Do's & Dont's For Your Sd Card

[dgrams2000]

Over the last 2 days, I'm running into some very strange things with my 2 SD Cards
that are making them 'unusable'.

I'm hoping to post some information, and along with help from you, we can figure out
what causes problems like this (or other ways to avoid damaging our SD Cards)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lets assume here that we are not talking about a specific brand of card. There are
other topics that disucss which cards work and which cards don't.

Lets work with cards that we know work in the GP2X and go from there.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My issue: "Cannot Write to Disk. Write Protected"

I got my GP2X and immediately took my 256SD Card from my camera and started
transferring files. Life was good.
I then bought a 1GB Card and was doing the same thing. Life was even better.
Then I plugged my 1GB SD Card into my laptop at work (Where any other SD Card worked fine)
When I tried to write files to it, I would get an error that is was Write Protected.
I made sure the tab is (and stayed) in the unlocked posistion.
Still got it. I took the card to other laptops (same model) in our company and they worked just
fine there.
The 1GB SD card worked everywhere but in my work laptop.
Now, in the last day, my 1GB card is giving me the same error on EVERY machine that I plug it into.
I've been using built-in SD Slots and a USB Card reader that I have.
I know the SD Slots AND the card reader are still good, because they can read ANY other SD Card
I put into them.

Now get this: I went back and grabbed my old 256MB SD Card in my camera, and tried to do the same thing
on all the same computers that I am having issues with, and now my old 256 Card is acting the same way.

I just went to Walmart and bought a new 512MB card.. and once again, the new card works everywhere.

So my question is: Is there something I'm doing with my SD Card and my GP2X that is ruining it?
Something we shouldn't be doing?

Here are things that I've done with my SD Cards (1GB and 256MB cards)
- I've inserted them and ejected them with the power OFF on the GP2X
- I've inserted them and ejected them with the power ON, and at the main menu on the GP2X
- I've inserted them and ejected them with the power ON, and while the OS was Booting on the GP2X
- I've inserted them and ejected them into a PC while it is powered on, thru SD Slots and using USB
card readers.


Here is one more odd thing:
My old 256MB card still works fine in the camera. I can take pictures and delete them off the SD Card.
My new 1GB card reads and is able to delete files using the GP2X.
When I put either card in a PC now, I can not do anything but OPEN or COPY the files.
If I try to WRITE or DELETE from either card on a PC, I get the "Write Protected" error.

Any ideas? Should I ONLY be inserting or removing my SD card when the power is OFF on the GP2X maybe?

 

[BradN]

Write protection is handled only by the physical tab - there's no electrical connection inside the card, only a switch it hits inside a reader. Don't know what to tell you there. Glue it in place if you need to.

 

[iatneH]

This is not SD, but I have a 128 MB Memory Stick Duo that has about 30 MB of permanently damaged unusable space. One of my cardreaders is able to format it and write to the good spots, but another one of my readers gives me the "write protected" error. Might be something similar.

 

[nickspoon]

The GP2X completely ignores the write-protection of any SD card.

I had this problem once, all it took was switching it to locked then back to unlocked.

 

[matbuk03]

I removed my 2gb sd card from the laptop while copying a file (after clicking cancel) and when I put it back into my 2x and tried to copy files via usb (which is uber slow) it would say that it couldn't find sectors. I had to copy the stuff off and reformat. That did the trick for me.

 

[dgrams2000]

Write protection is handled only by the physical tab - there's no electrical connection inside the card, only a switch it hits inside a reader. Don't know what to tell you there. Glue it in place if you need to.

Yes.. I read a post somewhere else on the problem and the guy suggested
to 'tape' the tab in place, as the tab was moving inside the device.
I tried this, and the tape held the tab securly. The tab didnt budge.
Still had the problem after locking the tab in place.

Are there any weird rules about files that you put on SD cards....
like "dont put certain files in the ROOT of the card" or anything like that?

 

[thelamer]

Put a piece of scotch tape on the side of the card with the tab .

As it is only a switch in the readers that need to be activated , this has done the trick for me on two cards now .

 

[dgrams2000]

Put a piece of scotch tape on the side of the card with the tab .

