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[Note/GS] Trashing SD Cards?

F

Fed

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 7, 2012
409
0
Liverpool.
I keep reading that the Note II, and particularly the GSIII, trash SD cards a lot? Does anyone know the causes of this? Something tells me it's bad negotiation between the device and the card which is leading it to being inundated with data too quickly? But that would mean it's a manufacturer / OS error and I don't believe they'd miss something like this - sounds like user error to me. Confused given that SD cards are one of the most reliable forms of storage.
 
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L

LIVEFRMNYC

macrumors G3
Oct 27, 2009
8,877
10,987
The only issue I ever had was that some custom roms that I flashed would corrupt my SD card and leaving me with the only choice of formating it and losing all data on the SD card. This is why I back up my SD card before playing around with differ roms.

Haven't had one issue yet using the stock rom on the GS3 using a 64gb SD card. Even while rooted, still had no issues. Most of my music, videos, pics, docs and even some games are loaded on my SD card. Has been fast and reliable for me. I'm pretty sure I have a class 10 card. This goes for both stock ICS and lately updated stock JB.
 
S

Sincci

macrumors 6502
Aug 17, 2011
285
65
Finland
Fed said:
I keep reading that the Note II, and particularly the GSIII, trash SD cards a lot? Does anyone know the causes of this? Something tells me it's bad negotiation between the device and the card which is leading it to being inundated with data too quickly? But that would mean it's a manufacturer / OS error and I don't believe they'd miss something like this - sounds like user error to me. Confused given that SD cards are one of the most reliable forms of storage.
Click to expand...

Well, there is a problem related to the exfat filesystem used with the 64gb microsd cards. There's a known bug in Samsung's exfat implementation that will make your phone "lose" some of your files that you have copied on the card (in my case by using sd-card adapter) when you insert it in the phone. The phone won't see those files anywhere and you cannot copy them again since you'll just get an warning that the file already exists and even if you overwrite them, they still won't show up. In fact, you won't see those files anymore even by using the card again with the sd-card adapter. They are pretty much gone for good (while actually still somehow being there..). The only known solution for this one is to format the card into fat32 filesystem, but this can be quite difficult at least with Windows since by default Windows wants to format everything over 32gb into either ntfs or exfat. There are few programs that can format the card into fat32 and after that it will work correctly everywhere, but you'll lose the ability to copy and use files that are over 4gb.
 
F

Fed

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 7, 2012
409
0
Liverpool.
Sincci said:
Well, there is a problem related to the exfat filesystem used with the 64gb microsd cards. There's a known bug in Samsung's exfat implementation that will make your phone "lose" some of your files that you have copied on the card (in my case by using sd-card adapter) when you insert it in the phone. The phone won't see those files anywhere and you cannot copy them again since you'll just get an warning that the file already exists and even if you overwrite them, they still won't show up. In fact, you won't see those files anymore even by using the card again with the sd-card adapter. They are pretty much gone for good (while actually still somehow being there..). The only known solution for this one is to format the card into fat32 filesystem, but this can be quite difficult at least with Windows since by default Windows wants to format everything over 32gb into either ntfs or exfat. There are few programs that can format the card into fat32 and after that it will work correctly everywhere, but you'll lose the ability to copy and use files that are over 4gb.
Click to expand...

Very interesting post there. As I work across platforms all day (Linux flavours, Mac and Windows) I format everything to FAT32 anyway. So assuming I keep up this habit I won't experience any problems? I find it hard to believe that people wouldn't instantly tell someone about this problem on forums otherwise I'd have read it by now. After all, I'd rather the increased compatability than increased file sizes.
 
S

Sincci

macrumors 6502
Aug 17, 2011
285
65
Finland
Fed said:
Very interesting post there. As I work across platforms all day (Linux flavours, Mac and Windows) I format everything to FAT32 anyway. So assuming I keep up this habit I won't experience any problems? I find it hard to believe that people wouldn't instantly tell someone about this problem on forums otherwise I'd have read it by now. After all, I'd rather the increased compatability than increased file sizes.
Click to expand...

Yeah, you should be safe with fat32. I really haven't heard anyone having problems with that one, only with exfat.
 
S

siiip5

macrumors 6502
Nov 13, 2012
395
0
S3 is not officially rated to use a 64gb card.
Custom ROMs don't always play well with cards ;his large.
If you take the risk, it is on you. Back up your data.
32gb cards and lower have no reported issues.
 
S

siiip5

macrumors 6502
Nov 13, 2012
395
0
Sincci said:
According to Samsung's own website 64gb cards ARE supported: http://www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/mobile-devices/smartphones/android/GT-I9300MBDBTU-spec

Custom roms such as Cyanogenmod 10 however won't support those unless they are formated as fat32 since they don't have the necessary drivers for exfat support (and won't implement it since you'll need a license from MS for it).
Click to expand...

You read the sizes of internal memory for international versions of the S3. When they list "Memory: 16, 32, 64" this is what they are referring to, not sd card sizes you can add.

And custom roms can read and use 64gb sd cards. Eventually though, a corruption occurs. Ask me how I know.
 
3bs

3bs

macrumors 603
May 20, 2011
5,434
24
Dublin, Ireland
siiip5 said:
you read the sizes of internal memory for international versions of the s3. When they list "memory: 16, 32, 64" this is what they are referring to, not sd card sizes you can add.

And custom roms can read and use 64gb sd cards. Eventually though, a corruption occurs. Ask me how i know.
Click to expand...

