Database Users

microSD disappearance.. SOLVED!

People have been replacing their microSD cards not knowing that the problem is actually in the files and folders..
Ok here it is!
When i scroll through the hTC Sense tabs to music or photos, the applications try to load the thumbs from the Phone/microSD, that's when it suddenly freezes then the microSD vanishes..
I inserted the microSD into my PC and browsed the drive in "Thumbnail view" and guess what happened, it froze.. I figured since the idea was the same in hTC Sense when it tries to load any thumbs..
So i went to the microSD drive again and chose "detailed view" then went into each folder and changed to "thumbnail view" until i found two folders that kept freezing; "Program Files" and "My Music"..
In Program files the only folder that couldn't be deleted definitely had files that were behind the issue.. There was a music album too that froze, i deleted that too...
I backed up my files and formatted the microSD, i had to, because the folders behind the microSD disappearance cannot be deleted even with an "Unlocker"..
So far i'm playing around with my Leo and nothing is happening..
So by viewing the folders on the PC using Thumbnail view, you'll be able to identify the file or folder behind this annoying issue..

I had the same issue
I have (had) Sandisk microSD 16GB card. It was last week that it happened to me. Only backup of good files and re-formatting the card helped.
Today, I was copying 700MB file and suddenly it told me - cant write on a disk. I disconnected cable from the PC, rebooted Leo and SD card was no more present.
I put it into a card reader, tried to format it, but nothing is working. SD card is probably faulty.
So be aware, that that problem might be a first sign before your SD will break.

I think the fault is from some files somewhere in the microSD.. After going through the method i mentioned earlier, up until now my card is fine..

dosari666 said:
I think the fault is from some files somewhere in the microSD.. After going through the method i mentioned earlier, up until now my card is fine..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yup right, but be aware. I dont think that normal SD card should perform like that. I am using stock 2GB SD now, and it is ok!

stgyro said:
yup right, but be aware. I dont think that normal SD card should perform like that. I am using stock 2GB SD now, and it is ok!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My 16GB microSD is Sandisk and its 100% compatible with this device.. The Leo is doing something when loading the files creating some system files i suppose..

dosari666 said:
My 16GB microSD is Sandisk and its 100% compatible with this device.. The Leo is doing something when loading the files creating some system files i suppose..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
guess what? windows could not load sandisk microSD 16GB and I was already preparing to return it to e-shop, but I tried live cd of ubuntu 9.10.
It can read the card, it formatted it and it is working again! :-D

stgyro said:
guess what? windows could not load sandisk microSD 16GB and I was already preparing to return it to e-shop, but I tried live cd of ubuntu 9.10.
It can read the card, it formatted it and it is working again! :-D
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's great, so you didn't have to replace it?
But strange, i've always been using the 16GB with my HD and now HD2.. The issue just occurred a week ago..
A day has passed and everything seems fine..
I hope it stays that way..

ok
I got exactly the same problem with my 16G Sandiskin and HD
and found that the problem was a damaged file in my SD
connect your SD to your computer throw card reader, using total commander or whatever, begin coping all SD files and directory to your hard disk, until get a message can't copy "file name", this will be the damage file, unmount the SD and mount it again and delete this file and your SD will be ok
ps: may be you have more than one damage file, try the this method until you can copy all SD files to your hard drive

When you have a write or read problem with a particular file, it usually points to more than just a corrupt file. In my experience with 4 16GB Sandisk microSD, it is the beginning of a failing card. The safest bet is to copy out the good files, reformat in your HD2 and copy the files back. But if it happens too often, it may be time to invest in a new card as your data is of primary concern.
The strange thing is that this usually occurs with the bigger cards, 8GB and 16GB. I never had this issue in the past with smaller cards.
I back up my card weekly or when I have updated large number of files just to be sure I have a valid set in my PC in case the card fails.

kensong said:
When you have a write or read problem with a particular file, it usually points to more than just a corrupt file. In my experience with 4 16GB Sandisk microSD, it is the beginning of a failing card. The safest bet is to copy out the good files, reformat in your HD2 and copy the files back. But if it happens too often, it may be time to invest in a new card as your data is of primary concern.
The strange thing is that this usually occurs with the bigger cards, 8GB and 16GB. I never had this issue in the past with smaller cards.
I back up my card weekly or when I have updated large number of files just to be sure I have a valid set in my PC in case the card fails.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know what you are talking about. Low format may help. I had the same issue with 2GB SD card 3 years ago (had to recover SD card to save few photos) and also on my DLSR with 4GB CF Card (linux helped to read the card). I don´t think it can be damaged so quickly as normal PC HDD, but when it happens often (damaged files on card), it may be a sign of something wrong with the card.

Unfortunately it happened again.. After a month of having everything under control i got the same problem.. The great news is I'm using windows 7 on my PC and when i plug my microSD card via usb reader, i get a choice of scanning and fixing the removable disk...
Now i'm happy without those annoying corrupted files..

