Problems with the SD card - General Accessories

Hi everybody. Not sure where to post this question, so please move if this is not the most suitable place.
Yesterday I bought a new 32GB microSDHC card casas 10. I then proceeded to partition it, creating one FAT32 partition and one EXT2 partition using the Minitool Partition Wizard on Windows XP. I then copied a few flashable zips with ROMs on them to try out.
This morning, as I set out to flash a new ROM, I noticed on the instructions that I needed a third SWAP partition. So I went back to the drawing board and created one. So far so good.
Except that then a few strange things happened:
* Partition wizard, after giving me the thumbs up, did not recognize the 2 partitions it had supposedly created (I restarted the program, unplugged and re-plugged the card, etc.). So I "un-partitioned" (sic) and re-partitioned. I hope this didn't screw anything up. Only later did I read that this was normal because XP does not recognize EXT2 or SWAP, which is why the wizard was showing it all as an "unallocated" lump.
* Although windows saw the files on the SD card, it did not allow me to transfer new any new ones. The system told me the device was not ready and asked me whether I wanted to format. After trying a few times, I ended up accepting, but the formatting process failed. ...or maybe it was at first and then no more, can't remember. Thing is, there are no more files on the card (which is fine, no need to recover them)
These things didn't happen in this particular order, rather, it was a going back and forth with both issues, including a request from partition manager to re-start, only to get a message saying partitioning was not possible because the file system had changed (???). It did go through upon retrying though (no re-start required)
Now:
1. partition wizard sees the sd card, but windows explorer doesn't.
2. partition wizard sees it as fully used up (no free memory left), even though there is nothing on it
3. partition wizard found the whole card to have errors in every sector but won't give me options to correct them.
4. windows is still unable to either format or explore the sd card
Wiping did not help. Formatting and resizing are not an option. I could delete the partition, but at this point I'm afraid of what that would do. No need to recover anything, but I would hate to have to go out again and get a new card.
Can you please help me?
Thanks!

ok, spent some more time scouring the web, and something occured to me... could it be that by doing a DoD wipe with Minitool partition wizard I re-wrote the partition (which is why it is full) and also protected it (which is can't re-format)?
of course, that doesn't answer the question of why windows XP (and windows 7 on my other machine) won't recognize the card....
PS. apologies for the double post , but seeing as there were 36 views and no replies, i thought I'd let people see that there was additional information here... hope that's alright

Your problem could be windows since when it sees a USB or HDD with ext2 it thinks its corrupted and asks to format and fails...
from what i know ext2 is used for linux so i would try your program on a linux distro. i could be wrong though
it might not help using windows xp
good luck

After reading both of your posts I have no idea what type of device you have. That is the first step, check out your devices General or Q&A forums.
Look at the top of the browser window, see where it says Find Your Device... type in the first few letters of the name and see if it doesn't come up there. The first and best source of information like you are asking for is in there, or if you can't find it by searching, it is the best place to ask.
Also, since you are new to XDA, I would suggest giving this guide a read as it may answer some of your questions and help you find out where to look for the answers.
[GUIDE] How to be a New User (and not a noob)

Thx. The device is an htc wildfire s, but I don't see how that is relevant.
What I have is a microsdhc card that has no data on it yet is full.
Although the card has been used, it suddenly requires formatting. However, neither win xp, nor win 7, nor partition wizaed, nor my camera nor Recovery on my phone are able to successfully format.
Now when I plug it into either PC (win xp and windows 7) the system no longer recognizes it when I go into My PC, whereas partition wizard (running on both those systems) can.
And now I wonder whether the DoD wipe of the partition could be to blame...
Isn't it fair to sy that the issue s device-neutral?

I think your problem may be Windows, because when it sees a USB or hard drive with ext2 that damage to the required format and failure Check your equipment in general

shuiguo said:
I think your problem may be Windows, because when it sees a USB or hard drive with ext2 that damage to the required format and failure Check your equipment in general
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for this. In the end, I gave up and bought a new card, formatted it properly from the start, and am a happy camper
...except of course for the fact that the total for the 2 sd cards adds up to half the cost fo my phone...

maximum sd card??

^^ wat do u mean maxium sd card??

Related

microSD card corrupted...

