Why does my SD Card disappear after a few seconds?

[richardfrank]

SD card disappears after a few seconds...

Really hope someone can suggest something new?

I have a Surface Pro 3 i5 running Win10 - all up to date.

I recently purchased a Lexar microSDxc 128GB card (a very fast one 633x) from amazon.co.uk

Popping it into the machine it appeared as I'd have expected and then a minute or two later just simply disappeared (not just from Explorer, but from the Disk Management interface - and from the Device Manager too).

I've so far tried the following (as recommended in various posts across the web):

• A different card (I have a 256mb card from a long time ago)
• Uninstalling/deleting the existing driver and allowing Win to install a generic one (which I've done and it's still there) - as per the well-known reddit post
• Part removing the card from the socket
• Taking the card and formatting on my desktop to NTFS and doing it with a full (not quick) format

...but nothing helps.

Every time I put it in, I get the same behaviour - all fine for a minute or two, then simply disappears.

If it's a dud Pro 3 I'm a bit stuffed since it's out of warranty (I've never had need to use that slot before) - but there do seem to be an awful lot of people out there with something like this problem - anything I'm missing?

I'd really appreciate any insights or suggestions.

 

[Guzzler3]

First, reformat the SD card with the software from the SD Association (you can get it from here: https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/index.html).

If that doesn't work, I hate to suggest this but... reload Windows 8.1. Then see if it behaves properly. I have a feeling that it might be a driver issue in W10.

If none of those work, yea... your SD card slot might be toast.

 

[richardfrank]

Thanks so much for your thoughts and time on this...

I've just used that SD software, but to no avail. As before, the SD card appears perfectly normally (and can be clicked on, accessed - even written to) for almost exactly 30 seconds before simply disappearing from both Explorer and the Disk Management interface.

I really can't face regressing to Win 8.1 - but if it's true that it's a driver issue (which I suspect is correct), I've two questions:

1. Why is it only affecting some people?
2. How do I get this escalated so that someone at Microsoft takes notice?

Anyone else out there found a solution - driving me a bit nuts!

 

[richardfrank]

Hi All

Deeply frustrated by this - I have an expensive microSD card sitting here that I can't use and I see quite a few people across the web saying they're having problems, yet I've not bought a cheap or brand-less card.

No ideas anyone else?

 

[FGI Industries]

The Microsoft FAQ page recommends the following when the memory card is not working properly in Lumia Phones:

Memory card is not recognized

Make sure of the following:

You have a fast 4–128GBmicroSD memory card by a well-known manufacturer.
Your memory card is not full (there should be at least about 50 MB of free memory on the card that is used).
Your memory card is not password protected. To check if your memory card is password protected, connect it to a PC with a USB reader that has a microSD card slot. If the card cannot be accessed, it is password protected. Remove the password from your memory card using the device where it was previously used.

Memory card is not working as expected

If your memory card has thousands of media items, the file system scan may consume considerable amounts of your phone processing power even when running in the background. If you think that is the issue, just simply go to App list, select Storage Sense, tap the SD card bar and tap remove SD card. You can access your memory card next time you restart your phone.

If you see the Scan SD card and fix errors message box. Tap Yes to have your phone scan the card and try to fix any errors. If you see an SD card scan failed message, insert the memory card into a PC and try and fix it there, follow these steps:

Format your memory card on a PC

Important! Before formatting your memory card, make sure you have a backup of the data as it is lost during formatting:

Connect your memory card to a PC with a USB reader that has a microSD card slot. If your card reader or PC has a regular SD card slot, you can use a microSD card adapter.
Use the File Explorer and browse to the removable storage on your computer, right-click the memory card and select Format.
For 4-32 GB cards, select the file system FAT32 and allocation unit size 32 kilobytes and press Start. For 64-128 GB cards, select the file system exFAT and allocation unit size 128kB.
Press OK to confirm the data loss warning message. When the formatting process is complete, press OK.
Restore only the data that is compatible with your phone (JPEG or MP4 in the photos folder or MP3 in the music folder).
Right-click the memory card, select Eject, and wait until it is safe to remove the card.
Insert the memory card into the slot in the phone until it locks into place.

 

[anon(7901790)]

What card were you using previously? Sure, it's possible the card reader is bad, but the simpler and cheaper thing to try is to return the card and get a replacement. There are several reviews on Amazon of reliability issues and even counterfeits being sold.

 

[Bydio]

I've done all of the above and still the SD card is read initially when inserted but then disappears as soon as I try to download an app to it. The SD card is good as it works fine in my reader in my computer. I believe now it has something to do with the Store app and the file transfer system in Windows 10. It is visible and if I try to move an app to it from my device, same thing, disappears. I checked to see if I could update the drivers for the SD card itself but it does give that option. I've formatted in exFat quick and slow as well. It is a SDXC Samsung (genuine) 128g. The SD card worked fine before but only up to say 5 apps then would constantly give error messages. My husband's works fine but he was never an insider. I would receive builds and then everything went down hill. Every build I would lose something. I stopped the build reviewing and I reset the phone and reinstalled windows 10 as it did not give me an option to go back to Windows 8. I have the Lumia 640. I would go back to Windows 8 if that would fix everything but apparently, these are ongoing issues. Nothing seems to ever get completely fixed before they move on to another build.