yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] devastatorx:
I have recently ran into this issue with 2 32GB cards and neither of them were SanDisk cards. After quite a bit of research, this issue seems to be less of the card manufacturers fault. My fiance and I both have S3's (sprint variant) and about a month ago her S3 killed her 32GB gskill card. Last night, my S3 killed my 32GB gskill card. Infuriated, I hit up Samsung's support...this proved to be rather useless. After reading threads after threads of people with this issue and trying multiple things myself (different phones i.e. blackberry, htc, other samsungs...the built in card reader on my laptop...etc) none of them worked.

Until....

Using an old alienware (aurora m9700 if it matters, but i doubt it) that was on windows xp (this i believe is key as to why this has worked for me..long live xp) heres what i did

1) tried the built in sd reader and an sd adapter...no luck

2) used an external reader inserting the micro sd into the micro sdcard slot (no adapter)...also no luck

3) used the same external reader, put the micro sd card into an sd adapter inserted that into the external sdcard reader and then plugged that into usb...like magic! back in business, i am currently running a backup of the sdcard.

I am unaware if this will carry over to anyone elses problems...but this card was dead to the world and was unreadable. I am also unsure if this will allow me to continue to use the 32gb in anything...at this moment I'm more concerned about backing up the data it contains.

Hopefully this can help some of you having this problem. Losing all that data really sucks! If I've been able to help you, toss me a thanks ;)

-devx

p.s.

I'm posting this in multiple threads (I'm sure not everyone monitors all of these threads), mods please be kind, just trying to help :D
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] rootyourphones:
I got my replacement from sandisk and working great so far no more damage card error.
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ItBankRock:
Hello GS3 users... Sony Xperia Acro S user here. The same thing happened with my Class 4 32GB Transcend sdcard last January! It only lasted for 2 friggin weeks! I'm back to my Class 4 8GB micro SD Transcend card which is already living for like 2 years... Pretty damn long.

My bet is... It's not the phone destroying the card, it's a manufacturer problem.
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] devastatorx:
UPDATE

Finished the backup of my sd card and am now attempting to backup my fiance's (hers died a month ago) The card did not want to read initially...in fact i started changing the sd card adapter i was using and cycling through the stack that I have and jackpot! Just got hers to read using the same method! I think the solution is to use a pc on windows xp, an external card reader ( i used a targus ) and then just keep playing with it. Try different sd adapters, try different usb ports...but if anything....be vigilant! Don't give up...or you know...give up...go calm down..then try again.

FINAL UPDATE

I was able to create a backup of both sd cards. I then reformatted...but to no avail, they seem to remain dead to other devices. I guess I'm just happy I was able to save the data from the cards. I may look into running some sd utilities to see if I can bring them back, but I'm not going to hold my breath
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] KB0SDQ:
I am having the same problem with my Sch-r530m from MetroPCS. I went to my local Target store to get a scan disk sd card they were out so I bought a 32g lexar micro sd card then after the Jb update to 4.1.2 a couple weeks later my sdcard died so I contacted lexar the card was 4 months old so they had me send it to them they checked it and it was dead so they sent me a new one, well it has been two weeks since I installed it into my phone and today it is dead. Is Lexar a crap card? it was not cheap
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Nani:
Mine (a Sandisk 32 GB Class 10) started to behave weirdly after 6 months ... Auto Unmount/Mount, leading to media scan each time and killing the battery ...

I also read that Sandisk has taken responsibility for 32 GB & 64 GB Class 10 micro-SD card issues ...

Anyway I bought a new micro-SD card and I'am waiting for it to be delivered (Samsung 32 GB Class 10 from Amazon).
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] pug124:
Confirmed. My SGS3 also broke sandisk microsd.I thought it happened only for me.

