Samsung Galaxy S4 SD Card Issue

[Maria Esponoza]

How frustrating, sorry guys! I have an S4 that did it, and so did my best friends. Its def. a SGS4 issue. VZW even acknowledged it. Bummer!

 

[Haalcyon]

My Sandisk Extreme has been fine in my S4...please don't jinx it.

Sent from my humble Note 8.0 LTE

 

[Jesse Staab]

Add me to the list, just fried my 64gb sandisk card. It literally got hot, couldn't even touch it through the case. Now, what is interesting, this very card has never been an issue from the day I got the phone on release day, until yesterday, I installed Facebook, that night, fried the card. My point is, while I know this is a hardware issue either with the card, or the phone, but I'm wondering if Facebook accessed the SDcard erroneously, thus indirectly causing this issue? The reason why I brought this up, after the card quit working, I was no longer signed into Facebook. Coincidence?

 

[Amos Shua]

Hi,
I have samsung galaxy s4 and today i noticed
1 The phone got hot at the upper part of the phone
2 The battery was drained quickly and I had to recharge it after a few hours (much earlier then usual)
3 I got a few error mesage about sd card that dissapeared
I thought the problem was because I ran out of phone space so I moved picture from phone memory to sd card. after less then an hour the sd card was not recognized at all (also on other device).
My microsd card is 32 MB ADATA class 10.
I also think it is a hardware problem that samsung did not take responsiblity yet.

Amos Shua

 

[Haalcyon]

Hi,
I have samsung galaxy s4 and today i noticed
1 The phone got hot at the upper part of the phone
2 The battery was drained quickly and I had to recharge it after a few hours (much earlier then usual)
3 I got a few error mesage about sd card that dissapeared
I thought the problem was because I ran out of phone space so I moved picture from phone memory to sd card. after less then an hour the sd card was not recognized at all (also on other device).
My microsd card is 32 MB ADATA class 10.
I also think it is a hardware problem that samsung did not take responsiblity yet.

Amos Shua

We've been seeing this more and more...micro SD cards getting eaten by Samsung phones. I'm thinking they're either being overvolted or the phone is writing to them in some way its mangling them. If you shut down and do a battery pull and re-insert the card that may help.


Note 8.0

 

[Jeffrey Schall]

I'm having a slightly different problem, but I'm fairly certain that it is related.

I have an S4 (SPH-L720) with a 64gig extSdCard (SanDisk Ultra, microSD XC 1). When I delete, rename, create, or copy folders/files onto the card, it appears to work, but then at a random time in the near future (within the hour, usually), it reverts to the way it was before the delete/rename/create/copy. This happens when rebooting every time. It happens whether doing the delete/rename/create/copy on the phone itself, or doing it over the USB cable from Windows 7. I am running a program that logs the unmounting/mounting of the card, and it appears that my phone spontaneously unmounts and then remounts at seemingly random times. I have established that when the phone remounts, that is when the data reverts. I have tried reformatting, both with Windows and with the phone, and doing them both simultaneously (as described in someone's post in this thread), to no avail - it appears to work, but then upon the next remount, all the data is back. I have tried removing and reseating the card. I have spoken to both Samsung and SanDisk chat support, and received the same answer ("don't know, no one has ever reported this problem"). SanDisk has given me an RMA to return the card, which I would do in a second if it didn't mean going without the data on that card for two-weeks (I have backed it up to my computer, but want it accessible on my phone). My father had the problem with the S4, as well, that is being reported in this thread (the error about being unmounted), and someone at a Sprint store told him that the fix is to buy a Kingston Digital 32 GB Flash Memory Card SDC10/32GB. I would assume the 64gig variety would work as well --- but I don't want to have to invest another $50 for a new card if there is a chance that this will also fail (seeing many posts here indicating that *every* manufacturer, including Kingston, will fail eventually). FYI: my father bought the Kingston, and has not had the problem with the unmounting error since, but (again), I'm expecting him to call me any day now to say that the error happened again. Time will tell.

Anyway, does anyone have any thoughts about this? The reversion happens very quickly, so I kind of think it has to do with the File Allocation Table - what would make the FAT revert after a remount? And is this even possible?

