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Can't view SD contents on phone. Please advise!

When I try to look at my photos and various items on my SD card from the phone, I can't. If I plug it up and view via my computer, everything is still there. It shows me my available and used space. I already tried moving and reformatting.
What can it be and how do I correct it. Thanks in advance.

Csierra72 said:
When I try to look at my photos and various items on my SD card from the phone, I can't. If I plug it up and view via my computer, everything is still there. It shows me my available and used space. I already tried moving and reformatting.
What can it be and how do I correct it. Thanks in advance.
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Click to collapse
Hmm. Thats kind of odd. So you can see all of your photos fine from your computer? Maybe copy everything back to your computer, and instead of copying everything back, put the sd card back in the phone (as a test) and take some pics with the camera, and see if you are able to view them. If so, copy just your photos back to the card. Test again, and see if you are able to see them. If not, then I honestly don't know. If that does work, I'd say that some other file on the sd card is corrupt or something. You said you did format the card, right? Did you use the computer to format it as FAT32, or did you use the phone to format it? Whichever you already tried, maybe try the other way too, just to be safe. Hopefully some of that helps you, but if not, then I apologize, as I've never had anything similar like that happen to myself.

are you using es file explorer with the root option enabled? sometimes on sense roms if you have the root option enabled you can't view the sd card contents. Also try making sure other root apps don't have the /system or /data mounted rw

I had access issues with my SD card and I deducted that it was bad. I used the stock card that came with the Evo and the problem went away. Maybe use a different one and see how it works
Good Luck

I've tried anything and everything. even bought a new card. All was good for a day and then it started happening again. Sprint is sending me a new phone. they couldn't figure it out either. Thanks for the suggestions though.

Csierra72 said:
I've tried anything and everything. even bought a new card. All was good for a day and then it started happening again. Sprint is sending me a new phone. they couldn't figure it out either. Thanks for the suggestions though.
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Click to collapse
Make sure you do not have a .nomedia file in your SD Card root folder. Wherever a file named .nomedia is, the phone will not scan that directory. I had the same issue with my phone not detecting my pictures and videos and it turned out that file was in my root directory. Deleted it and voila! All back up now. I think PowerAMP put it there for some reason.

THANK YOU!!! That was it, fixed it.

akarol said:
Make sure you do not have a .nomedia file in your SD Card root folder. Wherever a file named .nomedia is, the phone will not scan that directory. I had the same issue with my phone not detecting my pictures and videos and it turned out that file was in my root directory. Deleted it and voila! All back up now. I think PowerAMP put it there for some reason.
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Click to collapse
Csierra72 said:
THANK YOU!!! That was it, fixed it.
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Click to collapse
Thanks for that tip. I've never had that problem, but I love seeing threads like this, where it's something unusual and out of the ordinary. I will retain that info in my arsenal of Android / Evo knowledge for future use or helping other people with it. That is so strange, that something as simple as a .nomedia file could cause a problem like that, and it's also even more odd that an app like poweramp would create that file. Is there any known reason as to why the heck poweramp would create this file that makes it so the contents of your sd card are not readable? I'm glad you got it fixed up OP! I love xda, so much info here.

I have this same issue,I just bought an EVO because my Epic screen smashed and I'm using the sd card out of the epic(which was rooted) and I'm trying to view the contents,it used to be MyFiles on the epic but I can't find out where to see it on the EVO...I want to get all the stuff I had backed up onto my Evo...any help appreciated...and I don't see a .nomedia file

mithritades said:
I have this same issue,I just bought an EVO because my Epic screen smashed and I'm using the sd card out of the epic(which was rooted) and I'm trying to view the contents,it used to be MyFiles on the epic but I can't find out where to see it on the EVO...I want to get all the stuff I had backed up onto my Evo...any help appreciated...and I don't see a .nomedia file
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can't say I blame you for coming to the Evo forums to ask this question about your Epic. I would download root explorer and see if you can find the file.

heathmcabee said:
Can't say I blame you for coming to the Evo forums to ask this question about your Epic. I would download root explorer and see if you can find the file.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No,you misunderstand,I HAD AN EPIC but I broke the screen so I GOT AN EVO...

mithritades said:
No,you misunderstand,I HAD AN EPIC but I broke the screen so I GOT AN EVO...
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Click to collapse
What file manager are you trying to use to see the SD card contents. Astro is a good file manager. Root explorer is also great, but isn't free.

k2buckley said:
What file manager are you trying to use to see the SD card contents. Astro is a good file manager. Root explorer is also great, but isn't free.
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Ok so i bought a new sd card and I bought rootexplorer(I rooted it lastnight with unrevoked3),why isn't there an app for seeing the sd card in the applications menu?,now that i can see the SD...how do I restore my contacts from my backup on my old sd card?

mithritades said:
Ok so i bought a new sd card and I bought rootexplorer(I rooted it lastnight with unrevoked3),why isn't there an app for seeing the sd card in the applications menu?,now that i can see the SD...how do I restore my contacts from my backup on my old sd card?
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Click to collapse
Yea, there isn't a native/built in file manager. You need to use a third party app to see the sd card. Did you have your contacts backed up on google? If so, they should restore when you log in to google. If you didn't, and you had them backed up on your sd card, then I'd copy the contents of your old sd card onto the new one, from within the contacts app, press menu, and select import/export. choose to import from sd card, and see if that works. If that's how you had saved them before, by 'exporting to sd card', then that should work. Good luck.

k2buckley said:
Yea, there isn't a native/built in file manager. You need to use a third party app to see the sd card. Did you have your contacts backed up on google? If so, they should restore when you log in to google. If you didn't, and you had them backed up on your sd card, then I'd copy the contents of your old sd card onto the new one, from within the contacts app, press menu, and select import/export. choose to import from sd card, and see if that works. If that's how you had saved them before, by 'exporting to sd card', then that should work. Good luck.
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Click to collapse
I never tried exporting them before I always used TB ,Unfortunately I have to manually copy them,Titanium backup wasn't no help,I bought Mybackup Pro so I should be good from here on out...thnx for the help anyway

Clarification for SD card issues on kitkat 4.4.2

To save some people time in searching and asking the same question I had (and for 4.4.2 I think there will be plenty...):
I had severe issues using a brand new SD card in a brand new unrooted Galaxy S5. However, I now found through test that it was not the card.
I tried many things, formatting on my computer, formatting on another phone, etc etc. Nothing worked. I then tried to use the card on other devices, which worked fine! I then tried other cards, none of them seemed to work.
So I thought the S5 was defective. I did some searching online, and found that it actually is not defective. This is a feature of kitkat 4.4.2!
The card is perfectly usable, but under very restrict situations.
For example, reading is perfectly possible, but writing is controlled by kitkat. I found through some websites that Samsung decided to beef up security and at the same time make the use of external storage more clean.
Previously you could use any file browser to manage any file son any external storage, like an SD card. Although this gave great freedom, Samsung also seemed to believe that it is a source of security risk where rogue apps could read/write to folders they didn't create. They also seemed to believe this made management of files on external storage messy. To control this Samsung now allows properly installed apps to generate folders only in internal memory, and those same apps can only access folders they themselves created. The exception to this are factory standard default apps that come preinstalled on the device.
So my mistake was to use ASTRO file manager to move around a file. Once I read the issue online, I tried the same action with Samsung's pre-installed file manager, and to my surprise the file did transfer to the SD card!
To further clarify, I suspect this "feature" is limited to write activities. For example, backup to SD apps will fail to write apps to SD. Similarly, Airdroid cannot copy files from your desktop to the SD card, only to their own folder (and thus you need Samsungs file manager to move those files to the SD card).
What's interesting about this however, is that READ access seems to still be possible. ASTRO file manager can still read files from directories other apps made. Adobe reader can still read files on all kinds of folders.
The criminal spy app can still read and copy your banking files from your bank directory to its own directory for transfer to the criminal mind who will then plunder your account. So no, the security issue Samsung wanted to address has not been addressed.
What is my opinion about this? Well, I think Samsung made a nice attempt to improve security. However, they completely failed to address the biggest security risk, which isn't write access, but read access. And at the same time made it very painful and difficult to store large numbers of music, video and document files to the SD card. Because now you will either need to plug in your memory card into your computer, or move all those files via internal memory to the external SD card using Samsungs file manager, which of course takes much more time.
More info on the feature can be found here:
http://gs4.wonderhowto.com/how-to/b...ns-android-4-4-kitkat-your-galaxy-s4-0152036/
here:
http://support.solidexplorer.pl/responses/kit-kat-442-issue
And here:
http://developer.samsung.com/forum/...Lines=15&startId=zzzzz~&startPage=2&curPage=4
We could all ask Samsung to revert this "feature", but chances that they will, are remote since there are ways around this problem.
Of course, people who use many many apps/games will be out of luck, as they will be restricted to 16/32 GB.
Note to moderators: Can we make this a sticky for kitkat 4.4.2?

Root and you'll be able to R/W on the ext-SD card and try this app SDFix
Samsung has nothing to do with it... It's an Google's android policy.

So, the links I provided make that same statement. I.e. I'm aware of possible fixes. However, I bought my phone in Singapore so I could have a reliable unhacked, unrooted, unmodified phone. Others might also want original phones and not root their phone until their warranty runs out.
This was not my point though. My point was to provide some info that could be turned into a sticky so it is easier for people to find what could cause their memory card issues.
I still hope the original post will help others troubleshoot their memory card issues with their s5.

Kitkat - No SD card ??

I am buying my phone tommorow (Currently using Note1 with JB)... and I have heard today tht Kitkat doesn't support writing to SD card.
Now I don't wana Root hence is I possible to break this write restriction ?
My main concern/query is: I store all my music on my SD card and always Store all my pics/videos taken from phone camera on SD card -- So is this functionality still there OR not ?
PS: Plz see post #4

kitKat support writing to SD Card, but not with 3rd party Apps .
With Root You Can .
Gesendet von meinem SM-N9005 mit Tapatalk

Why no root, without root access you have a crippled phone.

Hmm.... I got to read a few more stuff abt kitkat problems...
1] Third party (Chinese) S-view covers don't work after kitkat upgrade, which now apparently fixed.
2] Samsung has an solved an issue that prevented writing to external storage (SD) after updating to KitKat.
Can you ppl confirm the above. If yes, I can happily upgrade without any issues.

i
craige said:
Hmm.... I got to read a few more stuff abt kitkat problems...
1] Third party (Chinese) S-view covers don't work after kitkat upgrade, which now apparently fixed.
2] Samsung has an solved an issue that prevented writing to external storage (SD) after updating to KitKat.
Can you ppl confirm the above. If yes, I can happily upgrade without any issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. I m not sure but i heard about fixed !
2. No. still 3rd party apps cannot write to sd-card u need to use Pre-Installed File Manager to move file to sd-card
:good:

Your music, pictures, videos can be stored in SD card, root is not necessary
Sent from my SM-N9005

jdomadia said:
Your music, pictures, videos can be stored in SD card, root is not necessary
Sent from my SM-N9005
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Click to collapse
That is almost true. My files won't show you any folders you created on SD card for specific people. If you create a folder for Fred and put all pictures of Fred in it, you can see it in My files extSd. But if you create a folder called Fred Videos, you won't find it in My files. So if you have downloaded a video to internal memory, first you have to move it in the Fred folder and in Gallery then you can move it again to Fred Video. I tend to find this weird.

I've got all my music, films, comics, magazines and pictures (not photo's!) on my SDcard. They all play perfectly well. JB doesn't allow write to the SD. Reading has never been blocked.
Stock camera takes pictures to the SD. Keep in mind 4.4.2 has a tendency to corrupt the pictures on the SD card. It's why I prefer to keep those internal.
Quickpic has no issue writing to the SD, neither does ES File Explorer.
g0tch said:
That is almost true. My files won't show you any folders you created on SD card for specific people. If you create a folder for Fred and put all pictures of Fred in it, you can see it in My files extSd. But if you create a folder called Fred Videos, you won't find it in My files. So if you have downloaded a video to internal memory, first you have to move it in the Fred folder and in Gallery then you can move it again to Fred Video. I tend to find this weird.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you ever heard of this remarkably useful app. It's called ES File Explorer.... Who the hell uses the severely sluggish and limited My Files?

If you have rooted your phone, then download and use SDFix app from playstore. Then you can use your sd card as usual

Use folder mount

Alrite ! After reading the above I clearly understand that Photos/Videos/Music stored on SD can be read without issues
One more thing, Can large popular games like - Real Racing 3, NFS series etc.. can be transferred/updated on SD card as well ?

Apps write on internal SD-Card only even with Android 4.4 SD-Fix

I slowly look there no longer. I have rooted my S3 Neo initially quite normal and provided with CWM as it has been explained in various tutorials. Then I fixed the Android 4.4 write access issue with the "NextApp SDFix" from Android market. With the "ES File Explorer" and "Total Commander" I could normally rename files on the SD card, copy and move.
However, to me the practical effect is associated with all apps, which store data automatically on the SD card very mysterious, because instead of the SD card, they will continue stored internally namely in "/storage/Emulated/0". I tested this with "Dead Trigger 2", which is usually stores the game data in "Android/OBB". In Application Manager I have the opportunity the app to move itself to the correct SD card (.android_secure directory), but just the app itself and not the game data wich stay in the internal, emulated SD-Card.
For my previous smartphone, an Ace 2 NFC (I8160P) there was a fix for it to fit the "vold.fstab" to file: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=28419837#post28419837
I could find only a tutorial changing the internal memory with the real SD-Card for the normal S3, which, however, is probably not compatible with the S3 Neo: http://android-hilfe.digidip.net/visit?url=http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2036796 - Or should I try it so anyway?
At first the question: Why the Kitkat-Fix is ​​at all useful, if it does not help in practice and the data continues to be stored internally? The only thing that has been directly accessed files to the correct SD card was the photo app but that's about it.
Update: I just see that it also provides an Android folder on the right SD card as well as in the emulated and actually reside in folders and the installed apps, including "Dead Trigger 2". However, the folder unlike emulated SD card are completely empty. What does that have to mean again?
I hope somebody can help me ans find a solution as I can't use my external SD-Card for most game datas or apps as planned or I will send back my S3 Neo tomorrow.

