Help SD card requires formatting...

[CoastalDroid]

I found my Desire hung this afternoon (blank screen with orange led flashing), hence rebooted via removal of battery. The phone must have been in the middle of some sd card I/O when it locked up, as the phone rebooted with the default CM7 screen and now states that the SD card cannot be read. When I reboot into CWM recovery to try restoring a backup, it states it cannot mount the SD.

When I place the SD card into a PC card reader, Win 7 indicates that it needs to format the drive. When I run a free recovery tool on the card it indicates that there are sectors with data, but this free tool is only for recovering media files with certain extentions (.jpg/.bmp etc).

Is there anything I can do to reinstate just the boot sector on the SD card so I can salvage my previous phone state? Or is it best to use an alternative recovery tool to salvage as much as I can? I have bunch of stuff I do not want to lose on this SD card!

Please advise. Thanks.

{HTC Desire GSM / OS version 2.3.7 with CyanogenMod 7.1.0}

 

[KJohns]

Free download Magic Partition Manager Software, partition magic alternative, free partition magic, partition magic Windows 7 and server partition software - Partition Wizard Online <--- ive been able to recover sd's with that before

sometimes the cards just get corrupted also...

 

[CoastalDroid]

Thanks KJohns. I tried your suggestion -- it informs me that my SD is completely shafted.

Thank goodness for a miracle little app called PhotoRec -- which has recovered most of my files, including deleted ones

I am now however in the position whereby I will need to reformat/repartition my SD card (Lexar 32GB high speed) before appling my next ROM... What is the recommended approach if I want to load a ROM which implements some form of disk caching (apps2sd etc)?

I originally partitioned my SD with Gparted (and created an ext4 partition) after advice from a website. Shall I just do the same again?

Any advice greatly appreciated.

 

[Hadron]

If you want to use an ext partition then GParted is indeed the recommended way.

 

[CoastalDroid]

I think you kinda answered my next question on my other post Hadron (CM7-low-disk-space). I was going to say that I did not express my question above very clearly...

Do I even want/need to use an ext-partition? But it appears that if run a script I must do so. Therefore, different questions, if I may :

- Any difference between applying Ext2, 3 or 4 ?
- Is there a maximum recommended size for a Ext2/3/4 partition?

 

[Hadron]

I'd avoid ext2. 4 is best, but if you are using CWM 2.5.0.7 I think it will get switched to ext3 if you wipe or restore (but 3's fine too).

Size depends on what you are using it for. If it's just a2sd and you have standard internal storage there's not much point going larger than 1GB as you'll fill internal storage first. Some advanced Sense ROMs might use larger, but 1GB is fine for most purposes and I can't think of any reason for using more than 1.5.