Jeff

 

[sdscarecrow]

Officially add me to the list. I had a Kingston 32gb card. Since this morning it has been saying that there is no memory card in my phone at all. I tried restarting my phone, pulling the memory card out and putting it back in, removing the battery. None of them worked. I tried to put the memory card in my computer and on my camera and neither of them recognized it. I'm guessing my phone probably fried my card? The card worked fine for three months before this happened. I put in an old 8gb card from my old phone and it recognized it right away. Such a shame since I lost all of my photos.

 

[Haalcyon]

I'm having a slightly different problem, but I'm fairly certain that it is related.

I have an S4 (SPH-L720) with a 64gig extSdCard (SanDisk Ultra, microSD XC 1). When I delete, rename, create, or copy folders/files onto the card, it appears to work, but then at a random time in the near future (within the hour, usually), it reverts to the way it was before the delete/rename/create/copy. This happens when rebooting every time. It happens whether doing the delete/rename/create/copy on the phone itself, or doing it over the USB cable from Windows 7. I am running a program that logs the unmounting/mounting of the card, and it appears that my phone spontaneously unmounts and then remounts at seemingly random times. I have established that when the phone remounts, that is when the data reverts. I have tried reformatting, both with Windows and with the phone, and doing them both simultaneously (as described in someone's post in this thread), to no avail - it appears to work, but then upon the next remount, all the data is back. I have tried removing and reseating the card. I have spoken to both Samsung and SanDisk chat support, and received the same answer ("don't know, no one has ever reported this problem"). SanDisk has given me an RMA to return the card, which I would do in a second if it didn't mean going without the data on that card for two-weeks (I have backed it up to my computer, but want it accessible on my phone). My father had the problem with the S4, as well, that is being reported in this thread (the error about being unmounted), and someone at a Sprint store told him that the fix is to buy a Kingston Digital 32 GB Flash Memory Card SDC10/32GB. I would assume the 64gig variety would work as well --- but I don't want to have to invest another $50 for a new card if there is a chance that this will also fail (seeing many posts here indicating that *every* manufacturer, including Kingston, will fail eventually). FYI: my father bought the Kingston, and has not had the problem with the unmounting error since, but (again), I'm expecting him to call me any day now to say that the error happened again. Time will tell.

Anyway, does anyone have any thoughts about this? The reversion happens very quickly, so I kind of think it has to do with the File Allocation Table - what would make the FAT revert after a remount? And is this even possible?

Jeff

Jeff, I have a feeling. A...bad feeling. Back up the data on that card if it is your only copy.

from my Sony Xperia Tablet Z or XTZ or "Ecstasy"

 

[tomw#CB]

Just got off of the phone with Samsung. They still claim they have not heard of the problem. Even talked to a very smooth supervisor. They said that I could return the phone and they would repair it. I am going to take the phone back to Verizon and ask for a replacement. If enough of us take phones back, sooner or later the carriers will start to talk, with a much louder voice than we have, to Samsung. And maybe Samsung needs to talk to Google, but they all have louder voices than we do. We can start the ball rolling if enough of us start taking phones back to carriers and asking for replacements.

I have had at least four of these failures with two different (size and manufacturers) SD cards in the 60 days I have owned the phone. Most recent was two days after doing a factory reset at the recommendation of Verizon.

 

[Rohin Iyer]

I'm having the same issue as Jeff. My ADATA 64GB Class 10 microSDXC card will not save any more data beyond about 6GB that I've already stored on it. And, I cannot format the card either. When I try to do so in windows 7, I get the error "Windows could not complete the format". Through the phone, when I format it appears to work, but then seconds later the data that was on the card reappears. When I format through the command prompt, I get a message like "Data corruption - bad sector" and the format doesn't complete. The data just keeps showing up on the phone which leads me to believe that either the card is bad or the phone has somehow fried it. I also had some overheating issues where the screen/camera lens would get very hot just after I installed the card -- I wonder if this is related to the microSD issues I'm reading on this forum. We really need to inform Samsung and the card manufacturers of this issue!

