Develop Bugs

'Dead' 16GB SD card?

Hi all,
Happily listening to music with Core Player on the TP2 I received last Saturday and the phone lit up with a message from Core Player that it wanted to update my media library, following the removal of the SD Card.
Suffice to say, I was confused: no chance with the SD card hidden under the battery cover that it could have been loose and fallen out but checking through File Manager on the phone, the SD card can't be seen at all.
Put said card into an adapter and then card reader on my PC; it comes up to suggest there is no card inserted: put the same card via adapter into my digital camera and the camera refuses to even turn on with the card in.
It's a duff card I'm sure - bit peeved since it wasn't that old but meh: don't trust all eBay sellers selling 'genuine' SanDisk products I guess - however, whilst I await the arrival of a new one, could it be my TP2 that has damaged the card in some way? Has anyone else noted problems with the TP2 and higher capacity SD cards?

FlashROM based cards only have a certain number of writes. Same goes for SSDs. They should have a way to track number of writes to cards. I've had official Sandisk cards go bad on me within the first year too. Don't forget that static shocks from your clothes can actually damage the card. Also don't forget that your phone can corrupt your data if it's in the middle of a read/write op and you remove the card.

whtrbt7 said:
FlashROM based cards only have a certain number of writes. Same goes for SSDs. They should have a way to track number of writes to cards. I've had official Sandisk cards go bad on me within the first year too. Don't forget that static shocks from your clothes can actually damage the card. Also don't forget that your phone can corrupt your data if it's in the middle of a read/write op and you remove the card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your thoughts mate: it wasn't removed from the phone and the phone only had CorePlayer running on it at the time - so I don't think it was anything I'd done
I think I got duped by someone on eBay selling a 'Geninue' Sandisk card that perhaps wasn't - I've read here than Danetec are also quite good so I've ordered one of them directly: fingers crossed I have more luck with my second one!
I was more concerned with it possibly being my phone - I read a month or so back on the Diamond2 forum that 16GB cards didn't work so well with that phone and wondered if any forumites here had noted any issues with the TP2 and certain SD cards, thats all...

it happened to me last weekend, due to an automatic update of go news touch which went wrong.
no way to see or format the card on the ppc or my netbook. I had to go back home, put it into a usb adaptor, and finally format it with mu desktop pc. my little cer netbook couldn't detect it, and locked up each time I tried formatting it, even from cmd console. but on desktop with adaptor it went just fine.
hope you'll be able to resolve - my sandisk card was 20 days old, 65€ worth, and having it toasted isn't something I would wish to anyone

cyberpunk627 said:
it happened to me last weekend, due to an automatic update of go news touch which went wrong.
no way to see or format the card on the ppc or my netbook. I had to go back home, put it into a usb adaptor, and finally format it with mu desktop pc. my little cer netbook couldn't detect it, and locked up each time I tried formatting it, even from cmd console. but on desktop with adaptor it went just fine.
hope you'll be able to resolve - my sandisk card was 20 days old, 65€ worth, and having it toasted isn't something I would wish to anyone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In this case, it's not even recognised - via a card reader, active sync or inside another device: this one I think is lost Meh, it's only money

Hi All
Paulplex, don't feel you are alone, this happened to me too with a genuine Sandisk 16gb card. It worked last thing at night, went to access it in the morning and it was dead - just 3 months old with no issues at all up to that point.
The solution was replace it as it would not recognise via a reader in the pc either - completely useless....
The cause? Who knows, i do suspect the TP 2 though as i had no issue with it on my old Dopod 838 pro for the first 2 months since new.
Cheers
Jabberoo

SD Card Randomly Appears Empty

Hey, I've had my Evo for a couple weeks now, and have recently started experiencing an issue that has been since happened quite frequently - the SD card will randomly appear empty, and I won't be able to add files to it. The only way to get around this, it seems, is to reboot the phone.
At first I thought my MicroSD card that came with the phone was defective, so I got Best Buy to exchange it today, but it just started happening again! My phone is rooted and running the latest RvU ROM, if that could have anything to do with it. Does anyone have any help, or is this just a hardware problem? (If it is, I'll just exchanged the phone at Best Buy, since I'm within my 30 days.)
Thanks!

