The computer does not see the memory card: SD, miniSD, microSD. What to do? What to do if the smartphone or tablet does not see the SD card

The size of the available memory in modern Android smartphones allows you to store a huge amount of data.

But when the initial volume for everyday needs is not enough, microSD cards come to the rescue. Unfortunately, embedded equipment does not always work as it should for various reasons. Let's try to figure out why the memory card refuses to work on the phone and how to fix it.

Contact problem

If recently the removable drive worked properly, first of all, you need to check that it is connected to the smartphone correctly. Even a slight shift of the SD card can lead to a data read error. In addition, during operation, the contacts of the mobile device can become clogged, which becomes a common cause of failures and errors.

To solve this problem, you need to remove the memory card from the device and carefully clean the paths of the socket, removing dust particles that have got inside. When reconnecting the microSD to your phone, you need to make sure that the memory card is inserted in the correct direction and securely fastened.

Device incompatibility

Before buying a new memory card, you need to check its compatibility with your mobile phone. Modern smartphones use the microSD media type. This format, in turn, has four generations (SD 1.0, SD 1.1, SDHC and SDXC), the main difference between which is the amount of available memory and data reading speed. For example, SD 1.0 can hold from 8 MB to 2 GB, while SDXC can hold up to 2 TB.

As far as support from mobile devices is concerned, backwards compatibility applies. Smartphones that work with a certain microSD format will function with older versions of it.

Smartphone failure

In some cases, errors with displaying SD card data can be caused by the Android system. Incorrect operation of applications and the action of virus files can block reading information from external media. This may cause the memory card to appear to be faulty.

The simplest and most obvious way out of this situation is to remove malware and then reboot the device. To do this, you need to download a good antivirus program. If the SD card is in working condition, but the smartphone refuses to recognize it, you can try doing a factory reset. You need to understand that all data from the phone will be deleted.

Incorrect formatting

Software glitches that occur during the microSD wipe procedure may cause it to fail. In this case, you will need to re-do the formatting through the computer.

First you need to insert a removable storage medium into the card reader and wait until the system recognizes it automatically. After that, you need to right-click on the microSD in the explorer and select "Format". In the "File system" section, you must specify "FAT32", since Android does not support other formats.

Memory card failure

When none of the above methods help, an internal failure of the memory card may be the cause. This happens when, with prolonged use, the contacts wear out and the signal does not reach the board. Sometimes a breakdown occurs due to mechanical damage to the SD card or a factory defect.

You can check the performance of the media using another smartphone or computer. If none of the devices sees it, you just need to buy a new memory card. If the data stored on it is important, you can contact the service center for help. There is a chance that the data can be recovered.

We talked about the main types of SD card malfunctions and how to fix them. Most problems can be solved on your own, but if the equipment fails, you will have to replace it.

It is not difficult to turn on the SD memory card on any Android tablet or phone, more precisely on a Lenovo, Nokia, lg smartphone and so on, but here I will focus on Samsung j1, j2, a5, j3, duos, and if there are pictures, they will be used with samsung galaxy a3.

When switching on, check if it is inserted correctly. Make sure your phone supports the type (e.g. MicroSD - etc.)

Make sure that the smartphone supports, for example, 8 GB, 16 GB or 32 GB, otherwise it will not be able to "catch" it.

If you have android 6.0, then compared to previous versions, it has undergone significant changes in the use of maps.

Unfortunately, Google has not explained these changes to users, and they are not as simple and straightforward as they seem.

When android 6.0 detects the format of the card, it offers to use it as a memory, which practically changes nothing from previous versions.

Here we lose the ability to move applications to the memory card (this option was reserved only for marshmallow cards formatted as internal memory).

Of course, after getting root rights, a lot can be changed, but doing this in android 6.0 is not easy.

If the SD is used as internal memory, this leads to the loss of access to the built-in and the ability to store only programs and their data on it (again, if you have root rights, you can bypass this) and the SD becomes invisible in other devices (because it is encrypted) .

