SDXC issues

[punkrockserfer]

Hi everyone,

It's been a while since I've posted here. I had one of the first-run Pandoras and had to sell it at some point. I'm back now though, as I've recently just bought a new 1ghz model and it just showed up yesterday. I'm having a slight issue with the 2 64GB SDXC cards I received from Ithic.com and I'm praying maybe someone on here can help me out. Here's the deal:

Yesterday, I inserted the first SDXC card and attempted to format it to FAT32. It wasn't working. Regardless of how I tried (my first attempt was through command prompt and then I tried using XP's format gui). No matter what I did, I kept getting an error stating that the card was only <66 kb. I decided to focus on the other card to see if I could get that one to work (which would prove the first card was corrupt). With this other card, I plugged it straight into my Pandora and formatted to EXT3 format (using Terminal and using the Wiki for reference). It worked and this gave me an SD card that showed up as having 59 GB free. I then decided to try plugging the first card into the Pandora to see if I could format it to EXT3 as well and possibly solve my issue. It didn't work. The Pandora couldn't format that card - it kept giving me an error that said that it couldn't "unmount the volume" (or something of that nature). I then decided to email the contact at Ithic.com to see if they could send me a new card or refund me. The response from the person there was that the card was likely not corrupt - I just needed to format the card to FAT32 (even though I specified in the email that I had tried that). His response mentioned that he formats to FAT32 using his Mac so I decided to try that. The corrupt card wouldn't format at all on my Mac, but since neither Windows nor Macs can read/write to EXT3, I figured I might as well attempt to format the non-corrupt card to FAT32 so I could add files to it.

Here's where it gets strange. I popped the card in and used my Mac's disk utility to "erase" the card (as the guy in the email mentioned I should do. After I did that, the card was formatted to FAT32 but now IT TOO is only showing up as <66 kb. Now, no matter what machine I plug it into, no matter how many times I format the card, no matter what software I use to attempt to format/clean/analyze the cards, they both say they have a file size of <66kb.

Please, tell me I'm not the only one who has experienced this and please someone help me if you can! It really sucks having 128GB of SD space get completely trashed down to less than 1 MB

 

[Linux-SWAT]

Use the Gparted Live-cd:

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/download.php

 

[Link]

I'm that guy.

Sorry you are having difficulties, if you want to mail the cards back, I'm sure it can be taken care. Or if not I'll send you new cards formatted FAT32, and then you can format them however you want if the cards are defective.

You know there are two partitions on the card, and you should leave the 16MB partition alone.  My second partition is fat32 59.64GB.

There are some other formatting tools you can get.  Many topics on this issue if you do a search. 

EDIT:  Noticed it is your first post, welcome to the boards!

 

[punkrockserfer]

I'm that guy.

Sorry you are having difficulties, if you want to mail the cards back, I'm sure it can be taken care. Or if not I'll send you new cards formatted FAT32, and then you can format them however you want if the cards are defective.

You know there are two partitions on the card, and you should leave the 16MB partition alone.  My second partition is fat32 59.64GB.

There are some other formatting tools you can get.  Many topics on this issue if you do a search. 

EDIT:  Noticed it is your first post, welcome to the boards!

Hey, thanks for responding to my email so quickly last night (especially since you're busy with PAX and whatnot) and thanks for taking the time to answer me here as well! Sorry for not getting this straight, I've formatted at least a hundred SD/Micro-SD/Memory stick duos etc. and never had any issues in the past but for some reason these 2 are giving me some major issues. I'll try the gparted live-cd option when I get off work and see if I can fix the 2 cards. If I can't, I'd love to get 2 new cards that are pre-formatted to FAT32! Hopefully I can solve this myself tonight though so I don't have to trouble you folks any further. I'll let you know what happens. Thanks again!

 

[kirkanoss]

i'am sure sliding the lock to lock then back to unlock wouldn't help here but i would try the Panasonic sd tool  and do a full erase hope it works and welcome back

 

[punkrockserfer]

i'am sure sliding the lock to lock then back to unlock wouldn't help here but i would try the Panasonic sd tool  and do a full erase hope it works and welcome back

Thanks! Unfortunately I've run into the "lock" issue before and I tried that, to no avail... Also, the Panasonic SD tool was the first recovery step I took. That's a no go also. Thanks though!

In terms of the gparted live program: I ran it on both cards and neither (after erasing the partitions) show an available space of more than 65 kb still... I'm just not sure what to do any more. Here is what I see in gparted:

Any suggestions anyone?

 

[patnik]

Hi punkrockserfer. I would like to suggest getting a smaller ( 2GB,4GB,8GB ) SD card formatted via your Pandora so that the necessary folders can be created, then go to the repo and download Gparted pnd http://repo.openpandora.org/?page=detail&app=gparted-gparted. Install that into your Pandora`s menu then install the 64GB SDXC card into slot two. Then run Gparted.pnd and have it create and format your 64GB SDXC card. It should work quite well. If it does format your 1st 64GB SDXC card properly, then use the same procedure for the second 64GB SDXC card.

