yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Windows Phone 7 General] Whizzit:
So after reading all the threads I could possibly find on this matter, I have come to the conclusion that I must use a Nokia phone with Symbian OS to format my micro sd card. I get it. Today I went to my AT&T corporate store, they no longer carry any Nokia phones that utilize Symbian. So they were cool enough to call the local Verizon and Sprint stores. Neither of them carry Nokia phones with Symbian either. Where do I acquire these phones other than Ebay? I'm not buying a $250 phone to recover a $100 sd card. Does anyone have a phone where we could start sending the cards? Does anyone wanna make extra cash? $5 per card multiplied by the 1000 people that read this thread and need a solution sounds like motivation to me. Even better, with all the Android programmers on this forum, why not an app that can be downloaded from the Marketplace? Android phones are much more available. I'd pay the $5 for the app as I'm sure everyone else would as well.
[Windows Phone 7 General] Whizzit:
*update* Today I found a Nokia E73 "Mode" demo model at the local T-Mobile store. I explained my situation and the reps were more than happy to help, even though I'm an AT&T customer. We tried to format the card and the option was greyed out, tried soft resetting the phone, tried hard resetting the phone. None of them worked. My card was recognized and asked for the passcode, we hit cancel, but the phone would not allow access to any menus that would allow formatting of the SD card. My card was formatted using the Samsung Focus, so I know it is pass key locked to the Nth degree.

One odd bit to add, I now have a Samsung Captivate (Galaxy S) with Android 2.1 The phone will recognize when the card is inserted and removed, but does not give access to the file system of the card.

At this point, I could buy a new card for $20, and have my problem solved. Now though, the problem is personal. I want to remove the key code just to show M$ that I can undo their magic. Anyone know of an app to brute force crack the codes?
[Windows Phone 7 General] sensboston:
It only means you read FAQ/SD card topics inattentively. You should go to Application->Office->File manager, select SD first and choose menu. Yes, it shows "SD card is locked" and always ask for password but you can (in case you really want get your SD back :-) ) bypass (by pressing Cancel) and choose "Format" :-)
[Windows Phone 7 General] Whizzit:
Guilty as charged. The T-Mobile Rep didn't actually relinquish control of the phone, so I was relying on her experience with Symbian to get the job done. I didn't print out the instructions prior to making the trip.

I did search briefly through a search engine for instructions specific to an E73, but none of the results were specific to this problem. Had I just visited this thread while I was in the store...:o

Since I was not a paying customer, I tried to not tie up the nice lady since she had paying customers waiting. I will take heed of your advice, thank you for taking the time to post.
[Windows Phone 7 General] chsoriano:
Can you tell me how you accomplished this in WM 6.5? I tried recently with a tool that I had downloaded... I think it was called Flash Format... but when I tried to format it it just said failed.
[Windows Phone 7 General] jklier:
After reading about how the SD cards are tied to the phone I was wondering what happens if my Focus gets replaced under warranty for whatever reason? Am I expected to just go out and buy a new SD card?
[Windows Phone 7 General] chsoriano:
You can stick your microSD card in your new phone, and your new phone will just wipe it and start over.... at least that's how I understand it.
[Windows Phone 7 General] FlowerPotmen:
I downloaded a free program called SDFormatter via Google, and i have a usb card reader (Rizz) that cost $4.00. Works a treat when i have to format my micro sd card. :http://www.sdcard.org/consumers/formatter_3/
[Windows Phone 7 General] chsoriano:
Won't work if the OS can't actually identify the card...
[Windows Phone 7 General] dragosj:
for me it worked with panasonic tool on a 2GB class2 Sandisk card.

After panasonic tool formated, windows asked me to format the card to FAT32 and voila 2GB back in business.

Using XP Pro not Vista or 7.

Also I know Apacer have one similar tool but can't remember the name.

Cheers mate for this handy tool.
[Windows Phone 7 General] p34cdc2:
WM6.5 SDcard formatter worked for me

I was also only able to see the 200 MB (FAT) partition in win7 64. The windows disk management utility can see both partitions, but the "delete partition" in the context menu is greyed out.

I put the card in my HD2 WM6.5 NRGY. Under Settings there is the format SD card tool; it worked like a charm.
[Windows Phone 7 General] muon69:
This is what I have been using as well. Not sure if it was necessary but when I formatted it, under "Option" I set "Format Size Adjustment" to ON. Then I did a "Quick" format. After format is complete, you have to remove the card from your computer (otherwise pc will say it needs to be formatted when trying to access it) then plug it back in and it should be working again.
[Windows Phone 7 General] zeemoo:
the best way for reback the SD card

Windows mobile 6.5 ... it is so easy
[Windows Phone 7 General] sensboston:
Hmm... It's not quite easy as you described. Formatting card takes some time (depends from card capacity, from 10 min to half an hour), S&H also takes time. BTW, regular mail is not good enough to send $60-100 microSD cards without any insurance. It means you need additional time to go to PO for shipping (additional 30-45 minutes). Who's gonna work for $5-$10 per hour? I think you pick a wrong forum :D
[Windows Phone 7 General] phoneguy 4567:
Easy? It isn't so easy. I stuck my card into a friends Omnia 2 & I couldn't format the card. It's running 6.5 so what's the trick to get it to work? The card can be formatted in the Focus so I know the card itself is working.
[Windows Phone 7 General] sensboston:
Don't listen to the local "experts" (who may be able to install latest Ubuntu via GUI installer on branded PC :) ).

It's not easy but there is no "black magic" or "Kevin Mitnick's favorite trick" :) Microsoft just implemented (in WP7 sd-card driver/hardware) a good known feature called CPRM (Content Protection for Recordable Media). However CPRM (fortunately for everybody!) is rarely used but it's strong, secure and use a hardware encoding layer for data.

AFAIK, just a few devices supports CPRM (like Nokia's Symbian smartphones). Somebody reported about some digital camera too... However nor Windows or MacOS or Linux (BCD, Solaris etc.) does NOT support CPRM! Also (as far as I can remember) CPRM must be supported by card readers hardware (not a driver only). HD2 doesn't supports CPRM at all.

Guys who's reported: "I successfully reformatted my WP7 card with somehow WM 6.5/Windows/Linux low/high level formatter" not are liars, they just don't have a real WP7 handsets but hacked HD2's ;)
[Windows Phone 7 General] domineus:
my sentiments exactly!
[Windows Phone 7 General] ZeoDelta:
Tmobile Demo E73 worked for me!

I went to an Tmobile store here in georgia and used the demo e73 unit to format the card. The Tmobile rep was a bit confused but seeing how I was able to slide out the fake microSD card and side in my locked microSD card he figured "do whatever you want...it's just a demo unit".

I followed the following instructions: Go to Application->Office->File manager, select SD first and choose menu. Yes, it shows "SD card is locked" and always ask for password but you can (in case you really want get your SD back :-) ) bypass (by pressing Cancel) and choose "Format" :-)

Then I put the SD card into my samsung focus phone and reset the phone so that it was recognized. Now I have 20 GB of storage...yea..

only problem was that I believe I've lost all my txt messages... :(

But yea for 20 GB of storage. :D
[Windows Phone 7 General] jamshedd:
SDFormatter v3 formats SD Card used in Samsung Focus

I spent a lot of time trying to get something, anything to read my SD Card which had been used in a Samsung Focus, my problem was that after a warranty replacement of my phone I could not get the SD Card to work in the new device or anywhere else.

Along the way I tried everything from Windows Explorer to multiple distros of Linux (hoping to mount the raw block device and zero it out), nothing worked though in some distros I could see the SD Card device but couldnt mount it.

Finally I tried SD Formatter (I cant post links, so you will have to built this into a URL: http colon slash slash www dot sdcard dot org slash consumers slash formatter_3)

I used a USB micro SD Card reader, inserted the SD Card and fired up the app. Lo and behold, the SD Card which had never been visible in Explorer showed up in SD Formatter as G:. At that point I could also see it in Explorer, though it only showed 199MB instead of the 8GB. I formatted the Card (set options, Format Type=Full (Erase) and Format Size Adjustment=ON). After formatting, Explorer could read the card at which point I also formatted it again in Explorer using the defaults for the device (full format, not quick). After this, the card is back :)
[Windows Phone 7 General] owain100:
The way I format the card, was to move the SDHC card over to my canon G10 camera and format it on the G10, did the job perfect.
[Windows Phone 7 General] devlspawn:
Could all of you people claiming to have a "fix" please specify whether or not the sd card would show up in the device manager when inserted into a windows machine. If it actually shows up you should have a drive letter for it.

