Develop Bugs

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?

ICS doesn't support files bigger than 4gb?

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Q] MicroSD mounts as read only. How do I fix?

T-999 Freegs3 rom and kt747 kernel Card is a Patriot sdhc 32gb class 4
The concise problem: I can't write anything on the extsdcard ie. Make folder, copying files, take pictures, save files, ect
Details: the card seems to mount as r/o or r/w randomly. When it does mount as r/w it changes to r/o whenever something is being written to it randomly(more often than not even if it is a small 2k file). Card works fine on pc and has worked once in executing directory bind(the copy folder option). I have tried to change to a few different roms and kernels(like 2). Tried a different card same make and model. And it's a problem with 2 phones both rooted the same way but have since undergone similar rom/kernel changes(just mix and match diferently). I was able to see the r/w or r/of with root explorer.
I have done Google search but not found this specific problem where the actual phone is having problems writing to the SD. Please help thanx

jizzminster said:
T-999 Freegs3 rom and kt747 kernel Card is a Patriot sdhc 32gb class 4
The concise problem: I can't write anything on the extsdcard ie. Make folder, copying files, take pictures, save files, ect
Details: the card seems to mount as r/o or r/w randomly. When it does mount as r/w it changes to r/o whenever something is being written to it randomly(more often than not even if it is a small 2k file). Card works fine on pc and has worked once in executing directory bind(the copy folder option). I have tried to change to a few different roms and kernels(like 2). Tried a different card same make and model. And it's a problem with 2 phones both rooted the same way but have since undergone similar rom/kernel changes(just mix and match diferently). I was able to see the r/w or r/of with root explorer.
I have done Google search but not found this specific problem where the actual phone is having problems writing to the SD. Please help thanx
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having the same problem. It's sporadic too. My sd card has been working fine and then last night I went to take a picture and it said sd card could not be written to. So far no help on my thread about this either.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app

Have you guys tried formatting it with a partition manager on your computer?
Backup the content to your PC first as you said it reads it fine, then format it?
Fat32, or try a different partitioning a different format.

theexel said:
Have you guystrried f ormatting it with a partition manager on your computer?
Backup the content to your PC first as you said it reads it fine, then format it?
Fat32, or try a different partitioning a different format.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do u know of a program that has been known tO work? I tried to use windows full format.

jizzminster said:
Do u know of a program that has been known tO work? I tried to use windows full format.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
gParted is great.
PS: I am having a similar problem. I can not do anything with my SDcard when using a file explorer, though apps seem to work OK

Question about External SD card visability

I also posted this in the Tmobile specific thread, so I apologize if you are seeing this twice. Not sure where stuff like this should go when there are "multiple" sections for the same phone.
I am total stock, not rooted yet, waiting for the 2.22 firmware update from TMO.
I have a 64 gig sd card in the phone, and, in apps like root explorer, I can see the card, and all the files I put on it.
I also have been able to move a few programs to the external card, at least partially.
but, in some programs, when I try to save a file to the external sd, or, sometimes when I try to open a file on the external sd, the card does not show up in the path. I have some movies on the card, and when I open BS Player, it doesn't show the external sd card at all.
I think I read that rooting the phone will fix this, but I am not sure if just rooting fixes this, or if you have to do something else to make it show up all the time.
I know there have been issues trying to write and save files directly to the external sd, but I think this is something different.
Thanks in advance!

wase4711 said:
but, in some programs, when I try to save a file to the external sd, or, sometimes when I try to open a file on the external sd, the card does not show up in the path. I have some movies on the card, and when I open BS Player, it doesn't show the external sd card at all.
I know there have been issues trying to write and save files directly to the external sd, but I think this is something different.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are correct, in that the new Google policies under KitKat only affect write permissions. This shouldn't affect the ability of apps to read the card. I think there is something else going on. How is the card formatted? Is it new, where did you buy it?
I've seen other folks have random issue with the M8 not reading the card (even when it works with other devices) and re-formatting on computer fixed it up.

redpoint73 said:
You are correct, in that the new Google policies under KitKat only affect write permissions. This shouldn't affect the ability of apps to read the card. I think there is something else going on. How is the card formatted? Is it new, where did you buy it?
I've seen other folks have random issue with the M8 not reading the card (even when it works with other devices) and re-formatting on computer fixed it up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its one I have used for at least a year, with no prob..I assume reformatting, to fat 32 would be best for use on this phone?
I dont remember if I re formatted before inserting yesterday; best to do it on a pc and not the phone itself?
thanks for your input!

wase4711 said:
its one I have used for at least a year, with no prob..I assume reformatting, to fat 32 would be best for use on this phone?
I dont remember if I re formatted before inserting yesterday; best to do it on a pc and not the phone itself?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FAT32 is probably the most universal (was probably formatted that way out of the box). exFAT is supported, and some folks like it since it supports large file sizes (>4GB). But I never use files of that size, so it doesn't matter to me. Just my feeling, FAT32 is the simplest and probably safest (most compatibility) way to go.
You an try to format on the phone. But the other guy I saw that had issues, formatted the card on the phone, still didn't work (but other devices still could read it) then he formatted on PC and it worked perfectly.

unfortunately, I had to just do exfat as well, since my win 8.1 computer, and my wifes win 7 only offered ex fat or ntfs; didn't want to try fat 32 on my sons Imac, just to avoid any mac to pc issues..

