Formatting micro SD card for internal memory for HTC One A9

[Anonymous]

Hi

Has anyone managed to do this successfully and if so what card did you use?

I want to be able to transfer some apps onto the card to free up phone storage space.

I bought one that says its speed class 3:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingston-Micro-Memory-without-Adapter/dp/B00RVNFXWY?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=t...

but when I try to format the card for internal storage in the phone it says its too slow and I need one that is speed class 3 - but that is what I thought I had bought!

Thanks

[Anonymous]

Hi

I started this thread a few months ago - if its any help it was indeed a faulty phone.  I took it to a Vodafone shop with a techy support desk and they tried it out with one of their cards and got the same fault so they were able to confirm it was a phone fault.  They couldn't exchange the phone though as they had none in stock and told me to phone Vodafone.

I phoned Vodafone but the time spent faffing around trying out different cards meant I was outside the 14 day return period for new phones under my business contract.  I didn't want to go down the route of sending it back for repair because (a) I would have had to carry on using my old Samsung S2 that was on its last legs  for several weeks / months and (b) I have seen bad feedback on here where they tell you the "damage" to your phone is not covered under your contract and try and charge you for a new phone.  So I persisted in asking them to exchange it because the shop had confirmed the phone was faulty and therefore they had supplied a product that was not fit for purpose.  I was passed backwards and forwards between 3 different advisors for about 30 minutes but I persisted and eventually got them to agree to replace it free of charge.

They sent a replacement (a reconditioned one) special delivery so it arrived the next working day and I swapped it for the faulty one.  The replacement started up fine, and installed a software update.  I then successfully formatted the SD card as adoptable storage with no error messages - this was the exact same card that the previous phone had reported was too slow - and touch wood it has worked fine ever since!:smileyhappy:

[Androidicus]

@squeakymouse and as an update for @Viki_R

I saw your (now removed comment!) about me getting your faulty handset and did lol!

Finally - after the usual agony of calling 191, being put on hold, then getting another agent picking up the call as a new call - so rinse & repeat yada yada... 45 mins later > now they have the Carbon Grey A9 in stock this will be swapped out on Tuesday (don't understand why not tomorrow...) but there you go. NO confirmation text as promised yet so very much "watch this space / don't hold your breath"

I'm glad your problem was resolved by replacement handset squeakymouse and just hope mine is also. I did tell the agent that I had lost faith in the A9 and wanted to go for HTC 10 instead - surprise, surprise, Vodafone not likely to offer the HTC 10 as all of the high street and online stores have got it sewn up on bulk carrier deals.

I hate mobile phones - I am going back to 2 baked bean tins and a length of finest hairy string...

[hrym]

16gb of storage is limiting, but not impractical.   I also have a 16gb M8 and this is perfectly happy with as many apps as will fit on the home screens and a small sd card for photos and downloads - I don't play large and demanding games.   There are still devices being sold with 8, or even 4 and they work, although the number of apps they're capable of handling is limited of course.  As apps get larger and place more demands on resources, 32gb is becoming desirable and, indeed, standard on higher end devices.   2gb is a workable amount of RAM, although, again, 3 or 4 is useful to enable quick app switching if you're going to have a lot on the go at the same time.   Android manages memory pretty well, but it's still worth clearing recent apps periodically.

Postscript: My old Samsung Galaxy S2 has 16gb of storage, but only 2gb of it is available for apps.  When I got it, this was no problem.   Updating it recently severaly curtailed the ones I could keep.

If I bought a card that came with software pre-installed, I'd suspect something dodgy and send it back.   I usually use Kingston or SanDisk and they come blank and formatted.   I'd expect any device to be able to read FAT32, and more recent ones to be able to read ExFAT in order to be able to take larger cards.

[Androidicus]

@hrym I agree wholeheartedly with your observations on the phone storage capacity and the evolutionary requirements / demands - rather like the Amstrad 286 PC with its 40MB HDD! Still got that drive somewhere in my hardware "museum" lol

Individual user's proposed usage governs their expectations / requirement for storage capacity as you rightly noted "I don't play large and demanding games" like myself.

I do have to correct a statement I made ^^^ regarding storage options - migrating data or media seems to be impossible with the A9 unless SD Card is "formatted as phone storage" however, I did find the setting in the stock HTC camera app last night for choosing where to save images. This is great for "out of the box" new use provided it is set from scratch. Unfortunately, restoring a backup from HTC Sync automatically places the media files into phone storage if the SD Card is not "adopted / formatted as phone storage" - viscious circle.

Finally - my comment regarding pre-installed software on portable devices was of course rather generalised and referred more to, for example, SanDisk SecureAccess etc. but this would more likely be found in a folder on their USB flash drives rather than SD Cards... I stand corrected!

[hrym]

If you have photos stored on the phone and want to transfer them to the sd card, the best thing to do is change the storage location in the camera app and take a picture to create the folder.  Now copy the existing files to the new location - and only delete them when you're sure they're all present and correct.

I never use proprietary backup solutions as they can lead to too much grief.   I have photos set to sync (wifi only!) to both Dropbox and Google Photos (the latter in high rather than original resolution as it doesn't come out of your storage allowance).   I have Dropbox on my PC and new shots are transferred there automatically as backup.   I move them to other folders so as not to fill up my Dropbox allowance.   You can do this manually for other important files, too.