So far for those of us where there seems to be no solution other than symbian if you stick the sd card into a reader it will show up in device manager with an error saying "device could not start"
[Windows Phone 7 General] devlspawn:
Since almost all card readers need to use an adapter in order to use a micro sd card, do we know if the adapter has to somehow support CPRM? Or is it only the card reader and OS drivers that would need to support it?
[Windows Phone 7 General] jamshedd:
My card wasn't in Windows Explorer, Device Manager, or even Disk Manager before I used SD Formatter.
[Windows Phone 7 General] foxbat121:
Didn't work for me with the microSD card from Focus. I tried two different card reader: one built-in to my laptop (Win7) and one USB reader. Did even see the card.

Back to search for Nokia phone to format it.
[Windows Phone 7 General] alodar1:
Before trying any of these things...the first step needs to be ...does your computer recognize the drive. If yes...try these things. If not...keep looking, because non of these tools will work. Maybe try the Nokia device....or the mac....but this stuff will not work. It needs to be able to see what its working on ....before anything else....
[Windows Phone 7 General] jamshedd:
My computer (Windows 7) did *not* recognize the SD card or even show this as a connected device when I started.
[Windows Phone 7 General] that1guyty:
My SD Card was formatted using the Samsung Focus, so when i tried using this tool, the SDFormatter tool freeze up and not respond. Also, when i try to open USB adapter to view the card in explorer (Windows XP), that freezes up as well. Guess i'll be looking for a Nokia phone somewhere...
[Windows Phone 7 General] MartyLK:
Guys, I used the Panasonic formatter I found in this thread and it worked. It was quick, too. Nothing else worked, only this.
[Windows Phone 7 General] jkjambo:
i tried everything , but still no success.

sd formatter (second and 3rd version), panasonic sd formatter, HDD low level format tool , nokia c3, nokia c3-00 ,nokia 6300...

What THE F... can i do ? :mad:
[Windows Phone 7 General] phoneguy 4567:
As someone else commented to me awhile back, people that are seeing success with PC formatting tools & cameras are most likely using the HD2. This phone can run WP7 by using a custom ROM, that from what I understand doesn't completely encrypt the card like a native WP7 phone does.

Symbian phones work but I believe only ones running newer versions of the OS.
[Windows Phone 7 General] jkjambo:
finally i formatted my card.

i used nokia 5250 :)

you just need symbian 9.X version , that's all

card reader and pc isn't working . i used 5 comps, 4 or 5 differenc programs , also nikon DSLR , nokia C3 (it's symbian s40 , that's why i can't format with this) , nokia 6300 (this is also symbian s40). also android phones can't do anything ( LG G2x, HTC nexus one)
[Windows Phone 7 General] kms108:
S40 worked for me, and some of the older symbian also worked, i have been testing many cards in the focus and the mozart, and the cards are rendered dead, all i do is pop into my local phone store (i know most ppl who works there), and reformat the cards with any nokia's that i can get hold off.
[Windows Phone 7 General] jkjambo:
i used s40 phones too, but all of them wanted password ... i used nokia 6500 slide, nokia c3 and nokia 6300 .. 6500 and c3 saw the card, but wanted password for format, 6300 can't read card at all, it appears and then disappears..

what phones have you used?
[Windows Phone 7 General] kms108:
All cards that has been through a wp7 will indicate that it requires a password, with a touchscreen phone, you need to goto file manager and from there you will see all the storage drives, push and hold the removable storage, there you will be given the option to format.

As for a s40 non touch screen, you have to mess around with it.

As for the exact button to press, I don't have any nokias with me at the moment.

So you will have to try it out.
[Windows Phone 7 General] iwan.sipit:
This method works for me.. thanks
[Windows Phone 7 General] DavidinCT:
Maybe it's me but, if the card is encrypted, don't you just need a device that does not support SD/MicroSD encryption ?

If the device (some older or lower end devices) does not support encryption, it will not know what to do with it besides format it to make it usable on it's system.

How about older Moto phones, say, v710, e815, razor, etc ? How about SD card adapters, like for example, Memory stick pro(I use one of these to use my MicroSD memory in my PSP) ? Does Sony support SD encryption ?

