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Micro SD Card Unexpected Removal causes TouchWiz Home to have problems

Hi XDA,
I have a problem with my Samsung Galaxy S4 LTE I9505. Sometimes, after I formatted my micro SD card to exFAT, about 2 to 3 days later the dreaded "SD Card Unexpectedly Removed" error shows up in the status bar. It's kinda annoying to see that message as sometimes the phone will not remount the micro SD card at all. That's when I have to re-plug-in my micro SD card back into the SD card slot in my Mac using the micro SD card adapter that came with it. Then I have to go through the formatting process again.
Before that, I backup all my files that are stored on my micro SD card to my external hard drive via my Mac. Following which I format the card. The same problem surfaces again after 2 to 3 days, like I said in the first paragraph. Is there a permanent solution for me to solve this issue? I am planning to replace my micro SD card with a Samsung SDXC 32GB class 10.
Also, I would like to add in that, when the micro SD card is unexpectedly removed, sometimes that issue causes a "software glitch" with TouchWiz Home. After about 2 seconds the TouchWiz Home launcher refreshes itself (NO REBOOTING INVOLVED) and this happens until I power off the device. When I boot the phone again the problem is solved. However, 40% of the time the "SD Card Unexpectedly Removed" pops up and if I'm lucky, the phone will automatically detect and remount the micro SD card within 10–30 seconds. Other times, I have no choice but to take the card out from my phone and re-format it.
I need my micro SD card to be in exFAT as some files I have stored in the card are larger than 4GB. Can an XDA expert help me with this issue?
(I do not want to perform a factory reset as that wastes a lot of time. I've tried that and the issue keeps on coming back.)
MANY THANKS! WILL CLICK ON THE "THANKS" BUTTON IF SOME XDA MEMBER IS ABLE TO SOLVE THIS ISSUE! :good::good::good:
UPDATE: There are compatibility issues (I had) with the SanDisk Ultra 16GB Class 10 SDHC card.
There seems to be an issue with Samsung's latest phones (i.e. Samsung Galaxy S3 and S4) using SanDisk's micro SD cards. Every 4 hours or so, my Galaxy S4 would show an error in the notification bar, saying "SD Card Unexpectedly Removed", and then "Preparing SD Card" (or sometimes "Preparing SD Card" does not even show up!) I always had to plug the card in to the SD card slot of my Macbook Air using SanDisk's micro SD card adapter and re-format the card. I've tested both FAT32 and exFAT and both posed problems. I gave up on the micro SD card and decided to buy a new Samsung Plus 32GB SDHC UHS-1 class 10 card. No issues for now (I tested FAT32 so far for my new Samsung micro SD card, will test out exFAT). Will report if there's a problem again tomorrow.
My advice: for those who are having problems with their SanDisk micro SD cards, please switch to Samsung's very own Plus or Pro series of micro SDs.
From,
entertainer99

I had this on my original s4 (i337) when using Touchwiz. I installed GPE on it and the problems went away. If I were a betting man, I'd point more towards TW than the SD card itself. I sold my i337 and am now on the i9505G and using thee exact same SD card with zero issues.
Sent from my GT-I9505G using Tapatalk

I had this same problem before, but after I rooted my phone and installed custom rom this problem is gone. I have the Sandisk 32gb and s4 I9505.

I have the same problem. I have an i9505 with Android 4.3 (which updated yesterday to I9505XXUEMK8 baseband). I've had the problem from new when it was on 4.2.x but thought it was the card (cheapo from HK). Now using a 64gb Samsung with same problems. Did it 3 times today and it's getting tiresome now.
It's still under warranty so I ponder whether to do this root thing and update to KitKat/or other PGe or wait for official KitKat or a fix. Or speak to Samsung for an idea.
The phone isn't locked to a network.
Anyone offer some advice?
Thanks
Mike

