MicroSD and 4GB limit

[RilleL]

I'll start by saying that I've tried to search for this issue, but there's a lot of different seemingly conflicting info out there.

To put it simply: I want to mount my MicroSD card on my phone and have it behave like any other storage unit without any size restriction.
After first mounting the card I tried transferring a large file but it gets stuck at 4GB. I read it could be because of the file format on the MicroSD card and people were recommending exFAT so that's what I did.
I mount it on my PC and reformat from FAT32 to exFAT. Only problem now is my phone doesn't recognize the card any more, it say blank or unsupported format.
I also read that it could be because the USB file transferring (MTP) doesn't allow larger than 4GB, so you see there's a lot of different info.

So I guess the question is what do I do here? Is it possible to make this work? Why the hell is a file size limit even a thing in this day and age...
Phone: Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! You're correct--with FAT32, the file size limit is 4 GB. Many phones aren't compatible with exFAT (I'm not sure it there are any devices that are compatible--others can chime in). You could try formatting the card to NTFS on your computer, but not sure if your phone will support this either.

 

[GSDer]

If you format the SD card in the phone it should put the desired filesystem on the card, and you should be able to put a file >4GB on it.

Sent from my rooted, debloated, deodexed Sinclair ZX-80 running CM 10.2 using Tapatalk 4

 

[RilleL]

If you format the SD card in the phone it should put the desired filesystem on the card, and you should be able to put a file >4GB on it.

Unfortunally it formats it to FAT32.
If my phone only accepts FAT32 on SDcards then it's pretty much impossible.
So the question is: can someone confirm that Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini only accepts SDcards in FAT32 format?

 

[GSDer]

Sorry, I was thinking about my 64GB SD card - that automatically got formatted by the phone (S3) to exFat. But the phone destroyed that card a long time ago.

I can't confirm that your S3 Mini will be able to recognize an SD card formatted as exFat, but it's simple enough to test it yourself if you have a PC with an SD card reader. Just install something like http://www.partition-tool.com/personal.htm and pick whichever filesystem you like.

Sent from my rooted, debloated, deodexed Sinclair ZX-80 running CM 10.2 using Tapatalk 4

 

[RilleL]

I think I need to clarify. Is there a database somewhere with the compatible SDcard formats for S3 mini or can someone confirm another format besides FAT32?
I already tested exFAT and can confirm that it doesn't work.

It's really frustrating how such a seemingly simple info is so hard to find. All I want is to have files wiith >4GB size on my phone, but if I at least know that it doesn't accept another format than FAT32 I can move on. Why is this info not displayed on official Samsung web sites?
I'm just flabbergasted that I'm even in this situation. A device that only accepts FAT32; what is this, 2001? How is such a thing even possible for a device released less than a year ago. Makes me mad just thinking about it.

/end rant

 

[B. Diddy]

It's worth pointing out that SD card support is actually no longer a native function of Android, and that any SD support that current phones have is essentially a manufacturer's hack of the system. This is why SD support tends to be temperamental. Samsung devices seem to be particularly problematic, but maybe it's just because there are so many of them out there.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[GSDer]

It's worth pointing out that SD card support is actually no longer a native function of Android

While that may all be true, I don't think you can put files bigger than 4GB on the internal memory either, which makes it difficult to put movies on the phone.

Sent from my rooted, debloated, deodexed Sinclair ZX-80 running CM 10.2 using Tapatalk 4

 

[B. Diddy]

How big are the movie files that you're trying to transfer? Are they HD? All of the movie files I have are SD, so they're not any larger than about 2 GB.

 

[Golfdriver97]

Might it have something to do with writing a file larger than 4GB that cards can't handle?
I have nothing to prove or disprove my question, I am just asking it.

From a Sprint Moto X using AC forums app

 

[RilleL]

Might it have something to do with writing a file larger than 4GB that cards can't handle?

I don't quite understand your question, but yes, it's because the SDcard is in FAT32 format, which doesn't support file sizes larger than 4GB.
Combined with a phone that doesn't seem to support any other format than FAT32 and you see where the problem is.

I mean sure, I could reformat it on my PC and transfer a larger file there, but since I can't use the card on my phone that would defeat the purpose.
Anyway, I think I'm slowly accepting that I can't overcome hardware limitation with willpower. I believe GS4 supports exFAT, so hopefully all newer phones does too when I upgrade in the future.

Edit: Read a bit more, any chance ext3/ext4 would work? Since windows doesn't seem to support them I'm a bit hesitant to try.

 

[Golfdriver97]

I don't quite understand your question, but yes, it's because the SDcard is in FAT32 format, which doesn't support file sizes larger than 4GB.
Combined with a phone that doesn't seem to support any other format than FAT32 and you see where the problem is.

I mean sure, I could reformat it on my PC and transfer a larger file there, but since I can't use the card on my phone that would defeat the purpose.
Anyway, I think I'm slowly accepting that I can't overcome hardware limitation with willpower. I believe GS4 supports exFAT, so hopefully all newer phones does too when I upgrade in the future.

Edit: Read a bit more, any chance ext3/ext4 would work? Since windows doesn't seem to support them I'm a bit hesitant to try.

To rephrase my question...I was asking if writing a file size that big is limited by the SD card.
As far as the ext3 or ext4, can Android handle that?

 

[RilleL]

To rephrase my question...I was asking if writing a file size that big is limited by the SD card.
As far as the ext3 or ext4, can Android handle that?

Oh, I think I get it. No, the card is 32GB in size.
As for ext3/4, I have no clue, never encountered those formats before, that's why I'm asking if it's possible for it to work.

 

[JudH]

I believe GS4 supports exFAT, so hopefully all newer phones does too when I upgrade in the future.

Some problems being reported on the GS4 board about formatting ext sdcards exFAT.

 

[Ricky Babalu]

The Benefits of exFat are that you can transfer files larger than 4GB, unfortunately the S3 does not support exFat. You have to format your cards to FAT32 for them to work, but in doing so you lose the ability to transfer files larger than 4GB