[Q] Sd issues. a500 not recognizing sd card

Hi all. I have a stock a500 with 3.1. Not rooted. I put in the 16gb SD card with files in it and I don't get any indication of the card in the bottom right corner. My phone however will recognize it and the files that are on it. Any suggestions? Ty for any replies

"Try unplugging it, and plugging it in again" - Mistabishi 'Printer Jam'.
What FS is the card formatted to? Have you tried any other card that is known to work? Also, try formatting the SD as FAT32 again from the phone.

I am having the SAME issue on my acer. It wont recognize my 16gb sandisk card. I tried formatting as described and I tried another card. Both are showing up in my HTC inspire but nothing on the acer. Whats the deal? When I go to storage in settings- the external SD total space is recognized but it is not allowing me to access it for storage using app2sd?

this SD card worked just fine on the transformer I took it out of.

da9b16 said:
I am having the SAME issue on my acer. It wont recognize my 16gb sandisk card. I tried formatting as described and I tried another card. Both are showing up in my HTC inspire but nothing on the acer. Whats the deal? When I go to storage in settings- the external SD total space is recognized but it is not allowing me to access it for storage using app2sd?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you even able to see the SD card? check /mnt/sd-external to see if it shows up. If it's there, create a directory, then delete it. Also, check the ".android-secure" hidden directory that should be on the SD card after using app2sd. If the permissions are not set correctly, you won't be able to use app2sd with it (reason for create/delete of the directory). Sidenote, I've seen quite a few apps named app2sd, some of them listed are showing up on my end as non-working with the A500 where others listed should work fine.
Forcefedfun said:
this SD card worked just fine on the transformer I took it out of.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Still, that does not give me anything to go on. Did you format the card again? Is the card formatted in FAT32? Have you tried formatting the card from your computer using a card reader? I've had SD cards not show up before, reformatting them correctly solved the issue each time. If you don't know what filesystem the card is formatted with, grab a LiveCD with gparted on it (almost any gnome distribution) and I can help you from there. I haven't used Windows since XP SP2 was first released (FCKGW-... if you know what I mean) and I have refused to touch anything Apple since the IIe. Hence the signature.

formatting
Not sure what format they are in. I used a thunderbolt to for mate and a fsscinate and neither were visible. I'll go check what you recommended above though.

What are you guys talking about?
To the OP: You won't have any indication at the bottom. That feature doesn't exist on our devices (but some custom roms based on xoom and ?ASUS? have it). Just check the System screen to see if it finds your sd or simply make a photo from your camera (just set it to save the pictures to your SD). Or use a program and check /mnt/external-sd
To da9b16: a2sd won't work on this device (besides it has enough internal memory).
You'll only be able to access SD directly from your internal memory if you root the device and use a program that creates a symlink from /mnt/external-sd to /sdcard (USB Mount All does this but it's not free) or if you simply navigate to /mnt/external-sd with a file explorer.
I hope that this clears some confusion.

bpivk said:
What are you guys talking about?
To da9b16: a2sd won't work on this device (besides it has enough internal memory).
You'll only be able to access SD directly from your internal memory if you root the device and use a program that creates a symlink from /mnt/external-sd to /sdcard (USB Mount All does this but it's not free) or if you simply navigate to /mnt/external-sd with a file explorer.
I hope that this clears some confusion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just needed to know what the MNT portion of that statement which tells me dir. Thanks! Done and done!

almost same problem
da9b16 said:
I just needed to know what the MNT portion of that statement which tells me dir. Thanks! Done and done!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hey i have a similar problem , when i put my SD card does recognize but the apps like photo gallery or play music wont read any file from my SD card what can i do

[Q] Can't format my sd card!

So about a week ago I downloaded new version of icecream tosti's ICS rom (v0.6) and booted into CWM to mount my sd card and move the zip file over. I noticed that it was taking longer time to move the file than it usually does but I let the process finish. I unmounted the card and went to install the zip from sd card but couldn't find it. I tried to move the file again and again but couldn't get it to copy the file onto the sd card. I tried moving files from the sd card onto the computer but that was not possible either. It wouldn't show me errors and complete the moving process but it actually didn't move anything. I thought there was something wrong with the sd card so I tried formatting it... no success!
I have used easues partition manager, mini tool partition manager, hp sd card utility, panasoic sd card formatter, tried formatting it through windows native options, used disk management, even tried formatting it through CWM but i kept on getting the same error, can't format. I was placing the micro sd card in a usb card reader and sd card reader in order to format it through computer. I have also tried using different computers but that didn't solve the issue. The problem is that every time I try to install a rom it reverts back to an older revision of the rom with old settings that I set before. It seems to me some how the sd card is locked in a previous state and it is write protected and won't let me format it.
Does anyone have any ideas on how I can solve my problem or does this mean the sd card is gone and I have to buy a new one?

