unreadable micro sd card

[JulyRC]

Well, I encountered an issue that my laptop did not or could not read a micro sd card, It did not appear in the files manager. I checked the disk manager and the disk appeared there.
I connected it to another pc and the same issue. I then thought that the disk was damaged or corrupted. So, I tried to format it through the files manager and a report said that encountered an error and the disk could not be formatted. I tried to format it again via the disk manager and the same error message appeared. I then switched to a windows pc and tried to format it there and walah! It formatted and I am able to continue to use the micro sd card. I reinstalled all files and now I can read it on my Linux laptops.

 

[Condobloke]

I have encountered a couple of usb stick, 16GB, that just...failed. They did a 'Rolls Royce'...failed to proceed !

They were not expensive, they were not branded.

I dont own a windows pc

I do have GParted.

Quite by accident, I opened GParted and the usb was showing there, but it resisted any effort to format it.

I clicked on Device... Create partition Table....msdos....apply...

Then...I clicked on partition....New....then on add (without any changes)

Then clicked on the tick icon up the top...and apply. It took a minute or so.

The result:

Quite perfect. I have been using them for around 6 months (maybe more) since doing that

GParted is not to be taken lightly. It is a very powerful tool. It is damn easy to make a MESS.

Would I be quite so blase if this had been an ssd with much greater capacity?......No. I would have studied the Help contents thoroughly before I started.

Because this was a really cheap usb stick I didnt have a great deal to lose.

 

[wizardfromoz]

@JulyRC when you are sure this is solved, you can mark it as such by going to your first post, and do as follows

Near bottom left of the post click Edit - (No Prefix) - Solved

Cheers

Wizard

 

[JulyRC]

Not sure if this is the solution. Not everyone has a win pc handy to play with. Linux needs to find a way to fix this issue within.
Is there an app for Linux to help with this issue?

 

[dos2unix]

The "default" filesystem for Window sUSBs in fat32. exFat is getting more common.
NTFS is not common for USB drives, you can use NTFS, ut it sometimes requires more
packages depending on the distro.

 

[JulyRC]

I have encountered a couple of usb stick, 16GB, that just...failed. They did a 'Rolls Royce'...failed to proceed !

They were not expensive, they were not branded.

I dont own a windows pc

I do have GParted.

Quite by accident, I opened GParted and the usb was showing there, but it resisted any effort to format it.

I clicked on Device... Create partition Table....msdos....apply...

Then...I clicked on partition....New....then on add (without any changes)

Then clicked on the tick icon up the top...and apply. It took a minute or so.

The result:

View attachment 29691

Quite perfect. I have been using them for around 6 months (maybe more) since doing that

GParted is not to be taken lightly. It is a very powerful tool. It is damn easy to make a MESS.

Would I be quite so blase if this had been an ssd with much greater capacity?......No. I would have studied the Help contents thoroughly before I started.

Because this was a really cheap usb stick I didnt have a great deal to lose.

Can you elaborate more about GParted? Are there similar apps?

 

[JulyRC]

The "default" filesystem for Window sUSBs in fat32. exFat is getting more common.
NTFS is not common for USB drives, you can use NTFS, ut it sometimes requires more
packages depending on the distro.

I believe all SD and Micro SD's are to be formatted as exfat or fat32. Only hhd's should be NTFS by default.

 

[tpkusr]

GParted is a free partition editor for graphically managing your disk partitions.

Details are here:

GParted -- A free application for graphically managing disk device partitions

gparted.org

 

[JulyRC]

Perhaps Linux should adopt Window's Formatting Capabilities.

 

[Condobloke]

On Linux Mint, GParted is available in the Software Manager.

Open GParted and click on Help. Then either click on Contents or press F1

This opens the GParted manual.

In all cases, I recommend an image be taken of your system (using Clonezilla or Rescuezilla, or similar.

Timeshift snapshots are also mandatory.

BE WARNED: A system image or a Timeshift snapshot will protect your system files, but it will never be able to protect a ssd or hdd's or sd card/usb stick etc partitions etc.

 

[Condobloke]

perhaps Linux should adopt Windows Formatting Capabilities.

Why would Linux choose to do that ?

 

[JulyRC]

Why would Linux choose to do that ?

easy outcome.

 

[JulyRC]

I went to this Thread. https://www.linux.org/threads/sd-card-formatter-for-linux.57148/
I will check it out later. Hope this does the job.

 

[Condobloke]

The problems you encountered and described in your first post are not unique to you. A great number of users have those problems..... Including myself at one time.
I do have a hard time explaining exactly how I use gparted....it has been a trial and error (errors!) process over time.

I have used it to partition a 2TB drive into 4 separate spaces...successfully. I should add that I seriously held my breath on more than one occasion. However, the partitioning gods smiled on me and all turned out well.

On smaller drives...usb sticks and the like, I also meet with success. Mostly. Establishing a New partition, and then Creating a Partition Table appears to work for me....but......i must admit that I really have little to no clue what I am actually doing.
I likely have an over 95% success rate with those small devices.
What can I say?...I am a risk taker. I calculate that at some stage I have nothing to lose, and go for it.
If the usb survives...good. If it fails completely, into the bin it goes.

The gparted manual is a reasonably hard read.....but worthwhile wrapping your head around it.
Beer or similar may help.

As friend, @f33dm3bits said somewhere..."everything is hard before it is easy" (or words to that effect)

easy outcome

That is a window's thing. Commendable, but it furthers the "do it for them and they will never leave approach" that has been windows 'thing' for years. It is slowly but surely coming unstuck.

 

[Condobloke]

https://www.linux.org/threads/sd-card-formatter-for-linux.57148/

Good find. I will also peruse that.

 

[JulyRC]

The problems you encountered and described in your first post are not unique to you. A great number is users have those problems..... Including myself at one time.
I do have a hard time explaining exactly how I use gparted....it has been a trial and error (errors!) process over time.

I have used it to partition a 2TB drive into 4 separate spaces...successfully. I should add that I seriously held my breath on more than one occasion. However, the partitioning gods smiled on me and all turned out well.

On smaller drives...usb sticks and the like, I also meet with success. Mostly. Establishing a New partition, and then Creating a Partition Table appears to work for me....but......i must admit that I really have little to no clue what I am actually doing.
I likely have an over 95% success rate with those small devices.
What can I say?...I am a risk taker. I calculate that at some stage I have nothing to lose, and go for it.
If the usb survives...good. If it fails completely, into the bin it goes.

The gparted manual is a reasonably hard read.....but worthwhile wrapping your head around it.
Beer or similar may help.

As friend, @f33dm3bits said somewhere..."everything is hard before it is easy" (or words to that effect)


That is a windows thing. Commendable, but it furthers the "do it for them and they will never leave approach" that has been windows 'thing' for years. It is slowly but surely coming unstuck.