I hope this brief description will help you decide what to do with your memory card in Android 6.0.

Saving files in Samsung directly to a memory card

Judging by the questions in the Samsung, there really is a problem with saving files directly to the memory card via bluetooth and downloading applications.

In this case, we try to do the following. Go to Settings, go to Memory and select Default Memory. Then we specify where to save. Ready!

If your android smartphone does not have such options, then without root rights it will be difficult to transfer files, and it is impossible to get them in stock firmware (on android 6).

Also, the impossibility of transferring already installed applications to the SD card may occur if the developer has not provided for such a situation.

You can solve this problem with Root rights and installing the Link2SD application. Only if you want to get rights yourself.

I do not want to describe how, because it does not always end successfully. Yes, I did not fully answer the question “how to enable a memory card on a Samsung phone”, but this is only due to the fact that there is no built-in method, especially in new versions of android. Good luck.

Quite often, owners of Android devices face an unpleasant problem when a MicroSD phone. What to do in this case, what troubleshooting methods to apply? First you need to determine the root cause and analyze possible situations.

Why does the phone not see the MicroSD flash drive?

Needless to say, there can be any number of reasons for such failures. Here are software failures of the system itself, and the banal lack of contact between the memory card and the card reader, and violations in the file system of the USB drive, and even physical damage.

However, the situation may look twofold. On the one hand, this may concern the newly purchased new card, and on the other hand, the problem may lie in the fact that over time the phone has stopped seeing the MicroSD flash drive. What to do in this case will now be considered.

By the way, the issue of compatibility between the card and the phone itself will not be discussed here. This is worth paying attention to separately, since outdated gadgets are not able to detect the latest generation SD cards. Moreover, it may be that the card's memory is larger than that stated in the device's support. So in this case, the map will not be determined.

The phone does not see the MicroSD flash drive: what to do first?

If there are problems with an already installed memory card, no matter how it sounds, the cause may be the usual contamination of the device, say, dust. Agree, not every user constantly cleans his phone.

Here the way out is the simplest: pull the card out of the phone, wipe the contacts on the flash drive itself and on the card reader, and then insert it again. By the way, this option is also suitable for new cards. Well, you never know, the contacts just didn't work. Therefore, do not rush to run to the service center or throw away the card you just bought.

Using Recovery Mode

If the simplest manipulations with contacts do not help, you can use the special recovery mode (Recovery) provided in any Android device, although you can start with a normal reboot.

To access the mode we need, we use the simultaneous holding of the power and volume down buttons. This is the most common option. But, in principle, each manufacturer can prescribe another combination himself. That's not the point. After starting the device, a special service menu will appear, where you need to select the Wipe cache partition item, after which you just need to reboot the device. If after that the phone does not see the MicroSD, we proceed to more effective measures. They will be radically different from the previous steps.

Problems with the MicroSD card on the computer: what can I do?

Well, firstly, it is worth noting the generally exceptional situation when both the computer and the phone do not see the MicroSD flash drive. It's already worse. On the phone, this problem is almost never fixed.

First you need to insert the card into another device or computer and make sure it works. If it is found, the problem is only with the phone or drive names on the computer. If the card is not detected, the problem is either with the file system or with the memory card itself.

So, for starters, you should use which in Windows is called quickly enough. You can use the combination Win + X and then select Disk Management, or enter the command diskmgmt.msc in the Run menu bar.

This method is good because absolutely all connected disk devices, even unformatted ones, will be displayed in the main window. It is very possible that the letter of the removable card, such as "F", is the same as the designation of the optical drive. We right-click on the map and select the command to change the letter.

However, after such an operation, a situation may also appear when the phone does not see the MicroSD flash drive. What to do, because it is already recognized on the computer? The easiest way to correct the situation would be to partially or completely format the media. However, full formatting with deleting all data and re-creating the file system still looks preferable.

