Develop Bugs

Cannot take pics :unable to save file to sd card due to insufficient file permissions

Hi geeks
Problem when i try to take pictures.
Does anybody have a fix for that issue "unable to save file to sd card due to insufficient file permissions".
Formatting SD or rebooting doesn't seems to fix the problem indefinitely.
error message come back after a little while.
I don't want to hard reset unless it really fix the problem!
Is it a defective sd or a bug or else ?
Many thanks
froggiedroid

HaHa, I have the same problem with taking Pics on my Desire too, I get "unable to save file to sd card due to insufficient file permissions"
I defragged my SD Card yesterday using Windows 7 defrag tool but I doubt it's damaged it long term. If I figure out a fix i'll let you know...

FIXED!
- Press Menu/Settings
- SD & Phone Storage
- Unmount SD Card
Turn off your phone then take out the SD Card. Replace the SD Card & Battery then reboot your phone. With any luck it should be working again, did the trick for me

I tried that. It works for a day or two. And then again the same issue. Any long term solutions? I am planning to send a query to HTC support. Let me see what they say.

Same problem with Evo 4G
I have an Evo 4G (from GoogleIO) and have been having the same issue. A reboot fixes it temporarily but it comes back in a day or two. Hoping HTC gives you some ideas.

It has happened to me , remove Ebuddy or any msn messenger and probably you'll be fine.

I used to get this occasionally with the 4GB card that was included with my Desire. Once I bought a new MicroSD card it stopped happening.

Same problem with Eris. I unmounted, now just formatted and still cannot take a photo. Argh

HTC aria sd card insufficient file permissions
All I did to fix this issue was reformat the SD card. In windows, go to computer management, disk management, right click on the SD card, it might be labeled as F: or E: drive, click format. I formatted mines as FAT. All done, I was now able to save pictures, and videos to my phone's SD.
EAR

If you format the fat32 and you have ext3, and it keeps happening, you'll need to remove the ext3 partition, format in fat32 the whole card. This will solve your problem permanently

Hi, I have an HTC HD2 which I recently upgraded it rom ver. 1.66.415.9. I used spb backup to get my main memory files. Somehow, in a way, I was able to get all of my files anfd programs with windows settings and registry using ROM upgrade mode without changing the rom version back to the old one. But the then when I took pictures then tried to open them in albums, they weren't saved. A probition sign (circle-backslash "no" sign) showed up. I tried to open it but an error shows up saying "unable to open this type of jpg file" and then the sign diappears, as if the image wasn't saved. I even tried saving a note file. After saving, I opened it but instead of showing the notes I wrote, symbol characters showed up as if the file was encrypted. After rebooting my mobile, the note file wasn't there. I still have enough storage space to save more files and pictures. Did anybody face the same problem that I did? Please help me and thank you in advance.

freakzone said:
If you format the fat32 and you have ext3, and it keeps happening, you'll need to remove the ext3 partition, format in fat32 the whole card. This will solve your problem permanently
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how do i know if the sd card has ext3 part or not and how do i format it? thanks

ivanakis said:
how do i know if the sd card has ext3 part or not and how do i format it? thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are on Windows machine, connect your HD2 via usb and mount your SD card. In Windows go to System Tools and Drive Manager. You should see your drive mounted as a removeable hard drive. It should be about the same size as your SD card- a 4GB card will show up as 3.7 gigs or so, a 16GB. as 15 gigs, etc.
Click on that drive and on the right side window it will tell you what kind of partition it is formatted with. You can also right-click on it to reformat it.
JUST MAKE SURE YOU ARE NOT ACCIDENTALLY FORMTTING AN EXTERNAL USB DRIVE OR HARD DRIVE

ivanakis said:
how do i know if the sd card has ext3 part or not and how do i format it? thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are on Windows machine, connect your HD2 via usb and mount your SD card. In Windows go to System Tools and Drive Manager. You should see your drive mounted as a removeable hard drive. It should be about the same size as your SD card- a 4GB card will show up as 3.7 gigs or so, a 16GB. as 15 gigs, etc.
Click on that drive and on the right side window it will tell you what kind of partition it is formatted with. You can also right-click on it to reformat it.
JUST MAKE SURE YOU ARE NOT ACCIDENTALLY FORMTTING AN EXTERNAL USB DRIVE OR HARD DRIVE

had the same problem and reboot fixed it. i thought you had to have the ext partition to do apps to sd on some of the roms. i use extended batteries and like my synister rom alot so i'd rather restart my phone occasionally to fix the issue. Usually i power down and pop in the fresh battery before heading out the door so it took a long time to notice the problem. Otherwise i'm too much of a noob to be much help but really is restarting your phone occasionally a huge deal.