entertainer99 said:
Hi XDA,
I have a problem with my Samsung Galaxy S4 LTE I9505. Sometimes, after I formatted my micro SD card to exFAT, about 2 to 3 days later the dreaded "SD Card Unexpectedly Removed" error shows up in the status bar. It's kinda annoying to see that message as sometimes the phone will not remount the micro SD card at all. That's when I have to re-plug-in my micro SD card back into the SD card slot in my Mac using the micro SD card adapter that came with it. Then I have to go through the formatting process again.
Before that, I backup all my files that are stored on my micro SD card to my external hard drive via my Mac. Following which I format the card. The same problem surfaces again after 2 to 3 days, like I said in the first paragraph. Is there a permanent solution for me to solve this issue? I am planning to replace my micro SD card with a Samsung SDXC 32GB class 10.
Also, I would like to add in that, when the micro SD card is unexpectedly removed, sometimes that issue causes a "software glitch" with TouchWiz Home. After about 2 seconds the TouchWiz Home launcher refreshes itself (NO REBOOTING INVOLVED) and this happens until I power off the device. When I boot the phone again the problem is solved. However, 40% of the time the "SD Card Unexpectedly Removed" pops up and if I'm lucky, the phone will automatically detect and remount the micro SD card within 10–30 seconds. Other times, I have no choice but to take the card out from my phone and re-format it.
I need my micro SD card to be in exFAT as some files I have stored in the card are larger than 4GB. Can an XDA expert help me with this issue?
(I do not want to perform a factory reset as that wastes a lot of time. I've tried that and the issue keeps on coming back.)
MANY THANKS! WILL CLICK ON THE "THANKS" BUTTON IF SOME XDA MEMBER IS ABLE TO SOLVE THIS ISSUE! :good::good::good:
UPDATE: There are compatibility issues (I had) with the SanDisk Ultra 16GB Class 10 SDHC card.
There seems to be an issue with Samsung's latest phones (i.e. Samsung Galaxy S3 and S4) using SanDisk's micro SD cards. Every 4 hours or so, my Galaxy S4 would show an error in the notification bar, saying "SD Card Unexpectedly Removed", and then "Preparing SD Card" (or sometimes "Preparing SD Card" does not even show up!) I always had to plug the card in to the SD card slot of my Macbook Air using SanDisk's micro SD card adapter and re-format the card. I've tested both FAT32 and exFAT and both posed problems. I gave up on the micro SD card and decided to buy a new Samsung Plus 32GB SDHC UHS-1 class 10 card. No issues for now (I tested FAT32 so far for my new Samsung micro SD card, will test out exFAT). Will report if there's a problem again tomorrow.
My advice: for those who are having problems with their SanDisk micro SD cards, please switch to Samsung's very own Plus or Pro series of micro SDs.
From,
entertainer99
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SanDisk 32GB Ultra card here.... I made a similar thread recently.. My issues where similar yet somewhat different... However I fixed it all by uninstalling DropBox updates and disabling the bloatware version with Root App Delete.... Sounds completley unrelated, I know, but seriously try it out, it worked for me, and others in another forum too...

Same problem with my San disk ultra 32gb, constant unexpected removed sd card error so my apps r useless most the time as I have most on there,
I've got a lot more issues with my s4 as I posted today I was thinking about ringing samsung up
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda premium

I know this thread is old but when I had the S4, my 64gb card would give me fits.
I used the sd card formatter from sdcard.org to do a full overwrite format. Then used the S4 to format the card after installation and voila. .... no more issues.
I got the idea from using that tool for the sd cards i use in my Raspberry Pi.
Hope that helps.
Sent from my LG-D959 using xda app-developers app

alesa1988 said:
SanDisk 32GB Ultra card here.... I made a similar thread recently.. My issues where similar yet somewhat different... However I fixed it all by uninstalling DropBox updates and disabling the bloatware version with Root App Delete.... Sounds completley unrelated, I know, but seriously try it out, it worked for me, and others in another forum too...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you teach me how? Ihave the same problem with my samsung s5 g900a

