Something is reformatting my external SD card - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

For the 2nd time in a week, I've got my SD card entirely reformatted by itself, and lost all my docs, photos, mp3... Not fatal, because I have most backups...
But I'm extremely mad at my Android (Samsung Galaxy A6 plus 2018, not rooted), as I can't understand how a SD card can get wiped out by itself and, I think, while on screen off. What app could have done that?
I've read that the card could be hardware faulty , but It worked perfect in my previous Note 4 android for a year, and never gave me trouble.
I also need some advice on recovering docs from the card, as I've lost my most recent photos. Thanks.
Sent from my SM-A605FN using Tapatalk

Related

[Q] External sd card corrupted....twice.

Let me start out by saying that I have searched for any threads that have covered this, and have come up empty.
This has happened twice to me in the last two months. Running task650's V.9, which is an awesome ROM. I've got a Lexar Class 10 32gb card. Twice in two months have I booted up and the media scanner would show a broken sd card notice. I tried booting the phone without the card, and then re-installed the card. Same notice of bad sd card on boot.
At this point I took the card and stuck it in a laptop, which generated a "can not open due to corrupt or unreadable file" and "reformat drive" or something like that. I was forced to format, losing photos, vids, and TiBu folder. I synced to Dropbox and got the backup folder re-installed.
Any ideas about what could have corrupted the card? I suppose the card could be damaged. I paid good bucks, as it is not a low end card. Replace the card? Any guidance would be appreciated.
I have a Lexar Class 10 32GB card. Same issue, after first time reformatted and same thing happened a week or two later.
I did an RMA with Lexar, think there is a 1 year warranty. Got a new card, been working fine the past several months.
Ok. Thanks for the input. I've got a Kingston Class 10 on the way.
I was hoping it wasn't in the phone hardware.
Thanks, I just reminded myself to do a backup of that card itself to my PC.
Sorry to hear about your problem though.
L
LiLChris06 said:
Thanks, I just reminded myself to do a backup of that card itself to my PC.
Sorry to hear about your problem though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks like I will be starting practice myself
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using xda premium
This just happened to me two days ago. Lost some pics that was about it. Pissed me off because they were of my son and you'll never get those moment back but too late now. Always backup!!
Sent from my SGH-I777 using XDA App
Skyler2Dope said:
This just happened to me two days ago. Lost some pics that was about it. Pissed me off because they were of my son and you'll never get those moment back but too late now. Always backup!!
Sent from my SGH-I777 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I lost some New Years day photos and vids with my wife. I'll NEVER find her in that good of a mood again!
It makes me wonder about my decision to place my TiBu folder on the external card, along with Nandroid backups. True, it syncs to Drop Box for TiBu but do I need the extra headache of wondering if my card is going to get smoked again? I suppose I should be backing it all up to pc..
I'm not sure but it seems to be a problem with the phone and class 10 cards.
My first one was a 16gb class 10 micro sd that one day just decided to stop working (lasted a month or so). Couldn't access it via the phone or PC.
So I went out and got a 32gb class 10 and after a month or so again it stopped working
Knowing this I refused to buy a class 10 card again. I went to Walmart and got the cheapest 32gb micro sd (Sandisk class 4) and so far so good. no problems at all
Lost everything I had too on the first 2 cards so learned the hard way to do backups to my PC.
Not the class, it's probably the brand. Some brands have terrible quality control, especially if you go for a cheaper one. I have one from Amazon Basic and it works just fine. My brother uses one from SanDisk with zero problem.
Class 10 is also newer. The technology to manufacture these is not that old. I suspect some manufacturers still need to refine their process.
Sent from my Galaxy SII
me too
Posted this on similar thread here, but want to make sure people know it's a problem:
Got a similar problem here.
Transcend Class 10 32GB Card
Works in PC, HTC Desire - no probs.
Put in Galaxy S2, it starts Media Scanning, a few seconds later reports SD Card Damaged, requires formatting.
It's right - take it back out (again, umpteenth time!), put it in PC or HTC - card is "damaged". (Nothing permanent, can reformat.)
Samsung support claim to not know anything - mind you they "play dumb" about the camera "pink spot" issue, until you challenge them to get real...
Oh, dear!
Brian
---------- Post added at 12:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:51 AM ----------
I thought my Galaxy was shagging the Card - but it could be a Fake
Testing now with H2testw (also visual clues available) see
YouTube video watch?v=ePdITNObDYE
Hope this helps
Brian
Buy a 500gb external hard drive for like 50 bucks they're cheap now. Backup everything to it once a week. Never lose data. Profit.
Sent from my SGH-I777 using Tapatalk 2
Sounds like a brand issue, but have you ever tried checking the drive for errors?
Given that even your PC gives you a "damaged" message, it may not work. Once inserted, go to "My Computer," get to properties, and check for errors (enable the "automatically fix file system errors" option). In the past, this has corrected "corrupted" SD cards for me.
geomax45 said:
Let me start out by saying that I have searched for any threads that have covered this, and have come up empty.
This has happened twice to me in the last two months. Running task650's V.9, which is an awesome ROM. I've got a Lexar Class 10 32gb card. Twice in two months have I booted up and the media scanner would show a broken sd card notice. I tried booting the phone without the card, and then re-installed the card. Same notice of bad sd card on boot.
At this point I took the card and stuck it in a laptop, which generated a "can not open due to corrupt or unreadable file" and "reformat drive" or something like that. I was forced to format, losing photos, vids, and TiBu folder. I synced to Dropbox and got the backup folder re-installed.
Any ideas about what could have corrupted the card? I suppose the card could be damaged. I paid good bucks, as it is not a low end card. Replace the card? Any guidance would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only corruptions I have experienced on this phone were when using MTP to transfer files from the PC. Since I stopped using MTP and use only USB Storage mounting, I have not had any more problems.
I've actually experienced this twice. Both times flashing to AOKP. I'm not blaming AOKP but just saying. The first time even my PC wouldn't read it and it needed to be reformatted. The second time my pc could read it and after nandroiding back to shostock2 it was fine.
Sent from my SGH-I777 using xda premium