I have bricked my SD Card!

I have bricked my 16G SD card
Anyone any idea how to get the stuff back off the card? I have tried putting it into a Desktop computer but the XP operating system just cant see it in File Explorer
Anyone any ideas?
Pete

Heh... Funny use of the word "bricked".
Originally, it was used to describe a phone that was broken in such a way that it could not be used as anything other than a brick.
Guess that's the way the language evolves..
Anyway, File Explorer can only read the device if the partition is ok.
If you've somehow corrupted the filetable, File Explorer won't see it.
Try this;
Right-click "My Computer"
Select "Manage"
Select "Disk management"
If you can see it as Disk# (where # is a number), you can probably delete the existing partition and create a new one.
Or if you can't see any partition data, just try to create a new one.
Good luck!

Bonzo said:
Heh... Funny use of the word "bricked".
Originally, it was used to describe a phone that was broken in such a way that it could not be used as anything other than a brick.
Guess that's the way the language evolves..
Anyway, File Explorer can only read the device if the partition is ok.
If you've somehow corrupted the filetable, File Explorer won't see it.
Try this;
Right-click "My Computer"
Select "Manage"
Select "Disk management"
If you can see it as Disk# (where # is a number), you can probably delete the existing partition and create a new one.
Or if you can't see any partition data, just try to create a new one.
Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
whats up bonzo. i got the same problem. my 16gb that came with my hd2 is unreadable and unformatable within my device and cpu. in the disk management screen, i have the sd pluged in and it says that its disk 1 and "31 MB RAW" whatever that means. how would i go about patitioning the data to restore it? i dont care about the files because i backed them up and bought another 16gb. i wanted to see if i can get this unreadable 16gb back up. thanks in advance! just a side note, ive done no physical damage to it, all ive done is add media. the sd came with the phone so it is new. one day when i tried to access a movie and the sd didnt show in file explorer.

If you have a stuffed SD card, try plugging the card into a computer, and run TestDisk and PhotoRec. Hopefully you can get the data off it.

hi,the problem with my sd card is that my touchpro2 can read it but cannot write.I am using energyrom cdma May 23 on the fone.is it possible that having my 2gig transcend card in my fone during my upgrade could ve caused the problm.formatting with my hp laptop get to 90% but then says windows cant complete format.I can still see what I ve on the card but cant remove them or add anything on the card.Any help will be appreciated.thanx u all

wocko1 said:
If you have a stuffed SD card, try plugging the card into a computer, and run TestDisk and PhotoRec. Hopefully you can get the data off it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried this but the computer can see the card as a drive - tried it in an USB stick adaptor and a hub ....no joy
Will try with windows 7 ..... possibly that better
Still stuck and dare not use my phone
PLeeeese ..... anyone any ideas ------ HELP

I'm also having problems with a 16GB SD card in my HTC Hero. My phone is rooted and I'm using the Amon-Ra 1.6.2 Recovery Image.
Booting into recovery mode I go to Partition SDCard, set 0MB for SWAP, 1024MB for EXT2 and the remainder for FAT32. Everything seems to go ok, but having installed some apps on my phone, my internal memory is lower than I would have expected. I've installed Quick System Info Pro and it tells me that it can't get any information for Apps2SD. I'm also having difficulties when copying data to the FAT32 partition, both when the card is in the phone and when it's plugged into a USB port on my computer.
Taking the advice to run testdisk, it reports the following:
Check FAT: unusual media descriptor (0xf0! = 0xf8)
Warning: Incorrect number of heads/cylinder 4 (FAT)! = 255 (HD)
Warning: Incorrect number of sectors per track 16 (FAT)! = 63 (HD)
1 P FAT32 LBS 0 0 2 1915 49 17 30767578
No EXT2, JFS, Reiser Cramfs or XFS Marker
2 P LINUX 1915 49 18 2039 181 62 2000421
2 P LINUX 1915 49 18 2039 181 62 2000421
No Partition is bootable
Can anyone help me decipher this? Am I right in thinking that the three warnings are simply because it's a memory card rather than a hard disk? Also, why is it showing that I've got 2 LINUX partitions?
Does anyone have any suggestions for getting it working? Is it worth making a live linux (Ubuntu?) CD and creating the partitions under that or can I do it while the card is in the phone using adb?
OR, is my SDCard busted?

