Database Users

How to format the Mini SD card

Hi guys
My 2GB Mini SD card is not working. I have a Trinity - Orange SPV M700, I wonder if anyone could tell me how to I fromat it and which FAT system to use?
Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I did try to use File explorer and looked everywhere in the Settings section.
I am thinking, maybe I need to use my card reader in the computer or do I have to buy a 3rd party program to do this?
Any idea
Thanks

Using the cardreader in your computer is fine. Use the FAT format, not FAT32.

lts said:
Using the cardreader in your computer is fine. Use the FAT format, not FAT32.
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Click to collapse
Why not FAT32? I've been using a 4gb miniSD fromatted in FAT32 for months without a problem.

If You don't have a card reader or an adaptor for the Micro-SD You can do it via wm5 storage. FAT32 should be better than FAT.

I also had problem with SD card (2Gb). Then I used one program for formating Panasonic SDformatter an now I don't have problems anymore.
Link: http://panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/sd/download/sd_formatter.html
Try with this program.
By

As you may know, the SD specifications are not open but must be licensed and are protected by NDA's. Therefore I pesonally can't say for sure whether or not FAT32 is within the SDA 1.0/1.1 standard, but I would guess that it's not.
It's true that using FAT32 seems to work with most cards and controllers in the PPC world, but apart from eliminating the 512 files limit, I don't really see any advantage over FAT.
FAT32 is not a 'high performance' filesystem, so in terms of read/write speed it doesn't give you anything compared to FAT.
If you use a 4GB non compliant card, then of course you must use FAT32, since FAT only allows for 2GB.
So in short, unless you can't live with the 512 limit, I don't see that FAT32 will give you anything over FAT, and when you use FAT, you are sure to be within the standard.

lts said:
...but apart from eliminating the 512 files limit, I don't really see any advantage over FAT...
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Thanx for nice info, if that's true, FAT32 is the only option user may have when formating card, this limit is a way to small !

banesi said:
Thanx for nice info, if that's true, FAT32 is the only option user may have when formating card, this limit is a way to small !
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Click to collapse
Please note that 512 is not the limit of the total number of files that can be stored on the card, it is the max. number of entries in the root directory.
The max. number of files that can be stored on a FAT filesystem is 65517.

thank you for clarification, is there a way I can already check in what format my card is formated?

banesi said:
thank you for clarification, is there a way I can already check in what format my card is formated?
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If it hasn't been reformatted since it left the factory, then I think it's safe to assume that it's FAT formatted.
If you want to check, then put it in a card reader and look at its properties (assuming your PC is running Windows).

i'm using Windows XP, but in my computer my pda is listed as a windows mobile phone and if right click the storage card, there's no option to format it...what should i do ?
thanks

Installations on Internal SD vs External SD

When I have installed games like Sniper vs Sniper, Homerun Battle 3d and Asphalt. They all have me to download more files but they are always installed on the internal SD instead of the External SD. Is there a way to prevent this?

anyone have any ideas?

Any reason why you would NOT want them on the near 2 gigs allocated?

I want the installations to go on the External Card and they are all installing on the internal card. Maybe the thread topic is misleading....

No, just curious why 2 gigs is not enough. Especially when faster than external. Doesn't make sense...

Its the way the SDs are mounted. Sdcard/sd is the external. The app just looks for sdcard/ which is the internal.
He's taking about the internal sd not the /data apps dir.
Sent from my SGH-T959

tissimo said:
Its the way the SDs are mounted. Sdcard/sd is the external. The app just looks for sdcard/ which is the internal.
He's taking about the internal sd not the /data apps dir.
Sent from my SGH-T959
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Click to collapse
Yes thats what im referring to. I want everything to be on the external. On other phones like the Evo, the games "extra" files are installed on the Ext SD Card.

correct me if I'm wrong. My understanding is there are 3 storage options:
1. Phone's 2GB internal memory: this is where apps are installed
2. Phone's 12GB internal memory: internal memory you can mount to PC and move files back and forth
3. External SD card slot: can use up to 32GB of microSD card here.
OP, what exactly are you looking to do? Put the apps installed on the 2GB internal ROM on the external SD card? I don't think this is doable w/o rooting, maybe 2.2 Froyo will have it.

jkcheng122 said:
correct me if I'm wrong. My understanding is there are 3 storage options:
1. Phone's 2GB internal memory: this is where apps are installed
2. Phone's 12GB internal memory: internal memory you can mount to PC and move files back and forth
3. External SD card slot: can use up to 32GB of microSD card here.
OP, what exactly are you looking to do? Put the apps installed on the 2GB internal ROM on the external SD card? I don't think this is doable w/o rooting, maybe 2.2 Froyo will have it.
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Games like Homerun Battle 3d. When you install it, it tells you that it has to download more information to store on your SD Card. On the HTC Evo, the downloaded information stores on the external SD Card in the /com2us folder. On the Vibrant, the extra information that is downloaded stores on the internal SD card in the same folder. I would rather have all the extra info store on the EXT SD Card.

acjames said:
Yes thats what im referring to. I want everything to be on the external. On other phones like the Evo, the games "extra" files are installed on the Ext SD Card.
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Click to collapse
Sorry I wasn't really clear on my on my post. Most phones don't have an internal SD card, so the standard mount for the external SD card is the sdcard/ partition, so the app automatically mounts the data there. You'll have to reprogram the app to see the SGS external SD card mounting directory of sdcard/sd
Sent from my SGH-T959

Internal SD Memory

Hello everyone just got my Atix..checking things it only shows 11GB of internal memory.
Specs says 16GB..what am I missing here..set me on the right path..

