Internal memory sd card recovery

[red97tj]

Ok, I just made a bone head move. I bought a larger sd card & thought I can just use my non-rooted Zmax Pro to format it. So I dismount the old internal memory sd card. Then put the new one in to format it as internal memory (didn't realize that once I associate the new card w/ the phone, the old one doesn't get recognized by the phone anymore). So my question is, is there anyway to pull the data off of my old sd card? Everything is still intact but my phone just doesn't recognize it anymore.
Thanks in advance for any help anyone can provide...

 

[svim]

If that previous card was formatted as internal (adoptable) than no, retrieving data off of it won't be possible. It's encrypted and since you cannot remount it, apparently that old encryption key has been supplanted by the new one.
If it was formatted as external (portable) however, than it should still be mountable on your phone, odd that it isn't. Have you restarted your phone in between the card formatting/switching process? Also, as an external card it should be mountable and accessible on a computer.

 

[KBU2]

Ok, I just made a bone head move. I bought a larger sd card & thought I can just use my non-rooted Zmax Pro to format it. So I dismount the old internal memory sd card. Then put the new one in to format it as internal memory (didn't realize that once I associate the new card w/ the phone, the old one doesn't get recognized by the phone anymore). So my question is, is there anyway to pull the data off of my old sd card? Everything is still intact but my phone just doesn't recognize it anymore.
Thanks in advance for any help anyone can provide...

Yes I would use an SD adapter and plug it into my PC and remove all the information to a new file on your PC. Then reinsert the old SD card back into the phone and reformatted and transfer the information from your computer back onto the old SD card. But it's always wise to use the safe dismount SD card option so you wouldn't run into this issue again. When you safely dismount a SD card you can always use another one and it was still have the data on it without having to reformatted. I've done this a few times to have multiple SD cards in saving various types of information on each of them.

 

[red97tj]

If that previous card was formatted as internal (adoptable) than no, retrieving data off of it won't be possible. It's encrypted and since you cannot remount it, apparently that old encryption key has been supplanted by the new one.
If it was formatted as external (portable) however, than it should still be mountable on your phone, odd that it isn't. Have you restarted your phone in between the card formatting/switching process? Also, as an external card it should be mountable and accessible on a computer.

Yes the old card was formatted as internal also. And yes I've restarted my phone since the sd card & sim card is on the same card tray. The phone has to be restarted every time you mount/dismount the sd card.
I've tried reading the card on my computer which can't be since, like you said, is encrypted. So there's no chance to try to pull the encryption key from the new card & try to write it to the old one?

 

[red97tj]

Yes I would use an SD adapter and plug it into my PC and remove all the information to a new file on your PC. Then reinsert the old SD card back into the phone and reformatted and transfer the information from your computer back onto the old SD card. But it's always wise to use the safe dismount SD card option so you wouldn't run into this issue again. When you safely dismount a SD card you can always use another one and it was still have the data on it without having to reformatted. I've done this a few times to have multiple SD cards in saving various types of information on each of them.

Sadly I can't read the old card on my pc since it was mounted as internal memory also.

 

[KBU2]

Sadly I can't read the old card on my pc since it was mounted as internal memory also.

Just out of curiosity what PC are you using, if it's Windows 10 by chance you should be able to read internal and external storage from that old SD card.

 

[svim]

As that microSD card was formatted as 'internal', there isn't really anything of use to you anyway. Once set as internal (adoptable), the card is reformatted to the ext4 file system (to be in parity with your phone's internal storage file system) and it's encrypted. As far as you're concerned (you yourself) that means the card is no longer a separate, discrete storage media that you can transfer files on and off. For the most part your phone's operating system manages what does and doesn't get written to that card, not you, essentially it's just artificially added storage space to the internal storage.
If you were copying/deleting files onto that card the whole time though, that means it wasn't set as internal, and there's some other problem to look into. But if you can't mount it on your phone any longer, try reformatting it on a computer, and then see if you can mount it on your phone again. If you re-purpose it back to being a typical external card you can at least continue using it again.

 

[KBU2]

Okay

 

[svim]

Just out of curiosity what PC are you using, if it's Windows 10 by chance you should be able to read internal and external storage from that old SD card.

