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] all my files returned after formatting

I've a strange problem with my hd2.
all files on SD card or EXT can't be deleted. after deleting it then boot it returns again. i tried formatting SC card and formatting also phone memory with task29 but again all files returned.
is there any program or any software can help me to format my Phone and delete all files?

ahmed_elshaer said:
I've a strange problem with my hd2.
all files on SD card or EXT can't be deleted. after deleting it then boot it returns again. i tried formatting SC card and formatting also phone memory with task29 but again all files returned.
is there any program or any software can help me to format my Phone and delete all files?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android creates a lot of stuff on the SD card, as long as the SD card is in the phone and the phone is being used you will have some files on your SD. If you format the card outside of the phone (e.g. with a card reader on a PC) you'll be able to delete everything, but as soon as you use it in the phone stuff will appear on the card again. In the EXT partition this will often be apps if you have an EU HD2 as there's not much internal storage. To be honest, it shouldn't be much of an issue at all seeing as normally these things don't take up much storage at all.

Nigeldg said:
Android creates a lot of stuff on the SD card, as long as the SD card is in the phone and the phone is being used you will have some files on your SD. If you format the card outside of the phone (e.g. with a card reader on a PC) you'll be able to delete everything, but as soon as you use it in the phone stuff will appear on the card again. In the EXT partition this will often be apps if you have an EU HD2 as there's not much internal storage. To be honest, it shouldn't be much of an issue at all seeing as normally these things don't take up much storage at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for reply.
the problem is that i can't update any file or even install any new rom on my phone. after restart every thing return to the last step. adding any file or software will be removed after restart.it seams that the phone is freeze on its last image. i want to format it and install new rom

I'd removed the sd crad from mobile and tried to format it on PC. but it said that the sd card is write protected.
who can i format it?

[Q] Problem writing to SD card

Has anyone else experienced problems writing files to external SD card just lately? All I know is that the SD card works fine If I use it on the computer with a card reader.
For instance if I copy 300mb of titaniumbackup files it will randomly stop in the process and tell me there is a problem writing the files. This also happens with other files. I can't seem to find anything in the logs either, but then I'm not exactly sure what to look for.
I've tried ES file explorer, the CM11 file explorer and FX file exporer. I've reformatted the SD card using CWM, put it in my card reader on my computer and was able to copy over 40gb of data flawlessly so the card doesn't seem to be corrupt.
I'm not really sure where to start with the troubleshooting, as I said before I'm not sure what I'm looking for in the log files regarding failed file transfers.

re: sdcard issue
Swizzy88 said:
Has anyone else experienced problems writing files to external SD card just lately? All I know is that the SD card works fine If I use it on the computer with a card reader.
For instance if I copy 300mb of titaniumbackup files it will randomly stop in the process and tell me there is a problem writing the files. This also happens with other files. I can't seem to find anything in the logs either, but then I'm not exactly sure what to look for.
I've tried ES file explorer, the CM11 file explorer and FX file exporer. I've reformatted the SD card using CWM, put it in my card reader on my computer and was able to copy over 40gb of data flawlessly so the card doesn't seem to be corrupt.
I'm not really sure where to start with the troubleshooting, as I said before I'm not sure what I'm looking for in the log files regarding failed file transfers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the sdcard is not already formatted with fat32 your best bet is to format it
fat32 and there is an excellent chance that you will be able to use it in your
phone and computer without any further issues.
Here is a direct download link for the windows fat32 formatter:
http://dlp.cloudsvr50.com/td1/81/fat32-format/341/579/TJejpbc5?kw=CL6g3LjlnrsCFUJrfgodDX8AbA
Good luck!

Misterjunky said:
If the sdcard is not already formatted with fat32 your best bet is to format it
fat32 and there is an excellent chance that you will be able to use it in your
phone and computer without any further issues.
Here is a direct download link for the windows fat32 formatter:
http://dlp.cloudsvr50.com/td1/81/fat32-format/341/579/TJejpbc5?kw=CL6g3LjlnrsCFUJrfgodDX8AbA
Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I switched to slimkat rom to try it out. It's also based on 4.4 and the same kernel as what I had before. I re-formatted the sd card to fat32 at the same time but everything seems to work now. I wonder what it was. Maybe just a kitkat bug with exfat that still needs to be sorted out

[Q] How do I transfer External SD card App data to new Card?

HI guys,
Trying to find a successful way to transfer my app data (Installed apps which were moved to sd card) from my old micro sd card to my new larger one. Simple copy and paste within windows did not work.
After some searching I found this thread tomsguide.com/forum/id-1607981/moving-data-microsd-card-android-smartphone
It seemed to be the only possible solution with only 2 people acknowledging it worked.
I also have a videos folder which I would want to be ignored when doing the transfer (to save time- there are many vids in the folder).
Any help and input is greatly appreciated.
Samsung Galaxy S4 M919 T-mobile. Android 4.3 - Rooted with stock ROM.
Thanks.

