/SDCARD2 Need to Know - G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Folks,
I don't claim to be an expert on the microiSD card, but there are some things
that need to be said -- and if I don't get it all or get it right then other folks
need to jump in.
1. Care always need to be taken putting your microSD card in and out. Not
only is it small and fragile, but the slot is small as well. You sometimes may
have to use your fingernail or something else thin to ease it far enough in
against the spring to get it to "click" into place. Same thing in reverse for
removal.
2. YOU CANNOT JUST PLUG AND UNPLUG THE FULL SIZE USB STUFF IN ANDROID.
They are not "Plug and Play" like Windows. I don't know the final word, but on
the full size USB port -- when I put in a USB key -- I always shut down, plug it in,
then reboot.
The miniUSB you use to your PC is a little more flexible, but that's another
post for another time.
3. You can use the microSD for recovery, but you have to edit the recovery
command file to point to /SDCARD2. When you boot standard recovery, Android
checks the internal memory for a recovery/command and update.zip presence.
If it does not find them, the it looks for a microSD external card and if it finds it
then it checks for recovery/command and update.zip file there.
4. Different ROMS have different capabilities with regard to finding and using the
USB ports. You'll have to research that -- or maybe someone will fill in that
blank here.
I hope this helps. I know this is not all the info on /SDCARD2 -- but I hope it
get the discussion going to help those having problems.
Rev

Good Topic! May want to add mention that /SDCARD2 does not normally mount to your PC when the tablet is connected for file transfers (I've seen that question 3 or 4 times in the past few days). There are some apps that allow it but I've run into some serious issues with a couple of them up to and including corruption of the internal memory.
#2 - the large USB port... I'm not an expert on this either but I do have two flash drives that will not mount if they're inserted with the tablet off. They do work fine when inserted with it on. So there is at least some level of auto-detect and mount going on I'm just not sure to what degree. It is on the list for further study. I would definitely err on the side of caution on this one with regards to anything containing important data.
#3 could be expanded to include or link to a how to on making your own recovery/utility MicroSD (another thread?). This could really save some folks some time and anguish.

+1 placeholder

+2 placeholder.
I won't bump it again. Just want those who need this to have the opportunity to
read it.
Rev

If SDCARD2 does not mount to your PC, how do you get the PC to recognize it so that you can store media files from your PC? Thanks!

mebrat said:
If SDCARD2 does not mount to your PC, how do you get the PC to recognize it so that you can store media files from your PC? Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I understand your question correctly, you must get a standard sd holder for your micro sd (usually comes with the micro, but not always), and then you need a card reader with a usb plug to go into your computer.

snarful,
Yes. In my case an adapter came with the microSD card and I have a card reader
on my PC -- so I'm good to go.
But if you are going to do much with the cards, it really helps and speeds things up.
Rev

Related

USB Mass storage?

