Micro SD Confusion for New Tablets

JPW1

Member
Oct 16, 2012
14
0
Android Tablet Newbie here. I just purchased a Lenovo A2109 Android tablet at Best Buy. For the price I think it is great. It is quick thanks to the processor, which I like. The only issue I have with it is the screen, it could certainly be better. Anyway, another perk I found from the device that I wasn't initially aware is that it has a Micro SD slot. I like this option to put HD movies on it for playback while I'm on a flight. So I purchase a Class 10, 32 gig Micro SD card. I formatted it to NTFS and the tablet doesn't see it? I then formatted it to FAT and it was able to mount it just fine. I tried EXFAT as well, but no joy there either. FAT would really be OK if it weren't for the 4 gig file limit. Some of my HD movies are 10 gig. So my questioin is, I'm I just out of options? Has anyone seen this type of issue before and perhaps found a workaround? Any help is appreciated.
 

leeshor

Senior Member
Dec 27, 2011
6,330
1,037
Welcome to the forum

First let me say that a 10GB file for a tablet is overkill. Maybe ion a 55" screen. Now that I have that out of the way;) I don't know why your tablet couldn't see an NTFS formatted SD card. It certainly should have been able to see it. Did you go to storage in settings and try mounting it?
 

JPW1

Member
Oct 16, 2012
14
0
Welcome to the forum

First let me say that a 10GB file for a tablet is overkill. Maybe ion a 55" screen. Now that I have that out of the way;) I don't know why your tablet couldn't see an NTFS formatted SD card. It certainly should have been able to see it. Did you go to storage in settings and try mounting it?

I understand. I just already have the files on my media server.

I did see the option to mount the card in my storage settings, but when I click on it nothing happens. When I format the card back to FAT I don't even need to mount it. It simply sees it and the space can be accessed. Any thoughts?
 

leeshor

Senior Member
Dec 27, 2011
6,330
1,037
I understand. I just already have the files on my media server.

I did see the option to mount the card in my storage settings, but when I click on it nothing happens. When I format the card back to FAT I don't even need to mount it. It simply sees it and the space can be accessed. Any thoughts?

Do you have access to another computer that you try an NTFS format on?

There also is a possibility that you have a faulty card. That does happen. There are also a lot of fake cards out there. If it is a big name card from a reliable source then that possibility is low on the list but still a possibility.
 

JPW1

Member
Oct 16, 2012
14
0
Still no joy. I reformatted it to NTFS on a computer. Works fine there. Transferred files back and forth. I then put it on the tablet and it won't mount it. It doesn't appear to see the card or the files that are on it at all. I can then take it out, reformat it to FAT32 on the computer, then put it back in the tablet and it mounts without me having to do anything. The files are just there. I'm frustrated that I can't save a file above 4 gigs here so I guess my only chance at a potential solution is to go return the card and get another from a different company. I'll go with Sandisk this time. Honestly, and I don't know why, but I just don't think this Android Tablet can see NTFS, but I hope I'm wrong.
 

leeshor

Senior Member
Dec 27, 2011
6,330
1,037
Here is a program you can install (H2Test) on your PC to test the SD card. Maybe it will help to find out of the card is a forgery or not.
 

vampirefo.

Senior Member
Developer
Nov 8, 2011
3,836
1,394
Could be several reasons,
1. Your kernel doesn't support the file system.
2. You need to mount manually via cmd line cause your vold file doesn't understand or support the filesystem.
 

JPW1

Member
Oct 16, 2012
14
0
Could be several reasons,
1. Your kernel doesn't support the file system.
2. You need to mount manually via cmd line cause your vold file doesn't understand or support the filesystem.

Thanks. If it is 1. then I'm probably just out of luck to use NTFS...correct?

For 2., admittedly, I'm new to Android and Tablets. I wasn't even aware I could get to a cmd line in Android. Do you happen to know what I might need to do to accomplish 2.?

Thanks again.
 

vampirefo.

Senior Member
Developer
Nov 8, 2011
3,836
1,394
To cmd line on android you can download a terminal from market or use adb and type commands from your computer.
 

JPW1

Member
Oct 16, 2012
14
0
Well, I've tried more and still no joy. I found a 4gig SD Sandisk card in my Blackberry. I did a low level format on another computer this time. Again, the tablet couldn't see it. Reformatted to FAT32 and the tablet saw it right away. Am I pretty much out of luck at this point to use NTFS? After using two different cards I'm just not sure what else to do to get this tablet to see NTFS on an mSD card.
 

vampirefo.

Senior Member
Developer
Nov 8, 2011
3,836
1,394
Well, I've tried more and still no joy. I found a 4gig SD Sandisk card in my Blackberry. I did a low level format on another computer this time. Again, the tablet couldn't see it. Reformatted to FAT32 and the tablet saw it right away. Am I pretty much out of luck at this point to use NTFS? After using two different cards I'm just not sure what else to do to get this tablet to see NTFS on an mSD card.

check and make sure your kernel supports the files system first.

adb shell

cat /proc/filesystems

here is mine.

root@Vamp:/home/vampirefo/Desktop# adb shell
root@android:/ # cat /proc/filesystems
nodev sysfs
nodev rootfs
nodev bdev
nodev proc
nodev tmpfs
nodev devtmpfs
nodev binfmt_misc
nodev debugfs
nodev sockfs
nodev pipefs
nodev anon_inodefs
nodev rpc_pipefs
nodev configfs
nodev devpts
ext3
ext2
ext4
nodev ramfs
vfat
msdos
iso9660
nodev nfs
nodev cifs
ntfs
nodev autofs
nodev fuse
fuseblk
nodev fusectl
udf
root@android:/ #
 

leeshor

Senior Member
Dec 27, 2011
6,330
1,037
Well, I've tried more and still no joy. I found a 4gig SD Sandisk card in my Blackberry. I did a low level format on another computer this time. Again, the tablet couldn't see it. Reformatted to FAT32 and the tablet saw it right away. Am I pretty much out of luck at this point to use NTFS? After using two different cards I'm just not sure what else to do to get this tablet to see NTFS on an mSD card.

I still don't see why it wouldn't work. It certainly should. The only thing I can think of to try is taking an NTFS formatted card to the Best Buy and see if you can duplicate the problem. It may be that the card reader is faulty.
 

JPW1

Member
Oct 16, 2012
14
0
check and make sure your kernel supports the files system first.

adb shell

cat /proc/filesystems

here is mine.

root@Vamp:/home/vampirefo/Desktop# adb shell
root@android:/ # cat /proc/filesystems
nodev sysfs
nodev rootfs
nodev bdev
nodev proc
nodev tmpfs
nodev devtmpfs
nodev binfmt_misc
nodev debugfs
nodev sockfs
nodev pipefs
nodev anon_inodefs
nodev rpc_pipefs
nodev configfs
nodev devpts
ext3
ext2
ext4
nodev ramfs
vfat
msdos
iso9660
nodev nfs
nodev cifs
ntfs
nodev autofs
nodev fuse
fuseblk
nodev fusectl
udf
root@android:/ #


Any idea what this means?


1|app_113@android:/ $cat proc/filesystems
nodev sysfs
nodev rootfs
nodev bdev
nodev proc
nodev cgroup
nodev tmpfs
nodev debugfs
nodev sockfs
nodev usbfs
nodev pipefs
nodev anon_inodefs
nodev rpc_pipefs
nodev devpts
ext3
ext2
ext4
nodev ramfs
vfat
nodev nfs
ntfs
nodev fuse
fuseblk
nodev fusectl
nodev oprofilefs
app_113@android:/ $
 
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