Develop Bugs

SD Card Unexpectedly Removed

I'm having the dreaded 'SD Card Unexpectedly Removed' issue. The card seems to work fine in other devices, but my Note 2 cannot deal with it. Mine is a SanDisk 32GB Class 4. It was working fine for weeks, and now all of a sudden, it loses the card every time the phone goes to sleep. Once the phone wakes up, it flashes the warning, then says 'Preparing SD Card', and it works fine until the phone goes to sleep.
I noticed that many Verizon Note 2 users are having the same issue...
http://forums.androidcentral.com/verizon-galaxy-note-2/231647-sd-card-unexpectedly-removed.html
Is anyone else seeing this problem?

It did happen to me with my sandisk 32GB class 4 card. I swapped it with a 16 GB card from a 2 year old
moto droid unused in my basement dump and it worked. It has been over 3 wks now and no issues. I dont think it is a device fault but sense that many note 2 users have bumped into this issue lately..something fishy.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk 2

Hi guys.. I've same issue last night.. All data missing.. Cannot open on computer also.. Any solution?
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda app-developers app

I had this problem also. I had 32 gb class 10 sandisk sdcard 1st time I bought this phone. It was working fine for the 1st 3 weeks but after that I got that dreaded message everytime I wake my phone. I thought its my phones hardware but when my brother and I swapped cards, that message never appeared again. I currently have a 16 gb class 10 sd. My brother has tmobile galaxy s2, that message showed after 2 days of using that card. I reformatted that card and checked it for errors multiple times. There was no problem. I dont know probably some samsung phobes have issues about sdcard 32 gb and above. I have read it in galaxy s3 forums also.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app

I'm actually having a similar problem with my sn2 not reading my 32gb SanDisk card, I'm going to try to reformat it and see what happens. Just got the phone two days ago.

I fixed my problem by installing the new twrp 2.3.2.3 recovery using goo manager. I followed these instructions from the twrp website.
In goo manager tap menu on your phone and hit install openRecoveryScript, tap yes, verify filename displays your devices name and hit yes. The file will download and install on your device, now reboot.
Hopefully this helps people

I have a sandisk 64gb class 10 I havent had this problem as of yet...
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app

I'm just gonna throw this out there... It kinda seems like the latest Samsung phones are happily corrupting SD cards right and left. Now, maybe some cards are more susceptible to this, but the fact remains that this is not just anecdotal anymore. We need to get the various phone groups that are seeing this issue to band together and contact Samsung for a fix.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app

My Sandisk class 10 32gb card died on me too. Went to best buy exchanged for another one, reformat it. ... so far so good.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app

Mine worked fine for a while, too. I'm not sure what triggered it, but I think the phone did something to it. The reason I think this is simple. I have had many devices with SD cards in them, and never have I had one go bad. This phone was using a card that I had used for months before in another phone, and within a month the card was bad. When I looked online, I found hundreds of cases of the same issue, mostly with Samsung S3 and GN2 phones. It seems too much to be a coincidence.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app

havocd said:
I have a sandisk 64gb class 10 I havent had this problem as of yet...
+1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I am having the same issue. It is with all SD-Cards I try after some time. I have 2 32gb Sandisk class 10 that I tried and a handful of 2 and 4 gb class 4 and class 6 cards. After sometime, 20 minutes to a couple of hours I starting getting the "SD Card unexpectedly removed" Then a quick scanning s Card message. I tried formatting the cards with different computers and even using my Linux machine to see if it would fix it.
Has anyone come up with a solution yet? Should I swap the phone out for another one since I have ruled out the SD-Card as being the problem.
My 14 days hits this weekend and it is easier to get things done at T-Mobile before that time frame expires.

How about card format? All fat32? Exfat?

All fat32 for me. Phone is stock, holding out on root for awhile so I can learn why Touchwiz is so hated.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda premium

Maybe format on your computer in exfat, maybe make a difference?

stevessvt said:
Maybe format on your computer in exfat, maybe make a difference?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
curious about this as well.
you guys not having problems, you format exfat??/ what is the difference between exfat and fat32?

I tried ExFAT, but the phone did not recognize it at all.
I wonder if anyone has had this issue with a Samsung brand card?
Swyped from a hand-held Galaxy.

Im getting the same problem with my 32 gb sandisk sd card but luckily amazon is still willing to exchange it out for me
Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk 2

I formatted mine to exfat to see what would happen. I checked online and this phone supports exfat natively. I moved my files back on to the card after the format and then tossed it in the phone and it worked. It has been over an hour and still has not removed itself unexpectedly.
Will report back in tomorrow after I give it some time to settle.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda premium

It is still removing itself almost everytime the phone goes to sleep. The last time it actually unmounted and tols me it was safe to remove the sd card when I woke the phone up.
What cards are people running? I have 2 I am testing this with:
SanDisk ultra 32GB SD-HC U1 (comparable to class 10), 1 is formatted to exfat and is half filled with mp3's, the other is fat32 and half filed with mp3's.
The mp3's are different on each card, I have a folder of music that I always throw back on the card but thought it might be corrupted so last night I made a new folder and added fresh music to see if that was the issue.
I found the official sd formatter program from the SD Alliance to try. I just formatted 1 of the cards with it and am moving the music back now. It will be a while though. From sd to computer the speeds are 12 to 30 MB/s but from computer to sd it is 2 to 5 MB/s?
Hope to have this figured out by the end of the day.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda premium

SD card fried.

I had asked for some insigh on the issue of my external sd card unexpectedly ejecting itself (not physically) , and someone told me the fix was to format it on the computer first, then put it back in thw phone and format it. The problem got even worse and then deleted all my data, and now wont even recognize that the card is even inserted. Am i screwed? Im hearing other people are having this problem as well. Whats the deal!?
Samsung Galaxy Note® II

Will the sd card read on the computer?
Also when you format your card.... That is basically deleting your data....

DarkManX4lf said:
Will the sd card read on the computer?
Also when you format your card.... That is basically deleting your data....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes i forgot to mention that i formatted on computer and in the phone and then reloaded my data, and then the problem came back worse and it wiped my sd card out.
Samsung Galaxy Note® II

Funny you mention that about your sd card, my lexar 32gb card got fried. Lost all data too. I now have the 64gb SanDisk microsd card so hopefully it lasts longer than the year that I got out of the lexar
Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 2

pwhitersxs said:
Funny you mention that about your sd card, my lexar 32gb card got fried. Lost all data too. I now have the 64gb SanDisk microsd card so hopefully it lasts longer than the year that I got out of the lexar
Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My 16gb from Samsung lasted 2 years when I had got the Epic 4g non touch.
Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda premium

Having the same issue as well. I bought a sandisk class 10 sd card 32gb when I got my note a month ago. I started to notice the same messages about my card once I updated out of the lk1. My card is draining my battery life as well. So right now I'm experimenting with a blank 8gb sd card in my phone. It's only been a few hours but I havent had any kind of sd card messages. I think the sd card is the problem...why...idk
Sent from the Great Big Galaxy

Has this happened to anybody whom switched their external memory for the internal? I ask because I would like to do that, but if the SD card fails will it perma-brick the phone?

my 32g SD card (forgot which brand) fried one month after i got my note 2. it was fine the night before, then the next morning a message on my phone said something about it cant read the SD card. my computer couldnt even read the card. lost everything from pictures and videos, man o man

I've gone through two micro sd's, both Sandisk, a 32GB and a 64GB.
The 32GB card was Fat32, the 64GB card was ExFAT. They both worked okay for a while, then I noticed the Android media scanner running too often, then I started getting the "unexpected removal" messages. In both cases once the "unexpected removal" messages started the battery life becomes unacceptable.
I was storing about 26GB of ALAC music files, using iSyncr->iTunes and Rocket Player.
I tried formatting on the phone and starting over and formatting on the computer and starting over, and low-level formatting the 32GB card. It would work for a little while and then the behavior would start again.
I'm not using any card at all now. I may try again with something other than a Sandisk to see if it makes a difference, but I don't feel like gambling the cost of a new card for a while.
[ Edit ] If it matters, my Note2 is not rooted, and running the stock ROM with all updates.

I had the same thing happen to me this week with a Class 10 Sandisk 64GB Ultra. I had had no errors since purchased at the time I got my Note 2 (release day). Suddenly the card was unreadable mid day on the Note 2. It couldn't be read by PC either. I did reformat on the PC and was able to recover some of the data with the Sandisk recover tool purchased from the Sandisk website. After reformatting I did try to use it again in the Note 2 but it failed nearly immediately. I am in the process of replacing it under warranty and am now using the 16G Sandisk card that I had been using in my Evo 4g
I am using the leaked stock LK8 kernel with H20 rom with no other issues otherwise.

