Help Apps gone from SD card after its removal

[Paultx]

I have this Galaxy Tab A SM-P555M tablet I purchased in 2016 and use with a 128 GB SD card. Months ago I decided to move some apps to the card. Since then they have worked flawlessly.

Last week I needed to try to recover some images I had deleted from that card. Due to unsuccesful tries with several Android apps, I had to remove the card from the tablet to try Recuva using a PC.

The problem is that after I inserted the card back into the tablet, those apps were gone. Their icons on the apps drawer had changed to some sort of default gray icon, which, after clicked on, didn't open the related apps.

Is there a way I can restore these apps from the card, so they can work again like before? TIA.

 

[lunatic59]

Have you tried rebooting the tablet after the SD card was inserted?

 

[Paultx]

Well, I both removed and inserted the card while the tablet was off.

 

[lunatic59]

Was the tablet ever turned on without the card inserted? If you have apps saved to SD and the card isn't present, it may break the links. Try uninstalling and reinstalling one of the apps. It should restore the app as long as the recuva process didn't damage it's SD folder.

 

[Paultx]

Was the tablet ever turned on without the card inserted? If you have apps saved to SD and the card isn't present, it may break the links. Try uninstalling and reinstalling one of the apps. It should restore the app as long as the recuva process didn't damage it's SD folder.

Sorry, I can't remember if I turned the tablet on without the card.

What I wonder now is if there is a way to check the data saved on the card that might relate to those apps, so that I can contact the makers to try some solution.

To give you one example: I had the good old game Call of Atlantis (Premium) running from the card, with hundreds of power-ups and/or items I've earned over time. Maybe this data is there inside somehow and maybe I can get it back?

 

[lunatic59]

When you put the card in your PC were you able to browse the folders?

Like I said, if the data folders are there and intact, you may be able to recover them by reinstalling the app. Of course there's always the possibility of the folders getting overwritten, so it might be prudent to try and contact the app developer.

If you go into settings>apps are they still listed?

 

[Paultx]

I decided to uninstall (or remove) and reinstall those apps and run them from the internal storage. But due to the problems with the SD card, I still have a lot of data saved on it. Like 6,44 GB from Amazon e-books.

I can open most of the card's content, like images, videos, and documents (PDF, DOCX, TXT). But I can't delete its content, copy or move content between forlder or format it.

So I guess the problem is the card itself, not Android. What do you think?

 

[mikedt]

I decided to uninstall (or remove) and reinstall those apps and run them from the internal storage. But due to the problems with the SD card, I still have a lot of data saved on it. Like 6,44 GB from Amazon e-books.

I can open most of the card's content, like images, videos, and documents (PDF, DOCX, TXT). But I can't delete its content, copy or move content between forlder or format it.

So I guess the problem is the card itself, not Android. What do you think?

Sounds very much like the micro-SD has failed, and it's gone read-only. Going read only, something that flash storage can do if it's failing, to try and protect the data that's already on it, so it can be retrieved. Running apps from removable storage, does significantly increase the amount of read-write cycles and can shorted its life, and literally does wear it out.

As for the Amazon e-books(Kindle?).. Reinstall the Amazon app, sign-in, and all the ebooks you purchased should re-synchronise on your device.