How do I enable USB Mass storage mode instead of the stupid MTP og PTP?
Regards,
BTJ
Not sure if this works for the SGS3 but it worked for the SGS2:
Bring up Settings.
Click More… (under Wireless and network).
Then select USB utilities ~ Set USB cable connection mode.
Select Connect storage to PC then.
Connect USB cable from phone to PC.
Select Turn on USB storage.
That’s all.
Sorry, no such settings in SGS3, we are stuch with MTP or PTP... Don't understand the logic behind removing USB Mass storage mode!! Both MTP and PTP are slow as hell and there is no support for S3 in libmtp at the moment to make matters worse... If I had known this, I would have reconsidered my choice of buying a SGS3.....
BTJ
Like the Nexus, /sdcard is mounted at /data/media (IIRC, mount point could be different), meaning that internal data and the internal sdcard space share the space, rather than being split. UMS removes access to the device that is mounted from the phone, so it cannot be used when the sdcard is shared in this fashion.
I thought libmtp worked? I've been using adb and a GUI for shifting lots of files, qtadb
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Seems to be a problem with both SII and SIII... But I will check out qtadb, thx...
BTJ
So am I reading this right. You can't plug a USB cable in, the SD card appears then in explorer?
I have a sensation XE at moment and use this a lot for transferring files at work/home etc.
So can I not access my files normally now that I copy to SD card, eg docs etc?
Nope... But it sounds like you are using Windows so then MTP will work, kind of like you are used to...
BTJ
The idea about using MTP is it allows you to continue to use your phone without disruption, loading Mass Storage un-mounts the sd from your phone.
However I do think we should still be given a choice
Yes, I guess I understand the idea... What I don't understand is why they have removed the choice we used to have.... :-|
BTJ
I stil don't have an S3, but am a little confused on the MTP etc. Also I use a Mac and a Windows PC.
So when you plug in an S3 on a Windows PC, what does it do in MTP mode? just still allow you to drag/drop files? does the S3 come up as another drive or something in explore?
Also anyone with a Mac, how does this work?
cheers
This might give us some insight on why no USB Storage.
http://www.androidpolice.com/2011/1...behind-galaxy-nexus-lack-of-usb-mass-storage/
fylim said:
This might give us some insight on why no USB Storage.
http://www.androidpolice.com/2011/1...behind-galaxy-nexus-lack-of-usb-mass-storage/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I got the jist of that article lol but does this mean android developement were looking for devices to have either internal storage or sd storage but because the SG3 has both its sort of screwed things up a bit?
So UMS might be released in a later patch to allow easier access to added SD storage? Or does the current setting allow access to both storage thru windows pc?
Soz if I come across as a noob I havent got sg3 yet but planning to get one in a few weeks for upgrade and Ive been trying to get the low down on positives and negatives before I get the phone
Keep things simple!
Please can someone answer this simply.
Can I plug in the device into my mac/pc and just transfer any file to the micro SD card whilst it is in the phone?
All I want to do is to be able to put avi files on it as samsung kies or doubletwist doesn't seem to suppor them...
A yes or a no with and explanation would be great ta!!
pow001 said:
Please can someone answer this simply.
Can I plug in the device into my mac/pc and just transfer any file to the micro SD card whilst it is in the phone?
All I want to do is to be able to put avi files on it as samsung kies or doubletwist doesn't seem to suppor them...
A yes or a no with and explanation would be great ta!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes you can easily do that. No issues in that. Simply treat it as a normal pendrive in such a case.
sorted!
toxicthunder said:
yes you can easily do that. No issues in that. Simply treat it as a normal pendrive in such a case.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the help. Although I figure out what everyone was talking about.
This is how I did it (maybe this will help others noobs as well):
You will need the 'Android File Transfer program' --> google search it!
1.Connect phone to PC (you will see usb icon at the top of the screen)
2. Pull down the notification centre.
3. Touch the usb thing.
4. Click PTP mode
5. Open the file transfer program
BOOM! Rock on nerds!

Solved. Formatting A New 64 SD Card CM9 Nightly?

Having a heck of a time doing it. I have a new 64 GB card, I'm on the 8/7 CM9 Nightly, and I cannot get it to work. I'm getting a broken card message, try reformatting, and after the reformat it still does not read. Any thoughts?
Found an older Gingerbread mobile laying around and finally formatted the card so I can read it in my CM9 Note. However when I try to drag and drop from a PC I get: disk is write protected. Remove the write protection or try another disk.
Never had so much trouble with a card. Thoughts?
Desperation mode. I'm at loss, I can copy from them just not write to them.
Are you dragging from PC to phone ? or PC to Card slot on the PC ?
If you are using the PC to PC method, you may have a write protection switch on your micro SD card adapter.
check the adapter on the front left side, for a small slider switch that is moved with your fingernail.
If the switch is in the lock position, it will write protect the card by changing the pin out setting while the card sits in the adapter...
If going PC to phone....I do not know.....g
Bm.....
If you don't mind ....
Edit your thread title to include "solved "
It helps keep the forum clean , and lets users know that the solution is in the thread ...
Thanks !!!.....g