pvgas said:
I had the same thing happen to me this week with a Class 10 Sandisk 64GB Ultra. I had had no errors since purchased at the time I got my Note 2 (release day). Suddenly the card was unreadable mid day on the Note 2. It couldn't be read by PC either. I did reformat on the PC and was able to recover some of the data with the Sandisk recover tool purchased from the Sandisk website. After reformatting I did try to use it again in the Note 2 but it failed nearly immediately. I am in the process of replacing it under warranty and am now using the 16G Sandisk card that I had been using in my Evo 4g
I am using the leaked stock LK8 kernel with H20 rom with no other issues otherwise.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Samsung makes the best flash memory.
Try a Samsung microsd card.
-Wizzle

XxLostSoulxX said:
My 16gb from Samsung lasted 2 years when I had got the Epic 4g non touch.
Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I still have that same 16gb micro sd that came with my OG epic. It's been two years exactly this month! I guess I should back everything up soon
Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda premium

dammit. you guys are all freaking me out now. LOL
Time to back up.

rawdikrik said:
dammit. you guys are all freaking me out now. LOL
Time to back up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ferreal. I still use my 16GB from my mytouch 3G fender edition hahah
Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda premium

I'm still using the one that was inside my Hero
Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda premium

That's why it's always good to keep a backup of all the data on your phone on a hard drive. Then, if you have to replace your sd card, you can just drag the file right onto it.
Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda app-developers app

I would try the HP disk format tool. I've fixed several corrupted flash memory devices with it.
http://download.cnet.com/HP-USB-Disk-Storage-Format-Tool/3000-2094_4-10974082.html

This seems to be a relatively known issue with specifically SanDisk 32GB Class 10 UHS-1 red/grey cards and the Note 2. When it started happening to me, I pulled out the card, tested the crap out of it like a dozen times, reformatted the card in my PC, and put it in my Acer A500 tablet and put the Patriot 32GB Class 4 that was in the A500 in my Note 2. Both are working fine now for the past week.
There's a more extensive discussion of this on the T-Mobile Note 2 forum:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2031009

Did you remove that little blue plastic sheet covering the card's aluminum housing? I was was half through doing that before I decided that I better check the internet first.

Micro SD Cards and Early Failure on the Note 3

Morning,
Purchased a second Lexmark 16gb SD card for my Note approx 2 weeks. Randomly picked my phone up yesterday and noticed there was some kind of warning on my status bar, went to check it out and it related to some kind of memory card issue or failure. I don't recall exactly what it said, but I do know it pointed to an issue with the card.
Now the reason for my post, I'm not sure what the odds are on two SD card failures in a three week time frame, but that's what I've just encountered and was interested in finding out if it's a more widespread issue, or just plain bad luck on my part
I had one 16gb card for my Note 2 with zero issues, now I've gone through two on my Note three in just over 3 months. Yes the card is fried as my desktop doesn't even see it when I plug it in via USB adapter.. Just in case you're wondering if I checked it elsewhere..
Sent from my SM-N900T using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Try formatting it via your phone. This should always be the first step b4 using it on anything. Could just be a faulty usb adapter too try another card reader and or different pc/adapter.
Sent from my SM-N900T using xda premium

after my S3 having problems with micro sd cards, i have stopped using memory cards entirely for any samsung products. They tend to fry the sd card every few months.

I've had a 64 Gig SanDisk since I bought my S3 zero problems. It's made it thru my s3 note 2 and now the n3 So I guess it's just hit or miss. Sorry Steve that sux dude
sent from my ??????? note 3?

I had the same problem you've described with a 32GB SanDisk card, my phone kept saying the card was unexpectedly removed, then it would re-mount the card. The most annoying side effect of this issue was it caused a lag with turning the screen on, it would literally take 3-4 seconds for the screen to come on after you pushed the button. Replacing the card solved this immediately. We'll see how long the 2nd card lasts.

hfuizo said:
I had the same problem you've described with a 32GB SanDisk card, my phone kept saying the card was unexpectedly removed, then it would re-mount the card. The most annoying side effect of this issue was it caused a lag with turning the screen on, it would literally take 3-4 seconds for the screen to come on after you pushed the button. Replacing the card solved this immediately. We'll see how long the 2nd card lasts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, that pretty much describes exactly what was going on. After I seen the original sd card warning my phone got really laggy and wouldn't even boot into recovery. Remove it and everything is fine..
Every now and then I like to completely format, which is why I like having the Ext SD card, but not if I keep having to toss 30-40 bones down the tube every couple of months..Kinda lame, should have kept the damn receipt.. lol
Sent from my SM-N900T using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

deeznutz1977 said:
I've had a 64 Gig SanDisk since I bought my S3 zero problems. It's made it thru my s3 note 2 and now the n3 So I guess it's just hit or miss. Sorry Steve that sux dude
sent from my ??????? note 3?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lucky bashterd....
The one I pick up today is going to be my lucky one, I can feel it... The memories we'll share together..
Sent from my SM-N900T using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Just had this happen to me today on a Verizon Note 3.
SD card completely dead. I wasn't even using it...AT ALL! Will not recognize on my laptop using the SD card slot.
Battery was heating up & draining too. Crazy! Over a 3 minute period I watched the battery percentage drop 4%-5%
Oh well. Why do these devices "eat" SD cards?

I encountered the same problem a year ago with my Note 2. Fortunately it wasn't the card. I was using a custom kernel that didn't recognize the FAT 32 I had the card formated to. SInce going back the stock kernel, I've had zero problems with the SD on my N2 or N3. Anyone using a custom kernel?

deeznutz1977 said:
I've had a 64 Gig SanDisk since I bought my S3 zero problems. It's made it thru my s3 note 2 and now the n3 So I guess it's just hit or miss. Sorry Steve that sux dude
sent from my ??????? note 3?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here. Mine went thru Samsung tablets as well. S3, S4, N2, N3, Galaxy Tab 3 8.0

Lol 4th one. SanDisk sucks. But lifetime warranty. They keep replacing.
TWEAKED N3

Lexmark isn't the greatest brand of SD cards. I generally only use sandisk or Lexar and I've never had a problem.

SD card unexpectedly removed error

Anyone else getting this error? I have a 64M SanDisk that was working just fine in my note 2. I put it in my notes and I continually get this error. I unmounted, removed and power cycled my phone but it comes back any time I try to access the card. Any ideas?

I would backup the contents of it onto your computer and reformat the card. Then try it.

I've been getting this error when my phone wakes after being idle for a long time. I've tried reformatting the card but I'm skeptical that will fix the problem. According to many online threads, this issue has been widespread across a number of devices, and my card (Sandisk 64GB Ultra CL10) works fine in other devices. Will report back.

This is a common problem with the Samsungs...There is a proper process, as follows.
First, go ahead and do a fresh format of the card and get the contents onto the card.
Second, turn the phone completely off AND REMOVE THE BATTERY.
Put the card into the card slot, replace the battery and power the phone back on.
This has been my process since the sII, and haven't had any issues, save a few completely corrupted cards which were unsalvageable. There is an issue where the card receives current from the battery, and in some cases can corrupt the card and in even fewer (but still entirely plausible cases) completely fry the SD.
I'm not sure why Samsung hasn't caught the issue, or even acknowledged it, but this process avoids it entirely.
Hope this helps

Thanks, I tried that but it made no difference.
The uSD card continues to work fine in my other devices, and diagnostic tests reveal no problems with it, so I'm confident the card itself is ok.
I'm trying another card now (this one 32GB), but I'm guessing the problem will occur with that one too.

Gary02468 said:
Thanks, I tried that but it made no difference.
The uSD card continues to work fine in my other devices, and diagnostic tests reveal no problems with it, so I'm confident the card itself is ok.
I'm trying another card now (this one 32GB), but I'm guessing the problem will occur with that one too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds a lot like what happened to my last card in my Note 2. I was able to get a replacement under warranty and haven't had a problem with it happening since.

Well, my guess was wrong. The 32GB card I switched to is actually working fine--no recurrences of the unexpected-removal error.
So I guess there's a problem with the 64GB card, even though it was fine until I switched it from the Note 3 to the Note 4 (and I handled the card carefully).
Good thing, though. It's easier to RMA the uSD card than to exchange the Note 4.

was it an SanDisk card? I have problem using my 64gb SanDisk in my s4 and note3. I changed over to a samsung brand and now I dont have any problems.

rfs830 said:
was it an SanDisk card? I have problem using my 64gb SanDisk in my s4 and note3. I changed over to a samsung brand and now I dont have any problems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, SanDisk Ultra 64GB. I had no problems with it in my Note 3, though.

I have a scan disk 64GB card that I took out of my Note 2 (rooted) and put in my Note 4. I started getting random unmounted errors.
Finally last night I pulled out the SD card and threw it in my computer. Sure enough it came up and said I had some corrupted files. I fixed the files. Dumped the SD card to my HD and then formatted the card in my phone. Then I put my music, pics, videos, and a couple of files for apps aback on the disk. So far no more SD card issues.
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 4.

