Database Users

Can no longer write to external SD (4.3)

Sometime after I installed safestrap and a second rom, I lost the ability to write or delete from my external SD card. It may have something to do with SAFESTRAP, or possibly an app called SDFix: KitKat Writable MicrosSD which I installed and may have ran in preparation for any type of KitKat update. Anyone have any ideas of what I may have done?
edit for more info : The weird thing is, it lets me go through the motions to delete a movie file with say ES File Explorer, but when I reboot, the file is still there and I am able to watch the same exact file I thought I deleted. Also, if I set my camera to write external, it seems like it works, but when I reboot, the files aren't there anymore. Luckily the few pictures I tried taking like that were uploaded to my dropbox before I reboot..... Also, if I create a new folder and paste a file into there, the folder won't be there when I reboot. Also, it seems like my titanium backup files aren't updating, they all seem to be dated February 28 and they won't update even though it goes through the entire backup process!

ssmaster said:
Sometime after I installed safestrap and a second rom, I lost the ability to write or delete from my external SD card. It may have something to do with SAFESTRAP, or possibly an app called SDFix: KitKat Writable MicrosSD which I installed and may have ran in preparation for any type of KitKat update. Anyone have any ideas of what I may have done?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried taking the card out and seeing if it works properly on a computer?

airmaxx23 said:
Have you tried taking the card out and seeing if it works properly on a computer?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is a good idea. I'll try once my co-worker comes back from lunch so I can borrow their microsd-usb adapter. The weird thing is, it lets me go through the motions to delete a movie file with say ES File Explorer, but when I reboot, the file is still there. I am able to watch the same exact file I thought I deleted. Also, if I set my camera to write external, it seems like it works, but when I reboot, the files aren't there anymore. Luckily the few pictures I tried taking like that were uploaded to my dropbox before I reboot.....

The card is an 64GB Sandisk, and the computer won't recognize it, I believe because of the way it is formatted. When I get home, I will try to connect via USB 3.0 and see if I can dump everything to my PC and go from there....

ssmaster said:
The card is an 64GB Sandisk, and the computer won't recognize it, I believe because of the way it is formatted. When I get home, I will try to connect via USB 3.0 and see if I can dump everything to my PC and go from there....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your computer should still recognize it though.

uhh ohh, its a VDI virtual system, and it says this card needs to be formatted before windows can recognize it....

I am copying everything over to my PC over USB. I will try the card in a card reader to see what can be done. If I format it, and if it works after format, should I have confidence that the card won't crap out on me in the future¿???

I am finally able to format it using a slow format in Windows 7, lets see if it works...
Nope, still broken with all previous files in tact.

I'm having the exact same issue and I bet others are too. At first I thought it was something to do with an ESexplorer update since I never happened before it, but I've deleted ES and tried many other file managers/explorers and still have it happen. Someone has to know how to fix this.

nickgordi said:
I'm having the exact same issue and I bet others are too. At first I thought it was something to do with an ESexplorer update since I never happened before it, but I've deleted ES and tried many other file managers/explorers and still have it happen. Someone has to know how to fix this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the same issue with the same card. After a lot of research I found that my SD card had somehow become locked...I know...WHAT? My sd card is looked with no way to unlock it. I can view files on it but i cannot add files or delete from the card.
I emailed Sandisk asking them if they had a solution but I never heard back from them
I have tried every solution that I have found and none have worked...

I've gone through 6 San disk 64gb class 10 cards between my Note 2 and Note 3 with my last cropping out 2 weeks ago. San disk will replace your card and tell you to contact the phone manufacturer. I did that contacted Samsung...at 1st I got the run around but I was persistent and got a hold of a good tech support agent. Samsung phones have issues writing info to the 64gb class 10 cards. They are aware of the issue and are working on a fix as of 2-3months ago. He told me the will work fine. He said they don't recommend over 32gb and a class 4 card because of the stability issues of files being corrupted on class 10s particularly 64gb 1s. Funny thing is i called San Disk back and told them what i was told and asked for a 32gb lower class and he told me i could buy it buy they could only replace it with the same one i had. Good luck!
Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

You know this is not the first time that I've heard of this. I actually had a 10s 32Gig SanDisk micro that I ended up losing because of this problem with my Galaxy S3. I got to work one day and set my phone down on the desk and it just seeming stopped working. I don't know what it is with the 10 series cards but it seems like they all have some kind of problem.