I decided to replace the 512 MB card in my Cingular 8525 with a 2 GB card. When I put the 512 card in its adaptor, the PC read the directory, showed a FAT format, but would not copy/read/or otherwise manipulate any of the files. I plugged the card back into the 8525 and found that it couldn't even see it. Giving up on any kind of file recovery, I tried to reformat it in the PC, but then IT couldn't detect the card! After I played with it awhile, I finally got it to start the format process, but it always failed just before the "green line got to the end" and, after several attempts, it reported "disk cannot be formatted."
Is there any way I can save this card, or is it a (VERY small) boat anchor?
I've seen yesterday in the Sandisk site and somebody told me that they have some kind of software tool (file recover, unformat, etc.), that's very capable, unfortunately it is not free, there's a trial version (does not allow to save any files). Sofware's name is "Rescue Pro", if you can get yourself a copy you might give it a try.
Another thing about an SD (in my experience), I'm talking about a Verbatim 512MB SD, i borrow it to a friend, when he was giving it back, just cancelled all his things up, stopped the card reader (from XP), extracted the SD and it was dead, fortunately I had kept my proof of purchase and they (Verbatim) exchanged it with a new one (in europe the warranty is at least 2 year long), they asked me to send it to Ireland to check if it could be recovered and within three weeks (just because there was christmas in the middle) I got a new one back.
hope this helps
Try putting it in a Digital Camera with SD Slot (put in SD Adapter first;-))
Then format it via your Digital Camera
Or
Download VaioSoft Recovery Manager and try to format with that one
http://vaiosoft.com/products/recoverymanager.htm
Eelcol
that link is not working please post another link for that software
What PQI support suggests
I´ve had trouble with PQI miniSD cards, so I asked support from PQI on corrupted files, this is their answer in order to check if the card is damaged or not and includes several tips on using memory cards, it´s alittle bit long to read, but maybe it worths, so here it goes:
Some hints of using flash memory cards
1. Do NOT remove the memory card while it is operating, otherwise it may be
damaged.
2. Do NOT turn off the device, while the operation of writing /reading is
not completed.
3. When the battery power of system is low, do not write to the memory card to prevent loss of data.
4. Make sure the device (card reader/phone/camera/pda/camcorder) has finished reading/writing to the card before you take another shot/turn it off or the data will be corrupt/lost and the card will be damaged. You can tell by the device indicator light where it flashes when it is reading and writing to the card. Wait until the indicator light is off and stops flashing before you take another shot/turn the device off or remove the card/drive.
Before you continue, please make sure you have a reader that can read and write to 2GB card properly. DO NOT use in built-in reader on laptop and desktop, or old readers made 2 years or longer ago, because these readers can only use up to 1GB card. I recommend using it in external USB 2.0 reader that is made within 1 year ago.
If you do not have such reader, then connect the device (gps/camera/pda/camcorder) to the computer with USB cable and the card inserted and if works you should see new drive letters show up under My Computer.
Otherwise, if used in devices that do not support the 2GB card, the card will be damaged.
Please try the following troubleshooting guide first and see if it can solve the problem. Try one step at a time. If one works, then you can stop trying. You don't need to try all of them.
The following guide will erase all the data on the drive/card. So make sure you backup your data first before you try the steps below:
1. First, remove the card/drive from your computer.
Download the low level format tool below to your computer.
http://hddguru.com/download/software/HDDGURU-Low-Level-Format-Tool/LLFsetup.2.36.1181.exe
Install the program into your computer.
You should see a new icon called "Hard Disk Low Level Format Tool".
a. Insert the card/drive and run the program.
IMPORTANT!!! MAKE SURE YOU SELECT THE CORRECT DISK OR YOUR COMPUTER MAY NOT START LATER!!!
It should shows as BUS: USB. Select the BUS: USB. Also check the size and make sure.
If you don't see BUS: USB, that means the card is unreadable and need to be replaced. In this case, please STOP here and close the program and DO NOT continue below.
b. Then click Continue->Low Level Format->Format this Device.
c. Wait for a few minutes until it finish successfully with a message of asking you to partition and format it. (if you see formatting error, you can stop the formatting and the card needs to be replaced.)
d. Flash Card:
Put the card back to your device (camera/phone/pda/camcorder) and then use the format utility in the device to format the card.
Please let me know your test results. Thanks.
Reference: Program homepage
http://hddguru.com/content/en/software/2006.04.12-HDD-Low-Level-Format-Tool/
2. Please go to the site below:
http://www.sdcard.org/Downloads.aspx
Please try to download the software sdfv2000.exe (for windows only) and the manual for your reference.
Install the sdfv2000.exe in your computer, then insert the card into the card reader (if you do not have reader, you can try to connect your device to the computer with USB cable) and then run it:
a. Check the drive letter and also the size and make sure it is the correct card.
