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[Q] External sd problems

Hi guys
I'm having some extremely irritating problems with my A500. It doesn't detect any external sd card I've tried so far. It says external sd is unavailable under storage in settings and the external_sd folder is empty in root/mnt. I've tried 3 different cards so far with no success. Anyone have a any advice for me on how to mount the card? I think the problem might be that it doesn't get mounted when I insert it. I can't root because the GingerBreak mod that's been posted needs an external card to work. So maybe some advice on how to root some other way? Then I can try restore a stock image and see what happens.

I had to insert mine and then reboot the tablet for mine to show inside of a file manager.
Sent from my A500 using XDA Premium App

lawmangrant said:
I had to insert mine and then reboot the tablet for mine to show inside of a file manager.
Sent from my A500 using XDA Premium App
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Hey, thanks for the tip. I forgot to add it to my original post. I've tried rebooting with all 3 of the cards I have. I'm starting to think it's a hardware problem...

Have the cards you're testing been formatted NTFS or FAT32? If NTFS they probably won't work without some help.
The stock device only deals with FAT32 mSD cards; I haven't tried the NTFSMount app from the Dev forum on an NTFS-formatted card yet, only USB devices.

Vereynn said:
Have the cards you're testing been formatted NTFS or FAT32? If NTFS they probably won't work without some help.
The stock device only deals with FAT32 mSD cards; I haven't tried the NTFSMount app from the Dev forum on an NTFS-formatted card yet, only USB devices.
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Click to collapse
Hey. I've formatted the cards multiple times, to FAT32 every time. Might try exFAT tomorrow just to see what happens.

exFAT didn't work. Not that I expected it to, lol. Maybe the GingerBreak apk can be modified to use the usb storage instead of the external sd. Any idea where I can get the source code to take a look at?

If you've tried multiple cards, all FAT32 and all work on other devices, I'd return the tablet while you can, sounds like a hardware problem indeed

Slight problem with the returning, lol. I live in South Africa and ordered my tab from the USA since my own country is so backwards. I don't really mind not having an external sd card, I just wanna root again since almost all the apps I use need root. I'm considering returning, even if it's gonna take a lot of effort, time and money...
EDIT - Another reason I can't return it (and this is a horrible thing) is that SuperUser Permissions is still installed. The recent update made me lose root. So I'm kinda stuck with this app that's proof that I voided my warranty. The only way to get rid of SuperUser is to use some apps that all need root. To get root I need the external sd to work. To get that to work I need to send it for repairs. A very messed up situation

I'm almost positive that it's a hardware issue now. Even when I try to do an update.zip from recovery mode it can't find the file even though it's on the card. Let's hope they don't see the SuperUser app when I return it...
I thought about maybe waiting for Acer to release an update that will unlock the bootloader. But since the SD card slot isn't working I won't be able to install the update. That so much depends on one little slot amazes me. If you wanna know what the single point of failure for an Android device is, look no further.

I know some android tabs came out without external SD card support. I live in the uk and have a 32GB version and the SD card worked out the box. Maybe you have to wait for an update. Just my 2c though. You won't need an external SD to receive OTA updates though.
Sent from my A500

Here's an image of what recovery mode says when I select Install Update from external source. Seems the system can't mount the card. Sigh

I like that message at the end.... "Install from sdcard complete."
You had rooted before the update, which means it had to have seen the sdcard then. So it's unlikely that the hardware just went bad. Are the sdcards your trying of different sizes, classes, and/or manufacturer?
I'd go with the same sdcard you used when you rooted before and reformat it using the HP USB Format tool. Selecting fat32, of course. And don't select quick format. See if that helps. Sorry if I missed somethiing relevent above.
Here's the link to the HP first tool. http://download.cnet.com/HP-USB-Disk-Storage-Format-Tool/3000-2094_4-10974082.html
Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk

Lol, the "fake it till you make it" strategy. Fail Google.
I've tried it with the original SD and two other ones. My guess is some app tried to mount the external SD in /mnt/sdcard and messed up some associations or dependencies or something.

I'm amazed. After everything I've tried it suddenly worked. I was busy in settings and accidentally selected storage. And there it was in all its glory... A working external sd card! I'm rooted again, backed up and ready to roll!