[Q] Partitioning an SDHC card without a card reader

I hope like heck this isn't posted somewhere else in the forum - I've only spent all afternoon searching, but sometimes.... Apologies if I missed something.
I successfully rooted my Samsung Galaxy Blaze phone, installed Titanium BackUp and now would like to send my app data to my nice 16GB SDHC card. The problem is, I can't get it partitioned probably because my laptop's card reader can't really read SDHC cards, even in adapters. It recognizes that the card is there, but then wants to format it and won't format it. I tried using the Mini Tools Partition Wizard, but each attempt failed, claiming I had a bad card. The card works beautifully in the phone, so I don't think that's the problem, especially since brand new cards get the same reaction.
Is there a way to partition the card from my phone? I have good reason to believe that my memory problems have a lot to do with the boatload of email I have saved in GMail, or the fact that Google+ somehow decided I really needed *all* of my photos on my phone, via Picasa (another source of angst and muttering).
Thanks for any help.
Most custom recoveries will allow you to partition SD cards
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

SD card problems

Hi All,
Anyone have issues with their sdcard being detected with the G5? I have an 850 and a lot of the time the sdcard stops working or being detected and i cant see why. A reboot and then waiting 20 mins usually fixes it and it shows up in the storage section but its getting annoying.. May have to try another card to see what the story is with that but for now i wondered if anyone else had drama with it.
Cheers
Cass
Maybe the card is dying i would suggest backing up the data just to be safe
No problem with mine
Send from my LG G5 using Tapatalk
Backed up and reformated the card on pc as ntfs. Card detected on insert, it told me it was corrupt, which it was due to no ntfs support and it formatted it again as exFat. Lets see how it goes now.
Cheers
Sent from my LG-H850 using Tapatalk
Cass67 said:
Backed up and reformated the card on pc as ntfs. Card detected on insert, it told me it was corrupt, which it was due to no ntfs support and it formatted it again as exFat. Lets see how it goes now.
Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hope it goes well!
This seems to be frequent to a certain extent. This is a hardware issue. Same with S7 Edge or non-Edge (visit page: digitaltrends.com/mobile/galaxy-s7-edge-problems/8/
It seems that LG has the same issue. It could also be an Android 6 issue.
I got my new S7. I have sent to other one for repair. They changed the motherboard. Then it came back with the same issue. Then Samsung sent me a bran new S7. I have no more SD card notifications at all. Not even when I reboot the phone. Yesterday (again) I was listening to music (a set of 2 hours long) from my SD card. I started to look at pictures (again) at the same time. After 40 mins or so, my phone stopped the music and stopped being able to read my SD. Everything froze and I had to reboot. Then, again, a few mins later (listening to music and looking at pictures), it did it again. On the second time, I was not able to reboot the phone using the power button (keeping pressure for 10 seconds). I had to do it using the volume down/home/power. The phone screen was totally black and there was no way to unfreeze it. My notification light was flashing blue (as I had new emails and text), but the phone was not responsive at all.
It seems like Samsung just removed the SD notification as a whole in the new phone but did not fix the issue.
For those who don't have the issue, before commenting, I would appreciate if you could listen to music and look at your pictures at the same time (all from the micro SD card) for at least 30-40 minutes.
I strongly believe that ALL phones have this issue, but that those who don't just have not access pictures while listening to music (demanding on the SD card reading). Do it if you can... and see if it creates problems. And let me know once you did the above.
I forgot to mention. I am a computer and smartphone savy. I flashed all my S1, S2, S3, S4 on a daily basis. I did purchased another SD card (even if my sandisk is working perfectly on my S5). I got a Samsung evo 64gm. The issue remains on both SD cards, and before you comment about it, YES i did reformat on multiple occasions both with my pc AND within the phone. I also did factory reset on multiple occasions. So it is not the SD's the problem. Just trust, I did everything possible.
I have the g5 se and have bought a 128gb card (actually have 3) but none of the 3 work with this phone and when i manage to get the files (music) on the sd when in device it deletes them all is this still the issue people are having