Now I am using S4 and we will see how things work.
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] rajatrulz:
This is not good....there is still no fix for this....!!!
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Amcunian:
I'm new to this thread and just after reading 2-3 pages I noticed it mostly destroyed the 32gb. Been using 8gb for months with no problem, recently just upgrade to 16gb.. Hopefully nothing happen.
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] j0hnbh0y:
icummha custom

Ive just purchased an s3 and sandisk 32g now i read thishoping for the best
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] emokid09:
my cheap ebay one is still going strong after 2 months of heavy usage.

class 6 16gb TEAM (fake?)

never really had problems with cheapo cards. just got to find the best sellers i spose.

my htc sensation xe has a 32gb transend card and worked for 7 months till i sold the phone.
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] rookiegenius:
Tho some of you haven't had this issue, better back up your stuff to a safe place regularly. My replacement has been running fine for almost 6 months now.
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] JDMpire:
I feel that ill have the same thing happen to me. I cant tell you just how many memory cards have died on me. I probably have jar full of $500.00 in cards (micro, regular SD, memory stick, compact flash...ect) for multiple devices i own or have owned over the years. I keep them with the intention of hopefully bringing them back to life somehow someday. Its sooooo frustrating, I don't even like to think about it....
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] radar9:
I purchased a 16G Class 10 last week from Tiger Direct. Today I got msg that SD was unmounted. It is dead. Can't read it in any computer or my S3. Blows.

Time to break back out my Class 4 16G that I have been using for months with no issues. Glad also that when I swapped them out last week that I made a back up of all my files on the older one.
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] aziz981:
I have ran out of patience with my S3 damaging SD cards.

I have used 8 GB Sandisk class 4 for about a year in my old S2, never gave a problem.

Then I shifted it into S3, and after two weeks started acting up. Repeated bad removals, unmounting etc.

I then bought Transcend 32 gb Class10 and it worked for maybe 3-4 weeks, submittng to same problem.

Repeated mounted/unmouting, and then message card is damaged, please format.

formatted twice, once by overwrite format(took 15-20 mins), but after a week gets damaged.

any solutions so far?
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Endiej:
It killed my 8GB from Philips after half a year. At first I didn't give any attention to it because I thought the SD card had just given up on me, but then I saw this topic. Now I'm just praying it won't destroy my 16GB card :p anyway, I always have a backup of my SD card on my laptop which I refresh once a week, just in case.
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] straycat88:
Just got my Kingston 32GB card destroyed. Woke up to the "Card has been unmounted" message. Here's a transcript of my chat with Samsung Tech Support. THIS SUCKS!!!
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] FileFixer:
Only thing that would be fixed with factory reset is Valerines brain. We are not stupid users who has a first touch smartphone in our life.

Samsung support is like a cookbok for dummies, everything except real technical support.
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] thegrantonstarcause:
I originally posted this in a separate thread before seeing this..

Over the last week, I've had two SD cards die on me:

The first card I've had since I got my i9300 S3 (13 months). Prior to last week, it worked flawlessly (KomputerBay 32GB class 6). Then suddenly after rebooting I see an SD card damaged error. After trying chkdsk and fsck it looks like the card is certainly damaged but was able to recover some of the files.

Thinking it was just bad luck and the card dying, I purchased a 32gb class 10 Lexar card brand new. In the meantime, I used a 4GB Samsung SD card that came with the S3 for approximately 5 days and it worked fine with no errors or corruption.

With the new card, I copied over all my files, music etc. After an overnight using the phone, some calling etc. I rebooted the phone only to get the same error. Windows didn't even recognise the card let alone recover it. fsck likewise. Did a full format again and restored some files from original backup, it's been less than 24 hours and so far so good but I am not ready to relax just yet.

I'm really baffled as to what could be causing it as the card seems only to fail after a reboot. Prior to then, the card displays as mounted in system settings and files are accessible. The only other strange thing I've noticed is that when playing music/podcasts and turning off the screen the playback jitters for a moment or two before returning to normal. This started quite recently. I'm using UltimaROM 13.0 at the moment with Boeffla kernel. Have disabled all SD related optimisations and have no CPU or GPU overclocking or undervolting. I've been using Ultima for months with no major config changes recently.