Windows can't touch to removable (usb pendrive/SD) partition table, you need to use linux for remake it
Also, only one partition, Windows can see only one SD/USB partition

desmopro said:
Windows can't touch to removable (usb pendrive/SD) partition table, you need to use linux for remake it
Also, only one partition, Windows can see only one SD/USB partition
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mean it can only see one pen drive at a time?

he means it wont read more than 1 partition on a single drive, I re-wrote a usb key once for USB booting and somehow messed up the partitions, but HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool seemed to sort it

Well, I've since found a guide on here, written a few years back, to manually create partitions using adb shell and parted, and I've even resorted to downloading Ubuntu and using the LiveCD to boot my PC into Linux and then using the disk tools under that, and I'm STILL having issues.
I can create a FAT32 partition without any problems, the difficulties are coming when I then try to create an EXT2 partition; I get a read/write error.
So, all of this suggests to me that my SDCard is bricked and I need to send it back and get it replaced! Unless of course, anyone has any other suggestions?

enzydroid said:
Well, I've since found a guide on here, written a few years back to manually create partitions using adb shell and parted, and I've even resorted to downloading Ubuntu and using the LiveCD to boot my PC into Linux and then using the disk tools under that, and I'm STILL having issues.
I can create a FAT32 partition without any problems, the difficulties are coming when I then try to create an EXT2 partition; I get a read/write error.
So, all of this suggests to me that my SDCard is bricked and I need to send it back and get it replaced! Unless of course, anyone has any other suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
are you using gparted in ubuntu? when i created mine for my hero, i had to tick one of the boot optiosn in gparted
also how is it connected to the pc?

Yes, I was using gparted in ubuntu, set to 'master boot record' I think it was. I've got a usb key with an adaptor for the micro sdcard.

enzydroid said:
Yes, I was using gparted in ubuntu, set to 'master boot record' I think it was. I've got a usb key with an adaptor for the micro sdcard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
keep on messing about with it, Its rare they die unless its been write to over 250,000 times of you have been trying to smoke it

I quit smoking nearly 3 months ago now!
Just to clarify, I create the FAT32 partition first, then the EXT2 partition. Am I right in setting it up with a master boot record (I think that's the option within gparted)?
Regarding the EXT2 partition, do I need to take ownership of it or just leave it for SU access only?
Cheers

may i know which partition you set as boot.?
i've tried to set fat32(boot),ext2,linux-swap still does not work. should i set all partition as boot. is there any limit on the size for ext2 and linux-swap partition?
how you partition the sdcard? connect to pc using usb card adapter or connect to pc using the phone?

How to restore SD card

After running Myns Warn Doughnut from the miniSD I can no longer delete any files or reformat the miniSD card. I've tried formating it when synced in WM6 and using Format Flash 2.85. Nothing can touch this card. It reports no errors when deleting or formating...but no files are ever removed. What's the deal? There is no "write protect" switch on a mini, right?

tonyzoc said:
After running Myns Warn Doughnut from the miniSD I can no longer delete any files or reformat the miniSD card. I've tried formating it when synced in WM6 and using Format Flash 2.85. Nothing can touch this card. It reports no errors when deleting or formating...but no files are ever removed. What's the deal? There is no "write protect" switch on a mini, right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, there's no switch (unless you use SD adapter and try to format from computer). Probably the best option is to use card reader and to format card from the computer.
P.S. I thought HTC TyTN II (Kaiser) supports only MicroSD, but you've mentioned MiniSD, strange

Make sure your micro SD card adapter which you will undoubtedly use in your card reader does not have a lock switch, i've been caught out by that before.

Sorry...microSD....(I use miniSD on my Tornado)...
I've misplaced my micro to SD adapter so I'm trying to format on the phone itself, either through ActiveSync browsing or on the phone with Flash Format. Guess I'll need to pick up an adapter. Why can't I delete any files? Maybe the card is defective?

THe card may indeed have a problem, but a reformat using a card adaptor/card reader should fix this, had a similar problem with an older 2gb SD, reformatting sorted that out.
Running from SD does raise the risk of a bad block failure, since SD cards are really storage media, using them in the same way as an HDD makes it more likely to wear quicker than normal.