Thanks everyone for all the info. I guess I'll have to get another card and I'm going to be sure it's NOT another SanDisk.

External SD Card Write Issues

I'm having an issue where I can't cut/copy/paste, create files(.nomedia), and delete files/folders on my external sd card using ES File Explorer. I can create folders though. Everything works on my internal storage. I tried using another app and still having problems. The preinstalled My Files app works on the external sd card.
Any one else having these issues? Any suggestions?

I had that issue with two new cards I put them in my phone and had to format them with the phone under settings for it to work
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

syu78 said:
I'm having an issue where I can't cut/copy/paste, create files(.nomedia), and delete files/folders on my external sd card using ES File Explorer. I can create folders though. Everything works on my internal storage. I tried using another app and still having problems. The preinstalled My Files app works on the external sd card.
Any one else having these issues? Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
KitKat changed the way Android deals with SD cards, particularly in regard to what applications can and can't do. Formatting the card in the phone might help for some things, but it won't solve everything since some changes are at the system level. Here are a couple of articles that explain the changes:
KitKat and SD cards — what's fixed, what's broken and what's misunderstood
External Blues: Google Has Brought Big Changes To SD Cards In KitKat, And Even Samsung Is Implementing Them
If you're going to root your phone, some progress has been made in being able to change the permissions needed to allow apps to access the SD card in the same way as has been the case on previous versions of Android. It's something to keep an eye on in regards to how it might or might now work with the S5: [APP][4.4][ROOT] SDFix: Modify device permissions to allow apps to write to MicroSD

Thanks for the info

bsweetness said:
KitKat changed the way Android deals with SD cards, particularly in regard to what applications can and can't do. Formatting the card in the phone might help for some things, but it won't solve everything since some changes are at the system level. Here are a couple of articles that explain the changes:
KitKat and SD cards — what's fixed, what's broken and what's misunderstood
External Blues: Google Has Brought Big Changes To SD Cards In KitKat, And Even Samsung Is Implementing Them
If you're going to root your phone, some progress has been made in being able to change the permissions needed to allow apps to access the SD card in the same way as has been the case on previous versions of Android. It's something to keep an eye on in regards to how it might or might now work with the S5: [APP][4.4][ROOT] SDFix: Modify device permissions to allow apps to write to MicroSD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Done reading and it helped.Thanks men

Yes. Might be it's working.. thanks @bsweetness

Workaround for Ext-SD

My last phone had no internal SD, and no problems.. The G3 has an internal sd and I cannot write to External at all due to some sort of security feature -- even with root. In Xplore File Manager it has a workaround to transfer files to the Android/data folder, but I didn't realize and made a nandroid backup to Ext-SD in TWRP before trying my first rom and nothing was written and no error given, thus losing all my data (Luckily I made a stock backup and copied to PC for archive before any modding).
Is there a way to unlock this "feature" on the G3 or is my external sd basically useless? This was one of the main selling points vs the Nexus for me.. Really disappointed.