 

[Jeffrey Schall]

Update:

So, I have figured out that the card is marked as DIRTY. CHKDSK cleans it, but then reports that it can't change the marker from DIRTY to CLEAN. I even used a HEX editor, and it wouldn't allow me to edit the card. Basically, same problem - the card can not be written to (whether to erase, create, edit, or delete files/folders). So I'm back to square one. Which involves returning the card to SANDISK for them to send me a new one. Which means I'll be two-weeks out, and with no guarantee that the problem won't resurface.

I have completely backed up the card --- but I just don't want to have to invest in a new card, and returning this to SanDisk will require I wait two-weeks for a new card.

Also, mine gets hot, too. I bet all our cards are roasting. I wish I knew which SD Card manufacturers have cards that are better at dealing with heat. If we knew that, we might be able to get by using that brand. It makes some sense, I guess --- my card isn't bad enough (heat damaged enough) to completely stop working - while others have gotten so bad that they won't even stay mounted (or mount at all). Just so much annoyance with this problem. ((

Jeff

 

[Haalcyon]

Thanks for the update Jeff.


S IV

 

[KENBOT]

Hey all,

Regarding the SD Cards, I have had issues with the S4 with most of the San Disk used. My friend and my brother the same.

My Friend has bought the Samsung MicroSD 64GB Class10 and has had no issues since.

You can simulate the dismounting issue if you load up your sandisk card with photos say a few hundreds and videos. Then in the thumbview swipe to scroll through back and forth quickly a few times and you will have the SD card dismount.

By the sound of thing the extreme San Disk and Samsungs are the way to go.. Has anyone got any other brand that they can confirm works with the SGS4

I know there are alot of fake sandisks out and noticed that latest releases now have serials printed clearly on the card compared to the near invisible ones, where you can only see it at a glancing UV light.

 

[Binkmeister]

I put a 32GB PSY card into my S4 a few days after getting it, and put my music on it; all worked fine until today when the card was no longer visible and my music wasn't there. Tried the recommended steps, powering on/off, removing and replacing the card, no luck. I tried the business card trick and it didn't work, BUT when I took the business card out and replaced my SD card by itself, the card came up. It's working OK now, but I have little confidence it'll continue that way.

 

[Jeffrey Schall]

I just ordered a Kingston 64gig Class 10 card. We shall see if this permanently solves the problem. I won't hold my breath, but I'm a tad optimistic.

 

[Haalcyon]

I'm grasping at straws to better understand what might be causing the heat-up-then-sdcard-fail issue. I'm wondering if its possible the phones are trying to write or erase data faster than the card can accept it. In the event that the card can accept the data as fast as the phone wants to write, well then all is well. If not, bad things happen.

Just another guess.


Note 8.0

 

[eugenemkallivrousis]

I was thinking about it. People who have had this problem. Do you use your phone on a cardock? Maybe the heat coming from the sun is just too much which frys it. Let me know if you guys uses a car dock or not.

 

[Haalcyon]

I was thinking about it. People who have had this problem. Do you use your phone on a cardock? Maybe the heat coming from the sun is just too much which frys it. Let me know if you guys uses a car dock or not.

Nope, no car dock for my S4 or Note 8.0

from my Sony XTZ

 

[Jeffrey Schall]

I'm grasping at straws to better understand what might be causing the heat-up-then-sdcard-fail issue. I'm wondering if its possible the phones are trying to write or erase data faster than the card can accept it. In the event that the card can accept the data as fast as the phone wants to write, well then all is well. If not, bad things happen.

Good guess, but whatever is happening has permanently affected my card - to the point where I remove it from the phone, and when I access it via my computer, the computer still can't write to the card. But I can read from it. Though your idea is a strong one.

Let me know if you guys uses a car dock or not.

Nope, but I do use the phone in the car - it usually sits on the passenger seat.

 

[Haalcyon]

Good guess, but whatever is happening has permanently affected my card - to the point where I remove it from the phone, and when I access it via my computer, the computer still can't write to the card. But I can read from it. Though your idea is a strong one.

In my theory, the attempt to write data to the card faster than the card can accept has permanently damaged the cards, as we're seeing.

from my Sony XTZ