b. Click Option:
Format Type: Full Erase ON
Format Size Adjustment: ON
c. Click OK, then click Format. Wait until it finish.
d. You will be prompted to remove the card after it finish. Then go ahead and insert it in your (camera/pda/camcorder etc) and see.
16. T-mobile MDA (cannot format 2GB mini SD card)
Please install the software below to your phone (you can download the free trial):
http://www.pdatopsoft.com/PocketPC/StorageTools---Analyze,-Defragment,-Verify,-Repair-and-Format
Then use the Storage Tools software above to format the card and see.
does this method also apply on mini sd and mmc rs dv cards?????
Actually this was given for miniSD´s
Awais said:
does this method also apply on mini sd and mmc rs dv cards?????
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I assume that this applies to all types of SD cards, I don´t know about the others.
Awais said:
that link is not working please post another link for that software
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://vaiosoft.com
goto recovery manager
Eelco
luiggi said:
I assume that this applies to all types of SD cards, I don´t know about the others.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
is there any technical differnece between mmc and sd cards???/
cuz we can also use mmc or rs dv cards in htc devices but sd card is not useable for nokia and other mmc supported sets
Thanks for all of the input! I tried formating it with my camera with no success, then took the easy way out: I took it back where I bought it and got it replaced.
I'm filing this information away for next time, though! Thanks again.
Awais said:
is there any technical differnece between mmc and sd cards???/
cuz we can also use mmc or rs dv cards in htc devices but sd card is not useable for nokia and other mmc supported sets
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SD cards where made to improve the lack of speed of MMC cards, also they include the writing protection/lock, it is the small switch you see in one side of the SD.
Also, SD cards are slightly different from MMCs phisically, SDs are thicker than MMCs (that's why you cannot put them in a Nokia phone), the electrical specs should by backwards compatible (aside from phisycal differences).
Recently some updatings/improvements have been done to MMC specs, they claim to be the fastest memory card technology available, there are MMC plus, etc.
I know all these things that I read recently (I just can't remember where).
hope this info can be used, and one last thing is that information on this subject can be found easily on the net, it's juest a matter of look for it, personally I like a lot an electronics web site: www.epanorama.net
thanks for the useful info and that link too
hmm today i got a miniSD topram, 2gb and it worked fine it was fat format i believe so i went to the winxp format utility and formated with fat32 16k everything seemed to work fine then i put it in the pda phone and nothing it did not see it, so then i put it back in the PC to format back to fat and nothing it does not see the card now at all
what happend i have been trying a million apps to some how force a format but none have worked, windows pretty much hangs while trying to read the card and at end says there is no media there, so do other apps
Low level format
losborn said:
I'm filing this information away for next time, though! Thanks again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Low level format tool once done good job for me
http://www.killdisk.com/
I would proberbly say its fubarred, but you could try using software like SCAN DISK and carios other things.
Memory card fixes
Guys
We've seen this issue quite a bit lately.. Memory card simply locks up Windows when inserted.. It seems to be related to a flakey FAT table on the card. Formatting does nothing... Disk manager can't deal with it either..
The solution we found that worked was to use Paragon Partition Tools to remove the partition table on the card.. Recreate it.. then reformat..
Unless the card is physically cactus, it works every time..
Good luck!
Andy
www.pressdigital.com.au
Press Digital Support Team
???
any link for a free-ware partitioning tool !!!
wanna know more about erasing and recreating partition table on micro-sd cards
http://hddguru.com/download/software....2.36.1181.exe
Thank you, Luigi.
This work perfectly. My microSD 2GB was formated a 1GB and with this program now is all OK. I have microSD a 2GB again.
memory card recovery
This tool can help you to recover your files from damaged media.
www softorbits com/flash-drive-recovery
This device cannot be accessed because it is smaller than 65535 sectors.
:crying: It says "This device cannot be accessed because it is smaller than 65535 sectors" when I tried to low level format using LLFT.
---------- Post added at 07:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:08 PM ----------
losborn said:
Thanks for all of the input! I tried formating it with my camera with no success, then took the easy way out: I took it back where I bought it and got it replaced.
I'm filing this information away for next time, though! Thanks again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good for you. But I'm still getting headache as I can't contact the manufacturer.
I had formatted the micro SD card in ext4 format for using with app2SD. I had it in 2 partitions.
And then after a while, the card stopped functioning (with so little and useless 30MB storage).
I had tried things like recovery, formatting, partition recovery.
Nothing can return it to original state. I just want it to be blank. It's ok I lost all the data.