NFleck said:
My last phone had no internal SD, and no problems.. The G3 has an internal sd and I cannot write to External at all due to some sort of security feature -- even with root. In Xplore File Manager it has a workaround to transfer files to the Android/data folder, but I didn't realize and made a nandroid backup to Ext-SD in TWRP before trying my first rom and nothing was written and no error given, thus losing all my data (Luckily I made a stock backup and copied to PC for archive before any modding).
Is there a way to unlock this "feature" on the G3 or is my external sd basically useless? This was one of the main selling points vs the Nexus for me.. Really disappointed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use xposed framework module kitkat sd card full access
Sent from my LG-D855 using XDA Free mobile app

That's it? Amazing, thank you for the quick response and sorry for being to lazy to search.. Was at work and just popped into my head to ask.
Edit: are you using it on your g3? Some comments say it doesn't work on 4.4 and to use foldermount instead.. I know were still on 4.2 on the 852, but if ill need to switch again id rather use the most permanent fix available.
I'm going to try this regardless, just curious what everyone uses to work around this.. Also, what xplore app do you use to utilize this fix. Not seeing an "official" xplore app.
Its funny, on the main display card in phone dealers it says memory upgradable to 128gb.. I find it humorous that your average person would not be able to easily use it without being savvy with computer/phone tweaking.. Ran into a similar issue on my roommates xperia j, forcing me to try apps like app2sd which did not work well at all either -- very frustrating to say the least. I honestly fail to see the reasoning for the complexity here as you can easily have multiple storage mediums on a computer.. This "security feature" makes no sense to me. Lol
Edit: I need to rely more on google than asking redundant questions. For future reference, googling "xposed framework installer" yielded a result for the main XDA thread for it.. *facepalm*

[Q] Lollipop & SD Card

So I updated to Lollipop via the root method in this forum. My apps are having problems accessing the SD Card. For example, in PowerAmp, I can't delete music on my sd card. Titanium backup will not create backups because it can't access the SD Card. BitTorrent Sync is another app that doesn't have access to the SD Card.
I thought that Lollipop allowed apps to have access to the Sd Card now unlike Kit Kat. I believe the App has to be written to take advantage of this in Lollipop. Is the issue that my apps don't support this? Is there some fix i can do like in kit kat? Is anyone else having this problem?

You're correct. It depends on the app. For instance, es file explorer will prompt for it and have you select the bottom level of the sd card ( I know, it's the root directory, but didn't want to use that term because it has nothing to do with the phone being rooted and wanted to avoid confusion)...anyway, after that selection you can do things as expected through that app and the sdcard. btw, I'm completely stock.
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

When I upgraded to lollipop I couldn't write or delete from my sd card. Even with es file explorer. I had to go to the play store and find an app to fix it. Just search SD Fix and choose one with good ratings (I can't remember the one I used)

are you both rooted/custom Rom? for stock and me at least, I just updated to lollipop then updated the es file explorer app and that was it.
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sainthooligan said:
are you both rooted/custom Rom? for stock and me at least, I just updated to lollipop then updated the es file explorer app and that was it.
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
I am rooted, no custom ROM. I just installed ES File Explorer (didn't have it installed before) and I was able to navigate to the SD Card and delete files. So I'm wondering if PowerAmp, TBU and BitTorrent Sync don't have the functionality yet? I'm going to try and un-install and re-install each one and see if that helps. When I upgraded from KK to LP, I did a data restore for apps. Not sure if that might have messed anything up.

I think you're probably OK and didn't mess anything up...best bet is to check with the app dev directly to see if they've considered or are possibly working towards that. So far, I've only encountered one app that uses that functionality from my set of many that's installed...that one is es file explorer. I'm checking with the devs of a couple others I use.
Sent from my primary sender for sending...

sainthooligan said:
I think you're probably OK and didn't mess anything up...best bet is to check with the app dev directly to see if they've considered or are possibly working towards that. So far, I've only encountered one app that uses that functionality from my set of many that's installed...that one is es file explorer. I'm checking with the devs of a couple others I use.
Sent from my primary sender for sending...
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Click to collapse
So I wonder if I should just use an SD Card Fix app in the meantime because I really need the ability for those 3 apps to edit files on my SD Card.

not sure, but sounds like it worked for briantacker. If it does work for you, please post what you did & which app you used so that others may profit from your success as well.
Sent from my primary sender for sending...