If that doesn`t work properly for you then try this link instead: http://boards.openpandora.org/index.php/topic/11027-problem-with-sd-card/?hl=patnik#entry204656

( the program mentioned allows you to format in FAT32 or NTFS, so pick your preference. Just remember if you format them in NTFS, like I did mines, your OpenPandora MUST have the Community Codec Pack installed for NTFS detection. )

So try the Gparted pnd first, I believe it should work without issue. But if it doesn`t work, then try the second option I mentioned.

Hope this helps you out. Keep us updated.

...Patnik.

 

[punkrockserfer]

Hi punkrockserfer. I would like to suggest getting a smaller ( 2GB,4GB,8GB ) SD card formatted via your Pandora so that the necessary folders can be created, then go to the repo and download Gparted pnd http://repo.openpandora.org/?page=detail&app=gparted-gparted. Install that into your Pandora`s menu then install the 64GB SDXC card into slot two. Then run Gparted.pnd and have it create and format your 64GB SDXC card. It should work quite well. If it does format your 1st 64GB SDXC card properly, then use the same procedure for the second 64GB SDXC card.

If that doesn`t work properly for you then try this link instead: http://boards.openpandora.org/index.php/topic/11027-problem-with-sd-card/?hl=patnik#entry204656

( the program mentioned allows you to format in FAT32 or NTFS, so pick your preference. Just remember if you format them in NTFS, like I did mines, your OpenPandora MUST have the Community Codec Pack installed for NTFS detection. )

So try the Gparted pnd first, I believe it should work without issue. But if it doesn`t work, then try the second option I mentioned.

Hope this helps you out. Keep us updated.

...Patnik.

Hey thanks so much for the advice on trying gparted directly ON my Pandora. It worked (for the most part)! I have no idea why, since I did literally this exact same thing on my PC and it didn't work, but it appears to have worked on the Pandora. Now I only have 1 major issue and I'm hoping someone can help me figure this last bit out:

This is how I formatted in gparted: I clicked on the unallocated portion and select "new." I changed "free space preceding (MiB):" to "32." I then changed the file system to "FAT32." I clicked "add" and then I clicked "apply." 

Now, the issue that I'm still having is that even though the Pandora itself shows the SD card as having 60GB of free space, whenever I plug it into my Mac OR my PC, neither one reads the card. It registers that it's there, but it keeps telling me that I need to format the card in order to use it. Both Mac and Windows should be able to read/write FAT32 with no issues, so what am I doing wrong here?

 

[patnik]

Your PC`s OS ( Windows or Mac ) may need to be updated with the driver to support larger capacity SDXC cards. Also the USB reader/slot used to connect your SDXC card to your PC must also be SDXC compatible. As an example, I had to update my WinXP installation with the exFAT driver so that I could write files directly to my 64GB SDXC cards via my USB SDXC adapter/reader.

https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/ this link states the reason, as well as a formatting software.

http://boards.openpandora.org/index.php/topic/11886-fat32-with-16m-free-space-is-still-corrupted/?hl=sdxc In that topic link, the post by board member Linux-SWAT suggests with a FAT32 format under GParted Live CD, use 16MB free space at beginning. I would think that using the GParted pnd would also follow suit. So instead of 32MB at the beginning, lower it to 16MB.

Hope this helps.

...Patnik.

 

[Link]

Thanks for helping out Patnik.  This is why I don't include instructions, so many variables PC/MAC, era etc. 

 

[punkrockserfer]

Your PC`s OS ( Windows or Mac ) may need to be updated with the driver to support larger capacity SDXC cards. Also the USB reader/slot used to connect your SDXC card to your PC must also be SDXC compatible. As an example, I had to update my WinXP installation with the exFAT driver so that I could write files directly to my 64GB SDXC cards via my USB SDXC adapter/reader.

https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/ this link states the reason, as well as a formatting software.

http://boards.openpandora.org/index.php/topic/11886-fat32-with-16m-free-space-is-still-corrupted/?hl=sdxc In that topic link, the post by board member Linux-SWAT suggests with a FAT32 format under GParted Live CD, use 16MB free space at beginning. I would think that using the GParted pnd would also follow suit. So instead of 32MB at the beginning, lower it to 16MB.

Hope this helps.

...Patnik.

Okay, I reformatted to leave only 16 MB of space in the front and still no dice. However, since my Pandora can read the card without issue, my best guess is that my SD card reader doesn't support SDXC as you mentioned. I didn't think it was that old but apparently that appears to be the issue since I can only find confirmation that it will work with SDHC cards. I can't find anywhere that specifies it will work with SDXC. I guess I'm off to buy a new reader. Thanks so much for all the help everyone! I'll report back if a new reader DOESN'T solve this issue.

 

[punkrockserfer]

Thanks for helping out Patnik.  This is why I don't include instructions, so many variables PC/MAC, era etc. 

