Problems with SDCard in Moto-X Android

[ChrisGreaves]

Please, and thank you, how is my logic?

Numerous reports on web, none of which so far have revealed a working solution for me.
Search “problem moto-x android sdcard” for a sample.

(1) The Laptop(Toshiba Tecra) SD card reader works, for when I insert an old camera card (blue, “Betty) I can see files in Windows Explorer.

(2) Both adapters work, for when I insert an adapter with an SDCard marked “1”, I can see files.

(3) When I switch that SDCard to a second adapter, I can still see files. So both adapters function in the card reader.

(4) I have a second (unmarked) SDCard which doesn’t work. I cannot read files from it. It does NOT show up in Explorer (whereas the other SDCard does), so I cannot format this card.

(5) When I put the working SDCard in the smartphone, it shows as “Not Available”.

(6) In Win7HP Explorer I can format the working SDCard (14.5GB FAT)

(7) Formatted and inserted into the (rebooted) smartphone, the SDCard still is not recognised.

(1) (2) (3) and (6) tell me that my Laptop is accepting SDCards and adapters correctly.

(4) Suggests that the second SDCard is a dud. The web articles make mention of counterfeit cards. I’ve been ripped off at the local Pharmacy.

(5) and (7) suggest that there is a problem with my Moto-X smartphone. This too gets several mentions in the web articles.

Moral: ***IF*** I decide to buy a new phone, I should probably NOT buy a MOTO-X.

Thanks, Chris

[stuck]

Yes, pretty sure one of your SD cards is a dud.

Have you tried inserting the working SD card in to your phone and then formating it? There will be an option to format the card somewhere in the phones menu structure but I've no idea where.

I ask this question because within the world of digital cameras it is standard practice to use the camera to format the card NOT a PC. This is because the camera's format function not only formats the card, it adds camera specific magic to the card. Often this extra magic is the creation of a folder structure. In other words, cards formatted 'in camera' are fully readable by both the camera and a PC but those formatted by a PC are not guaranteed to work in the camera. It seems reasnonable that the same principles would apply to a card for a phone.

Ken

[ChrisGreaves]

Yes, pretty sure one of your SD cards is a dud. Have you tried inserting the working SD card in to your phone and then formating it? There will be an option to format the card somewhere in the phones menu structure but I've no idea where.

Thanks, Ken.
My original card died the day before I left on my oddysey across five snow-swept provinces. "Right! Just when I need eight days of podcast-listening ...".
Once I arrived in Bonavista I took the phone to BELL and they said "get a new card", which I did. That card has never worked.

I checked the web three times, and tried most things suggested. Even though I didn't particularly need to reclaim the data, i tried Easus and the rest, and then realised that I didn't even see the card adapter on my laptop.

Thus this morning I sat down in this quiet office and methodically worked my way through the various combinations.

My Moto-X says "do something with the card" and gives me two basic options: (1) set up as internal storage (2) set up to share files. It is the second use I want, because I want to hook my phone to the laptop and then drag podcast MP3 files FROM the SDCard-in-phone TO the laptop (and hence copy to another laptop/jukebox).

Right now, I do indeed believe that the card I bought here in Bonavista is a dud. Trash. Money down the drain.

My second concern is that the MOTO-X is corrupt, because I think it should be able to format the original SDCard, even if it has to format it away from my original Win-compatible ("share files") format.
That the Moto-X won't let me do that without the dreaded error message suggests that the Moto-X software is corrupted, and that was the failure with the (works in Windows) original card. That is, the phone cracked up in January just before I left Toronto.

Hence my current status: I have a dud card and a semi-dud phone, in the sense that the phone is probably not going to accept an SD-Card ever again. If I'm lucky, the phone battery will fail and then I'll be forced to spend money on a new phone

I really, really, really miss those 80-column punched cards.

Cheers
Chris

[BobH]

Have you tried doing a hard reset on your phone then trying to format the SD card? Sometimes, the only way to break out of a problem like this on my iPhone is a hard reset and reboot on the phone. Don't know if this is translatable to an Android device.

[ChrisGreaves]

Have you tried doing a hard reset on your phone then trying to format the SD card? ....

Yes, I have considered this, but not tried it - YET!
Many of the threads about this problem narrate a hard reset, but I am reluctant to do that because I haven't backed up my contacts list, installed aps etc etc (I know, I know, Backup, Backup, Backup, ...).

I suspect that the phone itself is in some way buggy, that it can't cope with some aspect of SDCards.

So many threads with everyone trying this, and trying that, with no reported solution that works every time.
That suggests to me that the problem is unfixable.

Once my mortgage is paid off I will start thinking about buying a new phone, different from the Moto-X.

Another consideration against a hard reset is that nowadays these dang devices so often update software without asking, that a hard reset is likely to last only until the next time I go on line, and then the system will self-update with no change in status.
The only profit being confirmation that the phone is at fault!

Cheers
Chris