nick205
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| posted on 18/7/16 at 09:11 AM |
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Micro SD card won't format?
Hi All,
Recently purchased a 64GB micro SD card for my Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini smartphone. The card turned up quickly, but isn't and won't format
(exFAT) so doesn't work in the phone (or laptop). I've tried formatting the card in two laptops (Toshiba and HP).
Question is...how can I get around this and format the card so it works?
The phone itself has 16GB of internal memory and I want to expand this to download and store sat nav maps on (for off line navigation).
Any help would be appreciated guys!
Thanks,
Nick
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dave_424
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| posted on 18/7/16 at 09:20 AM |
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Is the phone able to format it?
[Edited on 18/7/16 by dave_424]
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gremlin1234
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| posted on 18/7/16 at 09:29 AM |
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I have used a program called
SDFormatter V4.0
which recovered a card that had an odd format.
https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/
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Mash
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| posted on 18/7/16 at 09:35 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by dave_424
Is the phone able to format it?
[Edited on 18/7/16 by dave_424]
Indeed, have you tried mounting it ?
Sorry if this sounds obvious, if so, just ignore me 
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nick205
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| posted on 18/7/16 at 10:36 AM |
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First off - yes I've tried mounting it several time in the phone, but it doesn't recognise it.
Both laptops say straight away that it needs formatting, but then fail to do so despite several attempts (trying again now).
Thanks for the software tip - I'll try that next time!
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Slimy38
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| posted on 18/7/16 at 10:45 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by nick205
First off - yes I've tried mounting it several time in the phone, but it doesn't recognise it.
Both laptops say straight away that it needs formatting, but then fail to do so despite several attempts (trying again now).
Thanks for the software tip - I'll try that next time!
I hate to say it, it's potentially dead on arrival. Definitely try SDFormatter though, it's a good route. But I've had cards that
even SDFormatter won't touch.
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nick205
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| posted on 18/7/16 at 10:51 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by gremlin1234
I have used a program called
SDFormatter V4.0
which recovered a card that had an odd format.
https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/
Hi gremlin,
A step forward!
Using the suggested program on my HP laptop seems to allow formatting of the micro SD card and the phone now recognises it - well done. At least the
laptop recognises the card and will let me move files to and from it OK.
I'm now about to format the card using the phone and see if I can use it in the phone.
Cheers
Nick
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nick205
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| posted on 18/7/16 at 04:21 PM |
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Card seems to formatted and work ok in the laptop, but still a no go in the phone 
ebay seller has made a very prompt refund and apologised - will try again tonight and see if I can get it working!
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gremlin1234
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| posted on 18/7/16 at 07:01 PM |
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I managed to get a couple of 64gb cards at lidl today, at £13 each.
what mapping app are you going for? I have maps.me, which uses openstreetmap. whole world download is 30GB, so ensure you do that by wifi!
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hearbear
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| posted on 18/7/16 at 11:06 PM |
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Samsungs are notorious at SD card faults just have a look on line my S4 ate my 32gig card.
3.9Ltr SSC Stylus should be fun
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Slimy38
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| posted on 19/7/16 at 07:49 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by hearbear
Samsungs are notorious at SD card faults just have a look on line my S4 ate my 32gig card.
I would recommend Kingston or Toshiba, I tend to go to 7dayshop.com to avoid the fakes that are out there. Their current 64Gb Kingston card is £12.99.
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nick205
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| posted on 19/7/16 at 09:28 AM |
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Bum!
Micro SD card formatted exFAT fine on the laptop and allows files to and from, but still doesn't work in the Samshite phone. Being honest
I'm less than happy with Samshite all round. We have a digi box and TV and both are flaky at best. The older Panasonic TV we have is faultless
every time and a pleasure to use.
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nick205
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| posted on 19/7/16 at 09:33 AM |
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Checking on ebay the micro SD card I bought was...
