Hey all,
I joined this forum just so I can give my personal results/perspective.
I too am a victim of SD card mayhem. First of all, I have a Verizon branded S3. I have used nothing but 16GB cards that were sold to me by the Verizon store. From the first time I attempted to insert the card it exhibited the SD card removed error. So after a couple reboots of the new S3 phone and reinserting the card eventually it mounted the card. Around 2 weeks later I was greeted with than damn SD card removed error. Once again I popped the card in and out a few times. Rebooted the phone and the card remounted. Later that day the error popped up again. I tried inserting it into my PC and was greeted with the "Card needs to be formatted" message. I decided not to. I had a brand new Verizon supplied 16GB card to use. I popped it into the phone, system mounted it and it was a done deal. Now, ~ 2 months later, I open up the file browser and there's no files or folders on the SD card showing. There was NO warning what so ever. I decided to USB connect the phone to my PC "FOR THE FIRST TIME), I opened Kies and low and behold I couldn't read anything off the SD card. Opening up the native android file manager, it showed the card but couldn't read anything. After multiple attempts I decided to try the card by itself in my laptop. Card is not formatted message. By now I'm upset because I didn't have a current backup. So as a last effort attempt I put the card BACK into the phone and hook up via USB. Windows is taking a looooooong time to show any info. Then all of a sudden I started getting directory listings. SLOWLY getting them. My download folder had been renamed to uownload (that wasn't a typo) and another directory that held all my photos was empty but the LOST.DIR folder now contained all my photos but were renamed to a numerical value with no extension. I saved the majority of the data. Phew.
I'm a firm believer in factory restore anytime after an upgrade which was done immediately following the JB update. My phone is not rooted nor have I tinkered with it. When the first card corrupted I had loaded nothing else from stock on it. I just assumed it was just one of those things. The second time the phone scrapped out a card I had loaded a couple games "Subway Surfers and Temple Run 2" on it. For apps I have loaded Drippler, Speed Test, Led Light and Quadrant. Nothing should cause any problems there.
So once again let me point out that this phone has corrupted 2 cards now. After I formatted them the phone magically mounts the cards and acts like nothing happened. But I certainly no longer trust my phone.
So you see people, for me this was never an issue about:
Incorrectly disconnecting the phone from a PC
or it being a 32 or 64gb sized card
or a virus
Or a 3rd party app
or (insert whatever other ideas I may have missed from this thread.)
I absolutely agree that the # of sales for the S3 certainly speaks volumes about it not be a 100% failure across the board. However this "theory" doesn't disprove the possibility of certain models (whether it's Verizon or sprint or at&t branded or I9300 version) possibly have different revision card readers, cables etc. We honestly don't know exactly what we're dealing with.
Luckily my wife just signed me up for the ultimate Verizon warranty 2 weeks ago.
Speaking of Verizon - they have open enrollment going on as of the date of this post. Sign up people
I am seriously going to ask for another phone. If you are asking yourself why.....it's because I believe it is an issue with SOME S3's not all. The replacement phone will tell the tale. I'm not trying to be a smart arse here, simply posting my personal experience and suggestions.
For future reference I suggest we also start posting the brand and actual model of the S3. Kind of hard to actually do any real research without the pertinent info being provided.
I have the Verizon branded sch-
I535v