Micro SD card gets corrupted occasionally

The 64Gb Strontium Micro SD card in my Redmi Note 4x (MIDO) works good, but then becomes corrupt occasionally, (about every 6 weeks).
MIUI says the card is unreadable and needs formatting.
If I take the card out and put it in a computer it can no longer read it either.
If I use DiskGenius, (data recovery software), I can recover the data and save to a computer. I then have to repeat the process of putting the card back in the phone and reformatting it (fat32) then load the recovered data back on at it works again for a while.
Has anybody else encountered this? Do you think it is the card or the phone at fault?
Reformat your system.
What backup tool are you using and your back up timings?
Seems card is being used aggressively?
At same time between multilevel applicatons..
Are you storing and running high configuration apps or games while same time backup etc. Is on?
Hi IODroids, thanks for your reply.
I only use the card to store music and Titanium backups, no apps or heavy usage.
I always format using the phone.
I guess I will know if it is the card or not in a months time.
Sent from my Redmi Note 4 using Tapatalk
Spukey said:
Hi IODroids, thanks for your reply.
I only use the card to store music and Titanium backups, no apps or heavy usage.
I always format using the phone.
I guess I will know if it is the card or not in a months time.
Sent from my Redmi Note 4 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was facing that issue long time ago when I used a cheap micro SD. Especially when I worked with multiple or big files (for example with Titanium Backup)
Then I bought another micro SD, a little more expensive and problem solved
OK. I have replaced the micro SD card and can confirm that the replacement has been rock solid with no issues over the last few months.
Just saying this in case someone else has this issue and stumbles across this thread.

