Database Users

Memory card

Hi!
Just got my first memory card ever - put it in but can't see or access it, not appearing in storage device.
its an 8gb mini used through an mini s adapter..
please help!!

Hi.
I had simillar problem with my card. Wizard is not like the other phones, it can't read cards which are damaged or not formatted. Obviously, yours is not damaged. Simply just access the card through your PC, format it, insert the card into the wizard (you will see no change at all so far), reset your phone and after windows mobile loads, it will ask you if you want to fomat the card - yes, format it. And there you go, you have yourself a storage device
Hope it works.
P.S.
There's also one other option, your card is too big to be handled by your device.

but it seems to be formatted
Hi. seems its formatted, although I did not format it.
I Put it into (vista) computer and it just worked. When I did a "show properties" on the card it was FAT 32 formatted.
Is there a Max limit to the size of card?

8gig mini or micro?
If it is a 8 gig micro your phone will not read it. Sorry will only ready mini sd's
not micros or mini sdhc.

even...
Hi!
even though I'm using a MicroSD adapter??
thanx

On my wiz, my card is running FatFS , not Fat32. It could make the difference, i am not sure. Since you are in a zero position, you have nothing to lose with one more format, so just format the card in your pc and restart your wizard with the card inserted. If this doesn't help, then greasemuntney is prolly right and you can't use this card.

fatfs
Hi so right
Whats FatFS??
thanx

as mentioned above the wizard does not support SDHC standard and your 8GB happens to be SDHC.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SD_Memory_Card

awwwwwwwwwww c rap
damn... so is there a firmware upgrade? or something that I can do to upgrade the phone to use sdhc??
I got this card as a present so can't swap it?

Nope, you're bagged. Phone cannot read SDHC, no matter what kind of adapters, ROMs or firmware you attempt to employ. Try selling the chip on Craigslist and use the money to buy a bunch of 2GB cards.

SDHC
ok before a final verdict that wizard wouldn't read an sd that is in sdhc format (fat32 reliant) do note that i had the same problem but googled to find two solutions that didn't work alone yet combined did !
first of all you need to change the latency of the card read in registray as follows:
[HKLM\System\StorageManager]
“PNPUnloadDelay“=dword:8196
[HKLM\System\StorageManager]
“PNPWaitIODelay“=dword:8196
Note that the 8196 should be entered as a DECIMAL value. The HEXADECIMAL (HEX) equivalent is 0×00002004.
now attached are two sdhc drivers that require (acording to uploader) to be installed cab file first for registry tweaks and then replace both files installed in windows directory with others included in driver bundle. (through instruction guide in a txt file is included within zip file)
finally reboot , yet as a disclamer do note the following your device will not be backward compatible with regular sds . (not untill you hard reset it so it would restore original dlls and setting)

Interesting. If this works for anyone besides night-mayor, please post your hardware(G3/G4)/IPL/SPL...tracking successes and failures with this method will be valuable to other users.

In fact, you can only use standard SD cards (mini or micro with mini adapter) and the maximum capacity for standard SD protocol is 4GB, but it's difficult to find 4GB Standard SD cards (micor or mini).
Most of manufacturer actually sells HC card for 4GB size, and on web stores, it's often not very precise about HC or none HC.
Good luck...

List of working 4GB Mini SD cards.
If it ain't here, it ain't working, generally speaking (it is not comprehensive). As you can see, they do make 4GB cards that aren't using the HC configuration, but they are rare. One of the replies on the thread I linked to above even mentions an 8GB kit, but it did not work.

[Q] exFAT external sd card problem...

