My Galaxy IIIS eats MicroSD cards

[krispos42]

So, last November I got a smartphone, a Samsung Galaxy 3S.

It didn't come with a microSD card (or if it did, it got lost with the packaging), so instead I used my 4-year-old tried-and-true 2GB microSD card.

I had used it in two other cells phones (both Samsungs) and it worked just fine.

It also worked, and continues to work, just fine in my Galaxy 3S.


Here's my problem.

About 3 weeks ago, I bought a 16GB microSD card from Target to use in my smartphone. My sis-in-law would be giving birth soon, and I wanted to have a bunch of movies and stuff on there for an anticipated long wait at the hospital for myself and my kid. I moved about 14 gig worth of pictures and video onto the card and stuck it in my phone. And it worked just fine.

So, after about a week, the 16GB card, a Lexar 600x, toasted. Dead. I had a message on my phone when I unlocked it telling me that the microSD card had been ejected, and scolded me that next time I should unmount the card before removal.

I tried removing and re-inserting the card and I rebooted my phone, to no avail. I plugged the card into my PC to look at it; nothing. The computer registered that it was there, but could not access it in any way.

So I returned it to Target, and they gave me a new one. No problem there. It was even a different Target an hour away.

Once more, I downloaded about 14 gig worth of pictures and video onto the card from my PC, stuck the card in my phone, and it worked fine.

Until about 2 hours ago, when I discovered that, again, the microSD card has toasted. The phone could still see it, but said it was damaged and I should try re-formatting it. I tried that: it didn't work. Of course.



So, any ideas? Is Lexar a bad name for microSD cards? Do Galaxy 3S phones just not do well with larger cards?

Any ideas at all?

Should I take it back and try a different brand? Larger capacity? Smaller capacity?

[teach1st]

1. It could be your phone

I have a SanDisk 16 gb in my S3, and no problems. A search shows others with your problem, though.

http://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-s3/242587-sd-cards-failing-galaxy-s3-samsungs-insane-response-4.html

[krispos42]

3. I was poking around that site, too

Learned a lot about microSD cards.

So I decided to combine the advice from several people.

I ordered from NewEgg a Kingston 32GB microSD card formatted in FAT32 and that operates on a Level-4 speed level.




Added bonus... dirt cheap. Only $$24 plus a buck for shipping.




I'm not recording HD video or shooting 16 gigapixel stills from a SLR.

I just hope I can play the videos I want from the card.

[Festivito]

2. Putting a fresh card into the phone first worked or me.

I took out a four gigabyte card in put in an eight. It's working fine.

But, I experimented with another four gigabyte card by putting it in a desktop computer first. It failed as you nearly describe: It has a drive letter but cannot be accessed nor formatted.

After hearing your story I will not take my card out and put it in to another computer until I am done with it and have bought another card for the phone.

Good luck.

[RC]

4. Check to make sure the drive letter is not the same as something else.

Right click on My Computer
Select Manage
Click on the plus by Removable Storage.
Click on Disk Management
It should be listed by drive letter

If it is duplicated, Left click on it and select Change Drive letter and paths... and change it to something that is free.
(Don't do this to the C Drive. You will end up reloading the OP.)

These instructions are for XP

[frylock]

5. had the same thing happen with my s3..

32 gb sandisk went south after a months use. Same as you, i kept getting notices that sd card was ready to eject. I bought a kingston 32gb, connected the phone to my Windows pc and formatted it there. Haven't had any issues and that was about 4 months ago. I think it was just a bad card.

[krispos42]

6. Update

I've had the new Kingston microSD card, the larger, slower, cheaper one, for two months now and it works just fine. Fast enough that I can watch movies and TV shows from it on my Galaxy SIII, for those times when I need to amuse myself or my kid, without any kind of problem.