It can be produced either here, or from the standard "Explorer". In both cases, right-clicking calls where and selects the format string. In a new window, you need to uncheck the quick format, and then specify the creation. But, in principle, FAT32 is installed by the system by default. Now it remains to confirm the start of the process and wait for its completion. After that, you can safely insert the card into the phone.

Restoring the MicroSD Card

Now a few words about one more situation when the phone does not see the MicroSD flash drive. What to do if it is found on a computer, but not on a mobile gadget?

First, you should again connect the card to a computer and laptop and carry out a standard check of the device for errors. We use the same "Explorer" with the subsequent transition to the properties menu. There we select the service section and with the obligatory indication of automatic error correction. Also, although not necessary, you can use a surface test with automatic recovery of bad sectors.

Another option involves fixing access to the memory card on computer terminals, as well as normalizing the parameters and system registry keys in the HKLM branch. You should find the SYSTEM folder in the directory tree, in which the StorageDevicePolicies directory is located. On the right side, the defining parameter must be assigned a zero value (usually 0x00000000(0)). After that, the problem should disappear.

Finally, if the card has minor physical damage, which is usually associated with microcontroller malfunctions, you will have to look for special formatting utilities, after knowing the VID and PID parameters. This can also be done using special programs such as USBIDCheck, or by disassembling the card (where the data is indicated on the internal chip).

Then, a program is downloaded from the Internet for each card of a certain manufacturer in accordance with known parameters, after which formatting is performed.

Conclusion

If for some reason the removable device is not detected, you should not panic. First you need to determine the root cause of the failures. As practice shows, any of the proposed methods helps to solve the problem. If we talk specifically about phones, here, rather, cleaning the device from dirt, formatting the card or restoring performance, as described in the last version, is more suitable.

By the way, the issue of compatibility between the card and the phone itself was not considered here. This is worth paying attention to separately, since outdated gadgets are not able to detect the latest generation SD cards.

If your device is low on internal storage and you constantly find yourself having to delete apps, photos, and videos to make more space for installing larger apps, then you need to read this article.

In this article, we will explain in detail how to install or move Android apps to SD card on smartphone or tablet and how to make apps install to Android memory card.

How to move apps to SD card?

There are currently two ways to solve this problem:

• Storing photos, videos and music in the cloud
• Using a microSD card

If your Android phone or tablet allows you to install an SD card, then be sure to install an SD card. In this case, the external memory will be for storing photos, videos and music, and the internal memory for applications.

However, there are situations where the owner needs the apps to be saved to the SD memory card. Thus, the question arises, how to install or transfer any suitable application to a microSD card?

So, next we will describe in detail how to make applications installed on the Android memory card by default. As a result of such manipulations, internal memory will be significantly freed up, which will positively affect the operation of the Android system.

Instructions for devices version up to Andoid 6.0

The instructions below may vary slightly for different phones. Some phones may just have a button "Move to SD". Thus, you need to pay attention to every word associated with "Move", SD etc.

If your device needs to free up internal storage, move any number of apps, photos, or videos to the SD card. Also, open the app "Camera" and go to settings and set save to SD card. Instructions on how to move apps to Android storage card:

• First of all, open the notification shade and click on the gear-shaped settings button. You can also log in "Settings" through the app drawer.
• Open a tab "Device", go to the tab "Applications", and then "Application Manager". On some devices "Application Manager" has a name "All Apps".
• Then go to your apps list, find the app you want to move. We will be moving the NPL app to the SD card.
• Once you find the application, click on it, then click on the button "Change" as shown below. Select "Memory card" (Click on the picture to enlarge).

It is worth noting that any game or application where speed is important is best left on the internal memory, as data transfer speeds are much faster on the smartphone's internal memory than on an SD memory card.

Instructions for devices with Android Marshmallow version 6.0 and above

In older versions of Android, the SD card worked as portable and removable storage. On devices running Android 6.0 Marshmallow and above, a feature called Adoptable Storage has been added. Thus, when you insert an SD card into the device, the system will automatically sum up the internal memory and SD card memory and display the total memory.

