SD card problems although formatted as portable storage

Yes, sorry, forgot to mention.
I still have the same SanDisk SD card - I can’t return it after this time.
But as it has been quite expensive, I don’t want to afford a different one.
I even asked Fairphone support to exchange my card with one that works with the device, but they didn’t respond :wink:

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Do you have a #fairphoneangel near you that can test and help?

No, I followed the link you posted, and then the link to a map, and no, there is none nearby.

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My Cousin has a Fairphone 4. Since the last Android 11 Security Update, her SD-Card isn’t recognized anymore. The Build Number of the Version is FP4.FP44.A.149.20220722 21:43.
Re-entering it, plugging it in into the computer or formatting it didn’t help. Is it possible, that the corresponding module isn’t probably recognized by the OS anymore?

Welcome to the community :wave:

I’ve moved your post to this existing topic, SD card problems are sadly all too common with some cards.
Is it by any chance a SanDisk microSD? :thinking: Those seem to be the most problematic.

You could try formatting it on a PC, if you get asked choose exFAT and a GPT partition table.
But if you ultimately can’t get it to work, please #contactsupport, so they can prioritize this issue :pray:

Hello! I wanted to share the end of my SD card story…

The SanDisk card never worked.

Fairphone advised me to buy a Samsung card (Evo plus 512 GB), and reimbursed me for it. The Samsung card works right out of the box as expected.

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My problem with the SD card seems to be the OPPOSITE of what most people seem to be facing here - but it can also be traced back to formatting as internal storage. I can only access the SD card, not the device manager! The storage is “full” because everythings gets stored on the SDcard only and I cannot move any files from the card to the device (neither in Windows nor in the files/Amaze apps) Anybody had the same issue?

Summary
  • Sandisk SD Card 32GB + 128GB internal memory
  • formatted on Android 12, Fairphone 4, as internal storage
  • Migrated data

Upon startup: SD card issue displayed, but none encountered during use
Setting → Storage shows both SD card and device storage correctly (128GB + 32GB)
But on both Windows and File Explorer (Amaze + Google Files) I can ONLY access the SD card, not the device storage.

Is it worth officially approaching Support for this? Or does anyone know a reason/solution for this behaviour?

I’d say it’s not a Fairphone problem so I wouldn’t contact Fairphone at this stage.

The first problem I see is that you Migrated data, to the SD card when it has very little capacity relative to what may be on the SSD.

As the main SSD is encrypted you cannot read this via any common file transfer option. The only may to move files back the main memory, the SSD is to reformat the SD back to Internal then move the files. Then remove the SD to ensure all works

The only way I can easily move files from my Poratble SD to the internal is by the default [Files] app. I’m not aware of the Amaze app. Presumably any app has to have permission to access the SSD.

Have you tried clearing any cache for the apps you are using, and if you have images on the SD ensure the Bin is empty, Space may well be required for the SD to function.

Then you can format the SD card in a PC and re-insert it and reject any option to format, or at least format as Portable but don’t migrate files.

The other option is to download all the files from the SD card before you reformat it to be sure any personal media doesn’t get lost in the transfer back to SSD

So how much memory do you have on the SSD.

By the way

That doesn’t mean they are separated that can still refer to a single internal, although as you can easily see the SD from a PC it shows they are.

If you manage to reset the SD card you may still see a strange storage record.

Thank you @anon9989719, that seems helpful.
By the way, my SD card IS mounted/formatted as part of the internal storage.
While it seems that (now) the actual internal phone storage is inaccessible to me, I noticed something else:
the sound recorder would stop recording (“storage is full”) and I can manually access only the SD card;
But the camera app still records pictures and videos - and I can see them through pictures/photos app.

I suppose saving all data and re-formatting as EXTERNAL card (and keeping it that way) is the best solution at the moment?

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I’ve been having similar problems and am a bit lost in this thread. What’s the general recommendation?

Format SD cards as portable/external NOT Internal/expansion

The internal option means the phone’s memory and the SD are one space and hence all is encrypted, which means if the phone fails you cannot retrieve your data from the SD without paying more that the phone cost.

If you want to reformat, save any data you can first to a PC or elsewhere

Using a Samsung Evo Card?

What are similar Problems and which card do you use?

Edit: see below mde likend the topic.

Thanks @mde yes this was surely the wrong topic I linked :slight_smile:

Did you link the wrong topic? This here is about SD card compatibility:

That definitely worked for me (512 GB), and in the meantime I upgrade to Samsung Pro 512GB, works fine, too! And I added it to the wiki page linked above :wink:

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I’ve done this and the phone now recognises the SIM, but won’t actually use it to store anything, so I still can’t save photos, receive media messages etc.

The SIM does not store images only contact details if set too

The SIM is only for your contact number (from the provider) and maybe some contact information (but quite limited, so it’s not really convenient to use the SIM for storing contacts).

You need an extra Micro-SD card to extend your storage (or only use the internal storage).

One problem I still have: Once I switch to a secondary user account and back, the phone claims to have a problem with the SD card and would offer to format it. After a reboot it is ok, though.

Could it be, that you have put an encryption on your SD card for one user (probably the main/first user) and because of this the other user only sees an unformatted SD card?

No, I do not use any encryption