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I'm facing a strange problem, I have a 400GB microsd, it is formatted as exFAT

I tried formatting it again to either ntfs or ext4, on either Linux or macOS, but every tool says format complete then when scans again it still shows the files that storage had + that it's exFAT

I tried gparted, disk utilities (macOS), Disks (ubuntu), mkfs all show same result that it successfully formatted the card but after refresh still shows old filesystem + the contents of the memory already there no file was removed

Can anyone help?

Comments
  • 1
    Which Partition Table format is on the SD? MBR or GPT?
    I'd strongly recomment to use GPT, then add a new partition as ext4

    Edit: Some SD Cards have a physical write protection switch on the side.
  • 1
    @PonySlaystation Unfortunately on disks it shows partioning as Unknown, and if I run dmesg I can see this error:

    I/O Error, dev sdb, sector 256 op 0x0 (READ) flags 0x80700 phys_seg 1 prio class 0

    Buffer I/O error on dev sdb, logical block 32, async page read
  • 1
    @gitpush Have you tried a different SD Card reader?
  • 1
    @PonySlaystation Yes, I even have a USB that takes an SD card and still same issues unfortunately
  • 1
    @PonySlaystation When I run fsck no errors are reported
  • 4
    If Linux commas line or Sandisk sd format tool is not working.

    Two scenario

    1. Card have write lock .find the physical switch and put it in write mode

    2. Mostly the memory card faulty or it’s in a state when it’s died ( working in the last state it’s faulty )
  • 0
    @theKarlisK @mansoorkn I am running badblocks now to check, so far only 8 blocks found at 30% of scanning, what else can I try?

    And is the issue I'm facing non fixable? the card is brand new the user just first formatted it to exFAT and copied data to it, the user didn't do anything else as far as I know, now we can't do anything with it
  • 1
    Nuke the mbr - zero it. Disconnect the card and connect it again.

    Has the mbr recovered back automagically? If so - look for a new card, as this one does not accept writes somewhere at the first bytes. If the first bytes aren't writable, it's a critical fault and cannot be worked around
  • 1
    @theKarlisK Thanks man I think I'll take it back, but will try one last thing is what @netikras suggested.

    @netikras any software that helps doing this? Or just a simple mkfs.ntfs would do? I usually use the -f option
  • 1
    @gitpush umount -fl /dev/sda* && dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda count=512

    smth like that. Typing w/ my phone
  • 1
    @gitpush to check -- xxd /dev/sda | head. Should be all zeroes
  • 0
    Cool thank you @theKarlisK @netikras I will try and reply back with what happens
  • 1
    @theKarlisK @netikras I checked xxd and it's all zeros, now checking dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdb count=512

    the result is:

    dd: writing to '/dev/sdb': Input/output error

    105+0 records in

    104+0 records out

    53248 bytes (53 kB, 52 KiB) copied, 223.239 s, 0.2 kB/s

    So apparently it has corrupted blocks, when doing badblocks it gave output: 8/0/0

    Is this something fixable or can be ignored or the card is completely broken?
  • 2
    @gitpush tl;dr; for what @thekarlisk said:

    it's dead, Jim.

    It sucks, I know. But the first 512 bytes are crucial. Get over it and realize that storage devices are only temporary - like car tyres. A single puncture in a bad spot - and you're off getting a new one.

    That's why I avoid large mem cards, unless I absolutely need one. I've also learned it the hard way :)
  • 1
    @netikras @theKarlisK Thank you for your help much appreciated, I guess its time to return it
  • 0
    Did you write a new partition table to it? Sounds like the kernel isnt flushing changes

    Restart after ?
  • 0
    @netikras that was going to be my second assumption hmm seems like my rant
  • 0
    @AvatarOfKaine tried everything buy it didn't work it's in read only mode and no lans to leave that mode
  • 0
    Everywhere I go it's like "everybody act innocent guilty crazy now because we're full of shit" gonna kill someone
  • 0
    Oh sorry last time I said that they screwed me
  • 0
    Cuz they soon pretend this is the first time which is insensible as they approach death by old age
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