Develop Bugs

Format SD card though windows mobile

okay so i can not get android to run on my fuze with an 8 gig class 6 card. i have tried everything but i need to format the memory card not normally a problem but i do not have a card reader that can read micro sd and the sd adapter is not working, so i need a windows program that can format the card via windows mobile, any one have any success with anything?
-----------------------------UPDATE---------------------------------------
The HP tool in post 8 worked flawlessly it saw the micro sd as the full 8 gigs right away wiped it perfectly and formated beatifully thank you very much for your help guys hope this will help others too
*i formated my sd card by plugging it into the computer and selecting to use it as a disc drive and it was perfect
and im now running android

I had the same problem... well actually I lucked out and a coworker lent me his reader. However, I'll probably use the "Storagetools" by SoftWinter next time.
Does that help you? (Sorry I'm too new to be able to post a link...

What about plugging in your phone and using it as a mass storage device? Just as good as having a reader IMHO.

.
arrrghhh said:
What about plugging in your phone and using it as a mass storage device? Just as good as having a reader IMHO.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i cant seem to get that when i make it act as a disc drive i can only view the devices memory

jul644 said:
i cant seem to get that when i make it act as a disc drive i can only view the devices memory
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uhm... what? The devices memory as in the SD card?!? Because if you're not using Activesync and you have it acting as a mass storage device, the ONLY thing you'll see is the card in My Computer. If you see a "Windows Mobile Device" and you can explore your entire phone (internal memory and external, SD card memory) then you're Activesync'ing.

its realy weird it is only letting me format 199mb of space and when i did it comes up as storage card and then a storage card 2 pops up saying 7400 mb (aprx) of space aviable
and the suggested program is not working (it cant format the sd card or defrag it)

jul644 said:
its realy weird it is only letting me format 199mb of space and when i did it comes up as storage card and then a storage card 2 pops up saying 7400 mb (aprx) of space aviable
and the suggested program is not working (it cant format the sd card or defrag it)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You will need a partition editor. What seems to be happening is that your card is for some reason partitioned into two. The way to repair this is to use an editor ( QTPART in linux or Disc Utility in OSX ). Sadly I believe that windows utilizes a bit switch on the card which is preventing you from using windows to manage the cards partition table. Try using a friends mac to format the drive as 1 single partition again.
I hope this helps you some!

jul644 said:
its realy weird it is only letting me format 199mb of space and when i did it comes up as storage card and then a storage card 2 pops up saying 7400 mb (aprx) of space aviable
and the suggested program is not working (it cant format the sd card or defrag
it)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are definitely partitioned... I don't get how people manage to keep partitioning their cards. I *think* the HP tool to wipe cards will wipe partition tables as well, I'm not positive tho. Worth a shot if all you've got is Windows.

might be a windows thing?:S but its noo big deal the portion for me as i have it as were i put games on my sd card so its fine but whats weird is i was able to run android on this card before but now nope lol

jul644 said:
might be a windows thing?:S but its noo big deal the portion for me as i have it as were i put games on my sd card so its fine but whats weird is i was able to run android on this card before but now nope lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Definitely not a "Windows" thing. There may be a way to partition cards in Windows, but it certainly would not partition your card by default. Let us know if you can't get it sorted.... Either way you need to wipe the partition table and start clean with just 1 partition.

The HP tool in post 8 worked flawlessly it saw the micro sd as the full 8 gigs right away wiped it perfectly and formated beatifully thank you very much for your help guys hope this will help others too
*i formated my sd card by plugging it into the computer and selecting to use it as a disc drive and it was perfect
and im now running android

[Q] How Do I Remove An Ext3 Partition From My Sd Card?

I was using my 4gb sd card for apps to sd for my previously-rooted android phone, and had about a 500mb of it partitioned to ext3. I have since unrooted my android phone and put it back to stock, but in doing so, I lost the recovery console that would allow me to unpartition my sd card. Is there a safe program that will recognize the ext3 partition and remove it?

Gparted. You can use a live cd or a VM.

Hi there. I downloaded a free program call minitool partition wizard. Do a google search for it (I can't post links)
It has worked well for me with my SD card partitioning.
Make sure you back up the contents of your SD card before removing the ext 3 partition as it will delete all the contents on it.

could you please elaborate a little as i am a noob. like whats gparted? whats a vm? whats the process of doing what i asked? thanks for the help.