Thanks for all your help too Link (I like your profile pic BTW)! Sorry to waste your time on this when clearly, as you stated, the cards are not defective. Just my dumb fault for not knowing that it's possible for an SD reader to be able to read SDHC but not SDXC cards... :unsure:

 

[patnik]

Wait, hold on a bit punkrock. Don`t buy anything as yet. Tell us more information about your setup. Your SD card reader is it an internal unit or external USB model? Do you know the model # of said unit, can you link us to a website showing one exactly like it? On the issue of Windows OS, which version are you using: WinXP,2000,Vista, Win7,Win8,...Win98? If you use WinXP, 2000 or Vista, have you downloaded and installed the exFAT driver resource already? And the same question apply to your Mac OS.

In my first post, I gave a second link to a previous topic where I stated after updating WinXP with the exFAT resource, I was able to write to both my 64GB SDXC cards with theUSB SDXC card reader and surprisingly, an older USB SD"H"C card reader. Its not a guarantee, mind you, but it is worth a shot to try that before you purchase an actual SDXC compatible reader. It is up to you of course.

Keep us updated on your results.

...Patnik.

 

[punkrockserfer]

Wait, hold on a bit punkrock. Don`t buy anything as yet. Tell us more information about your setup. Your SD card reader is it an internal unit or external USB model? Do you know the model # of said unit, can you link us to a website showing one exactly like it? On the issue of Windows OS, which version are you using: WinXP,2000,Vista, Win7,Win8,...Win98? If you use WinXP, 2000 or Vista, have you downloaded and installed the exFAT driver resource already? And the same question apply to your Mac OS.

In my first post, I gave a second link to a previous topic where I stated after updating WinXP with the exFAT resource, I was able to write to both my 64GB SDXC cards with theUSB SDXC card reader and surprisingly, an older USB SD"H"C card reader. Its not a guarantee, mind you, but it is worth a shot to try that before you purchase an actual SDXC compatible reader. It is up to you of course.

Keep us updated on your results.

...Patnik.

It's an external USB drive. This is the one here:

http://www.amazon.com/Dynex-Memory-Reader-Writer-DX-CRMN1/

I'm using Windows XP but I don't recall ever installing a specific exFAT driver. I know I've come across the exFAT format somewhere (perhaps I formatted a drive with it in the past or something...) but I can't recall if I installed a driver for it or not. On Mac OS I'm running a Macbook Pro with (I'm pretty sure) Lion. (It might be Snow Leapard - I don't have my Mac near me at the moment). I've been using the same external USB reader as above on both the Mac & PC, which is partially why your suggestion that it could be my reader made so much sense to me. Since the Pandora has no issues reading the drive but everything that I use the USB reader in does have issues. I've already ordered a new SDXC-compatible reader but tonight when I get home I'll test if installing an exFAT driver will make any difference. If it does, I might return the new reader.

 

[punkrockserfer]

Well, it turns out that I already had installed the exFAT driver update for XP before all this. I did it again anyway and tried it again but it was a no-go. I also discovered (I had forgotten) that my PC laptop has it's own SD-card slot. Since my Macbook doesn't have one, I just got used to using the external reader to the point that I was using it on my PC as well. Anyway, long story short, I updated XP with the exFAT driver again and tried reading the SDXC cards with both methods (external and internal readers) and neither worked. I still just get a prompt asking me to format the card. The new SDXC-compatible reader/writer I ordered should be here tomorrow so hopefully that will work. If not, I'm really not sure what to do... 

 

[Neelix]

You could test the theory by running the Pandora in SD Mass Storage mode, and using it as the SD card reader for the PC.

I myself was actually rather surprised to recently discover that the USB SDHC card reader that came bundled with my old 8GB SanDisk Extreme card couldn't read my 64GB card. 

- Neelix

 

[punkrockserfer]

So I'd like to extend a huge thanks to everyone who helped me with this. Gparted solved my issues with formatting and the new SDXC-compatible card reader I bought has worked flawlessly. I've now got 2 64 GB fat32 SD cards on my Pandora (and an extra 64 GB fat32 USB flash drive to boot!). Again, thanks for all the help everyone!

 

[patnik]

We are happy to hear this. Btw, if you wouldn`t mind, care to tell us the brand/model # SDXC reader you purchased? It would help others who might get into a similar situation with SDXC cards on their computers.

Now enjoy your OpenPandora !!

...Patnik.

 

[punkrockserfer]

We are happy to hear this. Btw, if you wouldn`t mind, care to tell us the brand/model # SDXC reader you purchased? It would help others who might get into a similar situation with SDXC cards on their computers.

Now enjoy your OpenPandora !!

...Patnik.

Good idea! I bought a Uspeed reader. Here's the link to it on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Upgraded-Version-Uspeed-Support-Warranty/dp/B006T9B6R2/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1364226046&sr=8-5&keywords=sdxc+compatible+card+reader