64GB Sandisk Ultra micro SD cards not working on S5 and Note 10.1

So,
I understood that I could use up to 128GB on the S5.
If this is true, why Can't I use a standard sandisk Ultra micro SD card of 64GB? The menu shows me I can unmount and format, but that doesn't seem to work. I tried formatting in MS-DOS (FAT) format using my Mac (I don't have windows), which worked for my Note 2 but not my S5.
If I try writing a file to the micro SD card it says: "ERROR, could not write file".
When I try to format using the phone, it says no card installed (despite the card being installed, its size being indicated, the unmount and format options being available, etc).
Interesting, I have a second one installed in my note 10.1 2014 edition, and that one behaves a little different. It is also not usable but it greys out the unmount and format options as if the card does not exist (yet still it indicates the available size). Note, for this one I also used the MS-DOS (FAT) formatting method on my Mac.
I know the micro SD cards for both the S5 and the note 10.1 2014 edition are both ok, because I tested them on my Note 2, which reads and writes to the cards perfectly fine.
Both the S5 the tablet and the microSD cards were bought on Singapore Airport.
For info, the tablet runs 4.3 and the S5 runs 4.4.2 straight from the box.
Can someone help me with this?

So I found for the Note 10.1, if I format it with my Note 2, it accepts the card and I can use it normally.
The S5 does not do this, so I suspect this is another major issue with kitkat 4.4.2 (I also have VPN issues with 4.4.2 which I don't have on 4.3)

I have the same card you have in my S5 (it was in my S4 before). I have no issue with the card. But I cannot use other app than the stock file manager to write to it. This is a Kitkat issue though.

Airax said:
I have the same card you have in my S5 (it was in my S4 before). I have no issue with the card. But I cannot use other app than the stock file manager to write to it. This is a Kitkat issue though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have a 64gb sdhc and i get the error icon on pic and videos when i try and transfer from laptop, phone storage to sd or any type of way the s5 will show the crash icon on the pic and wont view it. Ive used a new 64gb sdxc and 64gb sdhc both did the samething.

I've had 2 of the same genuine SanDisk 64gb cards fail in a similar way on my S3 because I tried to format in Fat32 so it would work with directory bind to move data to external but both times it killed the cards and only a few formatting programs even recognised the card in the end, So this time I'm taking no risks and the card was formatted in S3 then S5 and has gone nowhere near a PC and has run perfect for over a year now.

Michael_P said:
I've had 2 of the same genuine SanDisk 64gb cards fail in a similar way on my S3 because I tried to format in Fat32 so it would work with directory bind to move data to external but both times it killed the cards and only a few formatting programs even recognised the card in the end, So this time I'm taking no risks and the card was formatted in S3 then S5 and has gone nowhere near a PC and has run perfect for over a year now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And I regularly put my Micro SD into a PC to copy files without issue.

Airax said:
And I regularly put my Micro SD into a PC to copy files without issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just try to avoid formatting in PC because that's where you might get the problems... And anyway I just backup on flash drive through OTG because it saves all that hassle of installing drivers on everything and sitting at the computer or removing the card most days.

I have the same problem here. I have two microSD Samsung 64GB class 10 original (one of these I got on the launch event of Galaxy S5 at Barcelona). Before S5 I had a Galaxy Note 3 and it worked without problems. So I changed my phone to a S5 and both can't be recognized in it. So I bought a 32 GB Sandisk 'cause someone suggest an incompatibility with 64 GB / FAT 32. On the microSD slot, the phone won't recognize it. At USB OTG, S5 recognize only the 32GB... both of 64GB still can't be recognized. WTF?
And yes: all the SD cards can be used normally at PC, W10 tablets...

[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.

128GB MicroSD card - Disappearing files/folders

Hi all,
I have a Galaxy S5 (SM-G900W8) Canadian model. I purchased a 128GB sd card and I'm running into some issues. My S5 can detect the card, and I can copy files to it. But it seems that one I hit roughly 8.08GB of used storage, anything more I add disappears after my phone reboots.
The card was formatted in FAT32 originally. I have tried exFAT but the phone is unable to read the card in this file format. I have also tried NTFS but same results as exFAT.
I have done some research and have seen others with issues regarding 64 and 128GB sd cards with Samsung Galaxy models, but no fix yet (or at least from what I've seen/read).
This card only seems to work in FAT32, but I am unable to use the full capacity of the 128GB sd card in FAT32.
I have a 32GB sd card that works just fine without issues. Not sure what file table the 32GB card is formatted in though as I did not know of this issue until recently when I discovered it so never bothered to check.
Is there a fix for this that I have not found yet? This is quite annoying.
Thanks