Screen Shot 2012-12-25 at 18.48.31.png
 
S

siiip5

macrumors 6502
Nov 13, 2012
395
0
3bs said:
View attachment 385760
Click to expand...

Maybe the intl version works better with the 64gb card? I had issues with the 64gb Sandisk class 10 corrupting and deleting the contents of the card. Happened numerous times. Reverted back to a 32gb class 10 card and no issues. While the 64gb can work, failure is likely (at least with the US version.) Do a quick Google search. This is a large scale issue.
 
3bs

3bs

macrumors 603
May 20, 2011
5,434
24
Dublin, Ireland
siiip5 said:
Maybe the intl version works better with the 64gb card? I had issues with the 64gb Sandisk class 10 corrupting and deleting the contents of the card. Happened numerous times. Reverted back to a 32gb class 10 card and no issues. While the 64gb can work, failure is likely (at least with the US version.) Do a quick Google search. This is a large scale issue.
Click to expand...

I had a 32GB class 10 card too so can't say for sure.
 
S

siiip5

macrumors 6502
Nov 13, 2012
395
0
3bs said:
I had a 32GB class 10 card too so can't say for sure.
Click to expand...

BTW, thanks for your post above. If memory serves me right, Samsung had originally posted the S3 could only use 32gb cards. Devs on XDA showed that 64gb could work, and I guess Samsung updated their website. (Maybe the Int'l site always said 64gb, I don't know?)

I do know from first hand experience though, that the 64gb class 10 card I had was formnatted correctly via disk utility on my iMac, would work for a while and then give me the sd card is damaged error after a few days. Would erase all the contents on the card. Finally just had to give up on it and use a 32gb card. Life is so much better with a stable SD card. Gave the 64gb card to my wife to use in her Note2 and it has been working flawlessly in that phone.

If anyone does go with a 64gb card in the S3, I would do weekly backups to your pc or Mac. Better safe than sorry.
 
S

Sincci

macrumors 6502
Aug 17, 2011
285
65
Finland
siiip5 said:
BTW, thanks for your post above. If memory serves me right, Samsung had originally posted the S3 could only use 32gb cards. Devs on XDA showed that 64gb could work, and I guess Samsung updated their website. (Maybe the Int'l site always said 64gb, I don't know?)

I do know from first hand experience though, that the 64gb class 10 card I had was formnatted correctly via disk utility on my iMac, would work for a while and then give me the sd card is damaged error after a few days. Would erase all the contents on the card. Finally just had to give up on it and use a 32gb card. Life is so much better with a stable SD card. Gave the 64gb card to my wife to use in her Note2 and it has been working flawlessly in that phone.

If anyone does go with a 64gb card in the S3, I would do weekly backups to your pc or Mac. Better safe than sorry.
Click to expand...

S3 has always supported 64gb sd-cards, they even mentioned that one as a feature when the phone was introduced to the audience on May. The reason why this was suddenly possible didn't actually have anything to do with the sd-card slot itself; most sd-card slots and adapters already accept both sdxc and sdhc card types without any issues (but both are limited to the sdhc speeds). What however was changed with the S3 was the ability to read and use sdcards that are formated as exfat and thus enabling the "proper support" for 64gb cards and files that are bigger than 4gb.

Now, way before S3 was introduced, the xda folks learned that you could actually insert any 64gb microsdxc card into their Galaxy S and Galaxy S2 phones, Galaxy tablets etc and it would work just fine as long as the card is reformated from it's original exfat format into fat32. Usually all you needed to to was just to format it on your phone's own storage manager and that would be just fine. It just didn't recognize the original filesystem, so it changed it into something that it does recognize. This of course didn't work the same way with the S3 since it had the support for exfat and would just reformat it again as such.

Based on your posts, it would seem that your card was also formated as exfat (I'm pretty sure the disk utility in OSX will also format your 64gb sdxc card into that filesystem by default). This is exactly the same bug that I was referring in the post #3. The filesystem corruption, performance issues, missing files etc are all happening because Samsung's exfat implementation is somehow completely broken. And all of this can be fixed by reformating that same card into fat32 and the only thing you'll lose is the >4gb filesize support. This also guarantees the support with the custom roms (CM10 based and modified stock firmwares).
 
F

Fed

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 7, 2012
409
0
Liverpool.
daveathall said:
Thank you kindly.:D

When you say format properly, do you mean in the phone itself please?
Click to expand...

I imagine he means formatting it to FAT32 via your laptop of choice? Given that I haven't used Android, I'll be very impressed if it'll reformat a drive.

Excellent answers so far BTW. Much appreciated.
 
S

Sincci

macrumors 6502
Aug 17, 2011
285
65
Finland
Yeah, you'll need to format it on your pc or mac since while android can format sd cards, you cannot choose the filesystem with it, so with SGS3 and over 64gb cards it will format those into exfat and everything under that into fat32.
 
daveathall

daveathall

macrumors 68020
Aug 6, 2010
2,379
1,410
North Yorkshire
Fed said:
I imagine he means formatting it to FAT32 via your laptop of choice? Given that I haven't used Android, I'll be very impressed if it'll reformat a drive.

Excellent answers so far BTW. Much appreciated.
Click to expand...

Sincci said:
Yeah, you'll need to format it on your pc or mac since while android can format sd cards, you cannot choose the filesystem with it, so with SGS3 and over 64gb cards it will format those into exfat and everything under that into fat32.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much for your replies fellas, I will google how to do it on my MBP.:D
 
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