SD card blank or has unsupported file system error.

[Zetan]

Hi there. I hope someone can help with my microSD card.

Some info to start:
Card type: SanDisk 64GB Mobile Ultra MicroSDXC
SD Reader: USB2.0 MICRO-SD / M2 MEMORY CARD READER
File system: exFAT
Mobile device: Sony Ericsson - Xperia Play
Android Version: 2.3.4
Computer OS: Windows 7 Ultimate

Yesterday I took my SD card out of my phone, put it in the reader and started to transfer some new albums I'd just ripped from CD to a folder called Music. All the files seemed to transfer over fine, except for the last album.
A dialogue box pops up stating that the card is unformatted and that it needs to be formatted. I click cancel and take the card from the reader and put it back in my phone.

Android states: SD card blank or has unsupported file system. I try unsuccessfully to mount the card and the same error pops up in the status bar.

After some searching around I've found many topics that people have posted around the net with little to no result, other than either formatting the card, or buying a new one.

Finally I found a topic suggesting TestDisk. I've downloaded and installed it, followed the guide, but I'm not having much luck with it. I didn't have an option to create a new exFAT partition so selected FAT 32 instead.

I now have a Primary FAT32 partition and I can't access the date to backup, format and restore the data back to the card.

I'm sure the data is fine but I don't want to make it worse by pressing buttons in the hope that I stumble on something that might work.

Any help appreciated.

[Fiona]

Would it be possible to diagnose your boot sector first?

Start TestDisk, confirm at create a log with enter and select your affected sd card.
Confirm at partition table type with enter also
Don't confirm at Analyse but Advanced.
Confirm at Boot.
Highlight Rebuild BS and hit Enter.
Rebuild your BS will be in progress.
Normally, it takes some minutes.
If it's finished, please post the infos or upload a screen.
If you see a menu List, please highlight it and press enter.
Please let us know, do you see your data or an error message.
To get back to the previous screen, easily press q for Quit.

Infos will follow.

Fiona

[Zetan]

Hi Fiona, thanks for the reply. Here's the screenshots you requested:






I seem to have two partitions now according to Disk Management:
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s91/ ... tled-3.jpg

[Fiona]

Actually, there is only a FAT32-Partition displayed and it has a little bit more than 1 GB!
You mentioned it's an exFAT partition?
ExFAT is different to normal partitions.
It's a NTFS partition but the boot sector is exFAT.
Would it be possible to run a Deeper Search, to have a try to find more partitions?
If nothing is found, you should repeat your scan using partition table type None.
Sometimes it was necessary to diagnose a boot sector using partition table type "None".
Menu advanced displayed the partition as Unknown.
Using the menu Type you can choose the appropriate file system.
TestDisk doesn't support boot sector repair for exFAT.
Are you sure that your file system was exFAT?
Because it's pretty rare on memory cards for mobile devices.

[Zetan]

I'm sure it was exFAT, SDXC cards use the exFAT file system.

What operating systems support the exFAT file format?
SDXC Memory Cards and Memory devices over 64GB are formatted natively in the exFAT file system. The operating system must support the exFAT file system in order for these devices to function properly.

http://kb.sandisk.com/app/answers/detai ... ile-system

Interesting note to add; The Xperia Play is spec'd to support 32GB SDHC max. But myself and several other people have bought, and are using 64GB SDXC cards successfully.. It's been in my phone for months.

Anyhoo.. I'll run that deeper search now and post back with results.

[EDIT]

Actually, there is only a FAT32-Partition displayed and it has a little bit more than 1 GB!

Did you view the image I posted a link to?

I seem to have two partitions now according to Disk Management:
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s91/ ... tled-3.jpg

I didn't want to display here as it's too big for the board.

[Fiona]

If TestDisk doesn't find your partition, you'll probably need datarecovery software.
Please test partition table type None also.
Especially Deeper Search.
As described above, TestDisk doesn't support boot sector recovery for exFAT.

Fiona