sainthooligan said:
not sure, but sounds like it worked for briantacker. If it does work for you, please post what you did & which app you used so that others may profit from your success as well.
Sent from my primary sender for sending...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, so I tried un-installing and re-installing BitTorrent Sync but I was still getting a message that it did not have permission to write to the SD Card. So I installed this, https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nextapp.sdfix , even though it's for Kit Kat and it worked. I've only tested it with BitTorrent Sync but I'm sure it will work with the other two apps.

nynativ said:
So I wonder if I should just use an SD Card Fix app in the meantime because I really need the ability for those 3 apps to edit files on my SD Card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sd card fixer for kit kat worked for me. Titanium works fine now and i can backup to the extsdcard.
Sent from either galaxy tab 10.1 4.4.4 or Verizon Galaxy S5 on rooted 5.0

Yeah, looks like that fixed my issue with Titanium backup and Poweramp.

From what I can tell, even though I used the app you recommended, not all apps get access. The one that I found that didn't is didn't is Dolphin Browser. I was hoping to be able to save to card. Oh well. I know the fix worked because titanium backup will backup to card. I guess that I may have to email the developer.

TiBu won't restore backups

For the last few weeks I am unable to restore backed-up apps. I have tried on three different clean-flashed ROMs. TruePureX, AICP, and PureNexus. When I flash a new ROM, install TiBU (I have pro key), set the backup directory on my sd card, it says there are no apps to restore. It sees there are 61 backup files but I can't batch restore or manually one-by-one. I have also tried deleting the existing backups and creating new ones. Also tried moving the backups to the internal sd card. Anyone else seeing this?

I can't get it to delete system apps anymore. My guess is that its something to do with "systemless" root. Try another app, I found one that in my case. Although it stinks cause TB has ALWAYS been a must have app.

gokart2 said:
I can't get it to delete system apps anymore. My guess is that its something to do with "systemless" root. Try another app, I found one that in my case. Although it stinks cause TB has ALWAYS been a must have app.
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Click to collapse
I don't have systemless root. TiBu is vital. This really sucks. I think I'm going to try reformatting my sd card this weekend.. I have a trouble ticket in the with the devs but I have not heard anything from them.

Reformatting the external SD didn't change anything. It was worth a shot. I took screenshots of what I see when I try to restore with TiBu. In the first shot you can see with a manual restore the restore button is missing for a backed up app that is not installed. And the second is from the batch restore that shows no apps to restore, there should be one.

I noticed the same problem across multiple roms as well. I wasn't able to figure out why or how to fix it though.

Any chance you're using a knock-off SD card? I ran into this when I purchased a purported Samsung SD card that was a fake. After two days of odd errors trying to restore a TiBu backup, someone from XDA asked me the same question. There are videos online to find out whether you got a real or dud SD card.
[I was able to return the fake card and complained about the Seller.]

sunNsnow said:
Any chance you're using a knock-off SD card? I ran into this when I purchased a purported Samsung SD card that was a fake. After two days of odd errors trying to restore a TiBu backup, someone from XDA asked me the same question. There are videos online to find out whether you got a real or dud SD card.
[I was able to return the fake card and complained about the Seller.]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm pretty sure it's a real Samsung card. All other backup and restores work. I keep my TWRP backups on it too. Only TiBu has the problem.

If backup and restore works to internal memory, then try another card to eliminate the card being an issue. If backing up to internal memory doesn't work then it is software/app related.
Sent from my XT1575 using XDA-Developers mobile app

​
aybarrap1 said:
If backup and restore works to internal memory, then try another card to eliminate the card being an issue. If backing up to internal memory doesn't work then it is software/app related.
Sent from my XT1575 using XDA-Developers mobile app
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Click to collapse
Yep. I've tried using the internal sd with the same result. I'm pretty sure it's not my external sd because sms backup and restores work and so does TWRP. From what I can tell TiBu sees the backups. It reports there are 61 files. And, since this has started, I've let google restore the apps at setup and then I am able to restore the data with TiBu (not a preferred method).

