Pulling my hair out over a micro SD

Georgina Joyce r2gl at o2.co.uk
Mon Mar 22 18:19:22 EDT 2010


Hi
        
        I wondered if anyone could help?
        
        I've purchased a 16Gb micro SD Sandisk card for a MP3 player.  I
        purchased one with a SD adapter because I don't have a micro HC
        compliant reader.  I put the card in the player and was able to
copy
        files onto the card via Windows.  But I got tired of copying my
oggs so
        stopped after copying about 6Gig.  But what ever I do now I
can't add
        any more.  Furthermore, I can't destroy it either.  If I run
fdisk and
        press 'o' for a new partition table the linux machine sits there
for a
        minute or two and returns me to the prompt.  Then when I list
devices
        'fdisk -l' it's vanished.  I've been reading forums about
Sandisk cards
        and my head is spinning.
        
        What logs or switches should I observe what is going on?
        
        I found ufiformat a low level format tool but it refuses to
identify the
        SD as a floppy, obviously because it's not.  So is there another
tool I
        need?
        
        BTW: There's a HP USB storage format tool that doesn't touch it
either
        on the Windows platform.  This is why I thought I've have better
luck on
        linux.
        
        I've tried mkfs.vfat again it returns me to the prompt after
several
        minutes having not touched the file system on the card.

I could touch a test file and rm that file.  But If I attempt larger
file transfers the device craps out with read write errors and the
device has vanished. 
        
        As Micro SD's don't have a locking switch how on earth do I get
this
        thing formatted and start again?
        
        Something has had some effect as it's currupted something as the
mp3
        player just crashes when I attempt to use it with the card
inserted.
        
        I'm waiting for a new card reader but I don't think that's going
to make
        any difference because I've tried to get my phone to format it.
My
        Victor Stream too.  None of them can touch this card.
        
        Well I have destroyed partition tables with dd before now but
wouldn't
        have a clue on whether this would help in this situation.
        
        Any help would really be appreciated.
        
        Yours frustrated. 
        -- 

-- 
Gena


four kinds of freedom, for the users of the software:

    * The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).
    * The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your
needs (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
    * The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor
(freedom 2).
    * The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements
to the public, so that the whole community benefits (freedom 3). Access
to the source code is a precondition for this.

Richard Matthew Stallman




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