[Q] USB OTG support in recovery

OK, so the DNA has support when booted into the OS for USB OTG cables/thumb drives... is it a pipe dream getting the same feature in recovery?
I've tried with both TWRP and CWM to no avail. When in the phone's OS, the mount point is located at: /storage/USB but that doesn't appear in either recoveries.
My reason for asking is simple: Considering the DNA's weakest feature is the storage space (both the relatively small amount and lack of SD Card slot), it would be beneficial for many to enable it so that when performing nand backups, ROM/Mod/Script flashes, etc. in recovery, one could actually store all of those items on the Thumb Drive rather than the internal storage. I'm finding it very painstaking to have to perform these types of items, having to copy/paste/move/delete them on and off the phone's "SDcard" folder... it's also somewhat of a risk if your phone somehow gets hosed and you didn't move your files off of the phone prior to the hosing.
HTC may not have given us more storage options (dare I say like the iPhone, where you can get 32/64gb+ space), but with USB OTG we can use a thumb drive as our sdcard.
WorldOfJohnboy said:
OK, so the DNA has support when booted into the OS for USB OTG cables/thumb drives... is it a pipe dream getting the same feature in recovery?
I've tried with both TWRP and CWM to no avail. When in the phone's OS, the mount point is located at: /storage/USB but that doesn't appear in either recoveries.
My reason for asking is simple: Considering the DNA's weakest feature is the storage space (both the relatively small amount and lack of SD Card slot), it would be beneficial for many to enable it so that when performing nand backups, ROM/Mod/Script flashes, etc. in recovery, one could actually store all of those items on the Thumb Drive rather than the internal storage. I'm finding it very painstaking to have to perform these types of items, having to copy/paste/move/delete them on and off the phone's "SDcard" folder... it's also somewhat of a risk if your phone somehow gets hosed and you didn't move your files off of the phone prior to the hosing.
HTC may not have given us more storage options (dare I say like the iPhone, where you can get 32/64gb+ space), but with USB OTG we can use a thumb drive as our sdcard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried poking around in /dev or similar folders for the drive?

[Q] Music file transfer issue with new sd card

Hello xda peeps
I recently bought a new 32gb Kingston, class 4 sd card for my SII (ics)
I put the card into my phone, connected my phone to my desktop through the usb, and no matter how many different ways i try to transfer my music files onto the card, it fails. I have tried connecting through the USB mass storage utilities option, i have tried through MTP (although this wasn't available as an option until i downloaded and installed Kies), and i have also tried through Kies.
With each option, the files will transfer up to a certain point - around 15 albums or so, then after that, the files either don't copy across at all, or when i do manage copy them, they are totally corrupted, and they sound like they are skipping almost how a cd would skip if it is scratched or something. The actual files are fine (checked on my desktop) and i have copied files across in the past using the same computer (different sd card - 16gb Sandisk), same usb cable (although i have tried using a different one just in case), ao i am at a bit of a loss as to what is happening?!
I may still be in the dark ages somewhat with my desktop as i am running XP, but i didn't think this would be a problem really if i was simply connecting with USB mass storage or MTP and just dragging and dropping files.
Any ideas? The last thing i can really think of is that it is a dodgy sd, but does anybody here have any idea of any other issues which might be the problem?
Many thanks in advance!
Will
Sounds like the card to me. A way to check would be to find a PC (or buy a cheap one; I can pick one up for <$20 here) with a card reader & see what happens trying to transfer files that way & then putting card in the phone.
If that works OK, you could always try a full format of the card in Windows as well & then try transferring files again.
MistahBungle said:
Sounds like the card to me. A way to check would be to find a PC (or buy a cheap one; I can pick one up for <$20 here) with a card reader & see what happens trying to transfer files that way & then putting card in the phone.
If that works OK, you could always try a full format of the card in Windows as well & then try transferring files again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for the reply, and yeah, i suspect it most likely is the card - the last thing to try really is what you suggest - trying to copy the files through a card reader in a laptop. I'll also try formatting in the pc as previously i've been formatting in my SII
One thing that was puzzling me a tad though and i did find a bit curious was that until i installed Kies onto my desktop, the option of MTP was not there. When the 'action' dialogue box popped up on screen, there was no option to open the folder to explore - it just gave me options to either transfer files using WMP or Photoshop. Similarly, when i opened up 'My computer', it was not showing as an external drive.
This was leading me to think that maybe there was some kind of conflict that i was unaware of using an old XP
Thanks again!
Installing Kies would have installed up to date drivers which probably activates MTP; Samsung may not have supplied M$ up to date drivers for XP directly/to include in Windoze Update maybe ?
No worries Hope you get it sorted, if it's still giving you dramas after trying those couple of things, post to this thread & I'm sure someone will have other ideas to try.
Edit - Had a lightbulb moment. If your phone is rooted/you're running a kernel with CWRecovery, you could try formatting the external SD card from there. One thing to be aware of if you try this, make sure you know the mount points for external/internal SD for the particular rom you're using; make sure internal is internal/external is external or whether they're swapped around like they used to be (might still be on some roms ?) on some roms. Last thing you want to do is accidentally format your internal SD
willdogon said:
thanks for the reply, and yeah, i suspect it most likely is the card - the last thing to try really is what you suggest - trying to copy the files through a card reader in a laptop. I'll also try formatting in the pc as previously i've been formatting in my SII
One thing that was puzzling me a tad though and i did find a bit curious was that until i installed Kies onto my desktop, the option of MTP was not there. When the 'action' dialogue box popped up on screen, there was no option to open the folder to explore - it just gave me options to either transfer files using WMP or Photoshop. Similarly, when i opened up 'My computer', it was not showing as an external drive.
This was leading me to think that maybe there was some kind of conflict that i was unaware of using an old XP
Thanks again!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MistahBungle said:
Installing Kies would have installed up to date drivers which probably activates MTP; Samsung may not have supplied M$ up to date drivers for XP directly/to include in Windoze Update maybe ?
No worries Hope you get it sorted, if it's still giving you dramas after trying those couple of things, post to this thread & I'm sure someone will have other ideas to try.
Edit - Had a lightbulb moment. If your phone is rooted/you're running a kernel with CWRecovery, you could try formatting the external SD card from there. One thing to be aware of if you try this, make sure you know the mount points for external/internal SD for the particular rom you're using; make sure internal is internal/external is external or whether they're swapped around like they used to be (might still be on some roms ?) on some roms. Last thing you want to do is accidentally format your internal SD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cheers! And yeah i'm sure i'll be back later if things don't work!
Phone isn't rooted - just got stock 4.0.4 running, and all i've tried is formatting it through the phone so far - I'll try through a laptop later
Just an update on this.
Seems like it was a card issue. Put the card into a laptop, formatted, opened it up, tried to copy files over & the same thing happened. It told me all files copied successfully, but when i put it into my phone, the majority of the files were missing.
Thanks for the help!