Can someone tell me what the permissions are on the TitaniumBackup folders and then the backup files within (someone with a working TiBu of course)? I want to check those.

rsmiff said:
Can someone tell me what the permissions are on the TitaniumBackup folders and then the backup files within (someone with a working TiBu of course)? I want to check those.
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Click to collapse
IDK on the permissions, checked in Solid Explorer & it doesn't show them where it normally does... I do know that TiBU works though, I restored apps this morning & everything worked seamlessly.
Have you tried enabling installation of apps from unknown sources? Not sure if that'll fix it, but it's worth a shot.

rsmiff said:
Can someone tell me what the permissions are on the TitaniumBackup folders and then the backup files within (someone with a working TiBu of course)? I want to check those.
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Click to collapse
Is this what you're looking for? I'm on 5.1.
Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk 2

TXJim said:
IDK on the permissions, checked in Solid Explorer & it doesn't show them where it normally does... I do know that TiBU works though, I restored apps this morning & everything worked seamlessly.
Have you tried enabling installation of apps from unknown sources? Not sure if that'll fix it, but it's worth a shot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. TiBu warns you of that when you open it.

milski65 said:
Is this what you're looking for? I'm on 5.1.
Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk 2
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Click to collapse
Yes. Thank you!

So my permissions are different on my external sd card but I can't change them. So I moved my backups to my internal sd card (again), checked permissions, tried different storage (file system & document), and no change. I still haven't heard anything from the TiBu developers. Could it have something to do with the device id? When you flash a new ROM it asks if you want to keep the new id or restore the old one. I always just keep the new one but is that an issue? They think I'm putting it on multiple devices? Stray arrows, I'm just trying to figure it out.

rsmiff said:
So my permissions are different on my external sd card but I can't change them. So I moved my backups to my internal sd card (again), checked permissions, tried different storage (file system & document), and no change. I still haven't heard anything from the TiBu developers. Could it have something to do with the device id? When you flash a new ROM it asks if you want to keep the new id or restore the old one. I always just keep the new one but is that an issue? They think I'm putting it on multiple devices? Stray arrows, I'm just trying to figure it out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you change permissions on other files and it's just tibu you can't? Or try other file manager? I tried both root explorer and mixplorer and were able to make changes easily. Otherwise I'm guessing it's because of mm vs lp?
Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk 2

milski65 said:
Can you change permissions on other files and it's just tibu you can't? Or try other file manager? I tried both root explorer and mixplorer and were able to make changes easily. Otherwise I'm guessing it's because of mm vs lp?
Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am using root explorer as well. Weird, I was able to change permissions on the TiBu folder this time. No change in results. I am on MM but it has been working forever. Just in the last 2 or so weeks this started.

rsmiff said:
I am using root explorer as well. Weird, I was able to change permissions on the TiBu folder this time. No change in results. I am on MM but it has been working forever. Just in the last 2 or so weeks this started.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've seen your issue somewhere on one of the other threads I'm following. At least I think so. And I believe there was at least a temporary fix. Let me dig a little.
Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk 2

milski65 said:
I've seen your issue somewhere on one of the other threads I'm following. At least I think so. And I believe there was at least a temporary fix. Let me dig a little.
Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought it might have been a permissions and/or a non-writable external sd card problem but I was able to change the permissions on the TiBu folder on my card.
Also tried setting selinux to permissive. Nada.

rsmiff said:
I thought it might have been a permissions and/or a non-writable external sd card problem but I was able to change the permissions on the TiBu folder on my card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've looked but can't find it. Not gotten any updates on tibu lately, so that isn't it. Hopefully I'll find post at some point. Other stuff aside, just another reason I'm staying on lp. Not sure if you can revert back and see if things work as expected.
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