I don't know if Windows recognises it at all but worth a try really. Gparted is a live cd tool that allows you make partitons on a storage device. I think that VM refers to a Virtual Machine, using something like VMWare or VirtualBox.

guys please help. i used these softwares but none of these is showing my ext3 partition in the program window. just a 3.22gb of one partition on phone. the 512mb of ext3 partion is still missing and i dont know where to find it.

Well, since you really don't need the ext3 partition anymore, you could format the whole SD card from windows (do a back-up of the content on the hdd before, though). Then in Windows (I'm guessing you're using windows ), with the phone connected in mass storage mode, right click on My Computer / Manage / click on Disk Management and you should see in the list of the drives your SD card (pay attention to the size). Right click on the 512 MB partition - Delete volume... After that you should create a new partiotion, format it as FAT32... Or you could delete all the partitions of the card and create a new volume.

Icysoul said:
Well, since you really don't need the ext3 partition anymore, you could format the whole SD card from windows (do a back-up of the content on the hdd before, though). Then in Windows (I'm guessing you're using windows ), with the phone connected in mass storage mode, right click on My Computer / Manage / click on Disk Management and you should see in the list of the drives your SD card (pay attention to the size). Right click on the 512 MB partition - Delete volume... After that you should create a new partiotion, format it as FAT32... Or you could delete all the partitions of the card and create a new volume.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i did that. in disk management i only see a 3.22gb partition. (i have a 4gb card, so i 512mb is still missing). i cannot find the 512mb ext3 partition anywhere. please can someone help me to find a software or any other method which will be able to detect the ext3 partition as well ?

The partition may be corrupted. You can still try to use Gparted live cd - google for gparted-live-0.7.1-5.zip . It can also be installed on USB flash, check their site for instructions. Restart your PC and boot from the CD or USB flash then check your sd card. If it still doesn't recognize the 512 partition, you might be out of luck.

Icysoul said:
The partition may be corrupted. You can still try to use Gparted live cd - google for gparted-live-0.7.1-5.zip . It can also be installed on USB flash, check their site for instructions. Restart your PC and boot from the CD or USB flash then check your sd card. If it still doesn't recognize the 512 partition, you might be out of luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how could the partition be corrupted because i was using the ext3 partition to install apps when i had root. it was only recently that i have to sell out my htc desire and i unrooted my htc desire. unroot procedure was done successfully but the card is only showing 3.22gb, i-e, 512mb is missing. this may become an issue if the buyer does not want to pay for a 4gb card with only 3.22gb of storage. it should be around 3.5-3.6gb

A partition may become corrupted if you remove the battery from the phone while the system is still running (i.e. writing data on the partition), it is not unheard of. Do try the gparted solution mentioned before, though.

Icysoul said:
A partition may become corrupted if you remove the battery from the phone while the system is still running (i.e. writing data on the partition), it is not unheard of. Do try the gparted solution mentioned before, though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes buddy i have tried the gparted solution you suggested before. even that is showing only 3.22gb of my sdcard and no mention of the 512mb ext3 partition. i dont know whether i am doing something wrong or what.... ???
Anyway, is there anyway i could recover that corrupt partition? Like can i ROOT my htc desire again and then try to format the ext3 partition from the recovery? i read somewhere there is a way to do that in recovery by giving some commands. and once i have recovered the ext3 partition space then i can UNROOT my htc desire again. DO YOU THINK IF I DO THIS ITS GONNA BE OF ANY USE? Please help me.

This might work since it worked for me. 4GB mysteriously disappeared from my 16GB card and neither Windows or gparted picked it up. The only way I was able to get it back was putting it in my phone and the Android picked it up. I did have to format my whole SD card but nontheless, I got all my space back. Hope this helps and if you have tried this then I can only guess that your SD card is buggered.

GoogleJelly said:
This might work since it worked for me. 4GB mysteriously disappeared from my 16GB card and neither Windows or gparted picked it up. The only way I was able to get it back was putting it in my phone and the Android picked it up. I did have to format my whole SD card but nontheless, I got all my space back. Hope this helps and if you have tried this then I can only guess that your SD card is buggered.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
um actually, my sdcard IS in the phone this whole time as i dont have any card reader. i am connecting my phone with my pc in hard drive mode.
from within the phone, i have tried to format the sd card many times but the space does not go beyond 3.22gb..

