Mobile Phone locked Microsd with Write Protection

Apr 23, 2020
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due to earlier laptop system restore and backup files, i had a new sandisk uhs-i microsd card for my android lenovo mobile to help downloading restore files.

after inserted the card during the first time use, the mobile system said that the format of new card cannot be used and requested a format. I continued. However I was not sure if there had been any formatting option for me though i supposed no.

after setup, i used it within the mobile and nothing strange.

lately, as restore done, and i would like to use the card with the laptop for file transfer, the issue came.

(1) the card was placed to work inside a function well adaptor physically unlock for write. However its write protected, and formatting not allowed.

(2) diskpart to "attributes disk clear readonly" showed successful, but next when "clean" Windows stated "write protection"

(3) so no formatting could be done

(4) card still be read by mobile, add or erase files no problem, just only no write right for other devices

After check online, maybe the sdcard was being formatted as Internal Storage, instead of the Portable Storage. And many victims exist there.

Worst of all, as having been applied to downloading laptop files and as some backups, I carried out a system restore (factory reset) for my mobile.

So not sure if once an internal storage format had been done, it would ve permanent. Or just phone being factory reset cannot control the sdcard (but still write???)

and though the phone could still leave an option to format the sdcard into portable storage and after done, the card is still write protected.

I suppose this doesnt really make sense, and i suppose Lenovo should open its door to clean any encryption over the firmware or the registry within the sdcard.

(A) the phone only disallows unwanted erase of data by other devices but allows read anyway, so its not for privacy or confidential concern

(B) the phone itself after factory reset could still both write and read on the card, so they got the key

(C) write protection only helps protecting the phone system only for a clean card to put back into the phone, but why is it a need to keep write protection when users had chosen to use as portable? phone code error?

(D) not sure if such encryption violated any encryption law

(E) obviously such act violated seriously the green policy of the whole world, as the life span of modern phone lasted a few years, lenovo doing so would also limit the life of any storage card. Should the function well storage be disposed after the mobile dead?

I am not sure if this only happened ot Lenovo phone, i suppose they should release an update of format tool for all physically external storage to eliminate the write protection!

Please help!
 

methodman89

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Feb 5, 2018
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due to earlier laptop system restore and backup files, i had a new sandisk uhs-i microsd card for my android lenovo mobile to help downloading restore files.

after inserted the card during the first time use, the mobile system said that the format of new card cannot be used and requested a format. I continued. However I was not sure if there had been any formatting option for me though i supposed no.

after setup, i used it within the mobile and nothing strange.

lately, as restore done, and i would like to use the card with the laptop for file transfer, the issue came.

(1) the card was placed to work inside a function well adaptor physically unlock for write. However its write protected, and formatting not allowed.

(2) diskpart to "attributes disk clear readonly" showed successful, but next when "clean" Windows stated "write protection"

(3) so no formatting could be done

(4) card still be read by mobile, add or erase files no problem, just only no write right for other devices

After check online, maybe the sdcard was being formatted as Internal Storage, instead of the Portable Storage. And many victims exist there.

Worst of all, as having been applied to downloading laptop files and as some backups, I carried out a system restore (factory reset) for my mobile.

So not sure if once an internal storage format had been done, it would ve permanent. Or just phone being factory reset cannot control the sdcard (but still write???)

and though the phone could still leave an option to format the sdcard into portable storage and after done, the card is still write protected.

I suppose this doesnt really make sense, and i suppose Lenovo should open its door to clean any encryption over the firmware or the registry within the sdcard.

(A) the phone only disallows unwanted erase of data by other devices but allows read anyway, so its not for privacy or confidential concern

(B) the phone itself after factory reset could still both write and read on the card, so they got the key

(C) write protection only helps protecting the phone system only for a clean card to put back into the phone, but why is it a need to keep write protection when users had chosen to use as portable? phone code error?

(D) not sure if such encryption violated any encryption law

(E) obviously such act violated seriously the green policy of the whole world, as the life span of modern phone lasted a few years, lenovo doing so would also limit the life of any storage card. Should the function well storage be disposed after the mobile dead?

I am not sure if this only happened ot Lenovo phone, i suppose they should release an update of format tool for all physically external storage to eliminate the write protection!

Please help!
What is the question?
 

me just saying

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Jul 18, 2015
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not too sure of the real question since the last couple of paragraphs went off the rails. so I am not sure if it was a post asking for help or to rant.

you can always insert the card into the pc and see what file system it is formatted as. some microsd adaptors have a slider on the side where you can lock your data and make it read only. once you manually reset the slider, you can always reformat it on the pc for it to work on your phone. and you can always change permissions by right clicking the card in your windows explorer.
 
Last edited:

B. Diddy

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Welcome to Android Central! It seems likely that when you inserted the card in your Lenovo phone, you formatted it as Internal Storage (aka Adoptable Storage) rather than Portable, such that the system incorporated the card's storage into its own Internal Storage, thus expanding the space you have to install apps. If it were formatted as Portable Storage, you'd only be able to use it for file storage (i.e., documents and media files).

When you format a card as Internal Storage, the card gets encrypted so that it can only be used in that device. This is a basic tenet of Adoptable Storage. Perhaps the documentation for your device wasn't that clear, but it's always worth learning about what you're doing before doing it. The only way you can use that card on another device is to reformat it (which of course will wipe the data).