Wierd SD card issue

[akathekrisc]

When i conect my tab to my PC some of the folders on my SD card are not listed in my explorer window. The folders are all there and accessible if i remove the sd card and use a usb adapter on the pc. Folders are accessible on the tab using any of the file explorer apps. Any one else having such issues. It seems to be the folders that have content i use a lot such as my comics folder, pdf folder for my text books.

Is it possible that apps could be using those folders and thus blocking them from appearing on my PC. I have killed any tasks that i think could be using them such as my comics viewer and repligo reader but they still dont show.


Anyone got any ideas. Pics below show what i see in windows explorer.

when sd card is the tab
ImageShack

 

[Zoandroid]

This issue may be one of two things I have run into while using my A500 tablet. When I connect to my PC, the tablet shows up in Windows Explorer as a "drive" and lists TWO subdrives:

Internal Storage
SD Card

The files and folders there have a direct correlation to, on the tablet, /mnt/sd card and mnt/external-SD. I have yet to figure out why they did it this way, because it is different than on my Froyo-based Android phones. On the phones there is just /sd card and all the files are there.

The second thing is, if you do not see all the files and folders when you view these on your PC, try going into the tablet Settings/Storage/SD Card and tap Unmount SD card. (Make sure you are not transferring any files when you do this).

Once it is unmounted, then tap Mount SD card. After that, you should see all the files and folders on the SD card from Windows. I had this exact same problem the first time I connected my new A500 to my Windows 7 PC, and these steps fixed the problem.

The file tree, when it comes to SD references, is really quite confusing on the A500. There are multiple listings on multiple levels of the tree relating to the SD card, and some of the listings seem to simply point to some of the other listings. But they are not marked as being a 'shortcut' like you might see in Windows. They appear to be just another folder.

 

[2manyPHONES]

What OS do you have on the tab? 3.1, 3.2... from what I remember anything prior to 3.2 a PC could only pick up on the internal storage not the SD card.

 

[Zoandroid]

It says Android 3.2.1 kernel 2.6.36.3+, and I have it rooted.

 

[Zoandroid]

Something I have been wanting to do is shut down the tablet and remove the SD card, and view it from my PC, just to see which files are actually on it. So I just did that, and I am ONLY seeing the folder structure which, as I mentioned above, is listed as the "SD card" subfolder when the tablet is connected to a Windows PC by USB. So the folders which are in the "Internal Storage" subfolder when connected that way are NOT physically on the SD card itself.

BUT.......

When you use Root Explorer to view /sd card, you see those folders and their files!!

This file tree on this tablet is the most convoluted file tree I have ever run across! It is so easy to get confused as far as which files you are 'actually' viewing and where they actually reside. You see the exact same set of files if you look at /mnt/sd card.

Overall I see all these possible references to external storage:

/sdcard
/mnt/external_sd
/mnt/sdcard
/mnt/usb_storage

Now, the files located on /mnt/sdcard, which by the name would make one think they are stored ON the SD card, are NOT. They are stored INTERNALLY. So when you connect your PC to 'back up your SD card' and copy the files showing as "SD card" in windows explorer, you are ACTUALLY copying the files from /mnt/external_sd. You do NOT get copies of the files listed under /mnt/sdcard from Windows Explorer, unless you also copy the files it shows as "Internal Storage".

To make things even more confusing, Clockworkmod Recovery saves its nandroids in the files which actually ARE on the SD card. But Titanium Backup, which on both of my Android phones saves its files ON the SD card, in this tablet saves its files in what I now know to be Internal Storage! IMO that is bad news. It's like making a backup of a hard drive in your PC onto the same hard drive you are backing up. They should be stored on the physical SD card, so they are safe if something happens to the internal memory of the tablet.

The files on the tablet in /sdcard appear to be the exact same files you see in /mnt/sdcard. I have yet to determine if they are actually duplicated, or if one 'folder' is a 'mirror' of the other.

Confused yet? I sure am!