"64GB Micro SD Class 10 T Flash Memory card With Adapter For All Android Mobiles"
Looking at the transaction and card itself I can't see a manufacturer name.
Any ideas as to whether I've bought the wrong card?
Thanks,
Nick
ETA...
Looking again at the micro SD card it has micro SDHC on it. Googling what card will work in a Galaxy S5 mini phone Samsung suggest "HC"
and "XC" cards should work with the phone. Using the laptop I've put 3GB of data on the card, but it doesn't show up on the
phone
Trying to move apps to the SD card using the Samsung App Manager doesn't work either - simply says "not enough space available"
What am I doing wrong (and why did the seller refund it so fast)?
[Edited on 19/7/16 by nick205]
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Slimy38
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| posted on 19/7/16 at 10:31 AM |
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you've not bought the wrong card, you've just bought a generic unbranded one that will be 100% unreliable. However, they messed up when
they said SDHC. SDHC only covers up to 32Gb, anything above that is SDXC. That's why a lot of devices can only handle 32Gb.
I'd walk away and go for something a bit more likely to work.
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gremlin1234
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| posted on 19/7/16 at 10:33 AM |
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quote:
Looking again at the micro SD card it has micro SDHC on it.
sdhc only goes up to 32GB, need sdxc for 64
https://www.sdcard.org/consumers/choices/file_system/index.html
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nick205
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| posted on 19/7/16 at 12:33 PM |
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Useful detail on SDHC and SDXC (I was just reading the SDHC from the face of the card itself). My irritation is that the laptop card reader did work
and now doesn't. The web has a number of reasons for this, but none seem to apply or do anything for me. I'm uninstalling the SD
formatting software and will reinstall it to see if that fixes it. In the meantime the phone still can't use the card
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nick205
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| posted on 19/7/16 at 01:24 PM |
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ar5e - uninstalling and reinstalling the SD formatter didn't work! Been though Device Manager and no luck either. Looks like it's a bin
job and buy a better (branded) card.
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nick205
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| posted on 19/7/16 at 01:43 PM |
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Still no joy - off to clean the SD adapter contacts with alcohol and see if that does anything!
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MikeRJ
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| posted on 19/7/16 at 01:57 PM |
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Sounds like it's working about as well as you'd expect a very cheap, unbranded 64GB SD card to work...
If your data is in the least bit valuable, get something branded e.g. Sandisk, Lexar, Integral, Transcend, Samsung etc.
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gremlin1234
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| posted on 19/7/16 at 02:45 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by nick205
Still no joy - off to clean the SD adapter contacts with alcohol and see if that does anything!
rather than mess around, test the adaptor with
a card that you know works.
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nick205
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| posted on 19/7/16 at 03:58 PM |
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Now got an 8GB micro SD card and the SD adapter, laptop reader and formatting software work fine - next to see what happens in the Samshite.
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nick205
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| posted on 19/7/16 at 04:08 PM |
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Right 8GB micro SD card works fine, but not in the Samshite
Have to be honest and say I'm tempted to beat the Samshite to death and get a new phone
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gremlin1234
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| posted on 19/7/16 at 04:45 PM |
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quote:
Have to be honest and say I'm tempted to beat the Samshite to death and get a new phone
get a new phone, post the old one to me
;-) I'll cover postage, and even send you a small hammer for destroying other equipment. ps my s4 mini seems to work well
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BenB
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| posted on 19/7/16 at 05:09 PM |
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Avoid cheap SD cards. Many of them don't have the capacity they state they have. It's possible to "adjust" the capacity
identifier in the card so it thinks it has more capacity (until it runs out of memory half way!!!!).... Also the class of card is often less that
stated.
If you buy a 64Gb class 10 and actually get a 32Gb (if you're lucky) class 4
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dave_424
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| posted on 19/7/16 at 05:12 PM |
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Having a quick search online about the s5 mini and SD card problems, have you tried the suggested fixes like clearing cache etc?
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