So, it might just be try it in every older device you have and it's very well that it might work.

Windows 7, Windows Vista will have issues with it, XP might not depending on it's service pack version.

Just some thoughts to add to the discussion...
[Windows Phone 7 General] OndraSter:
Nope, it is not "because it is new" :)

https://www.sdcard.org/developers/tech/sdcard/pls/Simplified_Physical_Layer_Spec.pdf

Page 34 in the PDF (23 on the page). I hope this is the locking the WP7 uses.
[Windows Phone 7 General] behappy:
I did not have my card recognized by any PC.

I reflashed winmo 6.5 and I tried to reformat the sdcard with no luck. Maybe some of the people that had success were not running mango, as I tried the exact same steps and apps and nothing worked. Local tmo store has no symbian devices, so it looks like im going to look like a creep while watching over people's shoulders to see what type of phone they use until I find a symbian.

If you guys see a story on the news about a person arrested for chasing after people and freaking out about them needing to format his sdcard, itsameeeeee...
[Windows Phone 7 General] thedrmonkey:
Possible fix?!

I had an issue where my HD2 was freezing after installing a cab file. I narrowed it down to the SD Card, but like everyone else I couldn't get it to read anywhere.

I went into Magldr and went to services and selected "clearsd MBR." Afterwards it worked perfect and my phone started working again. This option clears the partitions and allows you to use your SD card again.
[Windows Phone 7 General] behappy:
This didn't end up working for me.
[Windows Phone 7 General] Moki1:
Nokia C5 without any problems formatted the card is locked.

Right now I have unlocked two SD cards of 2GB and 4 GB SiliconPower
[Windows Phone 7 General] munkeyphyst:
Nokia C7 successfully formatted a 2GB and an 8GB that were locked after use in my Focus. It failed on a 16GB though...

For all three cards, after the phone started up, it indicated that the card was locked and asked for the code, I cancelled and it brought up the phones start screen.

From there, I pressed the bottom center button and it brought up a menu/list, I chose "apps & games" and then "office" and then "file manager"

From there I pressed and held over the memory card on the screen and it prompted for password or format. I chose format. the phone asked if I really wanted to format and erase all memory. I went ahead.

For the two smaller cards, a little formatting box opened with a staus indicator bar that filled across and ended with a fresh, clean card that can be seen and accessed in my computer. For the third card, the 16GB, the little formatting box opened and it appeared to start the formatting, but there was no progress indicated and it stalled frozen at that point for 10 minutes before I battery pulled. Tried three times with the same result. Maybe it would have worked had I left it, idk, but after ten minutes, there was nothing on the indicator bar and the phone was otherwise frozen.
[Windows Phone 7 General] alif1994:
Got back my sd card

THX SO MUCH! I put my sd card on my mum E71. and format it easily.

I used to hate symbian so much but now it saved my SD card...
[Windows Phone 7 General] Heterosethual:
Go to folder options > Unclick hidden folders

My 16GB class 6 Sd card shows up as (L:) but is hidden

So anyone have any genius solutions to this?
[Windows Phone 7 General] simpleton681:
Out of commission for now

Tried a number of suggestions to get my card to come back to life, but no dice, and I don't have a Symbian phone to format it. Tried the obvious stuff first, Windows disk management, partition app in Windows, different PCs. Also tried formatting in winmo6.5 (was easier to DAF install that, only took like 10 mins), but it also doesn't recognize my card. So now, I'm running all over my house testing this thing in every SD compatible device I have to see if it will be recognized...nothing. I'm guessing my only recourse at this point will be to reinstall WP7, set it to detect the card, then use the unlock cab to unlock it while the OS has it. I'll try that later and post my results (although, I don't see why it wouldn't work, just a pain in the butt :( )
[Windows Phone 7 General] Shtoza:
so...

MY Smatphone: HTC HD2

MY PC OS: Windows 7 64bit

I was trying to flash a coocked ROM of WP7 (mango), and......

The problem occurred when trying to update the phone/OS with ZUNE after it has restarted during the update.

1. My 8GB sd card is NOT recognized by my operating system – windows 7 64bit

a. Not in “Manage”

b. Not In “my computer”

c. Not under “safely remove bla bla bla

•(even though I see the USB device that “hosts” my micro sd card there but no other info or partition)

d. Not when using ANY partitioning and formatting tool mentioned in posts above, and yes, I read them all.

e. not Directly from HTC and not from SD card reader.

