Hi, I've bought a 16gb SD card. I hear all this stuff about formatting etc. but what does that actually mean?
I intend to take out the stock 2gb card and put in the 16gb before I even put the battery in, do I need to do anything to the 16gb card (ie. format it) before hand or will this work okay?
Thanks.
In the user guide it says that you have to unmount the sd card before removing it, this is in the settings and once you insert the new sd card you have to mount that again in the settings.
Just realized that i hadn't answered the question properly. I have not recieved my new sd card yet but i imagine when you mount it the phone will format it if required.
jk1234 said:
I hear all this stuff about formatting etc. but what does that actually mean?
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Click to collapse
Makes it work on the phone as opposed to not working on the phone and stuff.
Thanks for your replies. What I understand from jmoore2's reply is that I will need to turn the phone on with the 2gb card in, go to settings unmount then take the 2gb card out, put the 16gb card in turn on again then go to settings and select mount, is this correct?
jk1234 said:
Thanks for your replies. What I understand from jmoore2's reply is that I will need to turn the phone on with the 2gb card in, go to settings unmount then take the 2gb card out, put the 16gb card in turn on again then go to settings and select mount, is this correct?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to let you know, all i did is:
phone off, sd replaced (with a new 16gb one), phone on. It works
But, the way safer is unmount the stock sd before replacing it. Yes what you wrote is correct.
Most SD cards will some with a FAT32 format (which works in our phones) out of the box unless something else is specified.
If you were to swap the card before ever switching the handset on, I can't see any reason why you would have to un-mount it.
Same goes for just switching the handset off and removing it.
Un-mounting is the same as the 'safely remove hardware' function in Windows, it's a way to make sure that nothing is trying to access the card when you remove it so as to avoid corrupting it. So if the phone is not switched on (or has never been switched on for that matter), nothing can possibly be trying to access it.
Really, the un-mount function is for handsets with hot-swappable cards.
Due to it's physical design, it's not possible to hot-swap cards in the Defy, so it's kinda unnecessary.
Step666 said:
Really, the un-mount function is for handsets with hot-swappable cards.
Due to it's physical design, it's not possible to hot-swap cards in the Defy, so it's kinda unnecessary.
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Click to collapse
I was wondering why i would have to unmount it lol, But this is my first Android phone and after years of using phones that i wouldn't say even qualified as feature phones i am having to learn the In's and outs of Android so i thought i would play it safe and do what the instruction guide said (probably the first and last time).
jmoore2 said:
I was wondering why i would have to unmount it lol, But this is my first Android phone and after years of using phones that i wouldn't say even qualified as feature phones i am having to learn the In's and outs of Android so i thought i would play it safe and do what the instruction guide said (probably the first and last time).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look at it this way, the un-mounting is a software thing.
When you switch the phone off and pull the battery, it doesn't matter what the settings are in the software as it cannot possibly be running.
Thanks for all your replies. Let me just clarify, it shouldn't matter if I swap without unmounting and I shouldn't need to do any formatting.
It shouldn't matter if you swap without un-mounting, no. Especially not if you swap before powering the handset on for the first time.
As for formatting, I think the phone should do that automatically but, if need be, you can go 'Settings > SD card & phone storage > Format SD card' and do it manually.
Related
Hi everybody,
I posted a similar post in one of the threads, but I did not get any replies. So I thought I might as well post a new thread.
I really hope that you can help me out.
My HTC Desire doesn't recognize the sd card (Samsung micro SDHC 4gb) that is in it. It also doesn't recognize another sd card (SanDisk micro SD 2gb).
I've tried to follow up the steps 'chippieuk' has listed in this thread.
Everything went fine, until I reached steps 8 and 12, because my pc doesn't recognize the sd card either. (I've tried to put it in two other computers and another phone, but it hasn't been recognized in any of them. I've also tried to use another sd card in the sd card readers and adapter, and that sd card was recognized, but it was a SanDisk micro SD 2gb.)
Here's some background information.
Something like 7 months ago I rooted my HTC Desire (in the process of rooting I partitioned the sd card) and I put custom ROM 'opendesire v1.5' on it. I was satisfied with it, so I never changed it since then. But my HTC Desire stopped working properly something like 6 weeks ago. Every time I switched it on, it went into bootloop. So two weeks ago I did a hard reset via 'hboot' and my phone seemed to work again, but then I discovered that the sd card wasn't being recognized and that has been the problem ever since.
