i'm messing around with syncing it to my computer and i try to play some music and stuff but i don't have my playlist. i then check my sd card and when i do it's empty except for a " wmdrm" folder. well i check my phone memorie and the card is saying that it has only has 277mb free. so now i'm getting agitated i put the card directly into my computer and can't find anything but a file named "EncFiltLog.menc"... my question is what happened to my files and why can't i see them
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Click to collapse
The .menc file is the contents/files that are encrypted. It is a feature that secures the files and makes them only visible on your device, which is why you can't see them on your PC. You must have encrypted them by choosing the feature to secure data on the card. By removing the card, you may have prevented all devices from reading the files. With the card in the slot, see if you can change the encryption settings.
TheChampJT said:
The .menc file is the contents/files that are encrypted. It is a feature that secures the files and makes them only visible on your device, which is why you can't see them on your PC. You must have encrypted them by choosing the feature to secure data on the card. By removing the card, you may have prevented all devices from reading the files. With the card in the slot, see if you can change the encryption settings.
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the only problem i can't even see the files on my phone... so what can i do to get to see those files so i can back them up whipe out my card or get the files back unencrypted
I've had a similar problem with a 4Gb card and my Tytn II - there are some files that have disappeared, but are still taking up space. Unfortunately when I try to format the card it says it's write protected, on my PC or my phone. I didn't know you could write protect them, and I don't know how to un protect it
ok so how do i get to the "pin" or w/e to access the encrypted files my phone has not been hard reset so i don't understand why my stuff has gone missing
There's a encryption config under Settings in win mobile... i think that's what he's suggesting to check.
Otherwise there's a media player issue where you might have to delete the MSMETADATA folder and then run media player to rescan your SD card and it should find the files again.
And if that don't work... good luck searching the forums. It could be a registry issue also.
does this feature work better than having the SD card as an external device?
my concern is if you change the card or have to change the card..
surely everything will go to crap if its integrated and you change or upgrade the card.
I won't integrate it, if something goes wrong you have to reformat entire SD card to make it work as normal.
I will just save everything on SD card while internal memory is used for apps/chat storage
The disadvantage is as you have stated. But the advantages are 1) it will become part of your phone storage. You can store app or any other type of date there. 2) It's encrypted and only work while it's in your phone. You won't be able to read it once it's removed but you don't have to worry about loosing sensitive data if someone got your phone. If you need to change the card (replace with a bigger card), just connect to your computer, copy the data to your computer, switch the card, copy date back to new card.
toiday said:
The disadvantage is as you have stated. But the advantages are 1) it will become part of your phone storage. You can store app or any other type of date there. 2) It's encrypted and only work while it's in your phone. You won't be able to read it once it's removed but you don't have to worry about loosing sensitive data if someone got your phone. If you need to change the card (replace with a bigger card), just connect to your computer, copy the data to your computer, switch the card, copy date back to new card.
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Hi, total n00b here, but is this true? I thought the data stores were completely scattered once an SD card is integrated, so a simple copy of the data (after porting it onto a computer/other storage) to a new SD card would not guarantee reintegration, as you'd have to reintegrate/mount the new SD card.
frankfrank12 said:
Hi, total n00b here, but is this true? I thought the data stores were completely scattered once an SD card is integrated, so a simple copy of the data (after porting it onto a computer/other storage) to a new SD card would not guarantee reintegration, as you'd have to reintegrate/mount the new SD card.
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When you setup initially, you have option for what folders, app you want to store in the SD card. I choose to keep all the app I use often in the phone (faster) and folders like media (video, pictures, music) in SD since they're the reason I need SD card. I currently have 64GB SD card. I plan to upgrade to 128GB when they have it available in UHS-3. At that time, I'll need to migrate from the 64GB to the 128GB. Here is my plan: Under Settings -> Storage & USB, it shows Phone Storage and SD Card. Under SD Card, it show the Apps folder with my few app in it, my music folder, my picture folder, and my video folder. There, I can move the pictures, Video, music folders to the computer. I then move the app back to phone storage (there is option for that). Then I can eject the SD card. Insert the new one and format as internal storage. Copy the folders back from the computer. In addition, I probably don't need to copy my picture files since they're backed up to Google Pictures.
It's not very convenience but the price I pay for encryption. Don't have to do that often anyway.
I have unrooted LG V20 H990DS.
Unfortunately my Micro SD Card got corrupted and I lost all the photos. As an extra insult to injury, Instagram app was installed on SD card and now I can't run it nor uninstall / reinstall it. The icon is simply grey. It also cannot be found under "apps" section of settings.
I can see the "com.instagram.android" folder under "root/config/sdcardfs" but I can't do anything with it since I don't have a root. If I go in Play Store the phone recognizes Instagram as not installed and when I try to install it I get the "Can't install Instagram - Try again, and if it still doesn't work, see common way to fix the problem"
Is there anything I can do or do I really have to factory reset my phone? -___-
Take out the trashware. Keep all social media apps off the phone! Malware.