vonStemmington said:
Hey, I've had my Evo for a couple weeks now, and have recently started experiencing an issue that has been since happened quite frequently - the SD card will randomly appear empty, and I won't be able to add files to it. The only way to get around this, it seems, is to reboot the phone.
At first I thought my MicroSD card that came with the phone was defective, so I got Best Buy to exchange it today, but it just started happening again! My phone is rooted and running the latest RvU ROM, if that could have anything to do with it. Does anyone have any help, or is this just a hardware problem? (If it is, I'll just exchanged the phone at Best Buy, since I'm within my 30 days.)
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same thing for me. I tried Baked Snack and now Fresh 0.5.3, both have the same issue. Rebooting seems to work for a short time, but it always fails when I'm using programs that access the SD a lot such as the Gallery app or the Camera. As long as I stay clear of those it seems to hold up a bit longer, but I've had it fail while using Astro File Manager too.
When I was running The latest stock OTA I had no issues. I posted a similar question in the threads for both ROM's with no response yet. Because of that, I was beginning to think I had a bad card too.
I don't want to go back to stock. I just can't understand why this keeps happening.

Glad to know I'm not the only one.. I just wish there was some resolution to this.
I contacted HTC and they said it wasn't a known issue with the phone, so they said I should go to Best Buy and exchange it. So maybe our SD slots are just defective?

I have this problem too. It empties every day it seems and I need to reformat the SD card just to get it working again. It erases all my pictures and video and is very frustrating.
It seems to happen most often when I am taking a picture or going into Gallery, but has happened in other instances as well.
I hope HTC releases a solution that addresses this.
Also, it tells me in the notification bar that the SD card is damaged or unsupported file type or something along those lines.
And for the record, I am running a stock Evo.

i welcome u guys to my world.i been having the problem since day one tried everything and nothing worked.fully rooted,new radio,tried few roms,formated SD card,put in a new SD card and still that random SD failure.i reboot about 3-4 times a day and its really irritating.im afraid i might brake my evo one day or jus claim for a new one.

GHOST99K said:
im afraid i might brake my evo one day.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is how I feel

I'm tempted now to go back to stock and verify, but I never had a single issue on my phone until it was rooted. However, it's possible that the problem was there and I didn't encounter it.
If I take that step and find that it is still an issue on the stock OTA, I will most likely try to get the card replaced or have the phone if it persists after a new card.
It's very inconvenient and makes the camera pretty unreliable. Plus I am a field tech, and I store .pdf's on the card for different devices. If the SD is frakked I can't be sure I can get to important paperwork in the field.

It's not the SD card.I have already reformated the SD and even put a new 16gb SD card but same issue everyday.
Sent from beneath the earth using XDA App

It's definitely not the SD card. I've formatted it, gone to Best Buy and had the SD card replaced, and used a different SD card.
It could be the ROMs we're using, but I've got a serious problem with this phone if using a rooted ROM does this.. And few other people are experiencing the problem. That leads me to believe it's a hardware defect.

My suggestion jus get your phone exchanged ASAP.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

Yeah.. I've contacted Best Buy and they'll let me know when they get their next order in

Unfortunately I am am outside my 30 day exchange period so I cannot do that.

Well, I hate to break it to you guys, but custom ROMs is not the issue. I am stock and have had my phone since launch morning (June 4) and today, for the first time, my SD card contents disappeared. I was changing wallpaper when the default wallpaper kept coming up as the wallpaper. Note that the when selecting a wallpaper, the gallery showed all my images (cached?) but when I went to Gallery, nothing was there. I pulled the battery to reboot and now the SD card contents are back.

I had the same thing happen with me. I've also experienced other strange things related to the card. When hooking the phone up to my macbook, sometimes files copy and sometimes they don't (to the card). I was thinking it was an app corrupting the card. I've tried large files (100-200mb) and small files (like apks or old video game console roms). It seems that when data is going to the card very aggressively, it doesn't wasn't to copy. What I mean by aggressive is like 2+ dialog boxes of files being copied at the same time.
More often than not, it seems like lots of small files pisses the phone off and it parts me back by bowling the card. Lots of files means hundreds to thousands.
I saw this thread awhile ago but didn't look at it until today. At least I'm not going crazy or even maybe have a bad card. The cards never gave me any problems with the devices its been in for maybe the last 3 years until last week.
I gotta find another card to try. I am using sandisk 16gb. Maybe a different brand? Anyone try that yet?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

I'm doing a test now. I removed the suspect 16gb card from the phone and put in a 8gb card that has never been in the evo ever. I put the 16 in a sd adapter which goes into a usb adapter. All are official sandisk. I formatted the 16 in my macbook as fat32. I am now copying 8557 files to the card which size total is about 6.97gb. After a few minutes, I'm down to 6291 files to go and almost half way finished copying. I have not received one error message or anything that might lead me to believe there is something wrong somewhere. I'm starting to think there's nothing wrong with the card(s). It's the gd phone! I am so pissed now!!!! I keep looking back at the progress window and it's chugging along no problem. I am thinking about something tho. When I was changing cards I noticed that even when the card's lock bar was down, the card could wiggle a little. HMM. I'm gonna get a piece of thick paper and put it on top of the card and see if that helps make the card not want to wiggle as much when the lock bar is in place.
I will report back if I find out if it works or not in like 24 hours or less.
I don't think it makes any difference what rom you are running but I went to the one stock rooted "EVO_1.47.651.1_Rooted_stockrom.zip" one calkulin posted.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=712695
That link is just in case someone stumbles across this post later and wonders what I'm talking about.

