HTC One (M8): SD Card is read only. Is KitKat the problem?

[kilofoxtrot]

I can not write to my SD card on the M8. I dont have a permissions issue from what I can see.

Is Kit Kat the issue here with sandboxed apps only having write access to the card??

 

[Phil Nickinson]

Re: HTC One (M8): SD Card is read only...... Is KitKat the problem?

I can not write to my SD card on the M8. I dont have a permissions issue from what I can see.

Is Kit Kat the issue here with sandboxed apps only having write access to the card??

This should clear things up for ya.

KitKat and SD cards — what's fixed, what's broken and what's misunderstood | Android Central

 

[erwaso]

Re: HTC One (M8): SD Card is read only...... Is KitKat the problem?

I can not write to my SD card on the M8. I dont have a permissions issue from what I can see.

Is Kit Kat the issue here with sandboxed apps only having write access to the card??

Are you just trying to move apps to SD? What else will it NOT let you do?

 

[jcthorne#AC]

Re: HTC One (M8): SD Card is read only...... Is KitKat the problem?

Yeah, I read that article the other day. Still more questions than answers. What can and cannot be done with and SD card? Can I still put media files on it and play them? Can the camera still store its pics there and I retrieve them when plugged in to the PC? Can I move apps to the SD card?

Don't get what the problem is.

 

[kilofoxtrot]

Re: HTC One (M8): SD Card is read only...... Is KitKat the problem?

Are you just trying to move apps to SD? What else will it NOT let you do?

Trying to store some PDF files via OfficeSuite Pro's Cloud access to Dropbox. Wont store pdfs to SD Card. States it is read-only.

 

[Jetski]

Kitkat has a security system in place so third party apps have a folder on the sd card under the android umbrella and have write access to this folder only.

If the device has its own stock file explorer you have should be able to use that. Third party file explorers require write access to all files so they won't work anymore. Some other apps like music apps with folder support won't have access to other folders like shared music folders

The HTC M8 doesn't actually have a stock file explorer so all their customers have been screwed. I'm one of them.

If I was happy not having any control I would have bought an iPhone

I spoke to HTC technical team and after a lengthy discussion they admitted they were unable to do anything about this file explorer issue

 

[fernandez21]

Re: HTC One (M8): SD Card is read only...... Is KitKat the problem?

Yeah, I read that article the other day. Still more questions than answers. What can and cannot be done with and SD card? Can I still put media files on it and play them? Can the camera still store its pics there and I retrieve them when plugged in to the PC? Can I move apps to the SD card?

Don't get what the problem is.

You can move apps to the SD by going to settings>apps>(select an app)>move.

You can store pictures taken by the camera to the sd card by selecting the 3 dot overflow menu in the camera app>settings>storage>sd card.

Not sure how you put your media on your device, but I use isyncr and set it to sync to my sd card, and it worked fine for my music. Hit and miss though for videos, so far I can't seem to get any video to save to the sd card if its over 3gb. I don't have an sd card reader/writer so I'm not sure if i can just manually put those on the sd card using my laptop or not.

 

[steve dave]

Re: HTC One (M8): SD Card is read only...... Is KitKat the problem?

You can move apps to the SD by going to settings>apps>(select an app)>move.

You can store pictures taken by the camera to the sd card by selecting the 3 dot overflow menu in the camera app>settings>storage>sd card.

Not sure how you put your media on your device, but I use isyncr and set it to sync to my sd card, and it worked fine for my music. Hit and miss though for videos, so far I can't seem to get any video to save to the sd card if its over 3gb. I don't have an sd card reader/writer so I'm not sure if i can just manually put those on the sd card using my laptop or not.

Your issue with larger videos is probably because your card is formatted in FAT32. That has a file size limit of 4GB. You need to take your card out of your phone and use a PC to format it in exfat and you will be able to store larger files on it.

 

[fernandez21]

Your issue with larger videos is probably because your card is formatted in FAT32. That has a file size limit of 4GB. You need to take your card out of your phone and use a PC to format it in exfat and you will be able to store larger files on it.

Thanks, how would I do this? I don't have an SD card reader on my Mac, and when I first inserted it into the phone I selected format in the storage menu in my M8, figured it would automatically format it properly.

 

[steve dave]

Thanks, how would I do this? I don't have an SD card reader on my Mac, and when I first inserted it into the phone I selected format in the storage menu in my M8, figured it would automatically format it properly.

First you would need a usb card reader. Then go under utilities to disk utilities and in there will be an option to format different drives. Pick the sd card and choose exfat as the format.

Being as HTC did not enable mass storage mode with the m8 for some reason means that you can't just plug your phone into your pc and do it from there.

 

[blackdogAC]

So once you format as described, will the M8 function in Mass Storage Mode when connected to a PC?

This whole SD card issue is really starting to irk me.
KitKat disables use of SD card for users.
HTC decides to implement KK for the M8.
HTC does NOT provide an on-board file explorer.
So users cannot move or copy files on or off the SD card.

And now there's a problem where it won't function as MSC???

 

[blackdogAC]

Kitkat has a security system in place so third party apps have a folder on the sd card under the android umbrella and have write access to this folder only.

If the device has its own stock file explorer you have should be able to use that. Third party file explorers require write access to all files so they won't work anymore. Some other apps like music apps with folder support won't have access to other folders like shared music folders. The HTC M8 doesn't actually have a stock file explorer so all their customers have been screwed. I'm one of them.

