Yet another external SD card killer thread.

[Cydro]

Hi peepz, first time poster and pseudo-newbie to the android world!.

So I've been searching around for this mysterious issue: "Damaged SD card, try reformatting". Although most solutions suggested reading it from the computer, I had to buy one, sooo I bought one AND a new SD card - just in case.
Before that though, I tried reinserting the SD card (didn't unmount, because I thought that wasn't necessary since it's "damaged"...), but now it's not even detected from the phone itself! (Mount card is greyed)
Put it in my card reader - doesn't show up in my computer.
So I, with utter fear, unmounted the 2nd, new SD card from the phone and inserted that to the card reader - viewable in my computer.

As for. how it happened, presumably during my sleep - previous night it worked fine, "damaged" next morning. HOW‽‽‽‽

My question now is,
Did I undoubtedly kill my first SD card?
I seriously don't know: mysteriously "damaged" one moment and then unreadable the next...
If there's anyway to retrieve the data or revive the card (DIY; free methods), please, I want to know.

And also, are there any known prevention methods? Or should I just leave my new SD card snug in its new (p)home?

*First card, when initially inserted, was unmounted, remounted, and formatted on the phone (I was playing around and just making sure) - could this have been a precursor?
(The card has lasted for a bit less than one month)
**both SD cards are 16gb MicroSDHC sandisks

 

[Golfdriver97]

Hi peepz, first time poster and pseudo-newbie to the android world!.

So I've been searching around for this mysterious issue: "Damaged SD card, try reformatting". Although most solutions suggested reading it from the computer, I had to buy one, sooo I bought one AND a new SD card - just in case.
Before that though, I tried reinserting the SD card (didn't unmount, because I thought that wasn't necessary since it's "damaged"...), but now it's not even detected from the phone itself! (Mount card is greyed)
Put it in my card reader - doesn't show up in my computer.
So I, with utter fear, unmounted the 2nd, new SD card from the phone and inserted that to the card reader - viewable in my computer.

As for. how it happened, presumably during my sleep - previous night it worked fine, "damaged" next morning. HOW‽‽‽‽

My question now is,
Did I undoubtedly kill my first SD card?
I seriously don't know: mysteriously "damaged" one moment and then unreadable the next...
If there's anyway to retrieve the data or revive the card (DIY; free methods), please, I want to know.

And also, are there any known prevention methods? Or should I just leave my new SD card snug in its new (p)home?

*First card, when initially inserted, was unmounted, remounted, and formatted on the phone (I was playing around and just making sure) - could this have been a precursor?
(The card has lasted for a bit less than one month)
**both SD cards are 16gb MicroSDHC sandisks

Welcome to the forums.
Not unmounting the card may have killed it. The PC needs to at least be able to see the card in order to possibly remove files from it. SD cards are not totally stable, from what I understand.
The reformatting should have done nothing to the card itself.

One last thing to consider is sometimes cards just go bad. Always a good practice to once every couple of weeks, unmount the card, place it in your PC and make a backup of all the files you want to keep. Do this and the worst you will be out is 2 weeks worth of photos, etc...

 

[Cydro]

Welcome to the forums.
Not unmounting the card may have killed it. The PC needs to at least be able to see the card in order to possibly remove files from it. SD cards are not totally stable, from what I understand.
The reformatting should have done nothing to the card itself.

One last thing to consider is sometimes cards just go bad. Always a good practice to once every couple of weeks, unmount the card, place it in your PC and make a backup of all the files you want to keep. Do this and the worst you will be out is 2 weeks worth of photos, etc...

The thing is, I removed & reinserted the card (without "unmounting it") when I switched the phone off (like, FULLY off) - does that make a difference?
If not...wow, killed a card on removal
Well now I know.

 

[mrsmumbles]

The thing is, I removed & reinserted the card (without "unmounting it") when I switched the phone off (like, FULLY off) - does that make a difference?
If not...wow, killed a card on removal
Well now I know.

I do that all the time, so I don't think that could damage it. I think the mounting is for when you connect the phone to the computer while it's still on.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Golfdriver97]

Turning off the phone, then removing the card is fine. Unmounting is when the phone stays on and you want to remove the card.

From a Sprint Moto X using AC Forums app

 

[Cydro]

That's really strange then...