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I have, not one but two microSD cards that my phone (Samsung Galaxy Young, Gingerbread OS) seem to have broken. One is 1GB and the other is 2GB. The 1GB one won't be formatted.

When I put the 1GB one into the computer the computer prompts for a formatting. I don't care for the content so I tried to format it, but to no avail; the format fails and I have no idea what to do to make it work again.

I tried using the SDformatter software, but it can't format the card as it is write protected. I'm googling to solve it but so far no success.

My computer OS is win7 if that's of any relevance.

Tetsujin
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Gemtastic
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3 Answers3

32

Golden Rule #1

As soon as an SD card [or USB stick] starts to play up - bin it. They're not worth the effort once they error.

I go through literally hundreds of them for work. Low write count, high read count.

If they error once, they will error again. Quality control on them is, let's say… variable.

Some of them have a controller chip that will permanently lock them to read only if they detect a write error, as a preservation measure. There is no way to unlock them once this happens.

Golden Rule #2

Don't use them to store anything valuable.

Edit:
If the data on an SD card was truly valuable, it is theoretically possible to replace the controller chip, or even directly access the memory itself. This service can be performed by data recovery specialists, but they charge a lot for their efforts & still can make no guarantees.

Rules 1 & 2 are still 'best practise'

Tetsujin
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0

For Widows: Use DiskPart in the terminal

The following will wipe the disk, and you will have the ability to format the disk to it's full capacity (provided that the disk is not faulty).

  • Open a terminal as admin

  • Type: "diskpart" and run it

From DiskPart:

 DISKPART> list disk  
 DISKPART> select disk {disk number} //example: "select disk 3"
 DISKPART> clean
  • Exit DiskPart
  • Open "Create and format hard drive partitions" from the Start menu.
  • Format your disk.
Bradley Nielsen
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0

My friend faced a similar problem with his pendrive, although it was a little bit different, it was related to write protected and my friend find the below method( I do not know whether it worked or not), if you are interested, give it a try at your own risk.

  1. Open Start Menu
  2. Run, type regedit and press Enter, this will open the registry editor.
  3. Navigate to the following path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies
  4. Double click the key WriteProtect in the right pane and set the value to 0 In the Value Data Box and press OK button 5.Exit Registry

You should remove it as below:

  1. Pull the USB flash drive out of your computer's USB port. Check the bottom end and sides of the drive to see if it has a write protection switch. Push the plastic switch into the "Unlock" position.
  2. Insert the USB flash drive back into the USB port. Close the pop-up window that appears and navigate to the Start menu. Select "My Computer."
  3. Locate the drive letter that corresponds to your USB flash drive in the "My Computer" window, such as "F:\" or "D:." Double-click the drive letter. Attempt to use one of the files on the drive. Right-click one of the files if you still receive a write protection error and select "Properties."
  4. Navigate to the "General" tab and remove the check mark from the box labeled "Read-Only." Click "Apply" and then attempt to use the file.
  5. Return to the Start menu and click "Run." Type "Regedit" and press "Enter." Navigate to the registry folder "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies."
  6. Check if there is an entry at the right side of the window labeled "Write Protect". If the entry is not there Right-click inside the window and choose "New D Word." Type "Write Protect" and press "Enter."
  7. Double-click the "Write Protect" entry. Check that the value listed in the text box is "0." If it is not, delete the value and replace it with "0."
  8. Close the registry editor and attempt to use any of the files on the USB drive. Return to the "My Computer" window if you continue to receive a write protection error message.
  9. Right-click the drive letter for the USB flash drive and choose "Format." Click the drop-down menu named "File System" and select "Fat32."

  10. Click "Start" to format the USB flash drive and remove the write-protection feature

    I have told you that it's for pendrive, make appropriate changes whenever it requires.

Tetsujin
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RogUE
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