I have exactly the same problem after using NexusHD2-ICS-4.0.3-CM9 V1.3. It seems this sd card was frozen, nothing on it can be changed. If I copy a file to it on computer, it shows copy successful, but that file cannot be read, and if refresh it shows nothing have changed in the SD card.
Anyone have any idea about this?
I have three broken micro sd cards now, two from WP7 and this one from ICS.

pacman1891 said:
I have exactly the same problem after using NexusHD2-ICS-4.0.3-CM9 V1.3. It seems this sd card was frozen, nothing on it can be changed. If I copy a file to it on computer, it shows copy successful, but that file cannot be read, and if refresh it shows nothing have changed in the SD card.
Anyone have any idea about this?
I have three broken micro sd cards now, two from WP7 and this one from ICS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I waited a couple of weeks for someone to answer on this forum and tried all methods possible to format the sd card or revive it somehow but no luck so just recently purchased a new sandisk class 4 sd card hopefully this one doesn't go bad either. I just wish I knew why it was happening so I don't repeat the process again and end up damaging the card.

Have you tried to format with MAGLDR and after it on windows 7 pc ?

I did that, also followed this post:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1283232
Contents on this sd card just refuse to change.

is there a solution to this coz im having the same problem and cant find a way to fix this

you can do it by this software's :
HDD Low Level Format Tool
MiniTool Partition Wizard
EASEUS Partition Master
Partition Wizard Home Edition
.
.
.
.
but i dont know how create swap and ext4 partitions on sd .

This happen because you formatted the card on the phone. I never recommend to format on the phone the cards but on PC. Try the application I posted on computer with FAT32 in 32768 unit size.

[Q] S4 can't change content of microSD card

Hi,
My S4 isn't able to modify the microSD card content.
Neither with the File explorer nor via USB from windows.
I tried formatting, deleting, everything.
It works for the moment, but as soon as I unmount the card and mount it again, all data is as before.
I don't have a pc adapter handy, so I don't know what file format the card has.
It's a Sandisk 64GB.
I can't say if it ever worked, because I probably copied that data that is on there directly at my pc.
It's really strange and hopefully someone has a solution.

S4 have issue with SD cards he kills them is not a joke there's topic with that issue maybe yours card is at the end
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda app-developers app

2Wires said:
Hi,
My S4 isn't able to modify the microSD card content.
Neither with the File explorer nor via USB from windows.
I tried formatting, deleting, everything.
It works for the moment, but as soon as I unmount the card and mount it again, all data is as before.
I don't have a pc adapter handy, so I don't know what file format the card has.
It's a Sandisk 64GB.
I can't say if it ever worked, because I probably copied that data that is on there directly at my pc.
It's really strange and hopefully someone has a solution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried using something like Root Explorer to check (and change if necessarry) the permissions on your SD card? you want read and write on there.

Error when trying to copy files between phone and SD card

I am unable to transfer files from my phone memory to my sd card.
I am also unable to transfer files from my pc to sd card in the phone. I have no issue transferring files from pc to phone memory.
I can view and open files on the sd card and the phone is able to play music and movies stored on the sd card.
Can anyone help me fix this issue?
Thanks!

I don't have such problem at all.
Try different file browsers like ES File Explorer and Astro.
If those do not work, try and factory reset your phone and ask for a replacement if the problem still persists after that.

chizzwhizz said:
I am unable to transfer files from my phone memory to my sd card.
I am also unable to transfer files from my pc to sd card in the phone. I have no issue transferring files from pc to phone memory.
I can view and open files on the sd card and the phone is able to play music and movies stored on the sd card.
Can anyone help me fix this issue?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does the phone read the sd card? Do you have anything on it to access? If not I would suggest formatting the sd card.

tabletalker7 said:
Does the phone read the sd card? Do you have anything on it to access? If not I would suggest formatting the sd card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The phone reads all the files on the sd card. I get an error that says Access denied when i copy a file from the phone memory to any folder on the SD card...however I get no error when I copy the files to the root SD card. It's weird...not sure whats going on.

You need to use the stock file manager to copy to the sd card or from the sd to internal as this is a "security feature" since Android lollipop. If you wish to use any other file explorer you MUST be rooted...

ultramag69 said:
You need to use the stock file manager to copy to the sd card or from the sd to internal as this is a "security feature" since Android lollipop. If you wish to use any other file explorer you MUST be rooted...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use ES File Explorer and it works - and I won't root until ZTE posts full factory roms for the US version.
I still think there is some issue with the sd card that can be solved by formatting it - if the phone won't move files to it and the pc recognizes the phone but not the sd card how did you get files on it in the first place?

ultramag69 said:
You need to use the stock file manager to copy to the sd card or from the sd to internal as this is a "security feature" since Android lollipop. If you wish to use any other file explorer you MUST be rooted...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not true. I just used Solid Explorer to copy files from internal memory to the SD card. There was an extra procedure of selecting the sd card in what looks like the stock storage selection menu thing (that also has Drive, Downloads etc) which was apparently necessary for Solid Explorer to get the necessary permission. Maybe it doesn't work with old file explorer apps that haven't implemented this solution, but it definitely works with Solid Explorer without root.