Something seems to have messed the partition up. Have a look around on the web
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

ok tell me if i root my cellphone again, will it help?
because there is a way to delete the ext3 partition from the recovery.

finally recovered my ext3 partition.
this is what i did.
1) rooted my phone.
2) enter into clockworkmod recovery
3) mount sd-ext (i guess it wasnt mounted that's why no app was recognizing it)
4) now windows was able to recognize the ext3 partition.
5) problem solved.

jamy_hallian said:
finally recovered my ext3 partition.
this is what i did.
1) rooted my phone.
2) enter into clockworkmod recovery
3) mount sd-ext (i guess it wasnt mounted that's why no app was recognizing it)
4) now windows was able to recognize the ext3 partition.
5) problem solved.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh man, I had EXACTLY the same problem and was driving me nuts. I searched high and low everywhere and couldn't find the answer. Thank you!

shaboobla said:
Hi there. I downloaded a free program call minitool partition wizard. Do a google search for it (I can't post links)
It has worked well for me with my SD card partitioning.
Make sure you back up the contents of your SD card before removing the ext 3 partition as it will delete all the contents on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this worked.. thanks a lot
i had the same issue as the OP

Use a card reader and MiniTool Partition Wizard.
Delete all partitions on the SD card and create a new one that fills the entire SD

[Q] Low Memory Issue

My girlfriend got the HTC Wildfire S for MetroPCS a couple of weeks ago. It is a nice phone except for one little problem: The internal memory is crap. She has exactly 5 apps installed, all are moved to SD, and she has 7.14 MB or internal memory free. It is running the stock 2.3 Rom rooted. I need some help figuring out what to do. Before you guys make suggestions let me list what I have already done:
1. S-OFF and rooted, removed all bloatware, which moved it from 3.21 MB to 8 MB which seems like BS because a few of those apps were about 6 MB in size.
2. Moved apps to SD card partially in the applications menu in settings.
3. Cleaned caches
4. Uninstalled almost every application.
This is very frustrating because she cant update apps, she cant download apps, and it is frustrating because I have the old Huawei Ascend on CM7 and I have more apps and am faster than her phone, its ridiculous, I also wonder why after removing over 60MB or crap and bloatware it freed up about 7MB. Makes no sense. I don't want to do DT's app2sd script yet because she doesn't have a way to back up her stuff before the partition of the SD card. If anyone can explain another way or something I can do to fix this please..... It would be greatly appreciated.

Use Partition Wizard Home (Free) to resize your FAT32 partition and create your Ext(whatever your kernel supports) partition on a windows machine.
No need to back up. Doesn't destroy partitions.
My preference is Link2SD free from the market.
You can mass move your apps, dalvik cache and library files to the Ext(Probably Ext2 with stock rom kernel) from the SD card and internal to your Ext partition very easy.
Also you can set it up to auto do this when new apps are installed and choose which apps you want to keep fully internal for faster booting, startup, etc.

d33ps1x said:
Use Partition Wizard Home (Free) to resize your FAT32 partition and create your Ext(whatever your kernel supports) partition on a windows machine.
No need to back up. Doesn't destroy partitions.
My preference is Link2SD free from the market.
You can mass move your apps, dalvik cache and library files to the Ext(Probably Ext2 with stock rom kernel) from the SD card and internal to your Ext partition very easy.
Also you can set it up to auto do this when new apps are installed and choose which apps you want to keep fully internal for faster booting, startup, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I appreciate the fast reply. but here is my issue, she doesnt have a computer... is there anything else we can try?

AtmosFEAR4701 said:
I appreciate the fast reply. but here is my issue, she doesnt have a computer... is there anything else we can try?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Someone else's computer...

Helped...3
Sent from my HTC Wildfire S A510e using XDA App

I did try that and. now the phone can't see the SD card. what shoud I do use a SD card reader. and wipe it?

raven.warsong said:
I did try that and. now the phone can't see the SD card. what shoud I do use a SD card reader. and wipe it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is this the same question from two different people or one person logged on as two different people?
If your card is corrupt and can't be read try a program like Recuva on the PC (free) to get your files from it.

d33ps1x said:
Someone else's computer...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, I will get her phone on Thursday and try app2sd.

d33ps1x said:
Is this the same question from two different people or one person logged on as two different people?
If your card is corrupt and can't be read try a program like Recuva on the PC (free) to get your files from it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sorry different person. Got a new card read sd card checks out after partion it will just not read the card can all kind of test on the card formated changed partion back to fad 32 it will just not read the card mounts in windows just fine.

raven.warsong said:
sorry different person. Got a new card read sd card checks out after partion it will just not read the card can all kind of test on the card formated changed partion back to fad 32 it will just not read the card mounts in windows just fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The card shows up and reads in windows?