Question SD Card Issues

Well just picked up my new A52 5G really enjoyed it at first but now my SD card keeps getting unmounted every time I restart the phone. ( The best part about this is the SD cards are made by Samsung tried 2 different ones both are 128G) (SAMSUNG: EVO Select 128GB MicroSDXC UHS-I U3 100MB/s Full HD & 4K UHD Memory Card with Adapter (MB-ME128HA)
The typical SD problems Samsung is known for. Asking Samsung for solutions is not very informative. Please any suggestions would be great.
If not I guess I just ditch Samsung A52 5G and go back to the other evil the iPhone. Heck at least every time you turn that on it always works.
This sure seems like a great phone but that SD card issue is really a big deal at least for me.
HAve you tried the same SD cards on other phones or a different SD card on the same phone?
Yes, I actually bought 2 exact same cards, no issues anywhere I use them except in the new Samsung A52 5G.
Reading a lot of other posts seems to be a pretty big issue with Samsung and Android 11.
( https://eu.community.samsung.com/t5...afely-to-prevent-your-phone-from/td-p/2967455)
What about if you borrow a card from a different brand? I swtiched the old SD card i was using onto my A52 5G and never had any issues. Could it be a problem with samsung cards? For reference I use a Kingston 32GB MicroSDHC with UHS 1
Try formatting card in phone if that doesn't get it try doing a low level format on the PC with a 3rd party app do not use the Windows formatting utility.
Then format again in phone.
Load card through phone.
Formatting the SD card was the first thing I did using a Linux PC. (Manjaro OS ) This was always my goto if I have formatting problems. The SD card was done in exFAT, however no luck.
The other option is buy a different brand SD card as mentioned above by "ImGonnaTryScience". (Thanks)
The card I'm looking at is the
SanDisk 128GB Extreme MicroSDXC U3, V30, 4K, A2, Micro SD.
I'm thinking maybe the Samsung SD cards are to slow, but who knows.
What doesn't make sense is the Samsung SD cards work everywhere with no issues.
I even have an old Galaxy Tab 7, Samsung SD cards works great in that. Speaking of my old Tab 7 I tried formatting the SD cards with that and then put them back into the A52 5G. This didn't work either. My thinking was Samsung should like Samsung but my thinking was wrong. (Maybe I should stop thinking.)
Speed in SD cards matter sometimes (for example the SD card I use in my dashcam needs to be a certain minimum speed otherwise it won't be able to record properly), but I find it very odd that it wouldn't work for a phone.
ImGonnaTryScience said:
Speed in SD cards matter sometimes (for example the SD card I use in my dashcam needs to be a certain minimum speed otherwise it won't be able to record properly), but I find it very odd that it wouldn't work for a phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not giving up just yet, I really like the A52 5G.
V30 should be fairly fast from internal memory to SD card less using the C port.
If you did a low level format then put it in the phone with not data on it, then formatted in the phone again... it should work.
I've had issues like this on my S4, now you see it, now you don't. I had to do a low level format to make it readable even on Windows. May have been a bad card but all sectors were intact.
May be card brand. Even afterward it would not see the requiring a reboot.
I'm using the Lexar .5tb V30 card in my Note 10+ and unlike what happened on the S4 the 10+ recognized immediately. Formatted it in the phone and zero issues since.
OP I feel you. This is a frustrating issue that really jams a monkey wrench in the cogs.
I be seeing red.
Pedal to metal, no brains diagnostic solution; get the Lexar card if the size and speed rating fit your needs.
$64 and known to work out of the box.
https://www.amazon.com/Lexar-High-Performance-512GB-microSDXC-UHS-I/dp/B07KBQQ82D/ref=asc_df_B07KBQQ82D/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=320277925145&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15218256658824518829&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9059462&hvtargid=pla-575646493333&psc=1
These devices can be damaged by ESD. Careful handling will eliminate the possibility.
RH>50%
Touch an earth ground before handling to help neutralize any static charge.
Don't touch the contacts.
It's not a ram stick but better safe than sorry.
Well I may have solved my problem. I completely wiped the SD Card using MiniTool Partition Wizard. However I didn't add a partition or any kind of formatting. Once the card and partition was completely wiped I put it back into the A52 5G and let it do its own partitioning and formatting of the SD Card. Everything is working really well no more SD card errors, just hope it holds. ( 12hrs and still working, before that the error would pop every 30 minutes or so.) ( Still using my original SAMSUNG: EVO Select 128GB SD Card)
I'll update the progress in a few days.
Some reason the wipe of the partition seemed to do the trick. I don't really understand why since like I said the card worked well in everything except the A52. Maybe Samsung changed the format structure compared to there previous tablets and phones. Maybe its even an issue with Android 11 . All formatting in the past was always exFAT however something changed with this phone. I hope this will help out others who may be experiencing the same problem.
sparkyslots said:
Well I may have solved my problem. I completely wiped the SD Card using MiniTool Partition Wizard. However I didn't add a partition or any kind of formatting. Once the card and partition was completely wiped I put it back into the A52 5G and let it do its own partitioning and formatting of the SD Card. Everything is working really well no more SD card errors, just hope it holds. ( 12hrs and still working, before that the error would pop every 30 minutes or so.) ( Still using my original SAMSUNG: EVO Select 128GB SD Card)
I'll update the progress in a few days.
Some reason the wipe of the partition seemed to do the trick. I don't really understand why since like I said the card worked well in everything except the A52. Maybe Samsung changed the format structure compared to there previous tablets and phones. Maybe its even an issue with Android 11 . All formatting in the past was always exFAT however something changed with this phone. I hope this will help out others who may be experiencing the same problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's possible there was some app on it with a secure partition or something.
