• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Root MicroSD Card will not mount

U

UserMcgillicuddy

Lurker
I have been using a SanDisk Ultra Plus 32 GB Class 10 MicroSDHC card for a few weeks with no problems. Yesterday I transferred all the data from the card to an external hard drive, so I could partition the card for use with Link2SD. The first partition is in Fat32 and the second in Ext4.

After partitioning the card, I transferred all the data from the external hard drive, back to the card. Upon inserting the card into my phone, it recognizes that there has been a card inserted (a notification pops up that says "SD card inserted"), but it behaves as though there was nothing in the card slot. For instance, when going to Settings>General>Storage and scrolling down to the bottom, under "SD Card" there are two grayed out options. The first says "Mount SD card" while the second says "Erase SD card." As both of these are grayed out, pressing or long-pressing does nothing. Upon removing the card there is a notification that says "SD card removed." Pressing this, or the above-mentioned notification, clears the notification and pulls the notification bar back to the top.

I have tried the following:
-remove/reinsert card
-restart phone
-completely power off/power on phone
-power off phone, remove battery, wait 10+ seconds, replace battery, power on phone
-reformat both partitions
-format first partition in NTFS, then Ext4, then back to Fat32
-merge partitions into one Fat32 partition
-completely delete partitions and reformat with default settings

No matter how many times any of the above are done, each time seemingly yields the same result. I have an older no name 16 GB Class 2 MicroSDHC card that I have used in every phone I have owned up until a few weeks ago. This card, when inserted into my LG L70, is recognized immediately. So I know the phone is capable of mounting a card, but for some reason it won't recognize the SanDisk anymore.

The first time I put it back in after partitioning the card, I was unable to explore the files/folders through Root Browser, but was able to create a new folder. So for some reason I could write to the card through Root Browser, but all the other data was unaccessible. Couple this with the fact that the card behaves completely normal when inserted into my laptop, and it makes me even more confused.
 
Rules of thumb when partitioning SD cards for Link2SD.

1.5GB partition is largest needed.

The ext.4 partition must be made a primary partition as well.

If this wasn't done, go back to Mini Tool Partition Wizard, or Gparted and delete the partition. Then start from scratch making sure the FAT32 and ext.4 partitions are both primary.
 
I reformatted both partitions and made them both primary, now the phone now recognizes the card as it did before. It would appear that if I had read a little more about partitions beforehand, I would have saved myself a lot of time and aggravation... Anyway, thank you for the tips, they were most helpful.
 
I have a 64GB card parted 40gigs fat32 and 20gigs ext4 works perfectly and fast... and with link2sd with data moved using almost 2gigs of ext4 and 20gigs on my fat....???
 
bjtag said:
I have a 64GB card parted 40gigs fat32 and 20gigs ext4 works perfectly and fast... and with link2sd with data moved using almost 2gigs of ext4 and 20gigs on my fat....???
Click to expand...

This is not needed. Again Link2SD only needs a 1-1.5GB partition.
Also, to big of a partition does actually (in the long run) cause premature SD card failure.

Rule of thumb: You should not use more than 20% of the actual usable space on the SD card for a single or multiple partitions.
In your case that would be just 12.8GBs

This is still a waste of space and again, in the long run, cause for eventual fc's, glitches, reboots, and freezes.

1.5GB is ideal both for the SD card and the system.
 
bjtag said:
I have a 64GB card parted 40gigs fat32 and 20gigs ext4 works perfectly and fast... and with link2sd with data moved using almost 2gigs of ext4 and 20gigs on my fat....???
Click to expand...
I would believe you, but the phone only accepts 32Gb SD cards.

Even with your formatting and an EXT partition, you have it setup so that 40Gb is FAT32.

No way. Not happening. Something isn't right
 
He probably doesn't have an LG L70 MS323, but instead thought he would throw his two cents worth into thread.
A lot of new members don't understand the whole reason behind having phone specific forums here.
The only thing that should be discussed are things that pertain to that perticular phone so members with that phone can find the right info for their phone.
 
And yes I have 64 gig card running as I type... as formatted as I said... Will give you a screen shot when get chance... But as I said before working perfect... And link2sd moving All moveable data to 20 gig ext4 part....??? Try it for yourself you will see no tricks....

From my MetroPCS LG L70 MS323....
 
I think your missing the whole point.
I'm not doubting you got it to work.
Your just asking for premature failure of you micro SD card, plus later on you will start to have all sorts of system glitches, fc's, and freezes as well as your SD card not being able to mount or be read by the phone.

Experience does prevail on this matter.

You can cut your nose off to spite your face, if that's your thing
I'm just trying to keep others from falling into your trap.
 
Here are some pics from my Wifes LG L70 MS323....
Formatted same way???

2014-07-10 20.50.42.jpg

2014-07-10 20.49.59.jpg

2014-07-10 20.49.33.jpg
 
And you say it's not good to format microsd card ext4, But you don't give any technical reason for it but your opinion...
I am Noob to this Forum, and Linux/Unix File system...
But not droid phones or PC's...
I'm not here to step on anyone toes, just want to hear want people know...
I have had 50+ SanDisk Ultra Plus Class 10 Cards from 4 to 64 gigs Formatted lots of ways and NEVER had ANY Failures over the years.
 
A partition with an ext.4 format is needed. You must have miss read my post. It the size of the partiton that's the problem.
If you don't start seeing problems within 6 months, then I'm a monkeys uncle. Lol.

Are you starting to see the big picture yet?

I don't wish anybody to have problems, including you. Listen to the voice of reasoning. You can avoid problems later on down the road.

