Database Users

[Q] Sd reader

Does anyone know exactly why the sd reader is not working.... like i know we need a firmware update for it, but why exactly hasn't it shipped with the ability to use hardware already installed?
I may be wrong, but i would assume that it couldn't be that hard to just have the software (or w/e it is that would get it to be active) already installed.

Has to do with putting everything on the internal storage. The system needs to be setup for essentially 2 sd cards, I think. I'm probably wrong, but I know it has to do with a change in how Android manages the storage.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

From what I understand honeycomb just doesn't support sd cards yet.
Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk

eallan said:
From what I understand honeycomb just doesn't support sd cards yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wonder if that's true for the HC preview that's on my Nook Color right now... I should check and post my findings! But I think I couldn't see any SD card.
UPDATE: I just booted the Nook into HC v0.4 and I can access the SD after going into Setting -> Storage and mounting the SD. Whatever HC I have it can find the SD card!

Sirchuk said:
Has to do with putting everything on the internal storage. The system needs to be setup for essentially 2 sd cards, I think. I'm probably wrong, but I know it has to do with a change in how Android manages the storage.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This basically sums it up. Motorola, and probably others with Honycomb, are cheating and mounting some of the internal storage at /sdcard, which is typically reserved for sdcards.
I haven't rooted my device yet, but if someone could put an sd card in the slot and pull the dmesg logs and post them that would be awesome. If the sdcard shows up in dmesg, but isn't mounted I bet we can find a solution. With root privs, you could modify the rc.local file to mount the sd card to /sdcard/realsdcard (probably).
On second thought, this gives me a good reason to root my device....

nindoja said:
This basically sums it up. Motorola, and probably others with Honycomb, are cheating and mounting some of the internal storage at /sdcard, which is typically reserved for sdcards.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's possible! I just saw the /sdcard in the file explorer and assumed it's the SD card. My bad!

funnycreature said:
That's possible! I just saw the /sdcard in the file explorer and assumed it's the SD card. My bad!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Potentially. I'm not familiar with the HC port on the Nook, but do this for me. Pull out the SD card and open up an adb shell on the device. If you can cd to /sdcard they are cheating. If it doesn't exist they are actually using your sdcard.
This doesn't prove anything conclusively though about honeycomb support for sd card readers.
Also, I did a few checks yesterday with the sd card slot and the card doesn't show up in dmesg when you pop it in and out, so it's not exactly going to be easy to get this working.

has there been any word about when it will be released for use?
I'm a little confused, is it going to be honeycomb that is upgraded for us to be able to use it. I dont know as much about mobile devises as I do computers, for some reason I was under the assumption that the firmware of a phone was more like a BIOS of a computer and honeycomb was the os. But is the firmware the os? And the bootloader more, like the BIOS?

RadDudeTommy said:
has there been any word about when it will be released for use?
I'm a little confused, is it going to be honeycomb that is upgraded for us to be able to use it. I dont know as much about mobile devises as I do computers, for some reason I was under the assumption that the firmware of a phone was more like a BIOS of a computer and honeycomb was the os. But is the firmware the os? And the bootloader more, like the BIOS?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Back in the day mobile devices used ROM (read only memory) to store the operating system, it was flashed on there and it would stay between wipes. That's a more appropriate use of the word 'firmware', but it stuck around for today's devices which are little more than a unix based OS on an ARM processor.
The bootloader is not the bios, but it does find the boot partition and tell the kernel to load... the kernel then mounts other partition and starts up the OS. Everything is in simple NAND flash memory now.

[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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
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.

Ext SD Card won't mount on CM9

I had been using a 16GB external SD card on my phone and it had been working fine. I decided to swap it out for an 8GB card and now my phone doesn't even see that the card is installed. When I try to mount the card using the storage settings, it tells me that it's preparing the SD card and then it doesn't do anything else.
I've tried reformatting the card, reinstalling CM9, purging both cache and Dalvik. Nothing seems to help. The card works perfectly on my PC. What should I do to get the card to work on my phone?

What happens if you put the 16 back in? Does it mount or does it fall into the same behavior as the 8? So your file explore won't see the emmc or it is just that settings->storage doesn't see it?
Just so we are clear (and I assume you know this b/c you are running nightlies) but I have to ask, you know that External_SD is now the emmc? Sorry.

Thank you for your help. When I put the 16GB back in it acts the same way now. When I browse to the emmc folder with Root Explorer, it shows it as being empty, even though I have the SD Card installed. For some reason, it's just not mounting any of them at all. Very weird.