I have the strangest feeling this has already been answered somewhere...but i've scoured the internet and havent found much of anything on the topic. I've read some mixed statements saying ppls sgs4 see's an external sd card formatted as exFAT, others say it isnt working for them. I've figured out a way to get the hardfloat Kali Linux ARM gui terminal working and all applications installed running in a chrooted environment...however the image size needs to be a minimum of 6gb to install all programs. I'd like to go with 8gb just to give it a little play. I have an SGH-I337 (AT&T) and am rooted, i've tried stock rom w/ stock kernel, stock rom w/ KTweaker kernel, said it supports exFAT but did not work. Also i've tried Cyanogenmod 10.1, but havent tried the KTweaker kernel w/ cyanogenmod yet. After formatting the 16gb microsd i have to exFAT and inserting it into the phone it states "Preparing SD Card"...and immediately says "SD Card is safe to remove". Anybody have any insight as to how i can get around this 4gb filesize limitation? Any input will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Here's the deal.
All cards 32gb or less (SDHC cards) come formatted in Fat32.(Part of SDHC spec) This includes a file limit of 4gb max for a single file.
All cards 64gb or more (SDXC cards which the S4 supports) come preformatted in exFat (Part of SDXC spec). This does not have a 4gb file limitation.
The stock Samsung / AT&T Firmware supports exFat. (I bought a 64gb SDXD formatted with exFat and plugged it in and worked right away). Most recoveries do to. (TWRP does at least).
However, I flashed CM10.1 onto my S4. CM10.1 does _NOT_ support exFat. Initially I backed up and reformatted my card in Fat32. Angry with the 4gb file limitation (I have many 720p and 1080p movies over 4gb..) I actually took the microSD card out, used a adapter and hooked it up to a Linux system (Ubuntu 13.04 in my case) and used gParted to format the card to EXT4 filesystem. EXT4 is a filesystem most Linux machines use and support natively. This is actually the filesystem most newer Android device use for their internal SDCard / Data partitions! I popped the card back in, CM10.1 reads it perfectly! And I was able to copy files over 4gb to the device!
So its not a hardware thing since the S4 is SDXC compatible. Just formatting / partition time issue.

I greatly appreciate the breakdown! However i do have a question, since the sgs4 supports exFAT, why does it not see it after i reformat my 16gb to exFAT? Is it because it is an SDHC and not an SDXC? Also, does the type of recovery you have installed alter what filesystem types are recognized?

RawBrokerage said:
I greatly appreciate the breakdown! However i do have a question, since the sgs4 supports exFAT, why does it not see it after i reformat my 16gb to exFAT? Is it because it is an SDHC and not an SDXC? Also, does the type of recovery you have installed alter what filesystem types are recognized?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem!
As far as the spec goes, if it's formated in exFatand its SDHC it should still read it fine. Filesystem is just a filesystem. The spec just says what is used by default on cards.
One possible issue though, did you format your card in your phone? Sometimes the odd way these work the SD cards like to be formatted in the phones themselves. It worked formatting from a Computer for my ext4 case, however that does not work for all cards/phones/filesystems sometimes.

WoodburyMan said:
No problem!
As far as the spec goes, if it's formated in exFatand its SDHC it should still read it fine. Filesystem is just a filesystem. The spec just says what is used by default on cards.
One possible issue though, did you format your card in your phone? Sometimes the odd way these work the SD cards like to be formatted in the phones themselves. It worked formatting from a Computer for my ext4 case, however that does not work for all cards/phones/filesystems sometimes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried formatting from phone, 3 different computers (one computer running Debian), cfdisk command line as well as gparted, also window's format utility. It seems though nothing is working however after going to Cyanogenmod 10.1 last night and formatting the external to ext4 the phone only displayed "Reading SD Card" then "SD Card is blank". It works perfectly fine whenever the phone formats it, it just doesnt like any other type of filesystem. It is a polariod sd card which gave me issues in the past. Hopefully i can get this resolved and post more on it. Probably just something small i'm missing :/
Anyways, thanks a million on the input!

WoodburyMan said:
Here's the deal.
The stock Samsung / AT&T Firmware supports exFat. (I bought a 64gb SDXD formatted with exFat and plugged it in and worked right away). Most recoveries do to. (TWRP does at least).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you kindly link me/us to their (TWRP) posts verifying this?
Thanks

igotroot said:
Can you kindly link me/us to their (TWRP) posts verifying this?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as I know there aren't and posts saying it supports it but I've used TWRP with exFAT, Ext4, and FAT32 formatted ROMS.

roms not reading 64gb sandisk sdcard
I have the 64gb sandisk ultra class 10 sdcard... and it flat out works in stock... even when I recover. But doesnt work atall using wicked rom and a couple others. ExFat is the reason... those roms dont support it...