AtmosFEAR4701 said:
The card shows up and reads in windows?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes and cant be read after any changes with mini tool partion wizard
if I make partions with windows storage manager it works fine. The only problem with that is windows see more that one partion on what it considers removal meda but cant create edit or change it. so gess im searching for a new partion tool or get some bootabe image of a linix distro and try it from there

Active partition, Fat32 and Primary partition?
raven.warsong said:
sorry different person. Got a new card read sd card checks out after partion it will just not read the card can all kind of test on the card formated changed partion back to fad 32 it will just not read the card mounts in windows just fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Format it in windows using the partition software I mentioned and make sure it is:
1/ Fat32
2/ A Primary not a Logical partition
3/ Make it the Active partition

thanks I have been working on it and got it to see the sd card
what about the 2 partion should it be ext2 ext 3 or fad 32 I guss it dose not matter I have tried all 3 but link2sd will not see the 2 partion
---------- Post added at 09:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:02 PM ----------
the phone will see the sd card I have tryed fad 32,ext2 ,ext 3 and ext4 that app will see none of them as the second partion are you shure I dont need root or some thing? sorry for all the nob questions

raven.warsong said:
thanks I have been working on it and got it to see the sd card
what about the 2 partion should it be ext2 ext 3 or fad 32 I guss it dose not matter I have tried all 3 but link2sd will not see the 2 partion
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Choose EXT3

Sorry for the double post but you have to be rooted from what I understand. There is also a script or application that you have to use to move the apps and you MUST be rooted.

thanks much I kind if figured that now sorry for wasting your time guess I should I read more or some thing

It's no problem good luck!

I have had good luck with this
http://androidforums.com/micromax-a70/422359-how-force-install-apps-sd-card-without-root-a70.html

sd card does not work
AtmosFEAR4701 said:
The card shows up and reads in windows?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what should i do if d sd card reads in windows and does not respond in the phone?? is there any way to recover it?? bcos i cant take d risk of ruining the memory card as it is my brother's office phone n he will kill me if something goes wrong wit it

ICS doesn't support files bigger than 4gb?

When i tried to download 6gb movie today the torrent application said that android doesn't support files larger than 4gb at the moment.
I believe this was the case with the fat32 file system, but i'm with galaxy nexus with 16GB build in memory, so i find it hard to believe it's still with the archaic fat32? Actually what's it's file system and if the reason is somewhere else can it be fixed?

Fking1 said:
When i tried to download 6gb movie today the torrent application said that android doesn't support files larger than 4gb at the moment.
I believe this was the case with the fat32 file system, but i'm with galaxy nexus with 16GB build in memory, so i find it hard to believe it's still with the archaic fat32? Actually what's it's file system and if the reason is somewhere else can it be fixed?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im just guessing here but the files are saved to your memory card. So if thats FAT32 then yeah 4GB would be your limit, you should check that first I guess

It depends entirely on the file system used on the SD card. Most SD cards are formatted Fat32, which has a file size limit of 4GB. However, on Galaxy Nexus, I believe the "SD card" is using ext3, which has a file size limitation 16GB (when using 1KB blocks). I can say with absolutely certainty that I have copied over files as large as 9GB to my Galaxy Nexus successfully.

The file system is ext4, the 'sdcard' is virtual - it's a directory on the main partition, not a seperate partition (that's why UMS isn't supported).
AFAIK no flavour of linux or unix uses fat32.
Dunno why your system won't let you go over 4Gb, it may be an error in your torrent app, or maybe its setup assumes all sdcards are fat32 and isn't actually checking...

Yeah that seems to be the most logical reason, thank you guys for the input.

Why did that thread stop there? I need to know which torrent client you are using lol. If it's the torrent client then try other ones right? Why are you currently using?
Also, i heard that changing the kernel might be the solution to the problem if it really isn't the torrent client. I wish i could elaborate more but i unfortunately don't understand what it does per say

What filesystem should I format my 32GB microsd card to?

So I got a great deal on a class 10 32GB Samsung card, it came pre-formatted to fat32, however I had the wild idea that android supported NTFS based on something I read in the past so I formatted it to NTFS on a windows system and copied some files over (some being over 5GB each)...plugged in my card and turned on my phone and I get a message saying my card is blank or the wrong file format...guess it doesn't support NTFS
I know if I use the phones built in format utility it will format to fat32 which I don't really want because of the filesize limitation, I'd like to be able to copy 8-10GB files every so often so I can use my phone as a little shuttle drive in between places...
But I also want the ability for windows to be able to read my sd card if I change my phone into USB mode so I think that excludes the ext3, ext4 format which I think android will read...
Any ideas?

