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Help Samsung S8 automatically locking SD Card as Read-Only

A

Alex Sinke

Lurker
Hi!

So I've got a Galaxy S8, currently running Android 8.0.0 and Samsung Experience 9.0 (if at all relevant).

Since about two-three days ago, my phone has been automatically denying me access to writing on my Micro SD Card (128GB). I can't transfer any files from on-device storage to my Micro SD Card or modify its contents, as a read-only card should be.

I've inserted my Micro SD, through an adapter, into my laptop and used the 'chkdsk #: /f' command to fix it up. I then put the SD Card back into my phone, managed to transfer about three pictures before the card locked itself up again.

This time I tried to remove only the read-only property. I put the card back into the phone and it locked itself up after about a picture or two again.

I don't quite know what to do next, as I've never had something like this happen to me before. Anyone got any ideas?

This is really quite annoying because I am very reliant of my SD Card. Not being able to use it is really hindering my daily use...

Any clues?
 
I tend to agree, it sounds like your microSD card is starting to fail. The fact that it has been working OK previously and only recently started to become a problem isn't a good sign. You might want to try backing up all of its contents to your PC and then doing a full format on it (as FAT32), restore the contents back, and see if that makes any difference. There is a remote chance that was just some file corrupted in a way that triggered that 'read-only' state, FAT32 isn't a very robust file system to begin with so it's not uncommon for it to just go belly up like that. But be very, very wary at this point and be sure to have anything valuable on that card backed up. If it just fails completely you want don't want to lose anything.

A plus might be if you've had this card a while it might be incentive to buy a new larger capacity one. You can get a higher capacity card that will mostly also be faster too. Samsung states your phone will take up to a 256GB card:
https://www.samsung.com/us/explore/galaxy-s8/
 
Hi everyone, thank you for responding!

I was hoping I wouldn't have to resort to formatting or anything along those lines, but I'm currently attempting to. However, neither windows, the command prompt, or external software such as EaseUS seem to be able to format the partition. When I try to use the command prompt, I get stuck on the step in which I am supposed to create a new partition (it times out).

Is it time to throw in the towel and buy a new SD Card?
 
Then today is the day I mourn the loss of a close friend of mine. I'll go to the store next week to buy a replacement.

For now I have salvaged another 128GB SD Card from my camera, formatted it, and am currently putting the files back on.

Thank you for your help!
 
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