Probably a fake.

i dont have problem with Team MicroSD 64GB
you have to format it in your phone (ExFAT), use file explorer in your phone, do not format using PC

Talabis said:
Hi all,
I have a Galaxy S5 (SM-G900W8) Canadian model. I purchased a 128GB sd card and I'm running into some issues. My S5 can detect the card, and I can copy files to it. But it seems that one I hit roughly 8.08GB of used storage, anything more I add disappears after my phone reboots.
The card was formatted in FAT32 originally. I have tried exFAT but the phone is unable to read the card in this file format. I have also tried NTFS but same results as exFAT.
I have done some research and have seen others with issues regarding 64 and 128GB sd cards with Samsung Galaxy models, but no fix yet (or at least from what I've seen/read).
This card only seems to work in FAT32, but I am unable to use the full capacity of the 128GB sd card in FAT32.
I have a 32GB sd card that works just fine without issues. Not sure what file table the 32GB card is formatted in though as I did not know of this issue until recently when I discovered it so never bothered to check.
Is there a fix for this that I have not found yet? This is quite annoying.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What sd card is this because it seems like it's a fake and may not really have all that storage. I've never had any problems with my 64 gb SanDisk micro sd card which I'm currently using.

try PC format
Hi there
You can try minitool partition wizard linkhttps://www.google.dz/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html&ved=0CBwQFjAAahUKEwib9oyKnvfIAhXLfxoKHVSLBKM&usg=AFQjCNFUxEI9jts4JkFFJGh5Osbjjty-uQ
After installation on PC
Connect your sd card to pc and choice fat32 format or other
Reply if this works

yanis488 said:
Hi there
You can try minitool partition wizard linkhttps://www.google.dz/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html&ved=0CBwQFjAAahUKEwib9oyKnvfIAhXLfxoKHVSLBKM&usg=AFQjCNFUxEI9jts4JkFFJGh5Osbjjty-uQ
After installation on PC
Connect your sd card to pc and choice fat32 format or other
Reply if this works
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I downloaded the tool and just used the cleaner. I found problems and then I ran clean & fix and it seems to have solved the problem. Thank you very much.

SD card damaged

Hi everyone,
i have a G900F running on the current version of the ALEXNDR Rom, rooted, Knox 0x1, Android 6.0.1.
I have my SD card formatted as (mixed) adoptable storage (via adb), so I have 50% of space as SD card memory, 50% as adoptable storage.
And now for the problem: The SD card is repeatedly shown as "damaged". As soon as I put it into my PC, it'll work without any problems, but the SGS5 will work for quite a time with it, and then suddenly shows it as damaged and will not mount it unless you format it. It usually happens when a larger amount of data is written to the card.
So I thought that the card might really be damaged (was an old and small and slow one) and went vor a SanDisk Extreme 64GB card - same thing here. Then I read about some problems with Samsung devices and SanDisk cards (may the be true or not, I dont know) and swapped it for a Samsung 32 GB Pro SD card - same thing here.
Does anyone know why this is happening and how to stop it? Or will the adoptable storage just not work?

In addition: I could reproduce this when I was downloading Videos to the SD card from Amazon Prime Video for offline use. Seems that a) this is a large amount of data and b) split into thousands of small files. I dont know if its the number of files or the amount of data, but when I deleted the folder on my PC and put the card back into the phone, it suddenly worked perfectly again. Any ideas on this?

Hey there how are you?
I recently have had an issue with my samsung 128 sd card that was formated in a 50/50 mix from adb too.
As the sd card was formatted in exfat I posted an issue on the exfat home page. https://github.com/relan/exfat/issues/49 I was provided with advice on my mac on how to reformat it using the dd command. This was the only command that I came across which gave me an input output error indicating a hardware issue on the sd card.
I have since purchased a new sd card. I'm thinking of formatting it as either an ext4 format or f2fd format to see whether this makes an impact of its longevity.
Hope this helps.
Sent from my SM-G900I using XDA-Developers mobile app