Help lost SD card

[SofTA]

Hello,

This morning I was transferring a few files from my computer to the SD card on my Galaxy S10+ as I've done many times before, but today the transfer repeatedly failed. Eventually I got a message that my SD card wasn't working properly and was read only and to go change the setting. I couldn't find any good instructions on how to do that, so I rebooted the phone, and now it says there's no SD card at all! How do I fix this?

 

[tommo47]

Hi @SofTA,

Four questions to begin with :-

1)Have you got another device to try the card, or an adapter to plug it into your computer?
2) How long have you had the card?
3)Where did you buy it?
4)Is it a recognised brand?

 

[SofTA]

Hi tommo,

It's a SanDisk 32GB HC I. It came with the phone, which I purchased in July of last year.

Edit - hold on, I'll test the card in my computer (I thought it was locked into the phone until you asked your questions)

 

[SofTA]

My computer reads the card just fine - lots of system files on it.

Edit: I scanned the drive & Windows found & repaired errors, but it still doesn't show up when I plug the phone into the computer.

All my photos are on the card - none are on the phone itself. How do I change the settings to save photos on the phone?

 

[SofTA]

I figured out why I couldn't see how to change the storage location - since the card isn't being read, it doesn't show up as a storage location, so that should change once the problem is resolved.

I transferred my photos from the card to my computer, then went into >Settings, >Device care, >Storage, >Advanced, where I could see the card listed under Portable Storage - and that it is corrupted. I followed the prompt to set it up by formatting the card - which I've done 3 times now, but the card still says it's corrupted. I think it's toast.

 

[tommo47]

Hi,

When you say it came with the phone, was it a second hand purchase, and if so was the device and card wiped clean of user data?

What made you think the card was 'locked into the phone'?

When you read the card on your computer could you see your photos?

 

[tommo47]

Well, you have answered my last question and thankfully you've saved your photos .

Am I right in thinking you tried to format the card with it in the phone if so, do you have an adapter for reading it directly in the computer in which case you could try formatting it at that point.

You may well be right about it being toast .

 

[tommo47]

As far as storing photos is concerned, don't you use Google Photos?

You get free cloud storage for photos and videos.

If you don't then I would suggest you continue storing them on an SD card but do a regular back-up to your computer, and for security make a regular copy on a CD-RW.

 

[SofTA]

Hi,

When you say it came with the phone, was it a second hand purchase, and if so was the device and card wiped clean of user data?

What made you think the card was 'locked into the phone'?

When you read the card on your computer could you see your photos?

No, the phone was brand new.
I thought the card was locked in because that's how it was on my last Galaxy phone.
Yes, I transferred all the photos to my computer.

Well, you have answered my last question and thankfully you've saved your photos .

Am I right in thinking you tried to format the card with it in the phone if so, do you have an adapter for reading it directly in the computer in which case you could try formatting it at that point.

You may well be right about it being toast .

Yes, I tried formatting the card in the phone, and then on the computer, where I ran into a separate issue that the drive was in use. <sigh> However, I have so far been unable to format the card (not quick & not full) on the computer either. I had another 32GB SanDisk card I took out of a different device, reformatted it and put it in the phone, and now all is well! I am not going to continue to store my photos on the card, as I don't want to go thru this again!

As far as storing photos is concerned, don't you use Google Photos?

You get free cloud storage for photos and videos.

If you don't then I would suggest you continue storing them on an SD card but do a regular back-up to your computer, and for security make a regular copy on a CD-RW.

I do store some photos in Google Photos, but no, typically I will transfer my pix to my computer every month or three, and then back them up on a flash drive or external hard drive.

Anyhow, the issue is resolved with a replacement SD card. The mystery is why did the card corrupt this morning when I was transferring files to it? We'll probably never know...

 

[tommo47]

SD cards can and do 'break' at any time, with no forewarning, as you have found out. This applies particularly with 'cut price' so called 'genuine' branded cards which are often much less memory than advertised.

Of course genuine branded cards do go wrong but comparitively rarely. I stay clear of most sites like eBay and usually go to a high street retailer. I've got cards which I've had for 10 or more years and still behaving.

 

[Deleted User]

As side information, I was recently urged to log in to my Samsung Account before it was automatically closed for lack of use. I last had a Samsung device 4 to 5 years ago. I found I still have 15 GB of storage there as part of Samsung Cloud, so along with free Google One / Google Drive that's 30 GB +.

It does sound like your SD Card is going kaputnik, but apparently their customer service is second to none for genuinely purchased cards / any physical storage. Though they can fail early, if it's only a year old....

You could install their SanDisk Memory Zone app and see if that recognises the card still.

 

[SofTA]

As side information, I was recently urged to log in to my Samsung Account before it was automatically closed for lack of use. I last had a Samsung device 4 to 5 years ago. I found I still have 15 GB of storage there as part of Samsung Cloud, so along with free Google One / Google Drive that's 30 GB +.

It does sound like your SD Card is going kaputnik, but apparently their customer service is second to none for genuinely purchased cards / any physical storage. Though they can fail early, if it's only a year old....

You could install their SanDisk Memory Zone app and see if that recognises the card still.

I haven't activated a Samsung account - I try to keep things as simple as I can, which isn't easy to do these days! I might check out the SanDisk app, but a new card is only around $8 so it may not be worth the effort to pursue any further.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions!