MicroSd Card - cannot format but can read

jmsnyc · 24 Apr 2020

Strangest thing I have 128gb MicroSD card.

Ive tried formatting in Windows 10, Disk Mgmt, Diskpart, AOMEI, EaseUS, SD Formatter, Android, old camera, Roku - no matter what I do it does not format

It is currently exFat, I can still view the files. I have tried multiple adapters It is a SanDisk Ultra microSDXC

The weird thing is via Windows I can delete and create files on the disk without errors. Once I remove the card and reinsert, the changes are gone (what I deleted is there, what I created is not)

I would think it was write protection but wouldnt that produce an error and there is no write protection switch on the microsd card itself afaik , only only on the adapter and I tried different readers and adapters

Bree · 24 Apr 2020

It sounds like the card is failing and has gone into a 'protected' mode where you can read it but not change anything. I'd copy your important files from it ASAP in case it's about to fail completely.

jmsnyc · 24 Apr 2020

Bree said:

It sounds like the card is failing and has gone into a 'protected' mode where you can read it but not change anything. I'd copy your important files from it ASAP in case it's about to fail completely.

appreciate your reply but I never heard of a secret protected mode. I tried in diskpart to clear readonly attribute but did not help

Try3 · 24 Apr 2020

The life of any solid state storage device is specified as nnnnn writes/deletes and mmmmm reads.
The number of reads is several times greater than the number of writes.
- The device might be able to cope with 10,000-100,000 writes/deletes and that limit is increasing all the time.
- I cannot find any recent estimates of the number of possible reads - the last time I found one it was 10 or 100 times the write limit but might now be even greater. Read limits exist because device controllers refresh their data every so often and that involves writing.
You have merely used up its nnnnn writes or it has a hardware fault that makes it behave that way.

There's nothing you can do about it other than check your warranty to see if there was a guarantee on its lifespan.

This article disagrees - [FIX] The Disk Is Write Protected Error For USB Drives - KapilArya

Denis

thomaseg1 · 25 Apr 2020

Protected mode will sometimes occur on microsd as it is some sort of routine on disk (Having no right protect switch)

You can try opening disk management and deleting the partition then rebuilding it and reformatting
it BUT there is NO guarantee that it will work and probably ruin it. It might get you a few more uses.
But when I goes into that mode its on its last legs and it is less time consuming
getting another.

Copy the data off it First

jmsnyc · 25 Apr 2020

The card is less than 2 years old and has very light usage. I'm not worried about the data. I tried to delete partition and recreate using partition software and disk mgmt but failed. The card just does not change and the folders that are there remain

- - - Updated - - -

Try3 said:

This article disagrees - [FIX] The Disk Is Write Protected Error For USB Drives - KapilArya

Denis

I'm not getting a disk protected error , that was just a hunch and more based on the Bree's re
ply and I actually tried the disk part commands prior to starting this thread

Try3 · 25 Apr 2020

Try3 said:

... check your warranty to see if there was a guarantee on its lifespan.

It was stated on the product card [packaging] and is also given in Warranty Table - SanDisk
- I think your warranty period is 7 years.

If you bought it from, for example, Amazon then you might be able to tell them in a chat that the disk has failed under warranty & that you want a replacement.
- That worked for me once [21 months into a 24 month warranty] and is easily the most convenient resolution method.

Denis

Bree · 25 Apr 2020

jmsnyc said:

The card is less than 2 years old and has very light usage. I'm not worried about the data. I tried to delete partition and recreate using partition software and disk mgmt but failed. The card just does not change and the folders that are there remain....

If anything can reformat this card, then it would be the formatter from the SD Association itself.

The SD Memory Card Formatter formats SD Memory Card, SDHC Memory Card and SDXC Memory Card (respectively SD/SDHC/SDXC Cards) complying with the SD File System Specification created by the SD Association (SDA).

It is strongly recommended to use the SD Memory Card Formatter to format SD/SDHC/SDXC Cards rather than using formatting tools provided with individual operating systems...

SD Memory Card Formatter - SD Association

LMiller7 · 25 Apr 2020

Many flash and SD cards have a special read-only mode that is triggered when internal errors are detected. This is typically not reversible. It may be possible to do so but the method would be device specific and not well documented. In any event this is not recommended as corruption of existing data is likely.

Flash and SD cards are the least reliable of modern storage media. Low cost is a high priority in most such devices while reliability is secondary. All drives (new or old) can fail at any time and often do so without warning or apparent cause. The cause is usually unknowable.

The OS relies entirely on the device to report status and error information. If no errors are reported the OS assumes there are none and all operations will show as successful. As the device is failing you cannot rely on it to behave normally.

jimbo45 · 25 Apr 2020

Hi folks

are you using a micro SD card in an adapter -- if so then there's often a tiny fiddly mechanical switch that can go into write protect mode. Sometimes even standard sd cards have that wretched thing on them too -- often nearly invisible and have a high propensity to break or get stuck into "write protect mode".

These things are cheap enough --copy data if its important to you and then get another card.

Cheers
jimbo