The advantage is that all applications are automatically installed on the SD card. As a result, there will be no need to move applications manually.

• Insert an SD card, open the notification shade and press "Tune". You can use the SD card as portable storage or as internal storage. If you select the function, the system will format the SD card and then integrate with the device.
• After that, all data on the smartphone will be installed on the memory card by default.

However, the use of such a function fully integrates the SD card with internal memory, and now it will not work with other devices. This means you can't just take it out and plug it into your computer to download music, photos, or videos from your computer.

Be sure to back up any data or information on your computer before selecting the "Use as internal storage", since Android will completely format the SD memory card.

It is worth noting that at any time you can go to the settings according to our instructions above and move the apps from the SD card back to the internal storage.

Android 5.0 Lollipop and above

If you are using a smartphone or tablet running Android 5.0 Lollipop or higher. Your device will use the SD memory card as portable and removable storage. This means that you can remove the SD card and download photos or music from your computer, and then install the SD card again on your Android device.

In the event that you need to move applications to an SD memory card, use the instructions below:

• Open the menu, select "Settings", and then "Applications" and move any app to SD card. To do this, simply click on the application and click on the button "Move to SD card".

However, remember that applications that come with pre-installed software cannot be transferred to an SD memory card. Typically, applications installed from the Play Market can be transferred.

Other Methods (Apps to Transfer to SD Memory Card)

There are many third-party apps in the Play Store that allow you to transfer apps to your SD card. Most of the applications, of course, require root access. But, there are some apps that let you transfer apps without root access.

AppMgr III (App 2 SD)

The most popular application that allows you to transfer almost any application to an SD memory card. It is worth noting that the application does not require root access, which is especially important for inexperienced users.

In addition, AppMgr III is feature rich and provides many other useful features.

• Download the AppMgr III application, wait for the automatic installation (takes 2 to 5 minutes).

• Now open the AppMgr III app and wait for the list of installed apps on your phone to load. After that, click on the application you want to move, select "Move", and then in the standard Android functionality, move the app to the SD card.

To date, the method of storing data on portable flash drives has gained quite a lot of popularity. And now all manufacturers of flash drives are fighting for the creation of the smallest and largest flash drives in terms of memory, the leading position in the minimum size is occupied by Micro SD cards.

Micro SD flash cards are by far the smallest storage devices that have been put into mass production.

Due to the very fragile structure, these drives often become unusable due to physical damage, or incorrect completion of work with such flash drives.

It is not uncommon for cases when, after a short period of work with a card, it ceases to be read or is not detected at all by devices, so you cannot rely on the long-term operation of such a drive. I advise you to use the Micro SD card as a space for work, and not for permanent storage of information. Although every day the manufacturers of such SD cards improve their durability and bring them closer to the possibility of using them for permanent and durable storage of information.

Reasons why the computer may not detect the Micro SD card:

· Hardware problem.

Flash drive failure.

· Assign an already assigned partition letter.

· File system conflict.

· Malicious programs in the operating system.

If your Micro SD card is no longer detected by your phone, camera or other device, then you need to remove it and insert it into your computer to diagnose, identify and fix the problem.

Let's move on to reviewing and eliminating the most common causes of failure of such a flash drive.

How to check if a Micro SD card is detected on a computer?

In order to understand whether your computer has detected your Micro SD card, you can use 2 methods.

First way. Open my computer and check the connection of the new partition. If you have a new disk, then the flash drive is defined.

The second way. If nothing appeared in the explorer, then it is worth checking whether the computer has determined at all that an SD card was connected to it. To do this, go to my computer, right-click on the computer and select "Manage" from the drop-down menu.

After that, the Computer Management window will open, in it there is a menu on the left side. We need to select the "Disk Management" section.

In the displayed statistics, we can see all the drives connected to the computer, determine their volume, or set the partition letter.

If you did not see your SD card in this list, then read the following reasons and their solutions.

hardware problem

If you are trying to connect your SD card to a computer through an adapter or through a card reader, and nothing happens, the first thing to do is to check these interface devices for operability.

If you use a card reader to connect the card, then try inserting a known working Micro SD card into it, if a known working card is also not detected, in this case check and reinstall the card reader drivers. If after all the attempts made nothing has changed, then most likely the problem is in the card reader.

If you are using a laptop, then most likely you are trying to insert an SD card through an adapter, directly into the laptop's built-in card reader. If nothing happens when using this connection method, then I recommend checking the drivers for the built-in card reader first, and then checking the adapter for operability.

Drivers for card readers can be downloaded and installed from the manufacturer's official websites, if you have a portable card reader that connects via a USB port, then download the drivers from the manufacturer's website. In the event that you use the built-in laptop card reader, then you can download the drivers from the official website of your laptop manufacturer.

In order to check whether the driver of your card reader is detected by the system, you need to open the “Device Manager”, to do this, press the key combination Win + R and in the “Run” line that opens, enter the command “devmgmt.msc”.

The "Device Manager" window will open in which you can see devices on which the driver is not installed. Such devices will be marked with a yellow triangle with an exclamation point. If there are no such devices, then expand the "Portable devices" section and make sure that the computer has detected the card reader itself in order to discard the option of a non-working device.

Flash drive failure

In the event that you have checked the performance of the above devices and made sure that they are in good condition, then it is worth checking the Micro SD card for physical damage, cracks, chips, deformation or damage to the outer layer, since such a flash drive consists of many small tracks, which are easy to scratch and tear.

Try to connect it to any device - a smartphone, camera, etc. If the flash drive is not detected in any device, then most likely it is physically damaged and cannot be repaired. Only the presence of important information on the map can motivate you to contact the service center.

Assigning an already assigned partition letter

This type of problem is quite common. This happens when an SD card is connected to a computer, the system assigns it the same letter as the existing partition, because of this a conflict occurs and we do not see our flash drive in the list of computer disks.

In order to fix this type of problem, open the "Computer Management" section described above.

After getting into the "Disk Management" section, we need to find our flash drive, focus on its volume, select a disk that matches the volume of our Micro SD card. Right-click on it and select "Change drive letter or drive path ..." from the drop-down menu.

A window will open in which we need to click the "Add" button.

In the window that opens, select the letter for this section and click OK.

Done, we set the letter to our section, now we check its presence in the explorer.

File system conflict

It is not uncommon for cases when a flash drive is defined, but it cannot be opened. The reason for this may be a file system conflict or a damaged file system of the Micro SD card itself. If the data on the flash drive does not play any role for you, then you can try formatting it to the NTFS file system.

To do this, right-click on the flash drive and select "Format" from the drop-down menu.

In the formatting window that opens, in the "File system" section, select NTFS, set the Volume Label and click the "Start" button.

Thus, we formatted the Micro SD card to NTFS format, after which you can open it.

Malicious programs in the operating system

Faced with the problem of detecting a Micro SD drive, you may not suspect that malware, the so-called viruses, can be the culprit for all this, which can block USB ports and prevent the computer from working with your memory card.

In this case, your best bet would be to perform a full system scan with your antivirus program, or use free antivirus programs that can help you with this.

One of these I will advise you is Dr.Web CureIt!

The program is absolutely free and is intended only for scanning and finding virus programs and removing them.

To download this program, go to the official website of Dr.Web at the link https://free.drweb.ru/cureit/

Download the program and start scanning.

After the end, remove all found malware and after restarting the computer, try connecting the Micro SD card again.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are many reasons why your computer does not see the Micro SD card, so it is impossible to unequivocally answer the question “Why does my computer not see the memory card?”, As this can be caused by various problems. In order not to make a mistake and solve the problem, it is worth doing all the steps described in this article in turn.

Also, do not forget that when formatting, all information from the flash drive will be deleted.

And I still advise you not to store important information on drives of this type, as they most often fail to work due to a very fragile structure. Use these types of drives to work directly with files, saving them to more secure locations.