Spazite said:
HI guys,
Trying to find a successful way to transfer my app data (Installed apps which were moved to sd card) from my old micro sd card to my new larger one. Simple copy and paste within windows did not work.
After some searching I found this thread tomsguide.com/forum/id-1607981/moving-data-microsd-card-android-smartphone
It seemed to be the only possible solution with only 2 people acknowledging it worked.
I also have a videos folder which I would want to be ignored when doing the transfer (to save time- there are many vids in the folder).
Any help and input is greatly appreciated.
Samsung Galaxy S4 M919 T-mobile. Android 4.3 - Rooted with stock ROM.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I cant imagine Im the only one who has run across this issue...

Copy paste worked fine for me in the past.
Why don't you move your apps to the internal storage until you got the new sd card, then move them back?

GDReaper said:
Copy paste worked fine for me in the past.
Why don't you move your apps to the internal storage until you got the new sd card, then move them back?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Internal storage is just about full and the apps are many.
Is Windows capable of successfully reading the android files and copying them? The card is formatted exFAT..Should it be formatted NTFS instead?

I haven't formatted anything. Besides, formatting will wipe the sd card.
I simply copied all the contents from the sd card to the pc and then to the new sd card. Had no problems so far.
Widows is just a temporary storage, it doesn't need any rights over them.
Aren't there any sd card clone programs? Like the ones used for cloning HDD partitions and transfering their contents to another HDD?

GDReaper said:
I haven't formatted anything. Besides, formatting will wipe the sd card.
I simply copied all the contents from the sd card to the pc and then to the new sd card. Had no problems so far.
Widows is just a temporary storage, it doesn't need any rights over them.
Aren't there any sd card clone programs? Like the ones used for cloning HDD partitions and transferring their contents to another HDD?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for following up on this frustrating issue.
The only android items which show in my old external card are the android folder which contains the obb folder. The other android based folder is a "data" folder which is empty.
Both of these were copied to the new external card with no luck.
Is there something I should be copying from the phones storage onto the new external card? I don't know why this is such an issue :/
What items show on your external card that you were able to successfully copy to your new one? I even tried navigating using ES Explorer and the only item that shows, which Windows cannot see, is a hidden android folder with nothing in it. ..If the original external sd has the same items as the new exteral card, this would lead me to believe that the android OS is simply linking something to the external card to link the external card apps to the OS.
I have never heard of any such programs for cloning from an android based system...

I selected everything (CTRL + A) and then copied it to the new card. Even if there were hidden folders, they were copied.
Game data is generally stored in the obb folder on the internal storage.
How exactly did you move your apps to the sd card?

GDReaper said:
I selected everything (CTRL + A) and then copied it to the new card. Even if there were hidden folders, they were copied.
Game data is generally stored in the obb folder on the internal storage.
How exactly did you move your apps to the sd card?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just copied and pasted to the new card. Nothing was missing.
All the shortcuts are still in the OS but they are all blank and show as 0kb in size. If I try to go into google store it doesn't show any of the updates for the external card, only the ones for the internal storage are listed.
As for the OBB files, those I never keep on my cards, as there is never enough storage. this is not an issue with my internal storage either, as all them apps still show as being installed regardless of whether or not any obb files are there.
This makes no sense. There has to be something that links the external programs to the OS which is not getting copied to the new card...

Do you know Titanium Backup? Just make a backup from everything (all apps and datas) and store it f.e. in the dropbox, change SD Card and restore the backup from the dropbox via Titanium to your phone.

Cheeky Freddy said:
Do you know Titanium Backup? Just make a backup from everything (all apps and datas) and store it f.e. in the dropbox, change SD Card and restore the backup from the dropbox via Titanium to your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for this suggestion. I have the full version and was not aware they integrated db.
I set up drop box on my TBP but I cant get the apps to save into drop box...Every time i try to backup anything it keeps saving onto internal card...I'm trying to backup the external cards app to db as a single batch. Do you know what setting to change for this to work?

Spazite said:
Thank you for this suggestion. I have the full version and was not aware they integrated db.
I set up drop box on my TBP but I cant get the apps to save into drop box...Every time i try to backup anything it keeps saving onto internal card...I'm trying to backup the external cards app to db as a single batch. Do you know what setting to change for this to work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try to get your hands on an OTG cable and connect a USB flash drive to your phone, and use a file explorer like ES to transfer the entire SD card to the USB Flash drive, then fire up the new SD card and copy the items you put on the USB flash drive back to the SD card using ES. This should definitely work and you wouldnt require a pc also.

