micro sd card won't formate and isn't being read by anything

EnTaroZeratul

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Apr 9, 2014
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Hello,

I have a 8GB SanDisk Micro SD HC card. I tried formatting it so it would take a 4GB download. I read to format it to NTFS so I did.

Now it won't be read by my computer or phone, and I can't format it back. I even tried to use the SD Formatter off the sdcard.org site or whatever and it says that it's not supported...

Help. How do I format it back to default?
 
Solution
That is good. I wanted to make sure you knew the results of formatting a card. Yes you should be able to create a simple volume on the card.

Alternatively, some phones can format the memory card for you :). This would be 100% sure you be compatible with it :)
I would try disk management.

Hold Start + R and when you get the Run box type diskmgmt.msc. Check to see if the card is listed, you can format it from that location, You should not use NTFS on non Windows devices because of poor support. Ex_fat may work if all devices support it.

If you do not see it and are using the phone as a card reader, you may need to try a dedicated card reader.
 
Yes I see a "New Simple Volume", do I click that?

All data was moved to a separate folder on my computer, then erased from the sd card before I tired formatting. There wasn't any data on it to begin with. I was smart in the department.
 
That is good. I wanted to make sure you knew the results of formatting a card. Yes you should be able to create a simple volume on the card.

Alternatively, some phones can format the memory card for you :). This would be 100% sure you be compatible with it :)
 
Solution
I clicked it and nothing is happening. Did I do something wrong?

I checked my phone and it didn't have any options to format or I would have.

If you help me fix this, could you also tell me how to format it correctly so that I can download large files to it without getting a write to disk file exceeds filesystem limit or whatever that error is?
 
Omg thank you! I formatted it back to FAT32 which I think was what it was before. I can now see how much it's holding (7.38GB) and open it. I haven't tried it in my phone yet. Thank you!

Now do you know what I should format it to so it can do the files like I asked above?
 
The name will not be an issue for it.

As for large files, You would have to ensure your phone supports a file system that can take larger files. Look to see if exfat is supported. If not, I think you may have to split the large files or something.

See if the phone manual lists supported file systems and see if it supports one that Windows can read.

EDIT. Got your PM.

Raw file system huh. Almost sounds like it is formatted in a way that neither can read.

Can you check to see if the phone can format a memory card. At least that way it will be able to read it. Sure hope the card is not having a problem(somewhat rare, but they do sometimes develop faults.).
 


I had the same problem with my 8gb sd card after I formatted it to NTFS. But after reading this article was able to make my sd card work in the phone again. I used file system FAT32 and 4096 allocation file size with the quick format box unchecked. I used my pc since no phone could read it. It took me a few minutes but it was worth the wait. :):) Thanks
 


Hi, I am facing the same problem and have tried your suggestion. But at the end after I click finish to the new simple volume wizard, there is an error : Data Error (Cyclic redundancy check). I am able to use my 32GB micro SD card in my windows phone and it's showing full data. But not able to use in my laptop with neither USB adapter nor SD card adapter. Each time I plug it in notification to format appears. Any suggestions?