I've, btw., (temporarily) unrooted my phone with a RUU (android 2.1). I've not yet upgraded it to android 2.2, because I want my phone to function well first and I will probably root it again soon (if I will succeed with my sd card etc.)...
So... Have any of you got an idea? Could it be something with the readers that I've used (that they can't read micro sdhc cards)? Or because I once partitioned it? I really don't know...
Once again, I would really appreciate it if you could help me.
Thanks.
Regards
If nothing is picking it up then you have no partition on the SD card, or the wrong one. Format it with Windows to FAT32. If Windows picks it up, then Android should pick it up. If it isn't picking it in Android after the format, go to Settings > Storage and see if it's mounted in there, if not, then mount it, if you can't mount it, then it's either a problem with the rom or a problem with the SD card.
Okay, thanks. I'll try that.
Is it, btw., possible to get the data that's on it back?
Not if you format it. To be honest, the only way you can get data off it anyway is by getting it to mount, which it isn't doing.
Yeah, true... I should have made a backup. ;p
Okay, I just connected my phone with its sd card to my computer.
It actually shows a 'Removable Disk' in 'Computer',
but I cannot access it when I try to format it.
So I'm going to try to format it now, using an adapter.
Let me know how it goes
Hmmm.. When I put the micro sd card in an adapter and insert that into my computer, it sort of reacts to it. The icons at the bottom right sort of move, but that's all. When I look into 'Computer', there are no removable disks. I really don't know how to access it..
Plug it into your PC. Go to start, right click on my computer and click on manage. Click on disk management on the left and see if the SD card loads up
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Okay, so I tried what you said, but the SD card doesn't load up.. I also tried it with that other SD card I talked about, just to check again if it really isn't because of the adapter, but that SD card was recognized.
Put it in your phone and loads up Android. By default, if Android detects a non compatible SD card then it will ask you to format it. If you don't get this option then I guess it's buggered and you'll need to get a new one.
It appears to be a USB brick....
See solution on this thread.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=691187
To be more precise, the fix is mentioned in the thread above, but is here
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=6634033&postcount=115
Had a similar problem myself, see if my little thread is of any use to you
As soon as I'll be back home, I'll try your suggestions. Thanks a lot, all of you.
Hi, I seem to be having an odd problem with my Desire, I'm running a Stock Desire on T-Mobile UK, using the SD card that came with the phone, I had no problems until yesterday when the phone reported that no SD card was in it, it is acting as if no card is in it at all when using the Samsung card that came with it. First thing I tried was to put the Micro SD card in my Laptop, it worked, could read the files, so I was worried that the card reader on the phone had gone, they I found an old Nokia 512 MB card and tried that in the desire, it worked fine, no problems, so I'm not quiet sure what to do from here.
I was thinking backup the micro SD that came with the phone, format it in windows, and then see if it works, one question, what would be the best way to back it up?, are there hidden files that require extra software rather than just dragging and dropping in windows?
If not then I will buy a new SD and hope that works.
Thanks for any help
PS. I don't know if this is in the wrong section, so sorry if it is.
Since it can't read the card anymore, you can't backup apps. Format it with Android, or use SDFormatter.
pav4n said:
are there hidden files that require extra software rather than just dragging and dropping in windows
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, you can select and move or whatever you want.
Here's what happened, my phone froze for a few seconds so I hit the power/standby button and it didn't do anything. Waited for a few more seconds then it went back to the home screen and then turned off a split second later. I turned the phone back on and it said "Blank SD card" in the notifications bar. This so damn frustrating I've restarted a few times, mounted, taken th card out and put it back in...I'm at a loss as of what to do. Halp pleez?!?! Thank you!
Try and put the sd card into something else other than the phone, if the data is still missing I would say either your phone had a virus or is perhaps faulty..
Sent from my R800i using XDA App
pricey2009 said:
Try and put the sd card into something else other than the phone, if the data is still missing I would say either your phone had a virus or is perhaps faulty..
Sent from my R800i using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At work so I don't have access to a computer. Should all the content show up if the SD card is cool? How do you get rid of phone viruses? Factory reset I assume...? I hope I don't have to go through that hassle.