8GB MicroSDHC Card

Hi -
I purchased the 8GB MicroSDHC card from Verizon a week ago. It worked fine on my AT&T Tilt for a few days and than it lost all information! Fortunately, I was able to restore from backup, and it seems to be OK again. Here's the strange part: even though the original files and directories are gone, the card still counts them in used memory. I.e., the used memory is about 200 MB more than it should be, the amount of space I was using before the card crashed. This applies whether I check the memory on the device, connected by USB, or with the Card Adapter that came with the card.
Any ideas what might be causing this and how to recover the used memory short of reformatting the card?
Thanks!
If you could tell us what you did for it to crash it would help
You probably tried to partition it or something...?
Looks like you will have to format the whole card.
Maybe there is a simple way to do this but here is how i would do, if it helps :
- install WM5Storage on your PDA main memory
- start wm5storage with the option memory card and connect your PDA to your PC
Activsync then wont be sync'ing and your memory card will be seen from your PC as an USB-key. Open it on your PC and check to make sure it is your memory card that you see (and not your PDA main memory).
Then use whatever format tool to format your "USB key" with FAT like format, for example you can use HPtool (be carefull to format the key and not another drive !!!).
After this do not forget to turn off wm5storage, otherwise you will not be able to "see" the memory card on PDA side...
Hope it helps, let us know...
by the way maybe you could try this :
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk
I've used it sometimes when i had started to format a hard drive instead of an usb key by mistake.
Windows was asking for formating everytime i wanted to open the hard drive folder. However, using this Testdisk tool, i was able to mount the hard drive and recover everything including my photos and music and stuff... Maybe you want to try this awesome tool, plus it is free and OpenSource.
Use wm5storage tool to use your PDA as an usb-key, then use Testdisk on this usb-drive, it might be able to see, list and recover all the "lost" files and heal the whole partition at same time.
Thanks for the suggestions - I'll post again when I have the chance to try them -
No luck
Had a similar problem with my Kaiser (HTC Rom). Yesterday I did something (don't know if it was memmaid - my guess, because otherwise I just installed some cabs I had previously installed in my Wizard with no problem) and my SanDisk 6 GB MicroSD was completely 'erased".
I just noticed after the Kaiser had created new folders over it (Application Data, Cookies, History and Temporary Intenet Folders). My assumption is that something destroyed my partition table (that's why I suspect memmaid, it may have cleaned something wrong) and now I have another partition over the old one.
I tried file recovery and found 1 GB good of files, but there were 5 Gigs on the card... I really wanted to find "program files" so I didn't have to re-install lots of stuff, but no luck.
Tried Testdisk as suggested above, but it never detects any partition, not even the current one. I guess I will have to reformat it and re-do all stuff.
Well, I may be saying lots of dumb stuff, but that's my guess.
Thanks if there is any possible help in this...
Ah, and when I insert the card via a card reader in my notebook and right click properties, it says 717MB free, which means my old files are there waiting for me (new folders have only 736KB of data)... What to do?
Guys need advise do you have to do any patch to be able to use 4-8GB mini SDHC card on your PDA?
I have a Asus P535. Have asked their support site and the reply I got is the max supported is only 4GB.
I believe I've read in more than one place that the Kaiser may support up to 32 Gig, which is the MicroSD maximum. But I may be wrong...
Fact is this has never happened with my Wizard and its 1 Gig MiniSD. Now I'm gonna increase backup and cloning so I don't have to reinstall everything...
But I'll check if there is a patch anyway. Thanks.
I am able to use Sandisk microSDHC 8GB can on Asus P535.
But need a micro adapter to miniSD
mbernstein said:
Ah, and when I insert the card via a card reader in my notebook and right click properties, it says 717MB free, which means my old files are there waiting for me (new folders have only 736KB of data)... What to do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Click properties and then click theTools tab. Run Error-checking with both options checked. When you check your card, you will hopefully see a new directory with recovered files. You can then delete them and regain your disk space. This is what worked for me -
Thanks. I tried that at the time to no avail. I did have to reformat, and then reinstall everything... Now I'm using Sprite Backup, so everything including Storage Card is backed up in case this thing happens again.
And/Or said:
Click properties and then click theTools tab. Run Error-checking with both options checked. When you check your card, you will hopefully see a new directory with recovered files. You can then delete them and regain your disk space. This is what worked for me -
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It could be WINXP patch
I have the Sandisk 8G , it came with a small USB reader and all was working fine. However my ASUS W5 laptop also has a built-in SD slot so I installed a patch issued by Microsoft to make it HCSD compatible, and it read and write it OK but then I suddenly got the same problem that you've described here.
The disk goes blank but the files still occupy the space, even attempting to reformat the card in the built-in slot will ignore that space,i.e it shows only 5G card.
But reformatting using the small USB card reader was fine and from now on I only use the cardreader to read and write and everything is OK. In my view the XP patch was causing that problem