The plot thickens....
Ok...I got my Transcend SD card adapter...the microSD reports to be write protected....
I tried the following with the SD Card adapter on my MSi Wind Netbook:
Formating...it won't let me.
Booting Puppy Linux and tried GParted to blow away the partition...it wouldn't let me.
Booting into OSX and trying to detroy or format the partition with Disk Utility...no dice.
I tried another card, a 128Mb, and it worked ok...although I did have some trouble getting it to read initially.
Could have a bad SD Card adapter....
Or a defective microSD card...
I was able to format the 128Mb microSD on the phone with Flash Format with no problem.
Is it possible the 8gb microSD is write protected at a file level (actual permissions). I did try changing them in Puppy Linux.
So $40 on eBay gets me a 16gb Class 4....hmmmm
P.S. more info:
I can read the card with no problem both on the phone and the computer.
I do have Android running off the microSD.

One more comment....
The Android boot menu offers an option to "Fix Permissions". I tried that and it didn't change anything...but!
If there are permissions to fix, then the Android on the SD card must be setting permissions on the install. Maybe this is the cause of the read only status of the microSD card (?). Is there a way to remove Android from the microSD card via that menu? or is there a command line ability to change permissions of the whole microSD card recursively?
I already ordered a 16gb card and I'm going to throw the problem one away as soon as I get the new one, but I'm hoping to salvage the old one if possible....also, I don't want this same issue to happen on the new card.

The only way I can think of is perhaps to repartition the card, that should, in theory, wipe everything.
Since you must be using a card adaptor, doe this have a write protect tab? some do, if not I'd check to see if there is an obstruction that is somehow making the card reader think that the Sd is write protected.
Regards 'fix permissions', this fixes the file permissions of a number of system files, usually only needed after installing an update. I'm not sure how this would make an SD write protected, since as far as I know it only fixes the owner and user bits of the files.

tonyzoc said:
One more comment....
The Android boot menu offers an option to "Fix Permissions". I tried that and it didn't change anything...but!
If there are permissions to fix, then the Android on the SD card must be setting permissions on the install. Maybe this is the cause of the read only status of the microSD card (?). Is there a way to remove Android from the microSD card via that menu? or is there a command line ability to change permissions of the whole microSD card recursively?
I already ordered a 16gb card and I'm going to throw the problem one away as soon as I get the new one, but I'm hoping to salvage the old one if possible....also, I don't want this same issue to happen on the new card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd do like that:
Boot Linux (Live CD or installed system (if you have it)).
1. Enter command (into terminal): sudo gparted
I. Try to unmount MicroSD (not to eject)
II. Delete partition
III. Save changes
IV. Create new partition
V. Save changes
2. If gParted failed, then go to System -> Administration -> Disk utility and try to do the same steps.
3. Enter command: sudo nautilus (or another file browser).
If you still won't be able to delete data - problem definitely isn't in the permissions.
4. Maybe bad SD adapter. You should find someone who has normal card reader (sorry, I live too far from you ) which supports reading directly from MicroSD (without SD adapter).
EDIT:
5. Some adapters and older card readers doesn't support MicroSDHC. Cards up to 2 GB are simple MicroSD and you won't have problems even with old readers.
Starting from 4 GB there's only MicroSDHC (HC stands for High Capacity) cards. This technology is newer and that's why some adapters (maybe even HTC TyTN II) might face some problems.

RE: Card
Hi,
plug it into PC with linux open terminal (firt look to device id) and write.
$sudo mkfs fat 32/dev/sdb - SUDO(superuser do) MKFS- FORMATE !!! , format, /dev/-device which U formate.
BUT DETECT first what /dev/is sdcard.
OR do it thru GPARTED.

Write protect tab i on the adapter s not an issue. I tested it with another card and it works fine...also I can't write to or format (using Flash Format) the microSD on the phone without an adatper. Also, I tried repartitioning with GParted off a Puppy Linux boot, with DiskUtility on a Mac OSX boot, and with fdisk on a windows boot. The disk is untouchable.