You can use this kernel to get exFAT support on custom ROMs such as Cyanogenmod:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2292341

[TIP] Moto G LTE, Official SD Card FAQ, Tips & Tricks

Hey all,
Invaluable info on what can and can't be done with your SD card on the Moto G LTE and Moto E with KitKat direct from Moto...
https://forums.motorola.com/posts/7e59cc7baf

neu - smurph said:
Hey all,
Invaluable info on what can and can't be done with your SD card on the Moto G LTE and Moto E with KitKat direct from Moto...
https://forums.motorola.com/posts/7e59cc7baf
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've seen this "guide" a few times.
It mentions always powering down your device before removing the SD card, as you don't want the system writing files when you are removing it. Isn't that the whole point of the SD card Unmount function?
It works like any other computer. Unmount the SD card (Settings -> Storage) to ensure nothing is writing to it. I've safely removed an SD card from my Moto G. It's designed to be removed and reinserted while the device is powered on.
Also, this guide repeats the "32GB max" that Motorola has stated, although the device apparently has no issue working with 64GB and 128GB SD cards. No one has found a limit to what size it supports.
Posts pop up every now and then with people saying they've used a 64GB+ SD card without issue. Having a page called "SDCard Bible" for a device and then telling people known wrong information isn't the best idea.

BitingChaos said:
I've seen this "guide" a few times.
It mentions always powering down your device before removing the SD card, as you don't want the system writing files when you are removing it. Isn't that the whole point of the SD card Unmount function?
It works like any other computer. Unmount the SD card (Settings -> Storage) to ensure nothing is writing to it. I've safely removed an SD card from my Moto G. It's designed to be removed and reinserted while the device is powered on.
Also, this guide repeats the "32GB max" that Motorola has stated, although the device apparently has no issue working with 64GB and 128GB SD cards. No one has found a limit to what size it supports.
Posts pop up every now and then with people saying they've used a 64GB+ SD card without issue. Having a page called "SDCard Bible" for a device and then telling people known wrong information isn't the best idea.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The guide tells you you can use larger than 32gb cards
"What types of cards are supported? And will larger cards work?
Moto G 4G/LTE supports SDHC cards up to 32GB. When inserting an SDHC card, and if the card is good and formatted, the device will display “preparing SD card” and the SD card available storage will be viewable in storage settings. Moto G 4G/LTE and Moto E natively support SDHC (FAT32) formatted SD cards. Larger cards will need to be reformatted."
You can stick in any size card you find if its formatted to fat32 but seeing as fat32 is limited to 32gb it's pretty pointless unless that's what you have laying around the house to use or find one for cheaper than a 32gb card with the same read and write speeds.

There is no 32GB limit for FAT32 formatted storage in general, only in the official SDHC card spec. Windows machines honour this limitation if formatting a card using the native formatter, but it is easily easily worked around with third party disk management tools, and probably by formatting on the phone (that larger partition size is achieved by using a non standard cluster size). The card isn't compliant with the official spec, but most devices aren't concerned about that.
However for a device to claim official 'compatibility' with cards over 32GB (SDXC) the device would need to support exFAT and the manufacturer would have to license that from Microsoft. Google haven't and won't, some OEM's (i.e Samsung but not Motorola) do. So any compatibility with >32GB cards is unofficial.
The article does clearly state When removing your card, powe​r off your device or unmount the card first., so not sure why you have an issue with that advice.
Kudos to whomever the author is in my book, particularly as SD card limitations under stock KitKat cause so much angst and confusion amongst the general user populace.

My 128GB SanDisk card is working well!

tagumcity said:
My 128GB SanDisk card is working well!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did anybody try this for the moto E (2015)?

Is it the the rom (lollipop) that limits exFAT/64gb support? If so, would CM12 fix it in moto g? I bought g3 2015. Migrated exFAT 64 GB samsung evo card to the G. Card empty, not recognized. Formatted in phone. FAT32 64gb supported but i prefer to have support for files larger than 4GB. My other phone gs3 supports exfat/64gb running cm12 5.1. New to moto, not sure what custom roms are available and if exfat support is rom dependent.

[Q] Need help formatting SDXC External chip.