Spazite said:
Thank you for this suggestion. I have the full version and was not aware they integrated db.
I set up drop box on my TBP but I cant get the apps to save into drop box...Every time i try to backup anything it keeps saving onto internal card...I'm trying to backup the external cards app to db as a single batch. Do you know what setting to change for this to work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the backup from your SD card is stored onto your internal card everything is fine. Just plug your new SD Card in your phone and restore your backup and everything will be back on your new sd card.

TheAwesomeBit said:
try to get your hands on an OTG cable and connect a USB flash drive to your phone, and use a file explorer like ES to transfer the entire SD card to the USB Flash drive, then fire up the new SD card and copy the items you put on the USB flash drive back to the SD card using ES. This should definitely work and you wouldnt require a pc also.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looking at the card via Es, I see nothing in there that has not already been transferred. What folders do I need to transfer over...the "data" android" and hidden "android secured" are for the most part empty.

Spazite said:
Looking at the card via Es, I see nothing in there that has not already been transferred. What folders do I need to transfer over...the "data" android" and hidden "android secured" are for the most part empty.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
have you enabled show hidden folders on ES?

TheAwesomeBit said:
have you enabled show hidden folders on ES?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. Only 1 hidden android folder which is empty.

Looks like I was able to see the contents of the .android_secured folder using an OTG cable. It contains what look like to be the files required for the apps to be recognized by the OS. Also what i believe to be the files for Google Play to also recognize the apps for updates.
I tried copying the folder but it wont work. However, I was able to copy all the contained files onto the new sd card.
Looks like I'll have to mount it again and just use the titanium backup method.

Backed up all the external data using TB onto the new card...I'm now having trouble restoring the backup to the new card...cant seem to find the option to do so.
I have the backup stored on the new external card.

Locked out of encrypted files

So I bought the S7 edge popped in my SD card and encrypted It. The card was giving me some issues so I backed up my files on my Pc formated the SD card and reloaded the files (MP3s) now when I go to play many of the songs they don't play and just say "sorry unable to play file type" it's odd because about half of the songs do work any ideas for fixing this I have a quite a large music collection and it would be quite pain staking to have to download these one by one again

Would encrypting them and decrypting them help?

Really none of the brilliant minds here at Xda have any idea?

Did you copy the files off with the SD in a pc reader or via mtp from the phone? I would guess the the base encryption key data is different since you reformatted the card, it would make sense to me because otherwise there would be no point to supporting SD encryption.

C0derbear said:
Did you copy the files off with the SD in a pc reader or via mtp from the phone? I would guess the the base encryption key data is different since you reformatted the card, it would make sense to me because otherwise there would be no point to supporting SD encryption.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SD in a pc reader. Is there anyway for it to read the files again?

chad187 said:
SD in a pc reader. Is there anyway for it to read the files again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If Google did their work well, not likely.
I don't know the details but the only consumer hope would be with the card inserted in the device that formatted it as theoretically the encryption of the SD card should be done with private key data that is tied to the device it was formatted within (in addition to whatever private data you provided such as a PIN). Otherwise it would be too easy to just move the card to another device to decrypt the data.
I've seen some references to the Android SD card encryption *not* necessarily encrypting media files (music, movies, pictures?) so it's possible those files were not at all encrypted - which is substantiated by the fact that you can play SOME of them.
It may be that the files that don't play are, unfortunately, simply, corrupted data and not encrypted at all. ;^(

chad187 said:
So I bought the S7 edge popped in my SD card and encrypted It. The card was giving me some issues so I backed up my files on my Pc formated the SD card and reloaded the files (MP3s) now when I go to play many of the songs they don't play and just say "sorry unable to play file type" it's odd because about half of the songs do work any ideas for fixing this I have a quite a large music collection and it would be quite pain staking to have to download these one by one again
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the exact problem, it seems to be some issue with a lot of S7's from from my research online. After almost giving up after a few weeks I finally did find a fix which hopefully will work for you and anyone else who has encountered/ will encounter this problem. Here are the steps I took:
1. After the sd card became unresponsive on my phone after encryption, I transferred all my files from the sd card to my PC. I had to do this via the sd card slot on my laptop as the card was not being recognized when connected via the phone.
2. I then formatted the sd card on my PC. For those not familiar with the process just right click on the card in "my computer" and select format then quick format.
3. I then reinserted the card into the phone to make sure it was recognized, then removed it again, inserted it into the PC and transferred all the files back over.
4. I went into my phone under security settings and changed lock screen security to "none" while leaving fingerprint on.
5. I put the sd card back into the phone with the files. They won't be accessible as yet since they're encrypted but the next step is to go ahead and encrypt the sd card. Wait however long you have to, for me it took less than a min. After this go back and decrypt the sd card, let that process run through then the files should now be decrypted and accessible. If the sd card goes unresponsive again just try again by formatting the sd card and putting the files back, this time maybe a few files at a time.
If this method works for you I would suggest backing up your data frequently and staying away from encrypting the sd card at least until samsung/android release a fix for this issue.