I'm at the point now where I am almost scared to reboot! Last time I rebooted I unmounted the SD just in case. The only other possible difference in behaviour is that as I was travelling I had my phone on charge all night and although I can't be 100% sure rebooted with the phone charging (though again, its not the first time I've rebooted while charging). I've googled this far and wide and most SD related issues seem to be caused by the card randomly unmounting. I've never seen this in my instance.

Any ideas on what this might be or what I could do to troubleshoot further? I don't want to restore to stock, unroot, reset counters etc. and return to Samsung unless I can be at least reasonably confident its a hardware issue.
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] chrcol:
ordering a class 4 card hoping its more reliable but the elss reports of lower class cards could be simply be down to that they not so available anymore as most ar class 10.

I plan to use the sdcard for storing roms, nandroid backups etc. Photos etc will go on the internal.
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Gabeloooooo:
Mine destroyed 3rd card, all different, the latest a lowly motorolla 1 gig I had laying around (NOT a fast one)

I don't think the class of the card or brand does anything. The phone is just terrible with microsd's

Between this, sluggish touchwiz and samsung making it hard to get a stable CM rom, I can't wait to get rid of this phone :(
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] chrcol:
CM's problem seems to be the devs are just porting it from other phones and then abandong old version when a new android is released by google so is just constant nightlies. I tested the AOKP milestone 1 4.1.2 build and its very good, way better than all the other AOSP roms I tried. Also given that people with other phones are reporting issues I think its jumping the gun to blame the s3 itself.
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] fatguy666:
Had a 32GB class 10 Lexus card in my phone since I got it a year ago, no problems at all :good:
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] pxp3:
One more here. I got a new S3 last week and it's having problems with my Samsung 32GB class 10 card.

Formatting didn't fix it. Amazon says they return me the money as it is still on 1 year guarantee, but I really don't know if buying another one or what. The card seems to work fine yet on my Galaxy R.

What should I do? Buy a new one or forget using a SD card?
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] MIKEMON:
I have 32 gigabytes card class10,,,, a year and is still functional
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Journyman16:
:D - stick it in your PC and format it. Then stick it in the phone and see what the phone thinks of it. Format it as Fat32. If that doesn't work, get Amazon to replace it
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] pxp3:
Thanks, but as I said in my post, I already did that. FIrst it worked for two days and then failed again. However it still works fine on the older Galaxy R.

I feel really lazy to return the card to Amazon knowing it is not the card but the S3 and I will probably get the same result.
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] chrcol:
well due to some royal mail issue (had no post for 2 weeks) and amazon shipping my sd card by royal mail even tho I have amazon prime I have no sdcard yet, for now for experimenting I put a spare 2 gig sdcard in there to see the folder it uses etc.

amazon sent me a replacement out but by royal mail again :(
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] akyunv:
possible solution: custom recovery mode

Hei guys, been somehow experience the same thing since i root and using Custom ROM,

Fried my 16GB UHS-1 Sandisk, now using transcend premium 16GB.

Here's the thing, i installed CWM mod using odin that was like almost a month ago. But somehow the animated logo in download mode still running, my thought is, it is a bug so i do pull battery and start the recovery mod, everything went well, i did manage to install Custom ROM (AOSP), the problem starts when i try installing MIUI from my sandis sdcard, my bad it is recommended to install from internal memory, got myself stuck at bootloop.

Then I try reinstalling with AOKP rootbox, the symptons starts here, i won't install, because some defect in my sdcard i guess, so i use adb command push to copy from recovery mode.

Manage to install teh rootbox ROM, but at the cost of my sdcard. I bought transceds premium, no problem until a few days, suddenly my memory card start unmounted. installing another ROM from unofficial Temasek, still have the same problem, also installing different kind of kernel.

Try reformating the sdcard from FAT32, NTFS, and exFAT, and i still got the problem.

