HACKER Q&A
📣 themodelplumber

Android Phones and MicroSD Card Corruption Issues?


The other day, Android reported that my MicroSD card needed to be "set up" even though it had been in use for some months and had ~25GB data on it.

The "setting up" process means formatting the card / wiping data--I've been through this about 4-5 times before with different Android phones.

I was able to copy data off the card on my computer. exfatfsck found a file with an invalid cluster, but the rest of the data seemed fine.

I ran F3 Write to test the card in case it was fake, but it showed no fakery--128GB card with all that extra space still available. Which makes sense, since I intentionally looked for the most reputable seller & card type that I could find.

My previous cards have continued to work like champs in other devices (cameras, mp3 players), but in my phones they seem to suffer needlessly.

Since this recent issue I had, a bunch of people I talked to told me that they also have this happen from time to time with Android phones from various brands. None of their troubleshooting got them to a point where they could understand why it happens.

So my question: Does anybody know if this kind of thing is being tracked as a broader issue with Android phones? Are any devs or manufacturers working on it, or working around it? Any theories as to what's going on?


  👤 IronWolve Accepted Answer ✓
I'd guess cheap or old/slower sdcards. I try to use quality/fast ones. Early android days I've had issues due to slow sdcards and custom android builds.