So far, so good. I will give progress reports when I'm at work when I'm able to. I hope I may have stumbled across a simple fix to a defect.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

I had the issue you guys are talking abou this is what I did to resolve my issue.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Just got a new SDHC card and simpleroot worked. The SDHC that came with my phone died. I placed a spare in there that was a 2gd regular micro and Hboot would not read the IMG for nothing.
If simple root is not working then it's the Sh!tty card acting up.
Happy ending for me.

vonStemmington said:
It's definitely not the SD card. I've formatted it, gone to Best Buy and had the SD card replaced, and used a different SD card.
It could be the ROMs we're using, but I've got a serious problem with this phone if using a rooted ROM does this.. And few other people are experiencing the problem. That leads me to believe it's a hardware defect.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For those who post before reading the thread, I am STOCK and this also happened to me. Battery out/in fixed the issue (for now).

So far I'm going on around 16 hours without the card screwing up. If you wanna try this, get a business card. Pull the card out of the phone. Lay the card on the business card at a corner. Measure about twice as long and normal width. Cut the business card. Fold the piece in half length wise so its the same size as the sd card. If it's too big, snip the non folded end of the paper and measure it so that its the same size as the sd card. Put the card into the phone and make sure its ask the way in. don't force it to hard. Then hold the card down and slide the paper, folded end first, on top of the sd and into the card bay. Make sure the paper isn't sticking out of the card well where the battery would be on top of. Gently push and lock the lock bar down onto the card. If you have to push firmly then the paper is too thick. Place the battery in the phone and put the cover back on. That extra bit of thickness added to the card I think is keeping it from scooting around in the sd card well and judging by the size of the contacts on the card, it wouldn't take much movement to get off the contacts. The folded end under the lock bar and the other end being held down by the battery I think is doing the trick. Just power down before removing the battery next time.
So far, this is working for me and I'm keeping my fingers crossed...
Just another update and bump off the topic...
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

I agree the ROM probably isn't the problem, but definitely come back and let us know if the paper helped at all. It could just be that the SD card is loose.. It seems like sometimes if my SD card stops being read, but I leave the phone alone, it'll work again later, without rebooting, which is odd.

[Q] SD card unexpectedly removed

Using the pre-installed stock Samsung Class 2 micro SDHC 8gb
Constantly getting this error from the DHD:
"SD card unexpectedly removed"
Symptoms:
1) Usually happens after installing / removing apps.
2) Tends to re-boot by itself after "hang" after about 10 seconds
Note the following items:
1) USB Debugging = ON
2) SIM card is fully inserted
3) SDHC card is fully inserted
4) Using stock ROM
5) PC Error Checking (bad sector) = No error
6) Have tried to format the SDHC. Result = same error
Any ideas on how to troubleshoot tis ?
Is the pre-installed SDHC card at fault ?
Thanks

Another thing you can try is to check with another card (New or Old)
If it still does it....then there shud be some problem with the card holder unit or something...get it replaced mate

Had the same issue. Think your SD card is broken. Mine was. Couldn't even get it to work on a pc. Tried a new SD card and the problem was gone. Just got out of the Vodafone store. They replaced the SD card under warranty.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

I've got EXACTLY the same problem. It's bloody crazy!
I read that the phone may not be able to cope, as it's only a class 2 card - but I don't think that is correct, is it?
I've contacted HTC, and they just told me to take it back to the store and ask them to check it out. I'll probably do that in a week or so.

it just happened to me!! randomly. everything was fine and then suddenly it just failed on me. any clue why?

my4000 said:
it just happened to me!! randomly. everything was fine and then suddenly it just failed on me. any clue why?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bundled Samsung SD cards with the latest OTA update are known to fail, search for more info in other threads here to see if you'd qualify for a warranty replacement.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

sengork said:
Bundled Samsung SD cards with the latest OTA update are known to fail, search for more info in other threads here to see if you'd qualify for a warranty replacement.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
damn, same thing just happend to me, SD card error and thats it, its dead..nothing can read it. just lost pics i took when i went out this weekend :| absolute rubbish
time to search and find the threads you're on about