I've also recently downloaded all my Amazon music and there's a setting within that app for the default location - there will be some some others, too.

[Androidicus]

I do not believe that this is a handset problem. Here is why:

1) Received HTC A9 mid August (a week or so ago) on pay monthly

2) Set it up

3) Put Sandisk Ultra Class 10 64gb SD Card in

4) A few hours later checked and realised hadn't formatted the sd card

5) Chose "Format as internal storage" - nice touch I thought

*** NO WARNING ABOUT SD CARD BEING TOO SLOW! ***

6) When finished it migrated data dum te dum...

7) THEN system updates occured a day or so later

😎 Phone kept re-starting - up to 8 times a day

9) Vodafone said would replace handset - ultimately hasn't happened as no stock of Carbon Grey A9 now...

10) HTC Support suggested factory reset - my last resort as a PITA

11) I had already tried all the usual - boot to recovery mode > clear system cache > clear app cache yada yada

12) Yesterday, bit the bullet > full back up > SD Card Out > Factory reset...

13) When done - inserted SD Card > Format As Internal Storage >

*** YOUR SD CARD IS TOO SLOW BLAH BLAH TRY UHS CLASS 3 BLAH BLAH ***

NO option to continue anyway and take the risk - just "< Back"

14) So I formatted as "Removable Storage"

15) Restored from HTC Sync backup image - all good - synced photos etc

16) Checked storage > WT(Heck)! 14.56gb Internal Storage used of 16gb! Everything had synched to Internal Storage only

17) And finally here's the punchline... Picked up a Sandisk UHS Extreme Class 10 U3 64gb this morning > ejected first card > slipped in the new one  that complied with the warning message per 13) above... SAME ##~## message about being too slow!

This is pathetic really - no way that I can see to move photo storage to SD Card unless it's formatted as Internal Storage (and that's confirmed on HTC's own support site!) and I can't format a card that complies! It's a genuine Sandisk card in correct packaging from a reputable retailer...

In summary - phone hasn't restarted randomly once yet since the factory reset but since first set up the SD Card checking utility has appeared and now have a useless card formatted as removable storage that I can't use (as far as I can see)...:manmad:

Moderator note: Edited post as not in line with our Community Guidelines

UPDATE: Apologies for the redacted expletive! It was already masked in the original but clearly not sufficiently!

After an hour on live chat to HTC Support - it would appear that I need "4 stages" of updates before I can format the SD Card as "Internal Storage" which they say could take "days or a month..." Great - new handset out of the box that I cannot utilise an SD Card until 4 rounds of updates...

[Retired-Viki_R]

Hi @Androidicus

I would recommend taking your phone into the nearest Vodafone store so they can take a look at the phone for you, it may just be a setting that needs changing. 

If the phone needs to be replaced they can help you with this also.

Thanks,

Viki

[Androidicus]

Hi @Viki_R

Thank you for your suggestion which is sensible & logical.

[EDIT] I have changed my opinion as to whether this is a handset problem versus OS / Software - I now am back to my original diagnosis of faulty hardware...

I would say however, that every conceivable setting & procedure has been explore and undertaken and after probably 2 hours plus of online support from both Vodafone & HTC directly, it is extremely unlikely (although I agree possible) that there is anything further that can be achieved at the store.

It is also extremely inconvenient for me to even attempt to get the physical store hence all of the online chat sessions etc. etc.

A replacement handset was agreed over a week ago (via 191 Returns Team) but the stumbling block with that of course is that the Carbon Grey A9 is not in stock! Do I want a Deep Garnet..? Not really...

So right now, I am left with an HTC A9 that:

• Randomly crashes & restarts numerous times in any 24 hours
• Has crashed and restarted 4 times already today
• Just keeps checking the SD Card (on format as internal storage) and tells me it is too slow and to try a UHS U3 card - when that is exactly what I have installed...

:manmad:

[Retired-Viki_R]

Have you considered asking Customer Services to send you out a silver bag so you can send the phone off to be looked at?

I can understand that this is a very frustrating situation for you howver, I think sending it off would be the best thing to do at this stage.

If the phone does need replacing, Customer Services should be able to order in some more stock under the circumstances or offer you a suitable replacement.

Viki

[Androidicus]

Thank you @Viki_R your replies are much appreciated and another very sensible sugestion but now I have the wonderful nano-sim I cannot even slip that into my old HTC One X (which gave me 4 years of faithful service and did not stutter once)... Yes, I might be able to retrieve the multi-sim pop-out card and fiddle with the micro sim frame as a an adapter...

I am simply not prepared to wait for a bag in the post, send it off, be without a handset, then wait for a verdict when I effectively have a hand-set that is not fit for purpose from the get go.

This is way off-topic now and is indeed a customer services / returns issue and as I ordered pre 21st March 2016 and approx 14 days ago I can initiate the new 30 Day Delivery and returns policy.

I will be investigating the HTC 10 as an alternative. Being with VF for a decade I would rather stay loyal but we'll just have to wait and see...