PLEASE!!! Can somebody help me???

do you use xposed? there are a couple of modules that allows you to use obb files from sdcard. Personally i use "xinternal". those ps apps never worked for me also.

Use Folder Mount

I use a xposed module called "HandleExternalStorage" and it works like a charm! Try it yourself!
Good luck

Cannot Manually Add files to internal Storage SD Card, but Apps can be transfered

I'm having a rather unique problem with my the Micro SD card I installed.
I can format it as internal storage and it won't pop up for file managers or my computer.
This means I can't manually move files to it all.
Despite that when it's internal storage I can move apps to it and it adds new apps to it by default.
I could go to move all and move everything it can on, but it's a fairly slow SD card so I'm hoping to mainly put music, videos and any pictures on there.
I worry about it moving the apps that I want to keep in internal storage for speed over.
Does anyone know how I could fix this?
EDIT:
I didn't manage to figure out how to add files manually while it was internal storage through either internal file managers or through the computer.
But I did manage to find the SD card while it was portable.
The trick is to use the built in file explorer on the phone and copy a small file onto the SD card.
With there being something other than just Android files on the SD card it can then be discovered by the computer.
This mainly solves my problem as I plan to use it primarily for storage of music and game files, with the emulators being on the phone itself.

I had this issue a few days ago. You have 2 options to format, (1) as a internal storage and only your phone can read this and other option (2)to use on others devices. Using the second option I managed to transfer files to my microSD like it used to be.
While using the first option I was able only to transfer apps to it through the system.
I hope it helps

I'm using one, but I'm not even able to find it with File Manager?
Is that normal for Internal Storage?
I expected there to at least be a folder in the normal phone space called SD card or something?
Is there no way to manually move music there when it's internal storage?
Also I tried changing it to be portable but my computer still couldn't see it.
File manager could actually see it and open it but I couldn't copy paste anything to it.
So I turned it back to internal as I can at least move apps to it successfully at the moment.

Rajvir8 said:
I'm using one, but I'm not even able to find it with File Manager?
Is that normal for Internal Storage?
I expected there to at least be a folder in the normal phone space called SD card or something?
Is there no way to manually move music there when it's internal storage?
Also I tried changing it to be portable but my computer still couldn't see it.
File manager could actually see it and open it but I couldn't copy paste anything to it.
So I turned it back to internal as I can at least move apps to it successfully at the moment.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I tried as Internal Storage any File Manager found my SDcard too... Thats why I'm using as portable.
After that, i could see this.
Maybe you're missing something like changing the USB connection from Charging to File transfering.
Did you checked this?

Yes it can see the rest of my phone and move files, so I've made sure to change it to file transferring.
When you used internal storage file managers failed to find your SD card as well?
dennismac said:
When I tried as Internal Storage any File Manager found my SDcard too... Thats why I'm using as portable.
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Here your saying that you could find it and that's why you swapped over?
I assume you forgot to say it failed to show up separately and that's why you changed to portable.

Rajvir8 said:
Yes it can see the rest of my phone and move files, so I've made sure to change it to file transferring.
When you used internal storage file managers failed to find your SD card as well?
Here your saying that you could find it and that's why you swapped over?
I assume you forgot to say it failed to show up separately and that's why you changed to portable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry! Yes, I failed to find my SD card too, thats why i changed to portable.
Im assuming this is a normal behavior, my last Android phone was a Galaxy S2 and I stopped following Android changes for the lasts 4/5 years. But idk why you can't see it even in portable mode... That should work as worked for me.
Hope someone help you more than I did!

dennismac said:
Sorry! Yes, I failed to find my SD card too, thats why i changed to portable.
Im assuming this is a normal behavior, my last Android phone was a Galaxy S2 and I stopped following Android changes for the lasts 4/5 years. But idk why you can't see it even in portable mode... That should work as worked for me.
Hope someone help you more than I did!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for trying to help.
I think I might have figured out part of the problem, the file explorer I normally use doesn't have permission to add anything to the SD card. I'm not sure how I would go about giving it permission though.
But when I use the system built in I was able to copy paste some music onto it.
With a file on the SD Card my computer was able to locate it as well, and I can now copy and paste to the SD card using my computer.
So with your help I was able to figure out how to get portable working.
It is a bit disappointing that there isn't a way to manually add files while it is an internal storage though.
So again while your solution didn't directly work, it made me think and find a solution to my problem even if it's not the one I wanted.