Hello, it is a mystery why in Total Commander can not see the normal view external SD card. Does anyone know what the problem is?
https://www.dropbox.com/s/j81gu6s5got5y8h/Screenshot_2014-08-14-09-26-27.png

wase4711 said:
unfortunately, I had to just do exfat as well, since my win 8.1 computer, and my wifes win 7 only offered ex fat or ntfs; didn't want to try fat 32 on my sons Imac, just to avoid any mac to pc issues..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So did formatting exFAT help?
There are some good 3rd party Windows applications what will format to FAT32, if you still want to try. Thge other guy with a similar SD read issue used one such program to fix it, but I can't remember the name of the program. CNET and other websites have some reliable ratings, recommendations for such free software.
---------- Post added at 10:06 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:06 AM ----------
Lynx12 said:
Hello, it is a mystery why in Total Commander can not see the normal view external SD card. Does anyone know what the problem is?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try to format the card as being discussed on this thread.

redpoint73 said:
So did formatting exFAT help?
There are some good 3rd party Windows applications what will format to FAT32, if you still want to try. Thge other guy with a similar SD read issue used one such program to fix it, but I can't remember the name of the program. CNET and other websites have some reliable ratings, recommendations for such free software.
---------- Post added at 10:06 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:06 AM ----------
Try to format the card as being discussed on this thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it did: i can see the external sd in more programs now, but not in all of them.
Possibly because not every program is coded to use an external sd card for storage or access to files.
Once the new firmware gets released by tmobile,(supposedly by the 18th) I will root, s-off, and unlock and see if that changes anything.
Thanks for your follow up:good:

redpoint73 said:
Try to format the card as being discussed on this thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The format I do first after you insert the card into the phone ....

Lynx12 said:
The format I do first after you insert the card into the phone ....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MicroSD cards almost always come pre-formatted (usually FAT32) and I never use the formatting offered on the phone. I've seen reports of cards formatted on the phone not working right.
Use a computer and card reader to format the card.

did not help...

wase4711 said:
since my win 8.1 computer, and my wifes win 7 only offered ex fat or ntfs; didn't want to try fat 32 on my sons Imac, just to avoid any mac to pc issues..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had kind of the same issue on KitKat the card came new but for some reason it was not working fine.
On Win 7 or 8.1
Insert card and note the letter assigned
Start "RUN" with keys [Win-Logo]+[R] and type in »(Edit-Box) "diskmgmt.msc" and press [ENTER]
Select the drive letter for the card and do a right click > Delete Volume, accept the prompt
Then select again the drive and select New Simple Volume
Follow the wizard. Assign a letter. Sometimes you may not get the option of selecting FAT32 from here in some cards. If you don't get the option, select no format. Finish.
Remove card and insert it again, Windows will prompt to format the drive. Select FAT32
You should be done

Any way to get around the 4GB size limitation of FAT32 file system on Pixel for OTG?

I can't figure out how to get around the 4GB file size restriction on the Pixel 3. I never had any problems using an exFAT file system on external hard drives/USB drives on previous phones.
It seems that if I attempt to use exFAT or NTFS file systems on my drives, the Pixel will not recognize it, format it back to FAT32, and I'm back at square one.
I've tried to wirelessly transfer files from PC to phone through Portal, using the external drive as the storage device, but that didn't work either.

double0psycho said:
I can't figure out how to get around the 4GB file size restriction on the Pixel 3. I never had any problems using an exFAT file system on external hard drives/USB drives on previous phones.
It seems that if I attempt to use exFAT or NTFS file systems on my drives, the Pixel will not recognize it, format it back to FAT32, and I'm back at square one.
I've tried to wirelessly transfer files from PC to phone through Portal, using the external drive as the storage device, but that didn't work either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
??? I have a 128 gb USB c thumb drive formatted fat32. It's working fine on my pixel 3.
Sent from my [device_name] using XDA-Developers Legacy app

I can get FAT32 to work. But FAT32 limits file sizes to less than 4GB. I'm trying to have larger movie files on a USB drive to watch on a long trip. Can't put them on a FAT32 formatted drive because they're way too large. And Pixel doesn't support exFAT or NTFS.
I'm trying to find a way around this, unless I really just have to resort to splitting all of the files into smaller segments. Was hoping not to have to do that though.

double0psycho said:
I can get FAT32 to work. But FAT32 limits file sizes to less than 4GB. I'm trying to have larger movie files on a USB drive to watch on a long trip. Can't put them on a FAT32 formatted drive because they're way too small. And Pixel doesn't support exFAT or NTFS.
I'm trying to find a way around this, unless I really just have to resort to splitting all of the files into smaller segments. Was hoping not to have to do that though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Windows artificially limits fat32 to 32 gb so if that's all you need it should format it fine. If you need more there are 3rd party apps or you can do it in a windows power shell running as administrator. In a power shell use format /FS:FAT32 X:. Where X: is the drive letter of the device you're formatting.
Edit, you know what. I miss understood your question. I was thinking partition size not file size. Sorry about that.
Sent from my [device_name] using XDA-Developers Legacy app

jd1639 said:
Windows artificially limits fat32 to 32 gb so if that's all you need it should format it fine. If you need more there are 3rd party apps or you can do it in a windows power shell running as administrator. In a power shell use format /FS:FAT32 X:. Where X: is the drive letter of the device you're formatting.
Edit, you know what. I miss understood your question. I was thinking partition size not file size. Sorry about that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, realized I said small when I meant the file sizes are too large. Either way, I'm hoping to find a way to get my pixel to be able to "see" some 8GB or larger files on an external storage device. I've used a couple apps that said they allow read/write NTFS and exFAT file systems, but none have really worked.

I'm just passing through, I don't own a pixel. But normally you need a kernel that supports either ntfs or exfat or both. I saw there are 2 kernels in the development section. Have you tried those?

double0psycho said:
I can't figure out how to get around the 4GB file size restriction on the Pixel 3. I never had any problems using an exFAT file system on external hard drives/USB drives on previous phones.
It seems that if I attempt to use exFAT or NTFS file systems on my drives, the Pixel will not recognize it, format it back to FAT32, and I'm back at square one.
I've tried to wirelessly transfer files from PC to phone through Portal, using the external drive as the storage device, but that didn't work either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FAT32 and exFAT are not the same type of filesystem.
double0psycho said:
I can get FAT32 to work. But FAT32 limits file sizes to less than 4GB. I'm trying to have larger movie files on a USB drive to watch on a long trip. Can't put them on a FAT32 formatted drive because they're way too large. And Pixel doesn't support exFAT or NTFS.
I'm trying to find a way around this, unless I really just have to resort to splitting all of the files into smaller segments. Was hoping not to have to do that though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FAT32 is working as it should be.
jd1639 said:
Windows artificially limits fat32 to 32 gb so if that's all you need it should format it fine. If you need more there are 3rd party apps or you can do it in a windows power shell running as administrator. In a power shell use format /FS:FAT32 X:. Where X: is the drive letter of the device you're formatting.
Edit, you know what. I miss understood your question. I was thinking partition size not file size. Sorry about that.
Sent from my [device_name] using XDA-Developers Legacy app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is not an "artificial" limit. This is how FAT32 was designed to work.
double0psycho said:
Yeah, realized I said small when I meant the file sizes are too large. Either way, I'm hoping to find a way to get my pixel to be able to "see" some 8GB or larger files on an external storage device. I've used a couple apps that said they allow read/write NTFS and exFAT file systems, but none have really worked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Those apps never work without root. Even with root, they're still finicky.
[Cruzer] said:
I'm just passing through, I don't own a pixel. But normally you need a kernel that supports either ntfs or exfat or both. I saw there are 2 kernels in the development section. Have you tried those?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As stated here, a custom kernel with exFAT support is your best option.
Please read up on filesystems here.
Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

bxlegend said:
FAT32 and exFAT are not the same type of filesystem.
It is not an "artificial" limit. This is how FAT32 was designed to work.
k
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree to a point. It was designed to work that way since Microsoft is pushing NTFS for larger partitions. You can certainly have FAT32 partitions larger than 32 gb.

jd1639 said:
I agree to a point. It was designed to work that way since Microsoft is pushing NTFS for larger partitions. You can certainly have FAT32 partitions larger than 32 gb.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let's be careful here because you're confusing file size with partition size. Microsoft is not "pushing" one filesystem over another. The FAT32 filesystem had too many limits for servers which is why Microsoft introduced NTFS. As consumer needs grew, NTFS was made the default for Windows filesystem. The same applies to removable flash storage. To get consumers and manufacturers away from FAT32, Microsoft created exFAT. Microsoft, Apple, and Google are all competitors and they all have default supported filesystems. Microsoft and Apple user proprietary filesystems while Google sticks with open source since it's patent free. Which is why Pixel phones do not support Microsoft and Apple filesystems by default.
Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

double0psycho said:
I can't figure out how to get around the 4GB file size restriction on the Pixel 3. I never had any problems using an exFAT file system on external hard drives/USB drives on previous phones.
It seems that if I attempt to use exFAT or NTFS file systems on my drives, the Pixel will not recognize it, format it back to FAT32, and I'm back at square one.
I've tried to wirelessly transfer files from PC to phone through Portal, using the external drive as the storage device, but that didn't work either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are a couple of apps that allow accessing exFAT and NTFS file systems via OTG. Here's one I've used:
https://mixplorer.en.uptodown.com/android
It also allows accessing the files directly, so a slow copy to the phone isn't required for say playing a movie.