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?

[GUIDE][9-JAN] How to partition your SD card correctly for APPS2SD+ ROMS.

It seems many people are having issues partitioning their SD card for use with Apps2SD+ ROMS using the additional EXT4 partition.
Here is a guide to the method that worked for me. I am not responsible for any loss of data on your phone or PC as a result of following this guide. Read the steps clearly and understand them BEFORE you do anything. Failure to understand the steps involved could see you wiping data from your PC's hard drive with no warning messages to tell you what you are about to do. You have been warned!
Firstly, I couldn't get Partition Wizard for Windows to work. If anyone else has been successful with it please let me know and I will update this post.
Before you start, BACK UP all your data from the SD card. It will all be erased from your SD card during this process.
Although this works on a phone which has already been flashed with an APPS2SD+ compatible ROM. I strongly suggest starting with a freshly flashed ROM with no apps installed before doing this to ensure ALL additionally downloaded and installed apps are installed on to the partition, leaving the maximum possible storage space remaining on your phone.
Here are the steps....
1. Download a copy of GPARTED-LIVE from here. Use your favourite CD burning software to burn the image to CD. The image is bootable so make sure you do not leave the CD as open session when you burn it. This is the software we will use to partition the SD card later on.
2. Start with a freshly formatted SD card with a single FAT32 partition. This can be created using whatever tool you prefer. Use the default cluster size setting. I use the Disk Management tool in Windows under Administrative Tools in Control Panel. You can perform this step by inserting the SD into your PC or mounting it on your PC via the phone.
3. Once formatted with a single partition, insert the SD Card into the phone, disconnect the phone from the PC if it is connected. You may find depending on your rom that the card is recognised as damaged. Don't worry.
4. Format the SD card again using your phone. This is done via SETTINGS - SD & PHONE STORAGE. The SD Card should now mount as normal and your phone should report "Preparing SD Card".
DO NOT COPY ANY FILES OVER TO THE SD CARD YET. Android will have copied over its standard files after formatting so do not delete these, but don't add anything else yet.
5. Once the SD card is formatted and prepared, unmount the SD card and remove it from the phone and insert it back into the PC. You may also connect it to the PC via the phone. If you are using the phone to connect it to the PC at this stage I highly recommend booting into MAGLDR and selecting the Mass Storage Mode option to connect it to the computer. This ensures Android will not try and access it while we are partitioning it.
6. With the SD card now recognised by the PC, reboot your PC from the GPARTED-LIVE CD you burned in step 1. This may take a while to load depending on your PC. Follow the on screen prompts until GPARTED loads correctly.
7. With GPARTED now loaded, select your SD card using the selection in the top right hand side of the GPARTED window. Ensure you have selected the correct storage device by ensuring the capacity is reported correctly. BE VERY CAREFUL NOT TO MES WITH YOUR COMPUTERS HAR DRIVE!! If you are not sure at this stage, please do not proceed as you risk wiping data from your PC. GPARTED will not warn you if you are about to damage system files as you might expect it to.
8. Once selected, you should see a single FAT32 partition displayed with a chart which span the top of the window. Click on "Resize/Move" and drag the slider from the RIGHT across to the LEFT to create an area of unallocated space the size you wish to use for your apps. 1GB should be enough in most cases. It is very important to make sure that the FAT32 partition appears IN FRONT of the unallocated space. Once satisfied, click OK.
9. Right click in the unallocated space you created in the chart and click "Create". A new dialog box should appear. Modify the settings so that the partition is set to "ext4". Leave the cluster size set to "default". Click OK.
10. Back in the main GPARTED screen, you should now see two partitions in the chart, the first being your original FAT32 partition and then to the right is your new EXT4 partition. Click "APPLY" and the changes will be made to the SD card. THIS IS IMPORTANT as no changes are made to your SD card until you click apply. If you miss this step, you will have to start over from step 6 again.
11. Once changes are reported as completed, shut down your PC and remove the SD card. Insert it into your phone and boot the phone. If you connected your SD to the PC via MAGLDR, press the power/hang up key to return to the main menu and choose to boot from NAND.
DONE!!!!!!!
Once the phone is booted (may take a little longer than usual) go back to SETTINGS - SD & PHONE STORAGE and you should see your phone's available storage reported as around 20-40MB less than the total storage capacity. This will vary between different ROMS. Don't expect it to read any higher than it did before you did this if you haven't installed any apps yet.