A card formatted as internal won't be able to be read by any Windows PC, even if it does have third-party support for ext file format drivers added. When internal a card is reformatted as ext4, and it's encrypted (with the encryption key being stored only on the phone it was formatted on).
A card formatted as external however, will default to either FAT32 or exFAT so just about any computer (Linux, Mac, Windows, etc) will detect it as a usable storage media.

 

[KBU2]

Thanks for the information but somehow I've seen to have done that on my PC before I'm not sure on the method I took but when I read my SD card I can always see internal and external storage after it its been formatted as internal storage on my Android device. So does that option goes for every Android device or is that the rule of thumb on how the operating system works across the board?

 

[svim]

... I took but when I read my SD card I can always see internal and external storage after it its been formatted as internal storage on my Android device. So does that option goes for every Android device or is that the rule of thumb on how the operating system works across the board?

Adoptable storage for microSD cards came about when Marshmallow was released (at least officially). Some manufacturers like Samsung haven't been too keen on the concept, but yes, the 'rule of thumb' is any card formatted as internal (adoptable) will be changed to use ext4 and will be encrypted, essentially making the card usable only to that mobile device as the encryption key itself is stored locally. If you are able to mount a card formatted as internal on a PC, how do you overcome the encryption? Otherwise, it sounds as if you've just been using external (portable) formatted cards, the issue being by default it will be FAT32 or exFAT, support for that file system being included on almost any modern computer no matter what operating system it's running.

 

[red97tj]

As that microSD card was formatted as 'internal', there isn't really anything of use to you anyway. Once set as internal (adoptable), the card is reformatted to the ext4 file system (to be in parity with your phone's internal storage file system) and it's encrypted. As far as you're concerned (you yourself) that means the card is no longer a separate, discrete storage media that you can transfer files on and off. For the most part your phone's operating system manages what does and doesn't get written to that card, not you, essentially it's just artificially added storage space to the internal storage.
If you were copying/deleting files onto that card the whole time though, that means it wasn't set as internal, and there's some other problem to look into. But if you can't mount it on your phone any longer, try reformatting it on a computer, and then see if you can mount it on your phone again. If you re-purpose it back to being a typical external card you can at least continue using it again.

When I load the card on my pc (Windows 10), it says "You need to format the disk in drive G: before you can use it..." and it will say, "G;\ is not accessible. The volume does not contain a recognized file system..." when I hit cancel. After that it'll show all the folders on the card but of course none of them are accessible.
And pics/vids are what I'm actually after on my old sd card. I would want to retrieve the pics/vids since I haven't backed them up in over a year. I was hoping there's a work around so I can retrieve them.

 

[svim]

In order for a Windows PC to read any kind of ext4 media (microSD card, flash thumb drive, external USB drive), you need to install at least some kind of ext file format utility because as is a Windows only supports FAT and NTFS.
https://www.howtogeek.com/112888/3-ways-to-access-your-linux-partitions-from-windows/
Otherwise, as you've experienced, Windows simply can't access that media.
That aside, an adoptable card is also encrypted so the card itself is only accessible by the device that encrypted it (in this case, your phone). So the card's contents isn't readable anyway. Just re-format on your PC to return it back to its original FAT file system, and then you can use it as transfer media between devices <> computers again.

 

[Xavier Black]

I happen to be familiar with this same issue..

First what you want to do is mount the older sd card on the phone..and go to manage apps..and move one by one any app data that is on the sd card back to internal storage.
Also if you could get a hold on one of these bad boys(exhibits one)..that's the only thing will be recognize on your pc..when everything else you mount with asks you to reformat disk or card or what ever..this particular one doesn't!

I hope it helps as it did to me..

 

[red97tj]

I happen to be familiar with this same issue..

First what you want to do is mount the older sd card on the phone..and go to manage apps..and move one by one any app data that is on the sd card back to internal storage.
Also if you could get a hold on one of these bad boys(exhibits one)..that's the only thing will be recognize on your pc..when everything else you mount with asks you to reformat disk or card or what ever..this particular one doesn't!

I hope it helps as it did to me..

so you're able to access your personal data from the old sd card from your usb reader?

 

[Xavier Black]

Yes, but just from this particular one..I don't know what the brand is, though