16GB is 2GB for android os + webtop, 2GB for app storage, 11GB for media storage

edgeicator said:
16GB is 2GB for android os + webtop, 2GB for app storage, 11GB for media storage
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Click to collapse
Is there anyway to copy the webtop onto your computer as backup and delete it off of the phone?

I believe it's partitioned that way, so I don't believe so without modifying the partitions on the internal storage.

edgeicator said:
16GB is 2GB for android os + webtop, 2GB for app storage, 11GB for media storage
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Hello edgeicator...thanks for the quick reply...bummer..that's 5 gb's of movies..

edgeicator said:
I believe it's partitioned that way, so I don't believe so without modifying the partitions on the internal storage.
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Click to collapse
Would this be possible with a signed bootloader?

[Q] Mount MT4G on desktop?

I can mount the SD card on my Mac desktop but the internal drive doesn't mount. I can mount both drives on my Samsung Vibrant running Team Whiskey's Bionix though.
Is there a setting somewhere in MIUI to do this?
Thanks

reallyrandy said:
I can mount the SD card on my Mac desktop but the internal drive doesn't mount. I can mount both drives on my Samsung Vibrant running Team Whiskey's Bionix though.
Is there a setting somewhere in MIUI to do this?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IIRC the Vibrant has two internal memory banks, one phone processes and one for media, then an added memory card for the third. The Glacier only has the one partition to do everything. The SDcard is our second.

neidlinger said:
IIRC the Vibrant has two internal memory banks, one phone processes and one for media, then an added memory card for the third. The Glacier only has the one partition to do everything. The SDcard is our second.
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Click to collapse
Our internal memory is used for app space and all. Our internal memory is for our system and app files. Your sd card will b the only thing coming up. And 4gb is not even that much u think about because in actuality it wouldn't even be 4gb. becaus it will b a partitioned space left to the user and another partition set for factory components and formating.

SD card for app storage

I'm using a 400GB SD card. I saw a comment about creating 2 different partitions on it as I want to use part of it for app storage and the other part for file storage, The second partition would be exFAT so I can remove the card and transfer my books, music, etc. to it by attaching the SD card to my laptop as I understand that Windows would not be able to recognize the partition that would be formatted as internal storage. I did format the SD card using my laptop as two separate partitions. My Samsung Galaxy Tab A saw both partitions. I selected the 96GB partition as I wanted to use that for app storage and selected the option to use it as internal storage. Unfortunately when I did that, it appears that the system set the whole CD card up for internal storage. Does anyone have any insight on how to accomplish this - use part of the SD card for internal storage and part of it for storage that would be recognizable by Windows? Thank you very much.

I have not tried, so take the advice as a suggestion, perhaps android can be "fooled", which I doubt.
After creating a bulk partition in android, move the SD to Windows and resize that partition, and create a second partition on the remaining capacity and hide it.
Now move the SD back to android and see what happens.
If android will reformat the partitions again then I can't advise anything else.
However, if android accepts the memory, then the next step is to discover the partition in Windows and recheck the SD in android.

ze7zez said:
I have not tried, so take the advice as a suggestion, perhaps android can be "fooled", which I doubt.
After creating a bulk partition in android, move the SD to Windows and resize that partition, and create a second partition on the remaining capacity and hide it.
Now move the SD back to android and see what happens.
If android will reformat the partitions again then I can't advise anything else.
However, if android accepts the memory, then the next step is to discover the partition in Windows and recheck the SD in android.
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Well, I was trying to work on that and now the Android Storage module (in Settings) keeps crashing when I open it. IDK what happened here. I've reformatted the SD card, I've removed the SD card, I've rebooted the table multiple times. I'm almost to the point of having to restore the tablet from scratch ... again.

Try this:
Link2SD - Apps on Google Play
Complete app management, move to SD, clear cache, remove bloatware and more
play.google.com

JR1979 said:
I'm using a 400GB SD card. I saw a comment about creating 2 different partitions on it as I want to use part of it for app storage and the other part for file storage, The second partition would be exFAT so I can remove the card and transfer my books, music, etc. to it by attaching the SD card to my laptop as I understand that Windows would not be able to recognize the partition that would be formatted as internal storage. I did format the SD card using my laptop as two separate partitions. My Samsung Galaxy Tab A saw both partitions. I selected the 96GB partition as I wanted to use that for app storage and selected the option to use it as internal storage. Unfortunately when I did that, it appears that the system set the whole CD card up for internal storage. Does anyone have any insight on how to accomplish this - use part of the SD card for internal storage and part of it for storage that would be recognizable by Windows? Thank you very much.
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Click to collapse
You're trying to convert a partition in sd card as internal storage and leave the rest as an external storage. Not possible as far as I know.