Borgador said:
I have a scan disk 64GB card that I took out of my Note 2 (rooted) and put in my Note 4. I started getting random unmounted errors.
Finally last night I pulled out the SD card and threw it in my computer. Sure enough it came up and said I had some corrupted files. I fixed the files. Dumped the SD card to my HD and then formatted the card in my phone. Then I put my music, pics, videos, and a couple of files for apps aback on the disk. So far no more SD card issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad that worked for you! My PC, though, reported no errors when I scanned the card, both before and after reformatting.

Just got another SD card removed error...grrr
Back to square 1
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 4.

I'd be careful not to loose any valuable pictures.. my 128gb SD got corrupted after 2 months in note 3.. never had any issue with 64 gm tho.. got the 128 replaced and ok on note4
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using XDA Free mobile app

I picked up a new 64GB card, made by Samsung this time, I put it in last night and formatted it.
I had to reinstall a few apps after that.
I am going to give it a few days and see how it works out.
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 4.

chadiz said:
I'd be careful not to [lose] any valuable pictures[.] [M]y 128gb SD got corrupted after 2 months in note 3[.] [N]ever had any issue with 64 g tho[.] [G]ot the 128 replaced and ok on note4[.]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flickr gives you a free terabyte of storage that you can auto-sync your phone's photos to. That way you don't have to buy a large SD card, and you don't have to worry as much about losing photos due to disk corruption.

Yeah, I tried formatting my SanDisk several times and kept getting the same issue any time the phone tried to access data or write to it. I put in an old 32M cheapo brand and have had no issue at all

3 days and no errors. Maybe the Note 4 doesn't like SanDisk brand SD cards?
Sent from my iPad air using Tapatalk

Borgador said:
3 days and no errors. Maybe the Note 4 doesn't like SanDisk brand SD cards?
Sent from my iPad air using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a SanDisk from my S5 in my Note 4 and it has been flawless.

Gary02468 said:
Well, my guess was wrong. The 32GB card I switched to is actually working fine--no recurrences of the unexpected-removal error.
So I guess there's a problem with the 64GB card, even though it was fine until I switched it from the Note 3 to the Note 4 (and I handled the card carefully).
Good thing, though. It's easier to RMA the uSD card than to exchange the Note 4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm happy to report that the RMA replacement for my Sandisk Ultra 64GB uSD card arrived today (the replacement is a Pixtor rather than an Ultra), and so far it's working flawlessly.

I have been dealing with this error with my Sandisk 64gig also. Didn't have a problem with it on my Note3. I have reformatted to numerous formats. Anyone know of a specific one that works. Always have had trouble out of Sandisks on Samsung galaxy products. Some I don't , but I have had this problem on at least 5 different devices. I have always read that the thing to do is go with Samsung brand SDs. The new 64gig Samsung is apparently faster than any other micro SD. However, since I have paid for this one, I'd like to use it.

[Q] sdcard big problem 607T rooted

Hello to all, please I need a big help here... my is a 607T rooted, , only a week with me.. I bought 2 sdcard already 32gb .. and still same problem such is:
All my music and videos was there. .... I played fine... I restart the tablet... now are gone. .. only a few pictures. .. and all the carpets and files has like a u symbol. .
With my first micro card,, the same,, also I did format with the same tablet... copy my files and the same. ..:crying:
Please there any mod or something ? Please
All the best for you. .
H.

I seen this issue with fake SD cards, as I had a 64gb that did this. Only thing I car recommend is formatting the card fat32. Much more stable over all. Did this on my 64gb sandisk and I've never had an issue, 2.5 years and still going strong.
Sent from my SM-P600 using XDA Premium HD app

mine killed 2 64GB cards - one PNY and one samsung. i'd like to think it was just coincidental, but two, brand new... right after the other. the 32 GB works fine.
it started having some of the same problems with a third 64GB but i removed it before it killed that one too and put in in my asus t100 wintab. no problems with it there.
my tablet hates 64GB cards! it's freaking evil! lol

I don't know what to say. I bought a fake 64gb Samsung that was packaged and looked legit from Samsung. Never used pny other than in PC's and laptops. Sandisk has always been my go to and never an issue. But, for large volumes on SD cards I don't trust ext/4, stability issues. Thus my fat32 formatting. I've been doing that for external USB hard drives for use with automotive head units for mass media storage. Not one issue yet to date, volumes as large as 1gb.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using XDA Premium HD app