Erikwithafro said:
At work so I don't have access to a computer. Should all the content show up if the SD card is cool? How do you get rid of phone viruses? Factory reset I assume...? I hope I don't have to go through that hassle.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm...The phone probably isn't faulty,it's probably the MicroSD card. I've had a debranded 4gig MicroSD that wiped itself while I was uploading songs to it...If it's wiped buy another one,pref. sandisk
Fokezy said:
Hmm...The phone probably isn't faulty,it's probably the MicroSD card. I've had a debranded 4gig MicroSD that wiped itself while I was uploading songs to it...If it's wiped buy another one,pref. sandisk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a 32gb sandisk and it had all my emulator games with the save data. Bah I have no clue how this happened, its really pissed me off losing all that...
Tried plugging the phone in to a computer, and I can't turn on USB connection. Also tried plugging in the SD card with a USB adapter stick and it didn't come up either. Is this memory card boned?
Try a Linux distro, it'll have a better chance of recognising the card even if it's faulty, you might have to make a live cd if you don't already run a Linux distro.
Failing that you could try a program like Recuva for Windows
Just plugged in another SD card I have and it worked...seems like my 32g one is screwed, god dammit!!!!!! RAAAAGE!!!!! Taking this thing back...fuuuuuuuu
I was copying some mp3`s to my phone and the phone froze and i had to pull the battery, my 16gb micro sd, was totally dead, I rang Amazon sent me out a replacement even before i returned the faulty one, now that is good service.
John.
Are you able to mount the card? If not and the phone states it's damaged, you could try this:
forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=4112485&postcount=9
As it's stating it's blank, that may not help, but recovery might. It worked for my card when the phone decided to have a hissy fit and 'damaged'.
If you just need to recover the files and the microsd actually still works, but no files show, try the free file recovery in the link below, RecoveRX, just enter anything for you email address if you dont want spam.
But remember to write protect your microsd to sdcard adaptor so you dont overwrite any files, or they will be gone for good.
http://www.transcend.nl/Support/DLCenter/DLSoftware.asp?ID=59&Func1No=3&Func2No=205
I'm getting the notification "SD card blank or has unsupported file system. What in the world does that mean? This is getting more and more complicated...ugh. And I have no clue how to write the SD card stuff. Also, some files that are gray with the android logo and an SD card logo are showing up when I open my settings and go to applications then see all. I am so damn confused haha.
Erikwithafro said:
I'm getting the notification "SD card blank or has unsupported file system. What in the world does that mean? This is getting more and more complicated...ugh. And I have no clue how to write the SD card stuff. Also, some files that are gray with the android logo and an SD card logo are showing up when I open my settings and go to applications then see all. I am so damn confused haha.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The android logo and sd card symbol showing instead of the app's icon means that the app was installed on your sd card, so those apps no longer exist (I think their data is stored in internal memory though, so probably try reinstalling them). Android has an annoying habit of auto-installing some apps to sd
Erikwithafro said:
I'm getting the notification "SD card blank or has unsupported file system. What in the world does that mean? This is getting more and more complicated...ugh. And I have no clue how to write the SD card stuff. Also, some files that are gray with the android logo and an SD card logo are showing up when I open my settings and go to applications then see all. I am so damn confused haha.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gray android sd card logo has been explained ; the unsupported file system probably means your sd cards file system messed up when your phone bugged out for a second or two ; you're going have to format it which means wiping all data of it completely ; format to fat 32 - can be done through my computer and right clicking on the memory card in windows ; if this fails download a sd card formatter... Before you do this though try recovering the files via your computer as suggested before.
Maybe you can recover it... What essentially happened was that your phone lost power while it was writing to the sd card. That happens with all devices, that's why every game warns not to turn off the console while saving
Sent from my Xperia Play
Thank you guys for all the suggestions, it means a lot.
Tried recovering, but nothing is on the SD card to recover anymore...so lame. Also tried reformatting after that and it said "windows cannot complete the format". Damn, I'm taking this back and getting a new one. This is ridiculous and frustrating beyond belief...Anywayyyyyyyyy thanks a bunch for the help and tips folks, hopefully I can get a new SD card without any problems. It's been about 6 months since I bought this one, so we'll see........
It would be even more frustrating if they said they cannot give you a new SD card. Hah...
Happened to me with a "Sandisk" 16 GB class 6 bought on eBay. Never again!