Check to see that your SD storage is reported as the correct size corresponding with the new size of your FAT32 partition.
Now go ahead and install your apps. You will notice that the phone storage capacity does decrease as you install apps, but the next time you reboot, it should jump back up again. That's what happens on my phone anyway.
Once you are satisfied that all is well, you can connect your SD to the PC again and copy across your data to the FAT32 partition.
Another thing to note is that you don't need to format the EXT4 partition when changing ROMS. As it only stores the applications, when booting for the first time with a new APPS2SD+ supported ROM, it will automatically show up with all your apps and widgets installed. Preferences and widgets will need to be reset however.
I hope this guide helps. Thanks again to all the amazing developers here at XDA who make all this possible, as well as the wonderful community of volunteers and members who keep this show running.
reserved for possible updates and additional methods.
First, thank you for ur tutorial.
But there's a point that make me confused:
"Click on "Resize/Move" and drag the slider from the LEFT across to the right to create an area of unallocated space the size you wish to use for your apps."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"Back in the main GPARTED screen, you should now see two partitions in the chart, the first being your original FAT32 partition and then to the right is your new EXT4 partition"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It'll be easier if you post a screenshot or just a simple pic drawed by MsPaint to see the partition after format.
Thank you anyway.
yes, some screenshots would be very nice. and maybe this thread should be stickie, very useful! thank you for the guide, i will use this as soon as i have a rom with this support.
You have a little misstyped error in step 11..
You insert the card back into phone, not PC
Great guide, gparted is also part of Ubuntu which is what i used!
Cheers
Thanks for the corrections guys. I have amended the original post.
As for screenshots. It's difficult when I am using a separate boot disk. Most things should be pretty self explanatory once you are actually looking at what I'm describing
Thanks for the guide!
However, if I try to create a new partition, the only choices I have is to make it primary or extended. No logical partition as it is greyed out. Does App2SD+ work with a primary ext4?
great guide! wished this was available before i partitioned mine. did a lot of googling before i found an easier alternative.
for those using Clockwork Recovery you can use the Partition SD within Recovery itself. No need to fiddle around with booting gpart and risk wiping your system hdd. the only thing is recovery will create it as ext3 which i don't think matters much because ext4 is backward compatible.
sorry don't mean to rain on your parade because i also use gpart when i'm around a pc. just thought that some ppl might prefer the alternative.
S-Bazz said:
Thanks for the guide!
However, if I try to create a new partition, the only choices I have is to make it primary or extended. No logical partition as it is greyed out. Does App2SD+ work with a primary ext4?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's my error. it should be fine with the default setting.
how can i do all that if i don't have a working CD-ROM?
stoped using it ages ago
Thanks for this.
Voffchik said:
how can i do all that if i don't have a working CD-ROM?
stoped using it ages ago
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 i have a netbook without cd-rom and windows 7...which program i can use to do that?
how to do it on Ubuntu 10.10?
Im guessing that we can use Partition Magic or Paragon.
I will try with paragon partition manager and let you know. It shouldnt be that hard.
I know a screenshot is hard to capture when u're not in Windows, but I offer a picture drawed by MsPaint or Office Word. Just 2 rectangle with the size and the filesystem.
Thank you.
Voffchik said:
how can i do all that if i don't have a working CD-ROM?
stoped using it ages ago
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
H-KaN said:
+1 i have a netbook without cd-rom and windows 7...which program i can use to do that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you're using clockwork recovery boot into recovery -> advance option -> partition sd and follow the steps.
Thanks, I am looking for this kind of instructions from the last 2 days.
I've been using haret since the HD, but I've never owned a native Android phone, and such a fundamental step as partitioning was played lightly over, so thanks for a step for the people like me who do google everything but still couldn't do it correctly. Boot CDs are the only way to do it, it seems.
H-KaN said:
+1 i have a netbook without cd-rom and windows 7...which program i can use to do that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can use some virtual driver, power iso or daemon tools to mount iso file without cd-rom.