[Q] cm7 cannot save to internal sd

Hello. I.ve checked the first 40 pages of the forum and have seen this posted before but with no answers. I.m running cm7 on a 16gb NT, and for the most part, everything is good. However, I want to use my internal space to save things to, like pictures from the internet, etc. Whenever I try now, a message says I Don.t have an external SD card installed, which I Don.t, but I have almost 8 gigs of internal space I.d like to use. Also the media player installed with cm7 says no SD card installed. Surely there must be a way to use the internal space and have the apps detect it as an SD card?
There is a way, I haven't tried myself, that involves swapping internal with external memory, by tweaking build.prop and vold.fstab files. This makes the internal memory external, though the label remains as the original.
And you don't have 8gb internal memory (unless you reparationed it) but 1gb only.
when i go to storage in settings, it says i have 5.5G of internal storage and 7.45G of additional storage under /mnt/media. i haven't repartitioned anything myself, but this was a pre-owned nook, so maybe the original owner did. also, i do have the "internal storage" box checked in cyanogen settings... Any ideas? Or do you have more info on the file editing?
pournstarr said:
...
Or do you have more info on the file editing?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2068595
^^ link above is the method but for cm10 where storage is mounted as storage 0 and 1, in cm7 its emmc and SD card (or something like that)
So does anyone have the exact commands to use for cm7 in the fstab? Also, will I be adding these lines or replacing ones already there?
Does anyone have an answer for this? Its hard to believe all the NT owners out there are contented letting all that space go to waste...
Well, I'm not letting any space go to waste!. I put lots of stuff in my internal storage. Either I put it there when transferring from PC, or I transfer files between sd-card and internal.
But that's beside the point.
Check over in the Nook Color section and maybe you can find useful info there. I know it was discussed and solved for CM7 on the Color. Shouldn't be too different for the Tablet. One would think... and possibly be terribly wrong...
( I don't think there is a huge interest in CM7 for the NT any more.)
Has this issue been addressed in cm10? Does the nook recognize the extra internal space as a place to save stuff to from the internet and read files from like with media players? Sorry for being meticulous about this, but I bricked my other NT messing around trying to access this space (I unmounted and formatted it and believe I wiped my internal partitions) and don't want to mess up this one as well. Thanks for any help...
There doesn't seem to be an easy fix for this in CM10. However much I would appreciate having it done I don't think it's worth taking risks messing with things I don't understand, so I pop in an sd-card to keep the apps that want it happy. (Those of you that have more of a clue might think differently though.)
Things I want to stay on the Nook I put internally like I said in my previous post. Pictures, some books, soma PDF magazines, a couple of film clips... All in my internal "MyFiles" folder.
And how do you open those files, with a file explorer or with actual programs? Because like I said right now, even if I did have music stored in that internal space, the media player is telling me there is no sd card inserted and therefore won't even search for any music files.
I open from a file explorer and it asks me what I want to use and if to set to default the first time.
Edit: And also (I had to go check this to be sure I wasn't remembering wrong), once opened with Gallery the app seems to "remember" that there are albums in eMMc as well and they show up wvwn with sd removed. This is in CM10, mind you, if it acts differently in CM7 I wouldn't know.
More edit: I now checked on the kids' Nook Color running CM7, and both QuickPic and MX Player allow you through settings to decide where it looks for media. I still prefer going through a file explorer though.
and now we come to another issue... i cannot for the life of me get my computer to recognize my nook properly. i was going to add the files from my computer and then locate them with a file explorer, but when i connect it, either through the regular cm7 interface or through CWM, the computer cannot access the internal drives. it sees the nook, because 2 more drives open up, but i don't think i have the correct drivers, because it doesn't show up in ADB either. when i do adb devices, it comes up blank. the driver now lists the nook as Android ADB interface, don't know if thats correct or not, but doesn anyone have the proper windows 7, 64 bit drivers for this? nothing i've tried can gain access to those drives, or having the nook come up in adb...
Is this the first time you try to transfer files from PC to Nook? Has it been working before? Just to know if something has suddenly gone wrong .
You should get a prompt at the Nook telling you to enable USB storage or something like that. You probably need to go to settings and enable USB debugging or somethig similar as well.
Edit: I have never ever used ADB, so I have no clue how to fix things there!! I just use regular Windows File Explorer.
pournstarr said:
and now we come to another issue... i cannot for the life of me get my computer to recognize my nook properly. i was going to add the files from my computer and then locate them with a file explorer, but when i connect it, either through the regular cm7 interface or through CWM, the computer cannot access the internal drives. it sees the nook, because 2 more drives open up, but i don't think i have the correct drivers, because it doesn't show up in ADB either. when i do adb devices, it comes up blank. the driver now lists the nook as Android ADB interface, don't know if thats correct or not, but doesn anyone have the proper windows 7, 64 bit drivers for this? nothing i've tried can gain access to those drives, or having the nook come up in adb...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you running cm7 alpha? I think there was this problem in that but was fixed in beta
yes this is my first time trying to transfer files from the PC to the Nook, I installed cm7 as soon as I got it (which was this xmas). I don't have my computer on right now, but I'm 99% sure when I unzipped the release it said beta. Team-B version. nothing ever pops up on the Nook or the computer screen when I plug it in, I can only see the drives that get added to my computer, but can't access them.
After plugging to PC via USB you should get prompt on tablets notification bar. Did you get that?
Sent from my ST21a
This is from the Nook Color section, but it shouldn't be too different for the Tablet. Post 2
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1760487
ok i see the notification on the bar and it says usb debugging connected. when i click on it, it brings me to the settings mentioned in that other thread that asawi linked, but the android debugging mode is already checked. i followed that other thread and it turns out that guys cable was bad, so i tried the other cable i had that came with my other NT and still no luck. i doubt both cables i got could be bad... any other ideas?
Edit: ok queer. i restarted the nook while the cable was plugged in, and then i did get the usb storage connection option. however, after i hit connect, i don't see the drives in my computer. so i updated the driver automatically, and it went from android phone back to usb composite device. then i the drives popped up in my computer, but i still can't connect to them. i tried adb throughout all these options and i didn't get the NT to show up in the devices list at all.
You don't get the " turn on USB Storage"? There's usually 2 notifications when connecting. The setting you mention and the "turn on USB storage"

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