Sent from my R800x using XDA App
Hi all. I'm currently running CM7.2 Stable with radio .1111 (used to be the newer .0320) and I can't get any SD card to mount for an extended period of time in recovery, Android, or fastboot. I'm thinking the memory card reader is either loose on the motherboard of the phone or is starting to go. Unfortunately this means that I can no longer take pictures and use apps that require the SD card. Does anyone know if it's possible to use the internal memory (such as /data or /system) as a "Virtual" SD card? Any search I've done on google hasn't turned up much. I'm hoping to get a system dev's; or anyone else with experience; input on this. Thanks.
polarEskimo said:
Hi all. I'm currently running CM7.2 Stable with radio .1111 (used to be the newer .0320) and I can't get any SD card to mount for an extended period of time in recovery, Android, or fastboot. I'm thinking the memory card reader is either loose on the motherboard of the phone or is starting to go. Unfortunately this means that I can no longer take pictures and use apps that require the SD card. Does anyone know if it's possible to use the internal memory (such as /data or /system) as a "Virtual" SD card? Any search I've done on google hasn't turned up much. I'm hoping to get a system dev's; or anyone else with experience; input on this. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You might want to try a different recovery or rom to see if that still happens. (although it is probably a hardware issue, it's good to make sure) Do you still have warranty?
nitsua98 said:
You might want to try a different recovery or rom to see if that still happens. (although it is probably a hardware issue, it's good to make sure) Do you still have warranty?
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Click to collapse
I'm almost 100% positive that it's hardware, but I also don't have a safe / reliable way of flashing a different rom/recovery anyway because of the chance of the SD disappearing during a flash. Also when searching for PG32IMG.zip, fastboot hangs for a little bit when trying to access the SD card so that helped me verify that it's hardware. Unfortunately I got the screen digitizer replaced on my phone by a 3rd party so my warranty is void, it's also been more than a year since I bought the phone (pretty sure the warranty is just for a year).
polarEskimo said:
I'm almost 100% positive that it's hardware, but I also don't have a safe / reliable way of flashing a different rom/recovery anyway because of the chance of the SD disappearing during a flash. Also when searching for PG32IMG.zip, fastboot hangs for a little bit when trying to access the SD card so that helped me verify that it's hardware. Unfortunately I got the screen digitizer replaced on my phone by a 3rd party so my warranty is void, it's also been more than a year since I bought the phone (pretty sure the warranty is just for a year).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe you could try a different sd card.
Or maybe you could take this as a hint to upgrade
And AFAIK there is no way to seperate the internal memory, as some roms need all of it/most of it. I know you could do it the other way around, partitioning an SD card to trick the phone into thinking part of the sd card was phone memory.
nitsua98 said:
Maybe you could try a different sd card.
Or maybe you could take this as a hint to upgrade
And AFAIK there is no way to seperate the internal memory, as some roms need all of it/most of it. I know you could do it the other way around, partitioning an SD card to trick the phone into thinking part of the sd card was phone memory.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I mentioned in my first post that any SD card won't work. I would like to upgrade to a Nexus phone (good CM support) but I'm not due for one until February. The data partition is pretty open in terms of space, especially if you don't have a lot of apps for it. I tried creating a 300MB .img file in /data and mounting it to /sdcard but that didn't work. I'd like for a ROM developer or someone who has in-depth knowledge about the storage systems to hopefully answer. Dalingrin and other developers were able to use the HP Touchpad's internal storage as an SD card, I'd like to do the same.
I've been searching all over for a couple days now and I can't find any solution only people with similar but not exact same problem I'm having. Out of the blue a couple days ago the fat32 partition on my 32GB class10 patriot SD card unmounted and won't mount at all. However the ext4 partition mounts just fine and continues to work as it always has. I also can't plug the card directly into my PC because the adapter that came with the micro SD card appears to not work. My PC doesn't think there is an SD card in it. I tried it with a known good SD card (the 16GB samsung SD card that came with the phone. Which when inserted into the phone mounts and can be used like expected. No new apps where installed or changes made to my phone or the SD card before it stopped working correctly. The same apps and what not have been in use for as long as I have had the 32GB SD card. In fact the currently in use version of CM10.1 has been is use for the last month with no issue regarding the SD card. When I remove the card a notification shows up telling me to insert an SD card. And when I insert the 32GB card the checking SD card notification shows up an a second or two after the SD card is safe to remove notification shows up as if I had told it to unmount the SD card. If I tap on mount SD card in settings the same thing happens. And it also happens after a reboot. CWM can't mount the SD card either. What can I do to fix it so the fat32 partition is usable again?