SD cards normally don't corrupt themselves. A rootkit or malware is a possibility.
Bad card or hardware.
Do a low level format of card, then reformat in the phone. Do not remove the card from then on or "share" it with other devices. Do all data transfer to the card from within the phone only.
If this doesn't resolve the issue, replace the card with a good name brand V30 rated card like Sandisk Extreme.
blackhawk said:
Take out the trashware. Keep all social media apps off the phone! Malware.
SD cards normally don't corrupt themselves. A rootkit or malware is a possibility.
Bad card or hardware.
Do a low level format of card, then reformat in the phone. Do not remove the card from then on or "share" it with other devices. Do all data transfer to the card from within the phone only.
If this doesn't resolve the issue, replace the card with a good name brand V30 rated card like Sandisk Extreme.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I may have been a bit unclear.
I myself moved Instagram to SD card some time ago so I could save some space on my phone and now that my Micro SD card got corrupted, Instagram doesn't work anymore. It was not result of a virus or anything. SD Card is also in bad shape, it's recognized as RAW.
cinemafou said:
I may have been a bit unclear.
I myself moved Instagram to SD card some time ago so I could save some space on my phone and now that my Micro SD card got corrupted, Instagram doesn't work anymore. It was not result of a virus or anything. SD Card is also in bad shape, it's recognized as RAW.
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Click to collapse
Malware is always a possibility when erratic behavior is observed. Androids should be rock solid stable, if not there's a real underlying issue. Unfortunately I have no easy solutions for this at this stage as far as data recovery.
Meh, keep apps off the SD card. It's a security and reliability risk.
Only one folder on the phone with the name "dcim" in it.
Do a low level format on the PC to try and reuse it. Of course this will completely erase all data.
Recovering data from a flash drive that has lost its folder structure is a frustrating mess at best.
In the future redundantly backup the SD card redundantly to at least 2 hdds that are physically and electronically isolated from each other and the PC. Use the SD card as a data drive... apps and download folder go on internal memory. All files should be vetted before transferring to the data drive.
At the very least open files in the download folder, jpeps and png's especially to try detect malware -before- transferring to the data drive(s)!!! I've had scripted jpegs before but pick them off before they got into the database. They are real and will cause hell in any folder they are in. May not be detected by any antivirus. WYSIWYG, observe for changes in that folder after opening suspect file.
blackhawk said:
Malware is always a possibility when erratic behavior is observed. Androids should be rock solid stable, if not there's a real underlying issue. Unfortunately I have no easy solutions for this at this stage as far as data recovery.
Meh, keep apps off the SD card. It's a security and reliability risk.
Only one folder on the phone with the name "dcim" in it.
Do a low level format on the PC to try and reuse it. Of course this will completely erase all data.
Recovering data from a flash drive that has lost its folder structure is a frustrating mess at best.
In the future redundantly backup the SD card redundantly to at least 2 hdds that are physically and electronically isolated from each other and the PC. Use the SD card as a data drive... apps and download folder go on internal memory. All files should be vetted before transferring to the data drive.
At the very least open files in the download folder, jpeps and png's especially to try detect malware -before- transferring to the data drive(s)!!! I've had scripted jpegs before but pick them off before they got into the database. They are real and will cause hell in any folder they are in. May not be detected by any antivirus. WYSIWYG, observe for changes in that folder after opening suspect file.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply!
I have solved the app part of the problem so factory reset is not necessary.
What I did was that I took my brother's Micro SD card and placed it into my phone, then I tried reinstalling Instagram from Play Store and it worked! This time it installed it back onto SD card. What I did after was just move the Instagram app from SD Card to phone storage via apps settings.
After that I removed my brother's SD card and was able to run Instagram once again directly from the phone memory.
It seems that the phone just wanted to see some SD Card inserted and then it would allow reinstallation of the app.
SD cards corrupt themselves, especially when formatted as adoptable-storage with ext4 journaling file system and full-disk encryption used for write-intensive applications
aIecxs said:
SD cards corrupt themselves, especially when formatted as adoptable-storage with ext4 journaling file system and full-disk encryption used for write-intensive applications
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Click to collapse
I never have that issue and use SD cards in both my N10+'s but all data is manually transferred to them. One app has permission to auto backup to the SD card, ColorNote. However it's firewall blocked... just in case.
Never use encryption on data drives and especially backup drives... you are the most likely one to end up locked out.
Samsung devices don't allow moving apps to MicroSD Card (which was the case here) as adoptable-storage isn't supported by Samsung at all (probably for performance reasons)
aIecxs said:
Samsung devices don't allow moving apps to MicroSD Card as adoptable-storage isn't supported at all
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As it should be... the card/interface are too slow to run apps effectively anyway.
Critical data goes on the SD card.
Only apps, the dcim and download folders should be on internal memory. The dcim files can be regularly transferred to the card to free up memory... just rename that card folder ie Pics, etc.