One Alba tablet can't use SD cards, another can?

[AC Question]

Despite having a microSD card slot, my Alba 10'' tablet doesn't seem able to utilise SD cards at all.

On purchasing a 16GB microSD card for my tablet and putting it in, I went to settings > storage, only to find that there's no options for SD cards at all; 'mount SD card' isn't greyed out or anything, it simply isn't there. Beneath the downloads, cached data, misc.. storage numbers, there's nothing.

There's no 'move to SD card' option on the individual app settings under settings > apps either, greyed out or otherwise.

But the strangest thing is, a family member has an identical model of tablet to my own, another Alba 10'', same version of Android (5.1), same kernel number (3.10.72), but this second tablet CAN recognise SD cards, and has all the appropriate options for them.

No, my tablet isn't rooted and no, I haven't done anything unusual to it.
What is the problem with my tablet, and do you know any way to fix it?

Thanks in advance.

PS: File managers on my tablet can detect and access the SD card, so I know at least that the card itself and the tablet's physical card slot aren't faulty.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Are you certain the file manager is accessing the external SD card? The way Android storage is set up, the Internal Storage is often still referred to as "SD." If that's the case, then it's still possible that you're tablet's SD reader is faulty.

Have you already tried inserting the card into a computer or another device, to make sure the card itself isn't faulty?

 

[B-Pediment]

(This is the OP, thanks for replying)

You can be assured that it is the external SD card that's being read by my file manager. I've tried two separate file managers to be sure (Archos and ZenUI), and with both I can access a near-empty SD card alongside internal storage with ~14GB free. All the SD card contains is an empty folder, LOST.DIR, which I believe is normal.

Aside from the second tablet I mentioned, on which the SD card worked perfectly, I haven't been able to test it in any other device (I don't have the right adapter for my PC to take SD cards). I haven't tried formatting the SD card yet; once I can get hold of the second tablet again, I'll format it on that. If I don't post back saying that the card now works on my tablet, you can assume that formatting didn't work.

Additionally, while my tablet and the second one have the same Android version, kernel and custom build version (ALPS.L1.MP8.V1_PSKYED8163.E), the build number is different.

My tablet's build number is LMY47I@ARCHOS.20151210.095026
The second tablet's build number is LM47I@ARCHOS.20151210.095026.Gelidium
Is 'Gelidium' what's letting the second tablet access SD cards? I tried searching 'android gelidium' online but all I got were articles about seaweed

 

[B. Diddy]

Can you show us a screenshot of the Settings>Storage menu? http://forums.androidcentral.com/ge...ide-how-post-screenshots-android-central.html

 

[B-Pediment]

My tablet's settings>storage screenshot:


For comparison, the settings>storage on the second tablet:

 

[B. Diddy]

Hmm. Now can you show a screenshot of the file manager accessing the external SD card? I'd like to see the actual path name it's using.