Hello everyone,
Recently, I flashed a Lollipop ROM to play around with it. This isn’t about the ROM or the Android release in particular. It’s about filesystems.
While Lollipop worked perfectly fine with my external SD, the OP mentioned reformatting the SD Card as a different filesystem to play nicer with the new release. The other benefit of doing this would be support for >4GB file size, which is what I want. I've meant to do this for a while, but I've been too busy.
I’ve since reverted back to 4.4 while I wait for a more preferable Lollipop release to bake, but I still want to reformat my external SD. It is 64GB and I’ve attempted to reformat in TWRP, using a USB SD reader using OS X Disk Utility and a built-in reader using Windows format tool.
Nothing works! TWRP says it formats successfully, but everything is intact. Windows gives errors, OS X can’t remount the drive and finish.
What’s going on here? FAT32 sucks and I want to change it. Is it a protection on the chip?
SanDisk Ultra
Micro SDXC 64GB Class UHS-1

lightningomega said:
Hello everyone,
Recently, I flashed a Lollipop ROM to play around with it. This isn’t about the ROM or the Android release in particular. It’s about filesystems.
While Lollipop worked perfectly fine with my external SD, the OP mentioned reformatting the SD Card as a different filesystem to play nicer with the new release. The other benefit of doing this would be support for >4GB file size, which is what I want. I've meant to do this for a while, but I've been too busy.
I’ve since reverted back to 4.4 while I wait for a more preferable Lollipop release to bake, but I still want to reformat my external SD. It is 64GB and I’ve attempted to reformat in TWRP, using a USB SD reader using OS X Disk Utility and a built-in reader using Windows format tool.
Nothing works! TWRP says it formats successfully, but everything is intact. Windows gives errors, OS X can’t remount the drive and finish.
What’s going on here? FAT32 sucks and I want to change it. Is it a protection on the chip?
SanDisk Ultra
Micro SDXC 64GB Class UHS-1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cards over 32GB in size are supposed (as per SD-alliance standards) to be exFAT, stock Samsung ROMs WILL format those AFAIK to exFAT. With the card inside the phone no other formatting option (than from the ROM itself) will work. With the card taken out and placed into a decent card reader in Windows 7 or newer you should see the option to format it to exFAT, and all decent ROMs should now work with that (Samsung stock-derived ROMs work best since they have a very solid exFAT driver, CM-derived ROMs have been very ****ty in the past in this regard).
Oh, and one more thing - questions should go to Q/A!

[Q] Solution needed for external sd card 4GB limit

Hi.
I need help to get my rooted Kitkat S4 i9500 stock rom 4.2.2 GNL1 to read my sd card formatted in ext4. Would anyone be so kind as to point me in the right direction here.
Basically, I use my phone to download large files greater than 4Gb off the internet & my external 32Gb card is formatted in native fat32. This poses the 4Gb file limit which is an irritation.
Am I better off with ext4 or exfat? I have formatted my external sd card in ext4 through twrp, but the rooted stockrom doesn't know it exists when the system is booted up. Will I have better luck with exfat being recognised by the phone?
Looking for a Touchwiz solution without having to resort to a custom rom.
How am I gonna get over this problem?

You can go with exFAT since its file size limit is (theoretically) 128 petabytes and, according to the Samsung user guide, "The device supports the FAT and the exFAT file systems for memory cards. When inserting a card formatted in a different file system, the device asks to reformat the memory card." The S4 doesn't support ext4-formatted MicroSD cards, so that's not an option.

Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
You can go with exFAT since its file size limit is (theoretically) 128 petabytes and, according to the Samsung user guide, "The device supports the FAT and the exFAT file systems for memory cards. When inserting a card formatted in a different file system, the device asks to reformat the memory card." The S4 doesn't support ext4-formatted MicroSD cards, so that's not an option.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Strephon, any suggestions on how I should go about formatting in exFat? TWRP doesn't have the option & I don't have a card reader. I tried Parted Magic & USB cable option, but can't seem to mount the SD card at all in this program. I'm sure there's an easy way somehow... which is probably right under my nose!

Buy a card reader for your PC and format it there. Windows Vista and later all have exFAT support included.

Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
Buy a card reader for your PC and format it there. Windows Vista and later all have exFAT support included.
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Click to collapse
That would be a little excessive for a once off operation, but I think there might be a pc at my work that has a reader. Thanks though.
Seems silly Android can't just format the sd card itself....

Umm, MicroSD card readers are dirt cheap. You can get ones that plug into the USB port of a PC for around $5. I have one hanging around here somewhere, even though I don't need it as I have a laptop.

Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
Umm, MicroSD card readers are dirt cheap. You can get ones that plug into the USB port of a PC for around $5. I have one hanging around here somewhere, even though I don't need it as I have a laptop.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL. Gues you right!