If I was happy not having any control I would have bought an iPhone

I spoke to HTC technical team and after a lengthy discussion they admitted they were unable to do anything about this file explorer issue

This is really infuriating. I just got off chat with HTC and they acknowledged there's no file explorer on-board and no way for a third-party app to perform this function. this is like buying a PC and having no Windows Explorer on the machine!

It appears the only way to be able to move and copy files to and from the SD, and to make or delete folders on the SD is to hook up to a PC or root and flash a custom ROM.

Why the hell couldn't they have added an explorer of their own if they know they were going to issue the M8 with friggin' KitKat? Even Samsung has always included a basic explorer on-board.

 

[steve dave]

So once you format as described, will the M8 function in Mass Storage Mode when connected to a PC?

This whole SD card issue is really starting to irk me.
KitKat disables use of SD card for users.
HTC decides to implement KK for the M8.
HTC does NOT provide an on-board file explorer.
So users cannot move or copy files on or off the SD card.

And now there's a problem where it won't function as MSC???

No it won't. It will act as a media device but you still be able to hook it up to a pc and load files onto the external card through the phone. Exfat just enables you to load files larger than 4gb.

 

[Altstart5]

I have had the international version of this phone for the past two months and consider it to be the worst phone by far that I have ever bought, The issue with the lack of access to the SD card is so frustrating that I have developed a real hatred to this phone and the Android OS Kit Kat. I have been advised to store my music files on the phones internal storage and I have tried to do this.I end up with a list of individual tracks in alphabetical order and not in Albums. I will never buy another HTC product and consider that the advertising of this phone as having SD card storage up to 128 GB as criminally misleading and false. I will be much more cautious with what I buy to replace this crap phone.

 

[Mooncatt]

I have had the international version of this phone for the past two months and consider it to be the worst phone by far that I have ever bought, The issue with the lack of access to the SD card is so frustrating that I have developed a real hatred to this phone and the Android OS Kit Kat. I have been advised to store my music files on the phones internal storage and I have tried to do this.I end up with a list of individual tracks in alphabetical order and not in Albums. I will never buy another HTC product and consider that the advertising of this phone as having SD card storage up to 128 GB as criminally misleading and false. I will be much more cautious with what I buy to replace this crap phone.

Good luck. Any current Android is out, iPhone doesn't have external storage at all, not sure about BlackBerry's offerings, but their OS is probably on life support. So your options for having a phone with external storage that's fully rewritable from the phone itself is going to be pretty limited. More so when you add other requirements that you want in a phone like memory size, screen type, processor, etc.

I don't blame your frustration, but understand HTC, nor any other Android manufacturer, had any say with the SD card issue or any way to avoid it. If anything, the anger should be directed at Google.

 

[anon8378318]

HTC released a statement recently saying the upcoming 4.4.3 update will be rolling out to unlocked/international M8 models late next week. Sprint carrier branded models already received this update, and other carrier brands will follow in the upcoming weeks. With it a file manager app is built in with SD card write support. Work around methods for now if you're trying to move music, documents, photos, media in general; you can go to settings, then storage, and use the "make more space" option to move internal items to your SD card and vice versa.

 

[jaytee]

I have music stored internally in two places; the "Music" folder and an "Amazon MP3" folder. I have been able to copy sub folders with complete albums in them into the folders and then have the albums listed in both the stock music app and Poweramp. You could also put them into the music folder under artist sub folders followed at a lower level by album.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[Lok52]

I have music stored internally in two places; the "Music" folder and an "Amazon MP3" folder. I have been able to copy sub folders with complete albums in them into the folders and then have the albums listed in both the stock music app and Poweramp. You could also put them into the music folder under artist sub folders followed at a lower level by album.

Posted via Android Central App

That isn't the issue. It is getting the files off the phone storage and onto the SD card storage that is prohibited. If you are rooted, it is probably not a problem, but otherwise it is only possible by hooking up to a computer and moving the files that way. Which is a pain when not around one all the time.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[Altstart5]

Quote Originally Posted by jaytee View Post
I have music stored internally in two places; the "Music" folder and an "Amazon MP3" folder. I have been able to copy sub folders with complete albums in them into the folders and then have the albums listed in both the stock music app and Poweramp. You could also put them into the music folder under artist sub folders followed at a lower level by album.

Posted via Android Central App
That isn't the issue. It is getting the files off the phone storage and onto the SD card storage that is prohibited. If you are rooted, it is probably not a problem, but otherwise it is only possible by hooking up to a computer and moving the files that way. Which is a pain when not around one all the time.

Posted via Android Central App

I have succeeded in loading my files on the SD card in the format I wanted using Spotify. I managed to play them from the SD Card once using a MP3 Player app and thought I had overcome the problem. The next morning I discovered that these files had been transferred to the phones internal storage and removed from the SD card. Only one of the 4 files would play and this file would not list the tracks. The other three files were listed by name but came up as unknown format. My anger and frustration is solidly directed at Google for the deliberate restrictions in Kit Kat. I do not believe that it is a security issue I believe it is nothing more than a revenue grab on the part of Google and an attempt to force use of the cloud for storage. HTC is seriously at fault for claiming this phone has 128 GB SD capability when it is in fact virtually useless and nothing more than a sales gimmick.

 

[Lok52]

Well, Jerry was complaining about it being a security issue on the podcast long before KitKat came along. And there were cases of people getting hacked by malicious apps because they were able to get at the SD card. It was a legitimate security flaw and it did need to be fixed.

Yes it's a pain but there is a way around it until HTC gets us a file manager. Transfer music from a pc through USB or a card reader to the SD card. The music programs find it and play it with no problem & it stays on the SD card.

Posted via Android Central App