StoneRyno said:
I've been searching all over for a couple days now and I can't find any solution only people with similar but not exact same problem I'm having. Out of the blue a couple days ago the fat32 partition on my 32GB class10 patriot SD card unmounted and won't mount at all. However the ext4 partition mounts just fine and continues to work as it always has. I also can't plug the card directly into my PC because the adapter that came with the micro SD card appears to not work. My PC doesn't think there is an SD card in it. I tried it with a known good SD card (the 16GB samsung SD card that came with the phone. Which when inserted into the phone mounts and can be used like expected. No new apps where installed or changes made to my phone or the SD card before it stopped working correctly. The same apps and what not have been in use for as long as I have had the 32GB SD card. In fact the currently in use version of CM10.1 has been is use for the last month with no issue regarding the SD card. When I remove the card a notification shows up telling me to insert an SD card. And when I insert the 32GB card the checking SD card notification shows up an a second or two after the SD card is safe to remove notification shows up as if I had told it to unmount the SD card. If I tap on mount SD card in settings the same thing happens. And it also happens after a reboot. CWM can't mount the SD card either. What can I do to fix it so the fat32 partition is usable again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried formatting the SD card in recovery?
As I said I can't mount it with CWM either. The card contains the data for my mSecure passwords as that app was forced to the SD card due to JB changes in android so I can't format it until I can recover the data on it. I need a solution to access the data before I can reformat it assuming that it needs to be reformatted. The SD card was supposed to be this fail safe thing and I didn't need to make backups of it as it was the backup storage stuff. So now I'm all freaking out because I can't access it for all the backed up data on top of the data for one critical app that was forced to reside on it. The good news is that only a few apps data is effected by this the bad news is those apps were all very important. I just don't understand why this has happened. And if using a cloud source such as box will be any more secure and safe than using the SD card in light of this; now I don't trust not losing data in the future on a source that was supposed to not have this sort of thing happen.
Maybe the SD card just went bad. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.
DynamicN said:
Maybe the SD card just went bad. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem, it's a problem no easily solved, and is a long shot finding anyone who will be able to help. I looked at dozens of sites and forum threads and all sorts of other stuff from goggle searches and couldn't find a solution to get it to mount in either the phone or on my PC to recover the data from it and find out for sure if it is a bad card or not. It might still be under warranty. If it's not I'll be ticked considering how much it cost and how little time I've had it.
StoneRyno said:
No problem, it's a problem no easily solved, and is a long shot finding anyone who will be able to help. I looked at dozens of sites and forum threads and all sorts of other stuff from goggle searches and couldn't find a solution to get it to mount in either the phone or on my PC to recover the data from it and find out for sure if it is a bad card or not. It might still be under warranty. If it's not I'll be ticked considering how much it cost and how little time I've had it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try installing Recuva on your PC, if this program doesn't work for you then you might wanna try another more advanced recovery program like R-studio v6 (Shareware) which is easy to use since it's GUI based.
or testdisk-6.14-WIP (Freeware) which includes testdisk_win.exe for partition recovery and photorec_win.exe for files and media recovery, but it's kinda complicated since it's based on Command Prompt or DOS! so you need to google for a guide for how to use it.
StoneRyno said:
No problem, it's a problem no easily solved, and is a long shot finding anyone who will be able to help. I looked at dozens of sites and forum threads and all sorts of other stuff from goggle searches and couldn't find a solution to get it to mount in either the phone or on my PC to recover the data from it and find out for sure if it is a bad card or not. It might still be under warranty. If it's not I'll be ticked considering how much it cost and how little time I've had it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you still having the problem? I had the same problem, and I found a solution to it.
chromeplaya said:
Are you still having the problem? I had the same problem, and I found a solution to it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow I somehow never got notified of this post seeing as I'm just now noticing a reply from months ago. Yes I still can't mount the SD card. I took it out and returned to the stock one that came with my phone. I still have the card as I need to recover the data from it and if not possible wipe it somehow so that I can warranty exchange it. Please do let me know what your solution is so that I can try it and see if it works.
Refresh my memory on what the problem was. This was a while ago lol.
chromeplaya said:
Refresh my memory on what the problem was. This was a while ago lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The SD card won't mount in my samsung epic and my windows PCs. This was a sudden without warning signs and with no apparent cause. One moment it was fine and the next moment poof. I was looking for a solution to gain access to the files on it to recover whatever I can and if possible repair the card so that it works again. Assuming that it's not a failure of the card itself. It is within the warranty and well within the life expectancy of it. So I suspect it is not a failure of the card itself. I have the option of using ubuntu or other USB stick bootable options for tools as needed.