To anyone finding this thread hoping for answers for a similar problem: It was a hardware problem indeed. I fixed it myself by opening the tab and bending the MicroSD slot's pins back into place.

sd card issue

I have galaxy note 3,updated to android kitkat everythink gone well,, but after update finished try to backup my apps to 16 GB external sd card but,,not working
I try 10 different backup app none of them working.. is this problem cause by me or kitkat

There are quite a few posts regarding this issue. Installing the SanDisk app the playstore can fix the issue.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

Ryya said:
There are quite a few posts regarding this issue. Installing the SanDisk app the playstore can fix the issue.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
Which SanDisk app are you referring to?

SD card issue
I have the same problem (N9005, 32GB Samsung SD card) - after the update:
- Mybackup Pro is not able to backup on SD card (before it worked well)
- File mamager X-Plore can not create new folders on the external SD card
- similar with the Astro file manager
Only the system-own file manager can create folders. Reading from the card is possible.
After formatting the card: still the same problem.
has anyone additional information?

It's because of the security features of KK... These older apps aren't yet "approved" by Samsung. It has something to do with a simple permission to write to the sd card.
As was stated "Only the system-own file manager can create folders" as this is Samsung approned. Until the Apps are updated and the Samsung seal of approval given these may have trouble...
There is no problem if rooted...

I am truly enjoying KitKat but I wish I could get Titanium to back up to the external sd card.
I guess I will wait like everyone else for the app to get approval from Samsung. Perhaps that will come with the "official' release of KitKat.
Yes, I am rooted and it still cannot back up to the external sd.

Spazmogen said:
I am truly enjoying KitKat but I wish I could get Titanium to back up to the external sd card.
I guess I will wait like everyone else for the app to get approval from Samsung. Perhaps that will come with the "official' release of KitKat.
Yes, I am rooted and it still cannot back up to the external sd.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use External SD fix for KitKat - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2607215

[Q] Major Camera Glitch after update to Rooted NI2

Did the update to my S5 from rooted NCG to rooted NI2, everything works great BUT having a major camera issue.
When I take a picture, and immediately review it from within the camera app, it does something to the picture. They show up as a grey screen. When I try to review them in the gallery, they show up as these grey broken thumbnails. I can't send them via MMS. It says "can't send file".
Now, if I take the picture, back out of the camera app, and ONLY review them in the galley app, they are fine. This only happens if i review them with in the camera app.
Now, here's the thing , this only happens when the pictures save to the SDcard. If it saves to the Phone's storage, there's no problems.
Didn't happen on NCG. Does this have something to do with the Secure Storage glitch related to Root and Xposed? I just deleted the secure storage module, and it's still happening. (Don't use S-Health so it didn't matter).
Is there anything I can do. We just had triplets, and we're taking A LOT of pictures, and just realized I've lost half of my pictures. This sucks.
Do I re-install the stock camera app? If I do, where do I find it?
Please help. Having root, isn't worth not being able to use my camera.

Can't format SD Card, SD Card is Write Only?
Since this issue is only happening when the photo's are saving to the SDCard, I attempted to FORMAT the card.
Using the phone to FORMAT, the phone UNmounts the card, says preparing, and REmounts the card exactly as is, without formatting it.
So I tried to reformat it on the computer, three different times, three different programs including the Windows 7 utility, ALL of them gave me the message that my SD Card is WRITE ONLY?
What the heck is that? Did the NI2 update do something to my SD card? Did it corrupt my SD Card?
Any one have any ideas? Guesses? Similar experiences?

ymDroid said:
Since this issue is only happening when the photo's are saving to the SDCard, I attempted to FORMAT the card.
Using the phone to FORMAT, the phone UNmounts the card, says preparing, and REmounts the card exactly as is, without formatting it.
So I tried to reformat it on the computer, three different times, three different programs including the Windows 7 utility, ALL of them gave me the message that my SD Card is WRITE ONLY?
What the heck is that? Did the NI2 update do something to my SD card? Did it corrupt my SD Card?
Any one have any ideas? Guesses? Similar experiences?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never heard of that one...
Do you have exposed installed? Any other MODs? Install any apps that mess with permissions or SD Card?
If no to any of the above, backup all of your data (sd cards too): wipe the entire phone (including SD Card), ODIN back to an older rootable build, and start over.

