Can't copy all of my pictures and videos from SD card to computer!

[jmv147]

I am having some serious trouble copying all of the movies and photos in my DCIM/Camera folder on my SD card (a SanDisk Ultra 128 GB Micro SD SCI that I formatted using the S7 Edge’s format option) on my S7 Edge to my computer.

If I plug my phone into my computer via usb cable, every time I select a large number of files out of the total of 1622 items, which are only jpgs and mp4 videos, the copy to my hard drive fails at some point with the error message “Error Copying Files or Folder – Data supplied is of wrong type.” For the record, I am running Windows 10, but I also tried the same thing on my wife’s laptop running Windows 7 and got the same result.

I shut off my phone and inserted the micro SD card into my laptop via an SD port, and Windows Explorer showed 1622 items, and I got the same error.

I tried installing Smart Switch (which seems to suck for options) and it paused for 20 minutes on one picture during the backup that only had the SD card pictures and videos selected. I also couldn't find any option for Smart Switch to skip over unsuccessful items.

I’m at a loss. Could it be the Virtual Shot videos? But aren't those just mp4 files as well? I really don’t want to actually upload all of this to Drive (and who knows if that will even work), but more importantly, this should just work. Please let me know what other information would be useful and thanks for any help.

 

[B. Diddy]

It's possible one or more of the files is corrupt. Try copying the files over in smaller batches, so that you can back up as much as possible. Then run chkdsk to look for bad sectors: http://forums.androidcentral.com/am...guide-using-chkdsk-fix-corrupted-sd-card.html

 

[Gayle Lynn]

SD cards fail. I format in the device that will be it's home.

Turn on and use cloud backup as well.

Try Samsung card next time.

 

[jmv147]

So I had luck copying smaller numbers of files, until I got to some older picture files from last year. Then I got the same data type error all over the place. Then I decided to start cutting and pasting them in smaller numbers to my hard drive so I knew which ones were successful or not. I was able to cut and paste all of them without the same error.

I ran checkdisk on the sdcard and got a ton of corrupt errors, but interestingly, they were all associated with items in the music folder I had created on the SD card in Windows and copied over in Windows (with the phone plugged into the PC, not the SD card), and not one checkdisk error entry was associated with anything from the Camera folder. Perhaps that is not the correct way to copy your music to the SD card? Could creating the folder and copying files in Windows explorer that way have anything to do with corrupting the card?

Either way, I get the impression from the comments so far, and the checkdisk thread you linked to, that I just can't trust SD cards in my phone that much? Is there a maximally fail proof methodology to preventing this sort of thing? (ie brands, ways to format, ways to copy from phone to other devices etc) I love having the extra storage, but this sort of crap gives me the willies.

 

[B. Diddy]

It'd be interesting to see a screenshot of that chkdsk result, because I'm not used to seeing the results with corrupt files.

Since files are typically written in non-contiguous sectors, it's possible that the bad sectors that involve the files in the music folder also involve those older picture files. Copying files over a USB connection might increase the risk of data errors, depending on the quality of the cable and the connection -- I would imagine (although I don't know for sure) that transferring the files directly to the card while it's inserted in the PC's SD reader will be more reliable on the whole.

You are correct -- SD cards are nowhere near 100% reliable, even from well-known names like Sandisk. A few years back, I spoke with someone who is in the flash memory industry, and he told me that pretty much all consumer SD cards use bottom-of-the-barrel memory chips. For the casual user, they'll do the job, and most people won't encounter a problem -- but you should definitely not rely on an SD card as the only storage location for important data.

 

[Gayle Lynn]

Any storage medium will fail.
Not if buy when.
Rule, if data matters have copies
Backup regularly.
Cloud.
USB hanging off router.
"Mirror" disk array setup off or in PC

 

[Dngrsone]

As already noted, SD cards fail.

Galaxy devices have a tendency for killing SD cards, in my experience.

Once I began using only Samsung cards in my Galaxy's, my cards stopped failing.