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Cant see files on sd card

W

waisodim

Lurker
I put some video files on my sd card to watch with mx player but it says that theres no files. I put an mkv file(which mxplayer can read) and an mp4 file but it says there no files, also i put them straight on the sd card at first and then in a folder and same thing. Im using a 4gb micro sd and the mkv file is 2gb and the mp4 file is 800mb. When i go to settings, it says that the sd card is only 100mb full from some crap and 3.7gb free space even though i have 2 files which take almost 3 gbs of space. I used astro file manager and when i go to the external sd file, it shows nothing and says sd card is empty. Whats going on. Im trying to watch some movies with mx player but everytime i put video file, it wont show on android. Im using android 4.2.2. Anyone whats going on here? Im still a noob at using android.
Btw the sd card is formatted as fat32
 
What is your device? Some devices have a section of internal storage that is described as SD card...could you be seeing that?

How are you putting the files on the SD card?
 
divinebovine said:
What is your device? Some devices have a section of internal storage that is described as SD card...could you be seeing that?

How are you putting the files on the SD card?
Click to expand...

Rooted Nook color with CM10.1. Yeah, i see 2 sections, one called sdcard0 and the other one sdcard1. I know that sdcard0 is the internal one and shows folders but when i click on sdcard1, it shows no files even though i have 2 movies on the sdcard. Im just copying and pasting the files directly onto the sd card. I also tried putting the files into a folder called movies but file explorer still said that the sdcard was empty. I used both es file explorer and astro to search for files on the sd card but none of them found anything. Whats also weird is that the tablet created a whole bunch of folders and even those folders wont show up on either of the file explorers.
 
Can you take the card to another mobile device or computer and play the files?

Have you tried removing and re-inserting the card or rebooting the Nook?

More on how you're copying...

Are you taking the card out of the Nook and using a card reader to put the files on from a computer? If so, is the computer able to play the files once they're on the card?

Are you leaving the card in the Nook and plugging a USB cable in?
 
divinebovine said:
Can you take the card to another mobile device or computer and play the files?

Have you tried removing and re-inserting the card or rebooting the Nook?

More on how you're copying...

Are you taking the card out of the Nook and using a card reader to put the files on from a computer? If so, is the computer able to play the files once they're on the card?

Are you leaving the card in the Nook and plugging a USB cable in?
Click to expand...
I reinserted the sd many times but the same thing. Im plugging it in directly into my laptop and copying the files directly into the sd card. Yes the computer can read the files and lay them while they are on the sd card. i really dont know whats going on.
 
waisodim said:
I put some video files on my sd card to watch with mx player but it says that theres no files. I put an mkv file(which mxplayer can read) and an mp4 file but it says there no files, also i put them straight on the sd card at first and then in a folder and same thing. Im using a 4gb micro sd and the mkv file is 2gb and the mp4 file is 800mb. When i go to settings, it says that the sd card is only 100mb full from some crap and 3.7gb free space even though i have 2 files which take almost 3 gbs of space. I used astro file manager and when i go to the external sd file, it shows nothing and says sd card is empty. Whats going on. Im trying to watch some movies with mx player but everytime i put video file, it wont show on android. Im using android 4.2.2. Anyone whats going on here? Im still a noob at using android.
Btw the sd card is formatted as fat32
Click to expand...

Very possibly you've got a phony SD card, as it looks like there's all sorts of strange things happening here. There's a lot of counterfeit SDs around, which just don't work properly. Did you buy it from Ebay?

Suggest you test it...
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=air.com.anotherflexdev.sdcardtester.SDCardTester

If you have any doubts at all, just replace it with known good one.
 
waisodim said:
I reinserted the sd many times but the same thing. Im plugging it in directly into my laptop and copying the files directly into the sd card. Yes the computer can read the files and lay them while they are on the sd card. i really dont know whats going on.
Click to expand...

The computer can definitely read all the files from the SD, play all the videos, music, photos, and it not just looking at file-names and directories?
 
mikedt said:
The computer can definitely read all the files from the SD, play all the videos, music, photos, and it not just looking at file-names and directories?
Click to expand...

...and taking it to another computer or device, you can read the data there? I think that's the first step to making sure the card is working properly and the files are being put on the card properly. Using the same computer and same mobile device leaves too many variables and possibilities to easily troubleshoot via forum posts.

Here's a checklist of things to try:
1. Take the card to another computer. See if the computer can play the videos/etc.
2. Try the card in another Android device. See if that can play the videos/etc.
3. Completely power down and reboot the Nook. Try it both with and without the card inserted before booting.
4. Try using a USB cable with the card in the Nook to transfer your files, using the Nook to write the data to the card -- then go back and try the rest of the checklist again.

That's the kind of stuff I'd do if I was having this problem.
 
mikedt said:
The computer can definitely read all the files from the SD, play all the videos, music, photos, and it not just looking at file-names and directories?
Click to expand...

divinebovine said:
...and taking it to another computer or device, you can read the data there? I think that's the first step to making sure the card is working properly and the files are being put on the card properly. Using the same computer and same mobile device leaves too many variables and possibilities to easily troubleshoot via forum posts.

Here's a checklist of things to try:
1. Take the card to another computer. See if the computer can play the videos/etc.
2. Try the card in another Android device. See if that can play the videos/etc.
3. Completely power down and reboot the Nook. Try it both with and without the card inserted before booting.
4. Try using a USB cable with the card in the Nook to transfer your files, using the Nook to write the data to the card -- then go back and try the rest of the checklist again.

That's the kind of stuff I'd do if I was having this problem.
Click to expand...

Guys i just tried it on a phone(LG Optimus G) and it read both of the files and played both of them. It even read the mkv file natively, so now i know that its the tablet and not the sd card. The brand of the sd card is lexar and ive had it for a few years and has always worked (bought it at walmart). It seems that the tablet or the os cant see the sd card or anything that is in there, even though it wrote a bunch of stuff in it.
 
Great, we've just eliminated a whole bunch of unnecessary troubleshooting. Now we know it's specifically a problem on the device, not the card, not the computer writing the card.

Next step: If you connect the Nook with a USB cable and put the files directly on the Nook's internal storage, can it play them?
 
divinebovine said:
Great, we've just eliminated a whole bunch of unnecessary troubleshooting. Now we know it's specifically a problem on the device, not the card, not the computer writing the card.

Next step: If you connect the Nook with a USB cable and put the files directly on the Nook's internal storage, can it play them?
Click to expand...
i Plugged the device directly to my computer with the sd card in it. Opened it and saw both the internal storage and sd card. I saw that i only 1gb of internal storage(even though i have 5gb free to use) and 3.62 gb free of 3.72 on sd card. I put the 800mb movie on the internal storage and as soon as it finished copying over, mx player saw it and i was able to play it. I tried copying the file to the sd card through the device but it wouldnt. It would just stay at 0% the whole time and then stopped responding. What i noticed on the sd card was a folder named ".android_secure" even though i cant see any files on it when i use a file manager. Now i know that its a hardware malfunction since it was able to read the file when i wrote it directly to the internal storage. I wasnt able to copy anything to the sd card through the device. Well, i guess i found a way to watch small movies but not mkv since they tend to be big files. Also i dont know why it only gives me 1gb of internal storage when i have 5gb free.
 
It might be worth trying a new card. That card may be ok enough for a computer but the Nook is more sensitive to a minor problem. Could also be the card or the Nook's SD card slot is dirty.
 
Hello anybody :)

Is there any chance that conversations like this on forums could just be 'deleted' from the web, so that anybody trying to find out/learn/teach/help, doesn't end up finding 3000 very old threads a year that will never ever serve any purpose :(

It's part of what wastes most of humanities time now - listening to a conversation between others, that has no answer or direct solution. Imagine having access to 'every' conversation in the world, how would we ever find anything useful out? Our minds would be turning to jelly trying to decypher what we need and what we could never ever need - other peoples opinions, most of whom couldn't fix setting the time on a clock, let alone understand the complications of intricate Android based system mess ups.

The above mentioned problem (very old problem I should say) is something that has never ever been sorted out, and Android systems are still cursed with it. It's not hardware, it's purely badly written system software, that fails completely to access internal or external memory (it happsn with internal as much as external, for those who've never seen it happen).

No amount of formatting, looking at, copying files, mounting, unmounting etc. etc., fixes it completely.

Forums should have a "slap" option LoL. If somebody's answer doesn't fix what they think they know about, then members should be able to slap them :-)

And before I get slapped, my posting isn't a fix, it's a cry for sanity in a world of conversations that I have to keep reading through to find.....no answer whatsoever.
More would be learned visiting pubs at random and listening in on other peoples conversations, just hoping. :-( Very disillusioned here.
 
Filesponge said:
Hello anybody :)

Is there any chance that conversations like this on forums could just be 'deleted' from the web, so that anybody trying to find out/learn/teach/help, doesn't end up finding 3000 very old threads a year that will never ever serve any purpose :(

It's part of what wastes most of humanities time now - listening to a conversation between others, that has no answer or direct solution. Imagine having access to 'every' conversation in the world, how would we ever find anything useful out? Our minds would be turning to jelly trying to decypher what we need and what we could never ever need - other peoples opinions, most of whom couldn't fix setting the time on a clock, let alone understand the complications of intricate Android based system mess ups.

The above mentioned problem (very old problem I should say) is something that has never ever been sorted out, and Android systems are still cursed with it. It's not hardware, it's purely badly written system software, that fails completely to access internal or external memory (it happsn with internal as much as external, for those who've never seen it happen).

No amount of formatting, looking at, copying files, mounting, unmounting etc. etc., fixes it completely.

Forums should have a "slap" option LoL. If somebody's answer doesn't fix what they think they know about, then members should be able to slap them :)

And before I get slapped, my posting isn't a fix, it's a cry for sanity in a world of conversations that I have to keep reading through to find.....no answer whatsoever.
More would be learned visiting pubs at random and listening in on other peoples conversations, just hoping. :-( Very disillusioned here.
Click to expand...

Although is it completely useless? Just because the suggested ideas didn't work for the OP they were still valid and could've worked for someone else with a similar problem when they search the internet for the answer. Nothing ever comes cheaply so sometimes you'll have to read some irrelevant info before you find the stuff that matters. At the end of the day if you're that strapped for time it'd probably take less time to read something irrelevant than, let's say sign up to a forum and post a complaint about it ;)
 
Anyways don't know if this has been said as I couldn't be bothered to read the whole thread lol. Is your sd card formatted to a compatible format for your phone?
 
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