Yesterday i try searching and searching some member said use TWRP. so I install it using goo manager. Do a wipe and format from there.

voila, no problem since, and i have been using sdcard monitor from play store no bad removal or unexpected unmount.

I do a test using android FTP server and send around 100++ MP3 from my PC with FTP connection to my GS3. upload it straight to sdcard.

I still testing it, since it is only from yesterday. will report it again after a week
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] pspslyspy:
I have not had issues with my 16g or 32g cards, but after I used my 64g card now everytime I put files on it and install in phone it says blank card or unreadable file system. So I take it out, reformat it, then install it again. Works fine, so I take a few pics and download a few thing, and half thw stuff ends up being corrupt data, I pull the card and transfer files to computer and the stay corrupt. Put the card back in and it show blank card ect.....anyone have any ideas on this issue? Also I use sd formatter to format the card with windows 7 pc. Any help would be great as this card has given me problems since the day I got it. And they said it could take up to 3 months to get a replacement and thats only if the card doesnt work for them. They lady said all they do is format it and run a disk check if it passes they will send it back. But I do that and it passes fine.

SCH-I605 rooted, custom boot loader, still deciding on which rom to use.
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Valwit:
just a quick update: since phone got replaced 6 months ago: no issue whatsoever. on the other phone reattaching the ribbon solved the issue couple of months ago.
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] rookiegenius:
I've been using my replacement card for around 8 months now. No problem...it's SanDisk 32gb (not class 10) But I'm always ready for it to happen again lol
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] fatguy666:
Posted in here about a week ago saying all was fine with my card but it's just broke. Sod's law!

Was coming up on the phone that the card was damaged, put it in my card reader in the pc and it showed up saying it needed formatted. Formatting through the pc didn't work and it actually seems to have broken my card reader :silly: Put it back in the phone (before I realised my card reader was done) and it formatted no problem. Copied and album over to test it and it seems ok, not sure if it'll last tho.

Now I just realised my back up of everything was on there :(
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Mickyman:
So far, it has destroyed 2 sd cards. My current one is a sandisk 32gb class 10. Seen lots of people with them. So far so good.
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] allotrios:
I got a transcend class 6 and it hasn't broken it yet in the 8 months I got it. I still haven't managed to find anyone to read the data off the sandisk 32gb ultra it destroyed :(
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] pspslyspy:
I havent lost any yet, just the cheap 64g card that dont work right. Guess that what I get for going with price over quality. Will be buying a 64g scandisk this time.

SCH-I605 rooted, custom boot loader, still deciding on which rom to use.
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] chrcol:
samsung told me over the phone class 10 is above the sdcard reader spec's so corruption is likely, they also said 64gig is not supported. Thats one reason I got a samsung branded 32gig class 6 card.

Given the fake cards on the market as well its probably wise to test a card when first purchased to see if the full capacity can be used.
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] pspslyspy:
The phone I am having issues with the 64g card is my note 2, but I believe if you look up specs for the s3 and note 2 they both say "supports sd cards up 64g"

SCH-I605 rooted, custom boot loader, still deciding on which rom to use.
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] akyunv:
possible solution

hey guys, it's been a week since i change my recovery from CWM to TWRP, and my SD Card monitor showed that i have a bad removal of 7 times.

But so far my sdcard is fine and not fried.

My conclusion for this week is my sd card has been stable nothing lost even though there are 7 times bad removal

Hope this help
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] madrojo:
Sooo, what SD should i buy?