2. I Do not have access to any Nokia

3. I have tried the “clear MBR” thing with MAGldr – didn’t work

4. I have tried to manipulate the wp7 to restore back and re-install itself – didn’t help (you know, hard reset)

Before I waste more time (and I don’t bother to waste time if it will work at the end),

Does anyone really succedded to revive the SD card by re-installing WM6.5 on HTC HD2 and using it’s SD card format tool?

Does anyone really succeeded re-formatting the sd card with this specific problem with some kind of a digital camera with a micro SD as it’s storage?

Any new info about this issue, especially when WP7 turned into “MANGO”?

Is there ANY OS that I can use/flash into my HTC HD2 that will access the SD and fix/reformat it?

Earlier version of windows mobile?

Earlier ROM of WP7? (Before MANGO?)

Android flashed into NAND maybe? (and then what?)

In the meantime I’m going to buy a new SD card, but I really don’t want to corrupt it also, so what WP7 ROM should I install hopefully this won’t happened again???
[Windows Phone 7 General] simpleton681:
Tried everything

I am in the same boat as you, I think (Tmo US HD2). Flashed Mango, which seems to do something differently than earlier versions of WP7. Unfortunately, I didn't get an available 200MB of fat32 for any other OS to detect, so my card is more or less useless. As I mentioned in my last post, I tried reinstalling WP7 to see if I would be able to recognize/unlock the card from there, but no dice. I also do not have a Nokia phone with which to format the card, and Win7, CentOS, and OSX do not recognize it. Neither do 2 digital cameras (one no-name and one Panasonic Lumix point and shoot), a digital photo frame, my printer's card reader, Nintendo DS (don't think I could format it there anyway), or Nintendo Wii.

I also tried flashing WinMo 6.5 back to the device, but it's not detected there either, and in fact, in WP7, if I try to hard reset with the SD in the slot, when the OS comes back, it tells me my card is damaged or corrupted and I can't even get in to setup the phone. I've searched everywhere I can think of, but not finding any alternative except to see if I can get hold of a Symbian phone to format the card.

Either that, or my card died, but all was well until I flashed Mango.

If anyone finds a way to flash these cards A) Without any available partition in Windows, and B) The card not being detected in most other devices (trust me, I tried everything I could get my hands on), PLEEEASE post it here.
[Windows Phone 7 General] Shtoza:
HI simpleton681

“In our country” there are 2 sayings that are opposite to each other, in free translation it goes like this:

1. “same trouble of many make my trouble half a comfort”

2. “same trouble of many is acomfort to fools”

Pick your point of view :)

I also tried several digital cameras – no good

I also tried WM6.5 – no good

I’m running all over the company to find a person with Symbian OS, but everyone has HTC or IPhones or blackberries over here.

Another phenomenon I have: when I insert the defective SD card and start wp7, it get stuck when it gous up (I guess right on the stage it tries to communicate with the SD card), Or it just start with no SD recognized.

Reading posts around, it seems that this f^%ked up situation is relevant especially after using the XBmod_Yuki ROM?

And it might have also related with messing around with the SD card for re-partitionning for dual boot: WP7 on NAND and Android on SD.

I have purchased a new SD card and flashed another ROM (blackSideSeven) and “So far so good” - got dualboot running ***knock on wood.

I’m leaving the bad SD card aside, but let’s keep on looking for resolution because it would be nice to revive it for future use.
[Windows Phone 7 General] simpleton681:
LOL, thank you for your response, nice to know I'm not the only one (or fool, or whatever) :)

I had someone else make a suggestion about how to get the card to format a partition that would be recognized by Windows, here:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1297780

I'll probably try that tonight. Also, since then, I managed to actually bring the card back to life for a short time in WP7 by reinstalling the Yuki rom, then doing a hard reset with the card in the phone. The first time I did this, I came back into a fresh WP7 rom with about 14GB of additional storage from a 16GB card. Unfortunately, since then I tried to unlock the card and now it isn't recognized at all (or shows errors when I try to do a reset, or sometimes even just reboot the phone with the card in it). So, it seems I'm back to square one. I'm determined, though, and I'll post whatever I find once I find it. GOOD LUCK!