I tried this with puppy linux with has gparted on it. Thought the disk is recognize (sdc1) , after I dismount it doesn't show up at all in gparted. I can't select the drive as it's not seen.
I also tried a low level format with HDDGURU Low Level Format tool. I tried deleting the partition with DiskUtility on OSX and Windows Disk Manager....no dice.
The adpater I have is the Transcend adapter that came with the card. Also, It works fine with 2 other cards I have (128mb and 2 gb) so I doubt it's the adapter.
Vytelo said:
I'd do like that:
Boot Linux (Live CD or installed system (if you have it)).
1. Enter command (into terminal): sudo gparted
I. Try to unmount MicroSD (not to eject)
II. Delete partition
III. Save changes
IV. Create new partition
V. Save changes
2. If gParted failed, then go to System -> Administration -> Disk utility and try to do the same steps.
3. Enter command: sudo nautilus (or another file browser).
If you still won't be able to delete data - problem definitely isn't in the permissions.
4. Maybe bad SD adapter. You should find someone who has normal card reader (sorry, I live too far from you ) which supports reading directly from MicroSD (without SD adapter).
EDIT:
5. Some adapters and older card readers doesn't support MicroSDHC. Cards up to 2 GB are simple MicroSD and you won't have problems even with old readers.
Starting from 4 GB there's only MicroSDHC (HC stands for High Capacity) cards. This technology is newer and that's why some adapters (maybe even HTC TyTN II) might face some problems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

That pretty much confirms it then, I'm afraid the SD is no more, it has shuffled of this mortal coil, it has ceased to be, it is an ex-SD card.

[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

[mini-Howto][Live CD/Linux] SD Card Recovery Using Testdisk

So I have an old SD card that for some reason or another I keep using because I haven't gotten around to replacing the replacement I did get that doesn't work (sad tale of a Sandisk Class10 32GB card that I've seen from a handful of other people).
Anyway, I've had to do this a number of times now and it's worked pretty well. First of all, if your disk is crashing this way, there's probably something wrong with it, and there's a chance that your data will not be recoverable, or it will be recoverable and it is corrupted and it might take time to figure out how it's corrupted.
Basically, I get a warning from Android that there's something wrong with the SD disk and apps rely on the SD card will slowly stop functioning until it crashes. After this it pretty much just locks up and is unusable. This is the procedure I use when there's no partition information on the drive and the disk just appears to be empty. I run Linux on my systems so I just use run testdisk natively but there appear to be some Live CD's that have testdisk installed for everyone.
Mount your SD Card following your usual methods with a USB reader of built-in laptop card reader. Hopefully you have one.
Figure out which /dev represents your SD care. Normally I just open gparted (probably some variation of just finding it in your system tools or gksudo gparted or gparted from the command line). If that's not an option some combination of the following may give you some info to help you figure out which disk is causing the problem.
Code:
ls -l /dev/disk/by-id
ls -l /dev/mm*
ls -l /dev/sd*
The nice thing about gparted is that it will show you which partitions are formatted, and if your results are like mine you will see your ext4/ext3 SD-ext partition has survived with your apps intact, but no dice for the storage portion of your card. You could mount your SD-ext partition and copy the data if you wanted, or use dd to copy it but you have other backups, right? Oh, your Titanium Backup files are on your SD data drive. You don't rsync to a server..? OK, we'll get to that...If you want a chance of recovering your files remember your /dev path (why you opened gparted) and close gparted before you do something stupid.
Start testdisk in your favourite terminal emulator with... wait for it...
Code:
testdisk
And this is the part where I tell you exactly what to do but can't actually remember and always just bumble around until I find what I'm looking for - so I Googled it for you.
But to summarize after starting the program, you'll need to select the correct disk (/dev) and tell testdisk what type of partition your disk uses (pick intel!)
You can try using analyze to write a new partition table. This doesn't seem to help the problem I have with my disk but it hasn't hurt my recovery efforts either. Make the copy first and then try to recover partitions after, just to be safe.
To get your files back you want the advanced menu and the undelete option. Say what? Undelete?
Basically this feature is meant to let you copy deleted files off a camera card, USB hard drive etc. so once it's done it's voodoo to read the files on your broken partition it will show you all the files on your partition, not just the deleted ones (in red). Several filesystems will just leave junk on the drive until it gets overwritten later so many of these deleted files may be partially overwritten already.
Just highlight everything, if you can manage to not highlight the red things you're ahead of me.
Now press "c" to copy the selected files just like the program tells you. Follow the prompts to choose a destination folder. You probably want to copy it all into an empty file so it's easy to copy back.
If you copied all the deleted files on your disk you probably deleted a bunch of junk you no longer need and will needlessly fill up your SD card with files when you copy everything back. You might want to clean that up now.
Put the SD card in your phone and start fresh with a full format of the SD card in 4ext recovery.
With you newly minted partitions ready to receive data, you can use the toggle USB storage button to put your data back on the phone. I believe this is the recommended way to write data on the card. This will put all your backups/ROMs on the SD card so you can reflash everything and start recovering your data from your backups. You do have backups, right?
Hopefully this helps someone!