It may take or do what one card* did in my S4+, while never lost data it would go through spells of not being recognized by the phone requiring a reboot. No rhythm or reason to it.
Having to low level format a new card is not a good sign.
Next card get a Lexar, slam it in, format, good to go.
* it wasn't recognized by the phone or Windows. Only the Lexar formatting app could access it. After a low level format it was visible to the phone and Windows.
Really?
Well I said I would let everyone know the progress. Simple terms FAIL.
6:00AM this morning the error came back. ( SD Card was removed unsafely )
So I guess now I'll try the new SD card I mentioned above or the one mentioned above by Blackhawk ( Thanks for the info. )
(SanDisk 128GB Extreme MicroSDXC U3, V30, 4K, A2, Micro SD.)
(Lexar-High-Performance-128GB-microSDXC-UHS)
sparkyslots said:
Well I said I would let everyone know the progress. Simple terms FAIL.
6:00AM this morning the error came back. ( SD Card was removed unsafely )
So I guess now I'll try the new SD card I mentioned above or the one mentioned above by Blackhawk ( Thanks for the info. )
(SanDisk 128GB Extreme MicroSDXC U3, V30, 4K, A2, Micro SD.)
(Lexar-High-Performance-128GB-microSDXC-UHS)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well .5 tb will be nice to have.
I hope this works...
Format in phone.
I would leave the card in the phone and up/download data via the phone rather than removing the card to do so.
https://www.amazon.com/Lexar-High-Performance-512GB-microSDXC-UHS-I/dp/B07KBQQ82D/ref=asc_df_B07KBQQ82D/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=320277925145&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=7121514958990028700&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9059462&hvtargid=pla-575646493333&psc=1
Found another interesting read. Maybe Android 11 is the issue.
Reading through this post I see the Scandisk Extreme SD card has issues to.
problem with "sd card removed unsafely" notification
hello, can you guys help with this issue? looks like it is not just an A72 problem, but also on other models. the notification is very frequent, and happens even while the phone is on standby. what i tried so far a 128gb sandisk extreme pro...
forum.xda-developers.com
sparkyslots said:
Found another interesting read. Maybe Android 11 is the issue.
Reading through this post I see the Scandisk Extreme SD card has issues to.
problem with "sd card removed unsafely" notification
hello, can you guys help with this issue? looks like it is not just an A72 problem, but also on other models. the notification is very frequent, and happens even while the phone is on standby. what i tried so far a 128gb sandisk extreme pro...
forum.xda-developers.com
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have no love for 11 and running on Pie quit happily on my Note 10+.
Can't say that Lexar card is know good for your phone because it uses a faster and different memory controller as well as the imfamous A-11 OS.
However before blaming the hardware or firmware I would give the Lexar a shot. It's a nice card to have regardless.
Well I picked up the sd card member Blackhawk was talking about this morning. A Lexar High-Performance 633x 512GB MicroSDXC UHS-I Card. I put the card in fresh out of the package let the A52 format the card about 4 hours later same as before, the fault came back. After reading the post the Blackhawk wrote about his pie made me think I'll try that. Fired up my pie4 and let the pie4 do the format. Well no luck there either within 30 minutes the fault came back. Well now I know its either the A52 or its Android 11. The cards both work really well in all may other devices. However the A52 5G is the only thing running Android 11. Now the question is return the phone or wait for Android 12.
sparkyslots said:
Well I picked up the sd card member Blackhawk was talking about this morning. A Lexar High-Performance 633x 512GB MicroSDXC UHS-I Card. I put the card in fresh out of the package let the A52 format the card about 4 hours later same as before, the fault came back. After reading the post the Blackhawk wrote about his pie made me think I'll try that. Fired up my pie4 and let the pie4 do the format. Well no luck there either within 30 minutes the fault came back. Well now I know its either the A52 or its Android 11. The cards both work really well in all may other devices. However the A52 5G is the only thing running Android 11. Now the question is return the phone or wait for Android 12.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry to hear that. I meant that Pie as in Android 9. Try the Lexar low level formatting utility if you can find it. Again, format in phone before you use it to be on the safe side.
It seems it's the phone.
Try clearing the system cache.
Doubt check setting and clear data in associated apks. It still may be something not so obviously obvious... Androids wuv being played with.
Well I finally got the respond for Samsung I was looking for. It's not the SD card but an issue with there firmware. They claim it will be addressed with the next update. I used the Samsung Members App to send them an error report from my device and the response was quite pleasing.
( See there response)
Congratulations, you're a remote Samsung beta tester!
Just sloppy and unprofessional on Samsung's part and no fix... yet.
Eventually they'll get it but it should have never made it out for retail sale like that
Personally I'd consider asking for a full refund as without a working SD card slot the phone becomes a liability for me... as if this little ride hasn't already. That used 10+ is looking more tempting to me.
Wow. Well done
Hi another issue with SD. When I have tried to make a backup on the an SD card via the setting app it stuck after 85% and the result of it I got an SD with "write protection" which I can't change not via DOS not with other 3rd party tools. by the way its working on Samsung tablet including format and copy files but when I put is back to my mobile or try to check it on PC to delete the portion or make any change it still same issue "write protection". Would appreciate any idea before I put it to garbage. Thanks

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