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Micro sd card killing battery!

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Pulse8

Well-Known Member
I bought a 32gb micro sd card ages ago for my sgs2, and had about 18gb of stuff on it, mainly music, but every time I opened the screen I got a message across the top of the screen telling me that the phone was preparing sd card or something similar. Anyway, the upshot of it was that my battery was being sucked dry at an astonishing rate, so out came the card!
Moving to present times, I now have an sgs3, so yesterday decided to put card in, and lo and behold, the battery immediately started to get a hammering!
How can I tell my phone to ignore the card until I actually want to access something that is on it?
I read some advice somewhere that suggests copying all the data off the card to my pc, and then to format the card, and then copy the data back. Which is what I'm in the process of doing as I type. (only going to take 2hrs 10 mins to copy the data to my pc!!!):confused:
Can anyone confirm that this will do the trick(or not) or suggest another plan of attack?
Does it matter what file system I format the card to, fat32 or something else?
I can't accept that this is par for the course if anyone wants to use the micro sd facility that is provided by Samsung.
All help/suggestions gratefully received.:)
If it helps, the card is a 32gb Sandisk class 4.
 
Android does a media scan of the SD card at boot or when a card is put in. You need an app to turn that off. (If you look in Gallery with it turned off, you won't find any of the pictures on the card until you turn the scan back on.)

Try Rescan Media Root if your phone is rooted.

If it isn't you can use one of two methods, but they make life more difficult.

1) In every folder you don't want scanned, create a file named .nomedia (with the dot). (In Windows, open Notepad, Save, name the file "nomedia" (with the quotes) and choose All files for the type.)

2) Add a dot to the beginning of every folder you don't want scanned. So pictures becomes .pictures.

The problem with the last 2 methods is that the phone can't find the files - they're there for storage only. You have to remove the .nomedia file or change the folder name back (and restart the phone or do something else to force a media rescan) to use the files.

All that being said, I don't think media scan is your problem. It takes time on every boot, and when you do other things that change the media structure of the phone, but if you mean that the percentage of battery use is highest for media scanning, who cares? It's the AMOUNT of battery usage that matters. The total usage percentage will always be at or very close to 100%. Even if almost no power is being used, 100% of the power that's being used is being used.
 
Also, i think i remember reading about Google Maps causing that problem(?) So if you dont use Maps, try disabling it
 
@Rukbat. Sorry I omitted to mention that my phone is rooted. And it is the actual amount of battery useage that is the problem, not the percentage. I usually turn on my phone at around 7am, when I arrive at work, and by 5.30-6.00pm the battery is approx 40%. But the last couple of days with the sd card in, I'm down to about 15% by 4pm!
Anyways, I've copied everything to my pc now, so I will format the card and replace the files and see how it goes from there. Thanks for your help:)

@Funkylogic. The only time I use maps is when I need the satnav, which isnt very often, and then I use the car charger, so battery depletion isn't an issue then. Although it only manages to hold it's own, ie, I end the journey with the battery at the same level as when I set out:rolleyes:.
 
I seem to remember you can clear the cache on an app called Media Service or something like that. Very vague I know lol - it's been a long time since I used a Touchwiz rom.

I think you would be better off asking in the main S3 thread tbh rather than this lonely old sub forum. Think I'll ask a staff to move it for you. :)

I think that copying-formatting-copying will work though.


EDIT: Sorry Pulse, I didn't see that you were an AF Contributor - I just saw your number of posts and thought you were new... :o

I do think it is a generic topic (i.e. non root-specific) and so would be of benefit to a wider user base, as well as more likely to get a more comprehensive solution for yourself. :thumb:
 
If it did this in 2 phones it sounds like the sd card may be bad. From past experience when the card is bad or full of errors it will cause the media scanner to run a lot and it creates a huge battery drain. Try reformatting it but if the problem still persists you may want to try a new sd card.
 
SPENT ALL weekend figuring out why the phone would drop to 65% battery in 20 minutes or less then shut off. Very alarming for a non techie though I'm not one to take it in to someone for repair due to past dealings with people that just take the money and do not fix the problem! OK, I finally force Stopped Google+ problem fixed? 7pm last night battery was at 75% & now 23 hours later is at 8% with 8 calls some surfing, video and 15 or so text . Don't know what to do about Google + because I do use it though it's much better to have a phone again!
Oh figured out my Galaxy Note 8 today with another odd problem; (more hair pulling) Wi-Fi slow or no go and I might get a page to open by repeatedly tapping the link. So I had gone through and dumped some recent apps and Force stopped apps etc. Went through all the channels on my router and restarted it, forgot it blah, blah, blah! Oh & that big one I should mention, factory reset :-\
Finally decided to return it and to get it ready to box up I remember to pull the 32gb SanDisk card out that has absolutely nothing on it yet so I safely remove the card and feeling like I'm losing my best friend ever I open the Note 8 and try it before wiping everything! Yep it works on a slow network at work it grabbed YouTube, Flipboard and the Web no stutter at all. Not believing it on the way home I pulled into Starbucks got a coffee and yes still going at blazing speeds. Later now at home and it is still going strong as I'm writing this post on it now!
A year ago I purchased the same SanDisk for the galaxy s3 and the phone wouldn't recognize it so my nephew had extra cards (SanDisk 32gb) which I installed and that works fine so far!
I'm frustrated with Samsung or should I be frustrated with SanDisk? I still might return the Note 8 and get the Nexus 10 due out any time now! Sure don't want 2 taxing brain teasing, hair pulling Samsung hardware eating up my time!!!!
Thought this may be helpful to people with similar issues with Samsung hardware.
P. S. ; after Starbucks I returned the SD card to Best buy and got a stupid in store credit! Wish I could use that for another coffee:-\
16gb Note 8 with no extra memory, crap! that's why I bought this thing instead of an Apple.
 
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