Been happening to me on the stock Samsung class 2 8gb... anyone encountered any problems changing to a class 4 card?
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

when I woke up this morning I couldn't access any of the programs on my sd card (SanDisk 16GB Class 2 SDHC), when I rebooted my desire HD the same thing happened. I tried manually mounting it, rebooting like ten times, inserting, ejecting the card etc, nothing would work.
Can't be the phone just smashed a 16GB card over night :/

YES....!! Gggrrrrr! it just happened to me last night. I rebooted my phone after installing some different Apps throughout the day (as is usual in my Android daily life). then after the phone rebooted about 30-45 seconds later i saw the "SD Card unexpectedly removed", thats strange i thought. Couldn't get past that after about another 4 reboots i removed the SD Card and tried it in a card reader on my PC. similar thing, I could ready the file structure on the WIN PC but then about 30 seconds later the drive disappeared and was no longer available. I then re formatted the card (started the process withing the first 30 seconds) and thought that would fix it. Now neither my WIN PC or Desire can read the card. also tried in Lynx Puppy environment but no go.
I think my 16GB Class 2 card is TOASTED. Was it because it used an Ext4 Partition on the card for the past 7 weeks? I heard some people in the site saying that Ext4 can damage your SD Card...?

Had the same problem - lost all my unbacked-up data. Quite disappointing. Bought a new micro SDHC and hasn't had a problem since.

So it's the SD-Card then?
It's happening to me most of the time and it's really anoying!

Yep time to buy a new one.if your luck and still able to access your old card then get it backed up quick.......before it goes tits up.
Sent with Desire.

Just visited the HTC customer center last week to check on this issue. Seems like its got to do with a bad batch of cards.
They replaced an identical Samsung microsd class 2 8gb card to let me use for a couple of days. Told me that If I was to still encounter the same problem, it could be problems with the card reader chasis, and I'd have to leave the phone with them for a couple of days.
I'm happy to report that I have not had 1 single "SD card removed unexpectedly" since I got the new replacement card.
I highly suggest for people facing the same problem to get their cards replaced by the seller or HTC.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App with 5 seconds of battery left

I just have the same problem like yours.
I tried many way and methods, It just can't working fine!!
so I buying another sdhc as sandisk 8G class 4
now I have no problem for two months so far.
I am reasonably to Suspected...
that the problem happends cuz this garbage samsung SDHC!!
Change it now! you'll feel like:[what a wonderful world~]

The "telus" version comes with an 8gig class 4 card but upgraded to a 16gig class 10. No problems either way.
Guess Canada nipped it in the bud

I was going fine with the stock 8Gb card and then I replaced it with a class 10 16Gb card and after about a week it started randomly ejecting. The card worked fine in other devices and can always be read in Windows but I guess it's only time - I have had another card go in the past and it's a real downer.
I'm not convinced it's the card. I've tried uninstalling any suspect apps but it hasn't made much difference.
Formatting the card and replacing all the files kind of works but I have still had one random 'eject' in the last 48hrs since I last formatted.
Actually the problem seems to have started when I re-flashed my current rom - Android_Revolution_HD-4G_4.0_beta4
Wish we could find out what is going on here.

Having the exact sample problem, but with a 16g card that I bought several month ago. I have another 16g card, will swap and see if the problem go.

I had this problem as well
So I formatted the SD Card and had the problem since...
however sometimes, it cant seem to recognise some pictures in the card, so i use SD rescanning app...

Heard someone saying this was caused by an OTA, well I had a warning around 2 days before the SD-Card Un-Mounted saying that the Card was in Read-Me format... anyway 2 days later my SD-Card became un-mounted and then became comepletely useless. I was unable to mount it or anything, going to get my dad to ring up HTC, as we rung my carrier and they said the problem 'had never been reported' which is bull**** as theres enough people here with the problem...

Is my phone killing my memory card(s)?

Ok so i had a 32gb card and it started failing on my phone, it would work sometimes or ask me to format it, sometimes it would work fine so i assumed it was about to die soon so i was able to back everything up,.
Bought a new 64gb sandisk card, the one suggested from the accessories list...well i've been using it for about a week now and it just died on me today.
doesn't even get detected...
i never formatted, it, read that this phone could support it right away...well now nothing works and i've lost everything....again!!!
this is really frustrating...i've lost some major saved games and it's depressing
could it be the phone...or was it just a bad card
i've used the original charger and battery at all times...
any clues?

krazyq said:
Ok so i had a 32gb card and it started failing on my phone, it would work sometimes or ask me to format it, sometimes it would work fine so i assumed it was about to die soon so i was able to back everything up,.
Bought a new 64gb sandisk card, the one suggested from the accessories list...well i've been using it for about a week now and it just died on me today.
doesn't even get detected...
i never formatted, it, read that this phone could support it right away...well now nothing works and i've lost everything....again!!!
this is really frustrating...i've lost some major saved games and it's depressing
could it be the phone...or was it just a bad card
i've used the original charger and battery at all times...
any clues?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look for File Restore Plus software. it will retrieve all of your lost files in your micro SD card. this happened to me a few times but this software saved my butt!