Won't happen search and you will find threads on this before
You will also find a Q&A section that this belongs in
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk

There's an app in the market that will mount any file formatted sdcard in the device I but I haven't used it out remember the name but you can check it and yes this belongs in Q&A but The way you format is fat 32
Touched by an Epic 4G w/Cm9 & Fueled by the NY Giants 2012

Got that Newegg deal as well! Can't wait for it to arrive. Interested in the answer as well as I hope to put some high quality movies there.
Sent from my badass Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.

So I found an ntfs app in the market that'll mount ntfs at startup but I gotta root for it work. Guess I now have a reason to root
Oh but it says it was made for the galaxy tab...but it opens fine on my s ii
Sent from my SPH-D710 using the XDA mobile application powered by Tapatalk

btw where is the Q&A section i should be looking for? xda has gotten so huge i'm lost at least i can find the e4gt forum
maybe i should change the title of my thread to what filesystems can i format my sd card to that my phone will read?

if you use windows, fat32 is the way to go so then you can connect the phone to computer and still can access the files

t0mmyr said:
btw where is the Q&A section i should be looking for? xda has gotten so huge i'm lost at least i can find the e4gt forum
maybe i should change the title of my thread to what filesystems can i format my sd card to that my phone will read?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a Q&A section right under general in the epic touch
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk

charles98 said:
if you use windows, fat32 is the way to go so then you can connect the phone to computer and still can access the files
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The reason the op doesn't want fat32 is because he has single files that exceeds 4 GB that he wants to transfer, so fat32 would not work for him.

im0rtalz said:
The reason the op doesn't want fat32 is because he has single files that exceeds 4 GB that he wants to transfer, so fat32 would not work for him.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
maybe drive mount in market but lots of bad reviews....May work don't know
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk

Windows also recognized NTFS by the way.

out of curiosity, does anyone know if any custom roms support ntfs sd cards nativey?

t0mmyr said:
out of curiosity, does anyone know if any custom roms support ntfs sd cards nativey?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
None because Android does not.....
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk

format it ext3/4 and then install an ftp server app on your phone.

There is an app that works fine
I have exactly the same problem. I want to have the sdcard in NTFS so then I do not have the 4GB limitation of FAT32. The is possible to have .mkv files on your phone or tablet.
In the case of my table the N8010, I have formatted the sd card on Windows with NTFS. Then installed the "paragon" app from market which works very good. It recognized the sd card in NTFS and mount perfectly. But it seems that when your card is overloaded with thounsands of files and some big 6GB file, then comes the problem. Android JB everytime that comes out of sleep, it will check for errors the sd card. Everytime! Then, I get the message "sd card checking for errors" and never gets back. The sd card is not recognized anymore until I reboot the device.
I think that the paragon app is not perfect and might have bugs, but
Is there any way to disable the "sd card check for error" functionality? Have read some threads about it, to delete some file from system, but that method produces inconsistencies with other apps.
By the way, I have tried to format on ExFat, and had the same problem. When the card is almost full it will never end up checking for errors. I finally broke the sd card when I formated it with ExFat and 64k allocation size. It was not regoznized neither by windows and android afterwards
thanks

cla20000 said:
By the way, I have tried to format on ExFat, and had the same problem. When the card is almost full it will never end up checking for errors. I finally broke the sd card when I formated it with ExFat and 64k allocation size. It was not regoznized neither by windows and android afterwards
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think you broke it unless you fried the flash chips. You can try using the disk manager in windows and try to see if it sees it. Or just learn how to use Linux command line tools and fix it that way. I recovered 80% of my pictures off of a dead SD card using dd and a file recovery utility. I don't recall which one. That 16GB SD card now works just fine as a 12GB card. I don't trust it for any more than shuttling between systems though.
Also, I've never had good luck with exFAT. I much prefer the EXT filesystems, but they aren't natively supported in windows or most cameras. Maybe try NTFS without journaling (If that's even possible)

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exfat is proprietary windows and needs licenses. android won't support it.
ntfs is a journaling file system and will impact performance if you can get android to read it.
ext2/3 is the best solution. there are utilities you can install so windows can read it.

calisro said:
exfat is proprietary windows and needs licenses. android won't support it.
ntfs is a journaling file system and will impact performance if you can get android to read it.
ext2/3 is the best solution. there are utilities you can install so windows can read it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ext2Fsd is excellent for Windows 7, I don't know what I'd do without it.
sent from my ET4G on Paranoid Android using XDA Premium HD in hybrid mode