As it is only a switch in the readers that need to be activated , this has done the trick for me on two cards now .

I piled up about 3 pieces of tape over the tab... and it worked!
so it was just the sensor not being able to hit the tab on the card...

I'll still continue my 'tech support' with Corsair to see if I can get an RMA#
for the media card to get it exchanged out. (I dont like having all that Tape in
my card reader...)

....that was an interesting experience.

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

 

[Redeeman]

you shouldnt pull out the sd card from the gp2x while the OS is started, the filesystem isnt unmounted, and it may destroy the filesystem. you should create a small bash script at place on the nand, which unmounts /mnt/sd, and run it before you pull out the card.

just as well as you should unmount the sd card on your other machines before you pull it out.

 

[cbox]

The reason it says its write protected is because the linux filesystem on the gp2x didn't get a chance to close everything down, I've had the same issue. You have to put it into your gp2x, go in and delete a file or whatever and then it will be writeable on the pc.

 

[Redeeman]

The reason it says its write protected is because the linux filesystem on the gp2x didn't get a chance to close everything down, I've had the same issue. You have to put it into your gp2x, go in and delete a file or whatever and then it will be writeable on the pc.

i dont see what the linux filesystem has to do with the sd card. the only thing that can happen is that if you remove the sd card while its mounted, you can get corruption, but re inserting the sd card in the gp2x wont fix that, unless you manually run fsck.vfat on the gp2x.

 

[cbox]

Well I just know it's worked for me before. /shrug

 

[dgrams2000]

Now I have Firmware 2.0 on, so I can just leave my SD Card in the GP2X
and transfer everything via USB cable.

So... since the GP2X doesnt check for the write protect tab... I'm all set!

 

[garteth]

Don't pour mayonnaise on your SD card.

 

[digitaltopia]

So it's not safe to remove the SD card when the GP2X is on, but is it safe to insert the SD card when the GP2X is on?

 

[MagusZ]

I had this same problem with a 2gb a-data SD card. I keeped getting a "write protected" screen when trying to format it. I tried using my GP2x but all I got from windows was a "USB not recognized" or "USB malfuntion" any idea on how to get past that? any drives im suppost to install to be able to connect to my pc?

 

[michaeljustman]

I had a 2 GB Hama card that is recognized perfectly on the GP2X (write via samba, etc), but it's slowly become less and less usable on my PC, too.

It makes the doo-ding sound when you put it in the ding-doo sound when you pull it out, but it never gets mounted by windows and if it does, I get write errors after about 200 MB.

 

[sehs33]

Here are some facts I would like to share and hope they be useful, disclaimer follow right after #9:

1) Unless the SD slot of your device is not SDIO, you should switch off that device before you remove the card from it.
* GP2X is SDIO, for those who don't know

2) If SDIO is supported by your device, you SHOULD be able to insert the SD card at any time, whether your device is off, booting from NAND, or stably on.
*My advice is to wait for the moment you are asked by the software to make an input/reaction to the device

3) A case you shouldn't be neither inserting nor removing the SD card is the exact moment you switch the device on/off or when you change the power source (for devices that have rechargeable batteries built in).

4) Each SD card can be written to for a maximum limit, some support 10,000 writes, other less or more, we all play NES and Gneisses , and the habit of spoiling a game we are playing be saving state every three minutes kill the SD card quicker, so less writes = longer life.

5) Since we are talking save state: NEVER EVER REMOVE YOUR SD CARD WHILE YOU ARE SAVING STATE, THIS IS THE FASTEST WAY TO KILL YOUR CARD

6) Don't put your SD card in your wallet and sit on it

7) It's usually better and faster to use a card reader, don't pick a cheap one, they play a role in lessening the card's life.

8) Whenever you lose hope in a card that can't be formatted, look for a stupid cheap camera that have a format card option and use it to format the card, for strange reason these devices are able to solve this issue.

9) Last thing, remember to keep a regular back-up of your card on your PC, at least the important things and the folders structure, so next time if you lose a card, you can easily immigrate to a new one with no hassle.

-- I hope these were helpful, they are all the results of my own experience, reading manuals, other people's experiences and some guessing. I don't take any responsibility whatsoever if your card turned to a cow/started biting you or anything else.