Pretty sure it's the SD card.
Spoke to SanDisk, they said that something caused a fault in the card, and as a safety measure, the card will become write protected so your data can't be corrupted.
You can copy the data on the card, but you can't add or delete files. So the camera won't record new pictures to the card.
I tried to delete some sensitive files from the card through the File Explorer, and the phone reboots.
I've been using the phone's on board storage, and no issues thus far.
So everything is pointing to the card.
I have Xposed.
The only modules I have loaded is the Moto X tether, YouTube Ad Away, and the Secure Storage Fake that re-enable S Health.
Could one of these mods have created a fault in the card?

ymDroid said:
Pretty sure it's the SD card.
Spoke to SanDisk, they said that something caused a fault in the card, and as a safety measure, the card will become write protected so your data can't be corrupted.
You can copy the data on the card, but you can't add or delete files. So the camera won't record new pictures to the card.
I tried to delete some sensitive files from the card through the File Explorer, and the phone reboots.
I've been using the phone's on board storage, and no issues thus far.
So everything is pointing to the card.
I have Xposed.
The only modules I have loaded is the Moto X tether, YouTube Ad Away, and the Secure Storage Fake that re-enable S Health.
Could one of these mods have created a fault in the card?
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Click to collapse
Always possible when using MODs. Secure Storage Fake.. what all does that do? It's also possible the sdcard just failed. Things happen.

The S Health mod that changes your secure storage from True to False.
Fixes the S Health crash, and Private mode failure caused by running Xposed on the S5.
With NCG and NHA, I used to physical make the changes in the system/build.prop, and change ro.securestorage.support from True to False.
On NI2, and just used the Xposed module that does it for you.
That's the only thing I did different.

ymDroid said:
The S Health mod that changes your secure storage from True to False.
Fixes the S Health crash, and Private mode failure caused by running Xposed on the S5.
With NCG and NHA, I used to physical make the changes in the system/build.prop, and change ro.securestorage.support from True to False.
On NI2, and just used the Xposed module that does it for you.
That's the only thing I did different.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe most ROMs here already have build prop set to false (mine does). As for private mode, I don't use it so I couldn't make any mention on that note.
Have you tried another SD Card yet?

I'm stock, so I have to physically set it.
I have a new sd card on order, so we'll try again with a new one.
I really don't use S Health that much, and never use private mode, so I think I'm going to delete that mod and leave it at true.
Then again, it could just be a bad card. My S4, has had the same card (64 gb Ultra) for almost 2 years, a lot of the same settings, and never had a problem.

Do i use the MM feature and use my SD card as internal memory?

Hi All
I have a Samsung i9505 and just moved to Resurrection Remix 5.6.2 ROM using marshmallow and am having issues with writing to the SD card with 3rd party apps.
I have used the ES Explorer fix and mount R/W and enabled root explorer however my 3rd party app still shows as read only. The app is doggcatcher. Whats odd I found an article to sort this problem out for Titanium backup and that worked fine. Also my camera picture and whatsapp all get saved to the SD card without issue.
In the end I have told doggcatcher to use my internal memory but that is quickly filling up.
I am tempted as the phone as 16GB internal memory, whether I should backup my files and choose the options where I can turn my 64gb external SD card as part of my internal memory as I never take out my SD card so that option might work for me but the reviews I am hearing are more negative than positive. I did try it out and went back to the traditional approach but thinking that maybe I didnt give it enough time.
I used FolderMount which was great on LL and recently purchase Link2SD to move files to the SD card but my internal memory still fills up. Currently foldermount isnt compatible with MM, link2SD is but I am having a few issues with it crashing and dont find it as easily to use as foldermount.
Any advice would be appreciated on what others have done.
Thanks

I don't know about anything else, but from what I heard is:
If you format as internal, you will have to do the whole "setup your sd card" step every time you flash a rom. Which is garbage, unless you stay on the same rom for like ever.
Dirty flashing a rom might skip that setup, as you don't lose the data/settingd etc. Problem is, you can't always dirty flash. Especially when changing roms altogether. PC's might not be able to read it either even if it is in your phone.
This is just what I gathered over the time, nothing from personal experience.