WP7 Mango SD card still locked but made visible in Windows with a trick

Ok I didn't find this info anywhere online yet. Perhaps this can help someone to finally find a way to recover locked SD card without Nokia phone or other known, but sometimes unavailable means.
I have a locked 8GB SD card by Mango.
It is not visible in Windows, BUT - if I leave SD card in my laptop and then go to device manager and uninstall my SD card reader, and then click on Scan for hardware changes, it will hang for a minute or two (something that is normally a second or two) and then it will find the reader, install the driver and the SD card will be visible! The point is to be patient. Seems that Windows can access the SD card, but it needs like 10 times more time to do it.
I was happy at first, but then I realized it is still a tough case.
I tried MiniTool Partition Wizard and it actually sees the card marking it (Bad Disk). The size is correct. It can even scan for partitions and then reports two that can be deleted, but I don't believe it removed them. Once I even could make a 100MB partition! But it didn't repair the whole SD card. Afterwards I tried some other methods, deleted SD MBR in MagLDR and lost that partition.
Disk manager in windows sees the device with Unalocated space and if I try to make a new partition it starts and then says there was a CRC check error. It also kind of hangs, but eventually responds and sees the device.
Windows needs like 5 minutes to show dialog for formating the SD card. It says unknown size, and finally says that it cannot format.
HD Low format tool sees the device and if you start the Format, it will start and report many errors but will finally end. I didn't see any improvements - SD is still locked.
So tomorrow I will probably find someone with a Nokia at work, but perhaps someone gets lucky and finds a way to fix it within Windows by being essentially patient while Windows is accessing it.
And yes: Olympus PEN, Canon Ixus 70 and G10 cannot format it.
Cheers,
Ivan
Mango locked SD card
ikovac said:
Ok I didn't find this info anywhere online yet. Perhaps this can help someone to finally find a way to recover locked SD card without Nokia phone or other known, but sometimes unavailable means.
I have a locked 8GB SD card by Mango.
It is not visible in Windows, BUT - if I leave SD card in my laptop and then go to device manager and uninstall my SD card reader, and then click on Scan for hardware changes, it will hang for a minute or two (something that is normally a second or two) and then it will find the reader, install the driver and the SD card will be visible! The point is to be patient. Seems that Windows can access the SD card, but it needs like 10 times more time to do it.
I was happy at first, but then I realized it is still a tough case.
I tried MiniTool Partition Wizard and it actually sees the card marking it (Bad Disk). The size is correct. It can even scan for partitions and then reports two that can be deleted, but I don't believe it removed them. Once I even could make a 100MB partition! But it didn't repair the whole SD card. Afterwards I tried some other methods, deleted SD MBR in MagLDR and lost that partition.
Disk manager in windows sees the device with Unalocated space and if I try to make a new partition it starts and then says there was a CRC check error. It also kind of hangs, but eventually responds and sees the device.
Windows needs like 5 minutes to show dialog for formating the SD card. It says unknown size, and finally says that it cannot format.
HD Low format tool sees the device and if you start the Format, it will start and report many errors but will finally end. I didn't see any improvements - SD is still locked.
So tomorrow I will probably find someone with a Nokia at work, but perhaps someone gets lucky and finds a way to fix it within Windows by being essentially patient while Windows is accessing it.
And yes: Olympus PEN, Canon Ixus 70 and G10 cannot format it.
Cheers,
Ivan
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So if this lock is because of Mango, If I downgrade to 7004 ROM with my locked SD card, will that unlock it?
[email protected] said:
So if this lock is because of Mango, If I downgrade to 7004 ROM with my locked SD card, will that unlock it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not Mango specific. It happens with all versions of Windows Phone.
Mango locked my SD card in a way it was not visible at all. Not even a 200MB partition. The only way (and I tried everything based on my original post) was Nokia XpressMusic. It formatted it in like 5 secs. I didn't even bother to reformat it, but just plugged it in my HD2 and installed HD2O mango ROM. It works like before. No issues whatsoever.
Id like to mention its fairly trivial to make any usb mountable card usable (you know, how the REST OF THE WORLD USES SDCARDS) with linux or unix:
Find the device mount point and:
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdc1 bs=1M count=yourcardsizeinMb
Note, this overwrites any data on the card, but then formatting and actually using the card is possible again. Ms dropped the ball so hard on this.
Thanks, I may try it next time I lock my card!
ohgood said:
Id like to mention its fairly trivial to make any usb mountable card usable (you know, how the REST OF THE WORLD USES SDCARDS) with linux or unix:
Find the device mount point and:
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdc1 bs=1M count=yourcardsizeinMb
Note, this overwrites any data on the card, but then formatting and actually using the card is possible again. Ms dropped the ball so hard on this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is this confirmed to work with wp7 locked cards? I thought symbian was the only way.
Sent from my HP Touchpad using Tapatalk
mastamind518 said:
Is this confirmed to work with wp7 locked cards? I thought symbian was the only way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, not at all (it's only for converted to WP7 HD2s). The only one solution for now - Nokia's smartphones.
You can use your Windows phone 7 device to unlock your locked SD cards.
See here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1337781
you will need to adapt to your device so use the right rom from XBmod for your device or a rom that works on your device that supports cab sender.
No need to feck about with a nokia device.
Boysie
sensboston said:
No, not at all (it's only for converted to WP7 HD2s). The only one solution for now - Nokia's smartphones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mmm, I dunno, unlocked two microsd's, one from a focus something, the other from a smashed focus something a friend bought off craigslist for nothing. The 16Gb cards were worth more than the phones.
android fixed my dead 16gb wp7 hd2 sdcard
I had no accsess to nokia devices and my 16gb sdcard was totally unrecognisable to pc, sdformater etc, I thought it was well and truely dead,even reflshed wp7 but still got card changed removed errors,then fed up I flashed an android nand rom to my hd2,without sdcard installed, then I hunted for sd tool programs, and still couldnt mount it...but the hail mary pass happened and I reinserted card back into computer and somehow it found it again and got all my gb back.Im still a wp7 fanboy with my omnia 7, but well and truly converted to android on hd2
ballekom said:
I had no accsess to nokia devices and my 16gb sdcard was totally unrecognisable to pc, sdformater etc, I thought it was well and truely dead,even reflshed wp7 but still got card changed removed errors,then fed up I flashed an android nand rom to my hd2,without sdcard installed, then I hunted for sd tool programs, and still couldnt mount it...but the hail mary pass happened and I reinserted card back into computer and somehow it found it again and got all my gb back.Im still a wp7 fanboy with my omnia 7, but well and truly converted to android on hd2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have a hd2, but didn't try dd ? Ok
Ok so i had this issue too and bought another sd card for nothing.
If your card is locked.....Flash a 7004 rom that you can push cabs into it. Push the unlock sd cab and when installed find it in apps and unlock the SD. Take it out and format that sucka with easeus. Thats it. you can use the micro sd again.
With this trick i took out 16gb SD from broken HTC surround and popped it into HD2
i love my HD2. wp7 UltraFruit rom.

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