TheMystic said:
You're trying to convert a partition in sd card as internal storage and leave the rest as an external storage. Not possible as far as I know.
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Thats a bummer but that is what I was feeling was going to be the outcome. I guess I'll just go with it as internal storage then and be rlefated to wireless transfer of my books, etc. To the tablet. Any thoughts on why my Storage module keeps crashing now? Something definitely went nuts somewhere along the way here. It was running fine.. until I start poking around with this. I'll probably just do a rebuild again tonight.. if I can find my steps notes.

I also don't think it's possible to do what you have in mind. It's also important to remember that Windows will only mount the first partition of an SD card. It won't see any other partitions without 3rd party software installed.

JR1979 said:
Thats a bummer but that is what I was feeling was going to be the outcome. I guess I'll just go with it as internal storage then and be rlefated to wireless transfer of my books, etc. To the tablet. Any thoughts on why my Storage module keeps crashing now? Something definitely went nuts somewhere along the way here. It was running fine.. until I start poking around with this. I'll probably just do a rebuild again tonight.. if I can find my steps notes.
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Click to collapse
The reason people want a micro SD card is to be able to move it around between devices, so it is not a good idea to convert it into 'internal storage' for two reasons:
1. You can no longer move the card around (not without reformatting it again).
2. This process would significantly slow down the system if the OS starts saving apps, data and files on the micro SD card because it sees this space as internal storage.
Because of how you partitioned the SD card and tried converting only a part of it as internal storage, my guess is the process caused corruption somewhere, and the system is crashing because of that. I'm afraid you'll have to do a factory reset and start from scratch. I hope your files are safe.

JR1979 said:
I'm using a 400GB SD card. I saw a comment about creating 2 different partitions on it as I want to use part of it for app storage and the other part for file storage, The second partition would be exFAT so I can remove the card and transfer my books, music, etc. to it by attaching the SD card to my laptop as I understand that Windows would not be able to recognize the partition that would be formatted as internal storage. I did format the SD card using my laptop as two separate partitions. My Samsung Galaxy Tab A saw both partitions. I selected the 96GB partition as I wanted to use that for app storage and selected the option to use it as internal storage. Unfortunately when I did that, it appears that the system set the whole CD card up for internal storage. Does anyone have any insight on how to accomplish this - use part of the SD card for internal storage and part of it for storage that would be recognizable by Windows? Thank you very much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should NEVER use an SD card for internal storage. They are MUCH to slow for that purpose. Today's SoC have RAM chips mounted directly on top and are several times faster than the fastest SD card bus. And low end tablets, which includes ALL Tab A devices, use a USB bus with limited bandwidth. So using faster SD cards is pointless as they will still only be as fast as the bus. SD cards are fine for storing video, audio, text and downloaded files, but NOT for running apps. Doing so will cause the device to be laggy at best, and cause crashes at worst.

blaacksheep said:
I also don't think it's possible to do what you have in mind. It's also important to remember that Windows will only mount the first partition of an SD card. It won't see any other partitions without 3rd party software installed.
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The two partitions on the USB flash drive can be seen* in Windows without third-party software.
*I don't have an English Windows interface.

ze7zez said:
The two partitions on the USB flash drive can be seen* in Windows without third-party software.
*I don't have an English Windows interface.
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I meant that it won't mount the second partition, although you can see it in Disk Manager.

blaacksheep said:
I meant that it won't mount the second partition, although you can see it in Disk Manager.
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Windows 10 mounts both of these partitions, assigns them letters and you can use them (read and write).

ze7zez said:
Windows 10 mounts both of these partitions, assigns them letters and you can use them (read and write).
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I stand corrected! Previous versions of Windows could not do that.

ze7zez said:
The two partitions on the USB flash drive can be seen* in Windows without third-party software.
*I don't have an English Windows interface.
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Click to collapse
Something strange in that attachment. Since when do Android SD cards have NTFS partitions? As far as I know, the internal storage partitions that Windows couldn't read were formated as Ext3 or Ext4 and the external as either FAT32 or exFAT.

lewmur said:
Something strange in that attachment. Since when do Android SD cards have NTFS partitions? As far as I know, the internal storage partitions that Windows couldn't read were formated as Ext3 or Ext4 and the external as either FAT32 or exFAT.
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Don't suggest the volume label. Partition K: is FAT. The example shows that Windows can show two partitions on a USB stick.

ze7zez said:
Don't suggest the volume label. Partition K: is FAT. The example shows that Windows can show two partitions on a USB stick.
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Click to collapse
Of course it can. It can show several. But NOT the two partitions created on an Android SD card because one of then is formated in a file system Windows doesn't recognize and that is what the poster was talking about.
edit: Disk Manager will actually show the partition but it won't be assigned a drive letter because Windows can't mount it.