My s3 just broke a 32gb class 10 Sandisk... anybody have tried "Verbatim"?
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ghostofcain:
SanDisk have a lifetime warranty, maybe I've been lucky but I haven't had any issues with my replacement card.
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] akyunv:
Hardware problems

I think this is because some hardware issue,

Because every time i'm like only tap the back of my phone just a little hard, the sdcard will unmount, trying to solve this by buying a hardcase such as otterbox defender. Turns out i was wrong, the notification just went crazy then you all can figure what happened next. Yes, the phone suddenly cant read the sdcard.

buying a set of screwdriver and try to disassemble it and try to fix the connector, but before this extreme step i like to try with sticky notes inside the slot so it will tighten (been googling this and some people said it work)

Will get back to you if the sticky notes success
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] harryshepard:
I think I selected a dodgy card (http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/4-/18934088/-/Product.html) because it broke in my dad's Ace (after I ordered one for myself, annoying) then 4 days into my holiday mine got corrupted. Is this a coincidence, bad batch, bad card? I am thinking of sending it back and getting a different card entirely but seems pointless if it's the phone. Have my eye on this one as a replacement http://www.play.com/Mobiles/Mobile/4-/40834861/Samsung-Plus-32GB-Micro-SD-SDHC-Class-10-UHS-1-Memory-Card/Product.html
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] bajra79:
has to be a hardware

I've got through 4 cards. 2 in the first two months. no names (that lasted a lot longer in other phones). so I got a Gskill 32gb class 6. lifetime warranty I've had to RMA twice now. first one lasted 7 months, the last one about a month. I preloaded some music on the card and that's all I've used it for.

I read something about the phone running hot? in other threads and possible that's the reason for it? I keep my phone in my otterbox case. would that really have anything to do with it? especially since my first gskill lasted so long in the same case.

I'm debating getting a Samsung branded SD card. do these seem to have any luck? As much as people say the issue is with sandisk - though i'ev seen a lot of post with other sd brands have failed (wether they are just rebranded sandisk, Idk). I keep it backed up, but I really don't want to keep putting a new SD card in the phone every few months. never had this issue with any other phone or tablet so I don't think it's a software issue either
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] allotrios:
I have had a Samsung 32gb class 6 for about 10 months now and it hasn't died yet. My sandisk 32gb ultra died within four months.
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] lcamilo:
With me too

I had problem with my card Sandisk 32GB class 4 as well. Began to drain my battery, and when I realized, whenever pressed the button to unlock physical appeared notification that the card had been inserted. I removed the card and put another, the messages are gone and the battery is back to normal. I put the same card in the tablet, same problem. Put in pc, all normal, formatted, reformatted, copied, deleted, etc.. Everything ok. If I go back to using the tablet or S3, after a while back to have the same problem. If you use the pc, never had any problems. I installed another Sandisk Ultra 32GB class 10, I'm using the 4 months, I have not had problems, but I'm afraid to start happening again. I read many reports of cards of different brands (mostly Sandisk, perhaps the price?) Who had the same problem and finally die with the S3. The problem is it because the reader is very close to the processor and the high temperatures are literally burning the cards?
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] benoliver999:
Let me jump on this bandwagon

I just got a 64GB SanDisk card, and it fried after 10 minutes (I tested it on a PC and it was fine, and it worked briefly on the phone). My previous card, also a SanDisk, lasted only about three months. The two just don't seem to mix.
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] dalaroid:
I bought sandisk 32gb class 10 in january 2013 and it lasted to 9h september.It gave me unmount and not working issues and yesterday its not being recognized anymore.
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] akyunv:
using sticky notes or a tape

Guys, i think there;s a problem with the slot, my last post is about putting the sticky notes to my sdcard until it almost not fit to the slot.

Well, the great news is no problem since, i never get a unmount notification again, you might want to try it,

after putting the tape/sticky notes try tapping on the back of the phone, if it still unmounted it means the sdacard still loose
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] benoliver999:
No luck for me here I'm afraid.
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] coruja182:
2 Micro SDHC detroyed here

This is my second Micro SDHC card that this Galaxy S3 burns. My first one was a Kingston 8GB Class 4. The second was a Sandisk 16GB class 4. I'm not going to buy any more cards to use in this smartphone. I'll just use the internal memory. I'm not going to buy any more Samsung Smartphones.
[Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] cerujezon:
Team 32 gb microsdhc, died after 3 months however it was fine when it is formatted as fat32. I formatted it as exfat and it died the next day.