Umm interesting well I normally backup my phone nightly using both TB and nandroid backup so restoring to a new ROM as long as it doesn't format the whole CSR I should be OK or does it when you install the new ROM in which case my backups are no good unless I save them to the cloud like Dropbox or google drive?
Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

ranjb said:
Hi All
I have a Samsung i9505 and just moved to Resurrection Remix 5.6.2 ROM using marshmallow and am having issues with writing to the SD card with 3rd party apps.
I have used the ES Explorer fix and mount R/W and enabled root explorer however my 3rd party app still shows as read only. The app is doggcatcher. Whats odd I found an article to sort this problem out for Titanium backup and that worked fine. Also my camera picture and whatsapp all get saved to the SD card without issue.
In the end I have told doggcatcher to use my internal memory but that is quickly filling up.
I am tempted as the phone as 16GB internal memory, whether I should backup my files and choose the options where I can turn my 64gb external SD card as part of my internal memory as I never take out my SD card so that option might work for me but the reviews I am hearing are more negative than positive. I did try it out and went back to the traditional approach but thinking that maybe I didnt give it enough time.
I used FolderMount which was great on LL and recently purchase Link2SD to move files to the SD card but my internal memory still fills up. Currently foldermount isnt compatible with MM, link2SD is but I am having a few issues with it crashing and dont find it as easily to use as foldermount.
Any advice would be appreciated on what others have done.
Thanks
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Click to collapse
I've the Same problem!

Suddenly Lost Ability to Write to SD Card

I have a very strange thing that has just started occurred with my wife's Note 4. It appears that all apps have lost write-access to the SD card.
I first noticed the problem with the camera app. The camera app was configured to write to external storage but when a picture is taken, it says "Unable to save file to SD card. Default storage has been changed to device memory."
The Gallery app is also not able to write to the SD card (cannot create a new album) or move files to an existing album on the card.
Solid Explorer cannot create a new folder on the card.
I've tried to clear app settings for the camera and Solid Explorer. But even after setting everything back up, I still get the same results.
I'm running stock v6.0.1 (EPJ2) rooted. Also, my (seemingly identical) Note 4 does not display any of this behavior. No changes other than normal application updates.
Any ideas what might be going on?

I've had this happen when an SD Card gets corrupted - you can still view and access the files that are already on the card, but you can no longer write to it.
Try the card in a PC and see if that can write to it - if not then your card is likely permanently damaged. I had 3 Sandisk 64Gb cards go like this in two different devices. Tried reformatting them every which way, but nothing would make them writeable again. Have used Samsung cards ever since and never had a failure yet.

Just restart your phone
Sent from this galaxy

SJMarty said:
I have a very strange thing that has just started occurred with my wife's Note 4. It appears that all apps have lost write-access to the SD card.
I first noticed the problem with the camera app. The camera app was configured to write to external storage but when a picture is taken, it says "Unable to save file to SD card. Default storage has been changed to device memory."
The Gallery app is also not able to write to the SD card (cannot create a new album) or move files to an existing album on the card.
Solid Explorer cannot create a new folder on the card.
I've tried to clear app settings for the camera and Solid Explorer. But even after setting everything back up, I still get the same results.
I'm running stock v6.0.1 (EPJ2) rooted. Also, my (seemingly identical) Note 4 does not display any of this behavior. No changes other than normal application updates.
Any ideas what might be going on?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are 3 possible solutions:
Using MS Windows PC
Using Linux PC
Using TWRP Recovery with a proper BusyBox
Let me know which one do you choose & I will explain how.

Kinsman-UK said:
I've had this happen when an SD Card gets corrupted - you can still view and access the files that are already on the card, but you can no longer write to it.
Try the card in a PC and see if that can write to it - if not then your card is likely permanently damaged. I had 3 Sandisk 64Gb cards go like this in two different devices. Tried reformatting them every which way, but nothing would make them writeable again. Have used Samsung cards ever since and never had a failure yet.
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Click to collapse
You nailed it. My card was a 128 GB SanDisk Ultra. Pulled it from the phone and my laptop couldn't write to it either. Copied everything off and copied it back to a new card and there you go.
Grrrr...$^%**# SanDisk.
Out of curiosity, what Samsung line did you end up choosing? I think the EVO+ will be sufficient for me but wondering what you ended up using.

SJMarty said:
Out of curiosity, what Samsung line did you end up choosing? I think the EVO+ will be sufficient for me but wondering what you ended up using.
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Click to collapse
Glad you got it sorted! I've been using a Samsung PRO 64Gb - this is the 128Gb version on Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01CRZCLAM
I think the newer version of it is this one:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B019QO1Q4O
But you're right - the EVO+ is probably sufficient. It wasn't available when I was purchasing:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00WR0HIR4