I may be wrong here but I seem to remember some people having issues withe the 64gb cards. Search around and youll probably find something.
Also check www.sdcard.org for more info on the sdxc cards and a sd formating tool that may help.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app

sd card suddenly removed ?

Hi guys, I just encountered this problem twice tonight. First, it said "the card is damaged" or something like that then all my photos disappeared (I managed to recover all of them using a recovery software). I formatted and check the card with command promt in windows. Everything was fixed then I put it back to the phone. After a while playing around with it, it said "sd card suddenly/unexpected removed" and again, photos disappeared. I've had this phone for 4 months and never had this problem before. no idea what was going on. I looked this up and it turns out many people used to have this issue with their S3. My card is 32Gb sandisk class 4. Any ideas? right now it's working fine but Im scared that it might corrupt again.

I'm not sure why you formatted it when you put it into your computer, unless it didn't give you an option but i had the same problem happen to me last week and what fixed my problem was I would have my phone's backcover off while tuning the phone on with the microsd card not inserted and after the phone fully boots up then insert your microSD card and it should fix the problem or it did for me atleast, give it a shot.

My s3 still recognized the card. The card was not dead, only the file were corrupted. I formatted it since I thought that would make it "new" again... I also checked bad sectors with windows. Right now it's working fine, I'm just afraid it might happen again and corrupt my photos.
Is class 4 too slow? I have a class 10 SanDisk 32gb but I figured testing it would be a waste of time since I had 4 straight months without problem with this class 4.

rookiegenius said:
My s3 still recognized the card. The card was not dead, only the file were corrupted. I formatted it since I thought that would make it "new" again... I also checked bad sectors with windows. Right now it's working fine, I'm just afraid it might happen again and corrupt my photos.
Is class 4 too slow? I have a class 10 SanDisk 32gb but I figured testing it would be a waste of time since I had 4 straight months without problem with this class 4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you first put the SD card into your phone months ago, did you format with the phone or the computer? It's always recommended that you format from the phone, before you use it; because it can cause weird bugs down the line. Also, are you running any customs roms or is this happening on stock?

Well I don't remember if I formatted it. I'm on rooted stock JB. I've had this card for 5 months and it has stayed in my s3 since august. There were a couple of times I took it out without un mounting (I didn't know there was an option to unmount it), but that was like months ago. I've done a little search and actually, this is a pretty common thing.

rookiegenius said:
Well I don't remember if I formatted it. I'm on rooted stock JB. I've had this card for 5 months and it has stayed in my s3 since august. There were a couple of times I took it out without un mounting (I didn't know there was an option to unmount it), but that was like months ago. I've done a little search and actually, this is a pretty common thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the same problem. It would let me view pictures and play mp3's fine, but when I tried playing a flac or video, I would get the same error. I reformatted with android and haven't had a problem since.

mattedwards2686 said:
I had the same problem. It would let me view pictures and play mp3's fine, but when I tried playing a flac or video, I would get the same error. I reformatted with android and haven't had a problem since.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It has worked fine since last night. I just reformatted it again by the phone. Hopefully this won't happen again.

Had the same issue with my S3.
Turned out that the SD card was dying (the card brand is Team Group), this caused it to be unmounted by itself and then mounted again (sometimes showing notification “sd card removed unexpectedly”), hence triggering the “Media” scanning process and significantly draining the battery.
I created an application to monitor how many times the SD card was removed, and turned out to be unmounted every ~3 mins!!!
I then bought a new Transcend 32GB Class 10 card (made in Korea), and until now, this never happens, no reports from the application whatsoever, and no media process eating my battery.
I just published this app in the play store now, this is the link:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sdcardmonitor

I had the same problem with a 32gb SanDisk class 10. Files would corrupt, it would occasionally not mount correctly, and I'd frequently get the SD card is Damaged message.
For me, it seems like it was simply a faulty card, as I have an 8GB and 16GB card that both have worked without issue. I sent the 32gb into SanDisk for warranty replacement.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

I had this problem for a while. Try formatting the card to fat32 and see if its fixed.