Damaged SD card

[Marrea]

I have just bought a brand new Maplin 32GB Class 10 Micro SDHC card for my equally new Vodafone Smart 4 Mini running Jelly Bean 4.2.2.  Put it in the phone, switched on and received a "damaged SD card" error.  Went to Mount Card in Settings but it wouldn't mount it and again reported a damaged card.  Switched the phone off, took the card out, replaced it, switched phone on again.  Still the damaged card error. 

Switched phone off.  Took card out, put it in my Virgin Media VM820 phone (not a smart phone, just a cheap Blackberry copy).  Card recognised immediately in that phone, so I don't think there can be anything wrong with the card itself.  While it was in the VM820 I formatted the card and put it back in the Smart 4 Mini, which still reported a damaged card.

Are there any known problems with Maplin 32GB cards and Android?  Is the card I have bought incompatible with either Android or the Smart 4 Mini, or both?

[drey_p]

Hi there

First thing to try is a complete format of the card using a computer.  Pop it into your computer and using My Computer navigate to the SD card.  Right click on it and select format. The next box will be the main format menu, make sure you untick the Quick format option.  It will take a while to do a full format of the card.  Try it again in your phone.  If it doesn't work, see if you can try another card in the device - it would be that the phone doesn't like something about that card.

[Marrea]

Thanks for this.

Unfortunately although I have a USB card reader for my computer I don't have the necessary adapter to enable me to put the micro SD card into the USB card reader.  I've seen some micro SD cards complete with adapters for sale in Tesco so perhaps I could buy one of those, which would also give me another (ie a different make) micro SD card to try in my phone if after formatting on the computer my Maplin card still doesn't work in the Smart 4 Mini.

[drey_p]

Could you not borrow another memory card and rather save yourself a bit of money in case it is an issue with the phone?

[Marrea]

OK, what I've just done (and should have tried before posting) is to put the 4GB SanDisk card from my Virgin Media phone into the Vodafone Smart 4 Mini and it was immediately recognised.  So hopefully that indicates there is not an issue with the phone. 

Therefore what I have is:

A 32GB Maplin card which works with my Virgin Media phone but not the Vodafone Smart 4 Mini

A 4GB SanDisk card which works with both phones

So it rather looks as if the Smart 4 Mini is not happy with the 32GB card - either the make or the size.

[drey_p]

Good news - we now know it isn't the phone and at least you are able to get an SD card working although not the size you wanted.  Do you have a friend you could borrow another brand of 32GB SD card from? This will help to anrrow down whether it isn't liking the size or the brand.

[Marrea]

I have to confess I am rather hesitant to borrow someone else's card in case something should happen to it. 

What I have done today is buy a TDK 8GB micro SD card complete with adapter from Tesco.  I put this card in my Smart 4 Mini and it was recognised.  So that was good.  I then used the adapter to do a full format of the 32GB Maplin card on my computer.  (You're right, it does take a while to do a full format!).  Unfortunately the Smart 4 Mini still didn't want to know.  I have therefore put the TDK 8GB card back in the Mini and will use that for the time being.  It is not as big a card as I would have wished but at least it works!

I will simply store the Maplin card until such time as I have a need for it in some other device and hope it will behave itself then.   As I said, it works fine in my Virgin VM820 but it is a complete overkill for that particular phone.  I would never use that sort of storage space on a basic phone like that.

Thank you very much for your interest and help.  Much appreciated.

[drey_p]

Sorry I wasn't able to give you a definitive answer to you problem.  At least you have a working SD card.

Feel free to pop back here is you need any futher help!  Enjoy your phone.