It's just advice though.
 
But What is happening that makes it fishy...
The size, format, or ??? and why... Just the facts...
I learn Quick, but have not had any of the problems you describe.
In the past or now?
My Wife has had her's as that since it came out.
 
The facts are:
Link2SD only needs at the most a 1.5GB partition ( I had over 100 apps linked and still had plenty of room on the partition). With this Stock ROM ext.4 format works fine.
There was an article I read that actually mentioned that the smaller the partition the better for the phone, but I can't remember where I read it (most infomative though with lots of reasons in it).
Last, but not least: You can only use no more than 20% of the actual free space for the partition or you will have all sorts of problems later.
I used to have a 2GB ext.4 partition on my Sandisk 16GB class 4 micro SD card. I now have it down to just 1.5GB due to having the problems I have already described multiple times.

Experience is the best teacher.

With Puppy Linux (If you haven't tried it yet try the LazY Puppy version, pretty cool Linux Distro, or what we like to call "LazY Puppy on a stick.) you can't use more than half of the SD cards free space for the same reasons.

Just things I picked up from over three years of hacking, rooting, porting, theming, fixing and unbricking others phones.
Look at my post count. They got there from helping others fix their phones.
Experience is the best teacher.
 
I heed your warnings and will be the first to tell if my SD card goes foul or any system problems related... And will hammer on few distro's to find some tech info on it...
 
Specs on the phone say it only supports 32Gb and lower SD cards. I'm amazed you got a 64Gb SD card to work. Now that I know one will, I'll go buy one for mine.
 
SanDisk Ultra 64GB MicroSDXC works fine...
I do have it parted 40gig fat32 and 20 gig ext4, will try single part soon...
 
No need to go down to a single partition.
You just need to change the ext.4 partition to only 1.5GB
Keep the rest of the space available in the first large FAT32 partition.
This setup will work the best for Link2SD and the SD card, and the phone.
 
hey guys I just wanted to say thanks very much for this info. I've aparted my SD card, I gave 10,500mb to fat and the rest to ext 4, is that ok? for som reason my head can't figure out the math from gb to mb even though i know it, so how many mb is 1.5 gb? and for some reason it's still not letting me mount it again after resetting the partitions from fat 32 and ext 2, to fat 32 and ext 4 (why the other 3 ext aren't used i don't understand)

okay i'm a moron, i just restarted my phone and HELLOO my SD card is mounted...whoopie...i'm a dummy LOL
 
metalaries said:
hey guys I just wanted to say thanks very much for this info. I've aparted my SD card, I gave 10,500mb to fat and the rest to ext 4, is that ok? for som reason my head can't figure out the math from gb to mb even though i know it, so how many mb is 1.5 gb? and for some reason it's still not letting me mount it again after resetting the partitions from fat 32 and ext 2, to fat 32 and ext 4 (why the other 3 ext aren't used i don't understand)

okay i'm a moron, i just restarted my phone and HELLOO my SD card is mounted...whoopie...i'm a dummy LOL
Click to expand...

1gb is 1000 mb.

16gb is 16000 mb.
 
Nintendo1889 said:
1gb is 1000 mb.

16gb is 16000 mb.
Click to expand...
If only it were that simple ;)

When a card manufacturer says the card is 16GB they mean 16,000,000,000 bytes, i.e. decimal units.

When a computer (such as your phone) says that a partition is 1GB it means 1024MB, not 1000MB (binary units). And a MB means 1024 kB, and a kB is 1024 bytes.

That's why a new, unused 16GB card actually has 14.9GB of space - the decimal GB used by the manufacture is 7% smaller than the binary GB used by your filesystem. So when you come to partition your 16GB card but can't make the numbers add up, chances are this is at least part of the problem.
 
Hadron said:
If only it were that simple ;)

When a card manufacturer says the card is 16GB they mean 16,000,000,000 bytes, i.e. decimal units.

When a computer (such as your phone) says that a partition is 1GB it means 1024MB, not 1000MB (binary units). And a MB means 1024 kB, and a kB is 1024 bytes.

That's why a new, unused 16GB card actually has 14.9GB of space - the decimal GB used by the manufacture is 7% smaller than the binary GB used by your filesystem. So when you come to partition your 16GB card but can't make the numbers add up, chances are this is at least part of the problem.
Click to expand...

It's cool to see someone explain that correctly.. one more time.

I've tried over the years to understand why peeps can't wrap their head around this mathematical fact.
Any Hard Drive you buy (or storage device), no matter what it is for, is always kinda misleading .. unless you apply, or at least understand, the somewhat simple mathematics involved. 1 KB, or MB, or GB equals more than just a round number... so, it's deceptive.

I've seen this over and over and over again, about peeps saying:
"I bought this size drive, but I'm only seeing XXX MBs/GBs .. What gives ??"
If they understood, or even just acknowledged the math, so many questions would be answered before they're even asked ...

Thanks for trying to explain it, Hadron ... just 1 more time out of the thousands of times over this topic ... Cheers !
 
Hadron said:
If only it were that simple ;)

When a card manufacturer says the card is 16GB they mean 16,000,000,000 bytes, i.e. decimal units.

When a computer (such as your phone) says that a partition is 1GB it means 1024MB, not 1000MB (binary units). And a MB means 1024 kB, and a kB is 1024 bytes.

That's why a new, unused 16GB card actually has 14.9GB of space - the decimal GB used by the manufacture is 7% smaller than the binary GB used by your filesystem. So when you come to partition your 16GB card but can't make the numbers add up, chances are this is at least part of the problem.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was trying to keep it simple for metalaries.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom