Micro SD Cards keep failing

54and56

Hi guys,

I've a bit of a weird problem.

I've 2 X 128GB and 1 X 64 GB micro SD cards which all seem to have become corrupt.

I insert them into a USB card reader and then insert the card reader to my Win 10 laptop (I also tried on a Win 10 PC) and whilst I can see the content that is already on the cards (generally video content of various formats) and it will play fine via VLC or whatever application I choose to play it on I cannot write new content to the cards, I cannot delete content from the cards, can't format the cards and frequently get an error message saying the cards are write protected but these cards don't have a slider to provide write protection.

I could understand one or maybe even two cards becoming corrupt but all three?

I've tried using different card readers and different PC's (all Win 10) without any joy.

I'm really reluctant to chuck these out as they probably cost €120 or so. I need the format to be Micro SD as they are for additional storage on Android phones and in a Win 10 tablet.

Really appreciate any suggestions you might have.

me_irl

Bit of a longshot, but there isn't a write-protect switch on the card reader itself?

Anything odd you can see in the properties of each of the cards? Like read/write permissions?

The Diddakoi

Have you checked the card settings?

Go to My Computer-Devices with Removable Storage right-click on the micro SD card, and click Properties. In the pop-up box, there is sometimes an option to remove write-protection. If it's there change the status of this option and try it again.

There is a way of doing it through command prompt, but not sure how

Kash

Can you write to the card from outside of the card reader? E.g. if you put it in a phone/camera/mp3 player?

srsly78

The cells are only writable a certain number of times. After enough rewriting most of the cells will be read-only. Depending on how heavily they are used this could take several years. However if used for an unsuitable task (swap partition/ram drive with frequent writes) then may fail a lot quicker.

Note that this is not corruption, but rather a limitation of the technology.

If the above is correct then your cards are probably old and about to fail, backup immediately.

stimpson

Do you eject them properly when finished using them on your phone/PC? Thats the most likely cause.

Also, are they brand name cards? Off brand and counterfeit branded cards are rubbish.

There are SD card repair tools, but if it's a case on not unmounting them I would format and be mroe careful in future.

Johnboy1951

http://www.partition-tool.com/resource/manage-partition/how-to-format-a-write-protected-sd-card.html

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/3548-enable-disable-disk-write-protection-windows.html

Do any of the above work?

If not I would try the card in a different operating system and see if it can be cleared there.

A total wipe of the card would probably do it also, and reformat afterwards.

54and56

Thanks all, I'll try the suggestions when I get home later.

Really appreciate the input.