Did you unmount it before you took it out initially? Maybe try putting it in and rebooting and see if it mounts. Or try rebooting w/o it and them putting it in to see if it remounts. Gotta be something simple cause those are always the hardest to find.
I would suggest a few options then.
1. Post something in the CM9 thread and maybe someone will know a little more about it and possibly some code that you might type in the re-mount it. I have an idea what it would be but I am not running CM9 now, so not sure I can do it ad-hoc.
2. If you can see your internal, then maybe make a nandroid and Odin back to stock 2.1, then reinstall. (but your OP says that you already did that, hmm.)
3. There was a mount fix floating around somewhere on Euphoria or Passion maybe Slim or AOKP. That was mainly for mounting to PC.
See what Faultexception thinks, since he is maintaining the CM9 ROM.

I did unmount it before removing it. I've tried all of the steps you've suggested and even posted on the CM9 thread. Hopefully someone on there has dealt with this before. Thanks for your help. I appreciate it.

I too is having the exact issue, have tried all the above and still nothing.

Haha been having this issue on ics passion for months.. ive just ggotten over it.
My 8gb doesnt work but my exact same model/brand 4gb does.. nothint i can do will fix it.
ive tried secure formatting to every fs imaginable and several other things
Sent from a cell tower to the XDA server to you.

Gallery photos broken, apps not found - SD failing?

Dear all,
I have a N9005 (eu) with 4.4.2 stock. Never rooted.
Since a couple of weeks, I notice a strange behavior. Quite often I find broken thumbnails in the stock Gallery app, sometimes the actual photos I have take are not visible.
At the same time, it happens that I download and install an app and it won't run, giving me an error in com.appnamewhatever. After a restart, I still see the link to the app on the home, but as I click it says app not installed. After I reinstall I can often run it np.
It gives me the feeling that the internal SD Card is dying. Is that possible? Can I run some tools/fixes to prevent or check it? (with no root required)
Thanks.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Free mobile app

McBain_666 said:
Dear all,
I have a N9005 (eu) with 4.4.2 stock. Never rooted.
Since a couple of weeks, I notice a strange behavior. Quite often I find broken thumbnails in the stock Gallery app, sometimes the actual photos I have take are not visible.
At the same time, it happens that I download and install an app and it won't run, giving me an error in com.appnamewhatever. After a restart, I still see the link to the app on the home, but as I click it says app not installed. After I reinstall I can often run it np.
It gives me the feeling that the internal SD Card is dying. Is that possible? Can I run some tools/fixes to prevent or check it? (with no root required)
Thanks.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Take a look if your photos and pics are in SDCard.
2. Take a look if you have the apps installed in your SDCard too (Aplication manager -> SD Card -> App marked to move to SDCard)
3. You will have to take off the SDCard and try making photos and installing new apps (change your SDCard for other new if this go ok)
Tell me what result do you have in your tests :highfive:

Man, you are right. I had not moved any app intentionally to the external SD Card so I did not think that would be the case. But that's what happened, the failing apps were on the external SD and so are the photos. It's a SanDisk Class 10 64 Gb.
So no way out other than substituting it?
Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Free mobile app

McBain_666 said:
Man, you are right. I had not moved any app intentionally to the external SD Card so I did not think that would be the case. But that's what happened, the failing apps were on the external SD and so are the photos. It's a SanDisk Class 10 64 Gb.
So no way out other than substituting it?
Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Take a look for what you can recover of your SDCard and copy it to your pc.
2. Format the card in the phone for last option.
3. Try again to put photos/apps there.
4. Good luck :highfive:

The corrupted photo's on the SDcard are a problem directly related to KitKat's increased security. It affects all KitKat devices. Any photo's on the SD randomly corrupt over time. The only solution is to put them on the internal memory.
The apps are a new one though. I've had apps suddenly become semi-uninstalled because I was dumb enough to mess with the Android_secure folder, but not with the errors after install.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk 2

ShadowLea said:
The corrupted photo's on the SDcard are a problem directly related to KitKat's increased security. It affects all KitKat devices. Any photo's on the SD randomly corrupt over time. The only solution is to put them on the internal memory.
The apps are a new one though. I've had apps suddenly become semi-uninstalled because I was dumb enough to mess with the Android_secure folder, but not with the errors after install.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Jeez that's crazy. I triedo to run a chkdsk on the card from windows (in a SD reader) and it got me a gazillion errors.
So now I proceeded to salvage what I can. I will try to format it (in the phone? in windows? still not sure about it) and see what happens.
Luckily I was able to salvage 99% of the photos.
I just remembered that I did something very unortodox, more or less at the same time problems started: I removed the SD Card with the phone still on. Yes, you can barely do it without removing the battery... I though "let's see if something bad happens". Maybe it started to corrupt the FAT or similar.
Anyway, please feel fee to point me to a thread or good article on this, I find information very scattered. Is there any advantage t oformat it in FAT32, NTFS or exFAT (assuming I can even choose)?
Thanks

McBain_666 said:
I just remembered that I did something very unortodox, more or less at the same time problems started: I removed the SD Card with the phone still on. Yes, you can barely do it without removing the battery... I though "let's see if something bad happens". Maybe it started to corrupt the FAT or similar.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I find it fairly easy to do. It's also perfectly fine, as long as you unmount it first in settings.
Is there any advantage t oformat it in FAT32, NTFS or exFAT (assuming I can even choose)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fat32 is the common format IT doesn't allow for filesizes over 3.9GB, so if you intend to use t for films, use exFAT.
NTFS can't be read without root. Don't use it.
exFAT is practically the same as FAT32, except that it allows for larger filesizes.

ShadowLea said:
I find it fairly easy to do. It's also perfectly fine, as long as you unmount it first in settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the infos. At that time I obviously did it without unmounting it first (no fun in life without some screw-ups). Regarding the formatting, I seem to be unable to do it from the phone at the moment.
It unmounts it, says checking it. But doesn't format it. Trying from windows now...

Here are some updates.
Formatting in either windows (stock function) and phone was a no-go.
However, I dowloaded and installed SD Association Formatter:
https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/
and that did the trick. Now the SD Card is finally empy.
Also I strongly suggest using this tool instead of windows proprietary, because it's simply much much faster.
I will try and load it back with the stuff I had before, including pics, and see if I get the corrupted data again.
A difference is now that the chkdsk tool from windows says that no errors are found, unlike before. Let's see how it goes.

Final update to close thread:
The SD Card, a SanDisk UHS Class 10 SDXC, 64 Gb, had been declared dead.
It was possible to write data on in with seemingly no errors (from chkdsk) but all the data turned out to be simply corrupted.
Will send for replacement.
I have seen many comments on this card failing, so I would not recommend it. However, I think that this case it was not KitKat's fault.
Thanks for the inputs.

Do not blame the card yet
I am having the same issue with the same card, but it is limited to Note 3(N900).
Every now and then it becomes inaccesible, the photos appear broken, music player stops etc. It is not related to use of any particular app. When it happens, the card is still visible in Settings/Storage, just no app including mounting has access to it. What helps, is the old reboot fix
Happened on official KK, as well on LP. Device is stock unrooted N900.
The card is working without any problems in Note 1,even in Galaxy duos, and there are no issues writing/reading in windows nor linux. Something tells me that hardware is to blame.

Cant move to SDCard after a restart

Ok, so a strange thing has happened. Immediately after a reatart I now can't move apps to my SDCard.. and apps that i had previously move have now disappeared from the app drawer. And are grayed out on the home screen with a little sdcard symbol. The SDcard is working fine in all other respects i can read and write to it just fine..
Has anybody else experienced this or can suggest a reason as to why this may have happened.
Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

I've had this before on a previous sd card, just before it died, what model sd Card and where did you purchase it from?
Sent from my S7 Edge

Its an actual Samsung EVO 64Gb. I bought it from Harvey Norman - where i bought the phone from... not even a week old.
Sent from my SM-T710 using Tapatalk

Can you access other files on the card? Try ejecting it (in Settings / Storage), popping out the SIM card holder to make sure the SD card is seated properly, then reinstall it.

Yep, i can read and write to the card fine.. all my files are there. The strange thing is the ability to move to SD card was there prior to restart... now its gone.. but for all other things the card is fine..
Sent from my SM-T710 using Tapatalk

Can you see any items in the LOST. DIR folder?

Same thing, I just ejected and re mounted it. it fixed it

How much are you able to move? Is it still a small part of an app?
https://www.reddit.com/r/GalaxyS7/comments/491djq/appsgames_on_sd_card/
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=3337811

There is nothing in the LOST.DIR folder.
At the moment i cant move any part of an app to the SD card. The option to do it has disappeared...
Sent from my SM-T710 using Tapatalk

If I was you, i would back up the sd Card and then use an sd Card checker to run a test to make sure nothing is wrong with it,

peter7769 said:
If I was you, i would back up the sd Card and then use an sd Card checker to run a test to make sure nothing is wrong with it,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Probably a good idea. Do you have any recommendations on a good SD Card checker..
Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

Put this into Google as you may have to use Google Translate, but the program is in English, great program. It may take a while but let it go all the way to the end.
http://www.heise.de/download/h2testw.html