Database Develop

[Q] Help: External SD unreadable after flashing ROMs

Hi,
What would be making the files on my external SD invisible to my phone?
When I was running stock 2.1 JH7 on my Captivate I was able to access files on my 16gb class 2 external SD card just fine.
However after flashing Cognition 3.04 and then Perception I am unable to see any of the files on the external SD card. When I browse to /sdcard/sd the file browser reports accurate memory stats (3.67 gb used) but say no files. Via USB I'm able to mount both internal and external SD cards and perform file management via my PC (such as copying files from one internal to external and vice versa).
I have removed the external SD card from my phone and formatted it fat32 and copied files back onto it and reinstalled in my phone and still can't see any files on the card from the phone.
Shot in the dark... Is there an issue with the lagfix file system and the fat32 on the external sd?
Any suggestions would be appreciated!
thanks,
Fred

check /sd/external_sd

This happened to me just once in my last 50 flashes....only thing I did was reflash and it started working. Sorry this doesn't help since you already flashed again and still have the issue.

psyopstt said:
check /sd/external_sd
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That led me to the right spot. On my phone my external SD is at:
/sdcard/external_sd
Where /sdcard/ is the internal SD card
What then is /sdcard/sd ? This is where I looked before for external SD data... does the path change with various ROMs?

think they changed the mount points of the external sd from 2.1 and 2.2 around a bit
in 2.1 the external is /sdcard/sd
in 2.2 its /sdcard/external_sd

psyopstt said:
think they changed the mount points of the external sd from 2.1 and 2.2 around a bit
in 2.1 the external is /sdcard/sd
in 2.2 its /sdcard/external_sd
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks again.
/sdcard/sd is still on my system but I can't see any files. Oh well.

yeah you will still see a /sdcard/sd folder in your explorer but that /sdcard/sd is not pointing to your external sd card after the froyo update. My guess is that they made a directory /sdcard/sd for backwards compatibility with older apps.

Cyanogenmod 7 External Sd Card problem.

Hi all,
I have flash cyanogenmod 7 gingerbread relase from this Thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=940095&highlight=external
Everytings is perfectly working. But my 8Gb external sd card is not detected. Anyone face with this problem ?
Thanks and best regards,

I might be wrong but have you read the Faqs on the rom .
no SD card .
jje

Hmm you are right.
But cyanogen say;
"What about sdcards?
internal = sdcard, external = emmc
Only internal can be shared over usb at the moment."
I download QTADB for windows and i can transfer my Music folders to emmc folder in my phone. Start Power AMP and power amp rescan folder is not detect my emmc folder.
How can i solve this problem ?

Hi Again,
Finally i solve the problem. And everything in my ext sd card is back. Problem is emmc folder (means external sd card in cyanogenmod 7) not permitted for write and read.
I use QtADB Terminal for editing the directorys permition.
Step 1: type "su"
Step 2: go to root directory. If you type "ls" and can you see "emmc" you are right position.
Step 3: "chmod 777 emmc" or "$chmod 777 emmc" (for write and read permitted.)
Step 4: Reboot the phone and everythings are back in External Sd Card in EMMC
And Windows detect 2 Storage Drive now. One of 6GB Internal Sd Card, One of 8GB External Sd Card. And i can use my Music player Power AMP.
Everythings perfect for me now. Cyanogen is great ROM but this permision problem should bu fixed. Because i spend three day for solve this problem.
Regards,

Hi, I hate to open up an old thread, but does anyone know if this works with the newer nightly builds? I'm having what seems to be the exact same problem... Also, when I go to settings > storage, it doesn't register the card there, and the mount sd card option is blanked out. I'm guessing that that's cause of the emmc thing, but shouldn't it register the extra storage space in the settings somewhere? at the moment, it looks like 16gb has just disappeared...
Also, I'd liketo change these permissions from the phone, using terminal emulator, if that's possible... But your steps don't seem to work for that one.

Sahmuald said:
Hi, I hate to open up an old thread, but does anyone know if this works with the newer nightly builds? I'm having what seems to be the exact same problem... Also, when I go to settings > storage, it doesn't register the card there, and the mount sd card option is blanked out. I'm guessing that that's cause of the emmc thing, but shouldn't it register the extra storage space in the settings somewhere? at the moment, it looks like 16gb has just disappeared...
Also, I'd liketo change these permissions from the phone, using terminal emulator, if that's possible... But your steps don't seem to work for that one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not seeing that behavior at all. Are you sure it is not a problem with your SD card?
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA Premium App

Sahmuald said:
Hi, I hate to open up an old thread, but does anyone know if this works with the newer nightly builds? I'm having what seems to be the exact same problem... Also, when I go to settings > storage, it doesn't register the card there, and the mount sd card option is blanked out. I'm guessing that that's cause of the emmc thing, but shouldn't it register the extra storage space in the settings somewhere? at the moment, it looks like 16gb has just disappeared...
Also, I'd liketo change these permissions from the phone, using terminal emulator, if that's possible... But your steps don't seem to work for that one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
are you sure you flashed from a froyo 2.2 build. I flashed from 2.2.1 a while back when I first flashed CM7 and I had the same issues with my external SD, not sure if this is still a pre-req but all the instructions still say to flash from 2.2 when first going to CM7. see link below: I also had scrambled video when booting CM7 coming from 2.2.1 so that is another indication something is wrong, just make sure you follow the steps to a T and know that flashing from 2.2.1 froyo is not the same as flashing from 2.2 froyo
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1061946
anyways, this could also be an issue that you just aren't sure where to look coming from a samsung rom to CM7. To view your external in CM7 you have to open file manager (astro or whatever you use) hit the home button (file manager route), click the emmc folder and it should be your external SD card. In samsung roms it's in the external_sd folder off the internal SD card.
when I mount my drives via computer both drives come up and they are both read/write so not sure what the guy a couple posts up was talking about, could have been an early bug or something not sure, anyways works fine in the latest nightly so i'm happy

i'm having the same issue.
EMMC not seen by non root explorers
the only way to acces the emmc is by using a root explorer...
LE: found a fix:
External SD card will get mounted as /mnt/emmc. This may not be visible to all apps. If you desperately need the contents visible to apps only looking in /mnt/sdcard, create an empty directory there and remount the /mnt/emmc there as well:
Using either the terminal emulator or adb shell:
su
mkdir -p /mnt/sdcard/external_sd
mount /dev/block/vold/179:9 /mnt/sdcard/external_sd
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Note: This is only a temporary fix for when needed. It will cause issues when you try to use USB sharing later. Write the following to get things back to normal:
umount /mnt/sdcard/external_sd
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
fix found HERE: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1061946

no /sdcard/external_sd
Just flashed to cyanogenmod7.1 found the same problem on my sgs2. ESFileExplorer shows the directory /sdcard/external_sd but it's empty (when I know it isn't).
If you go to settings > cyanogenmod settings > application the is a tick box "use internal storage"
Reboot, all files that were on the ext_sd are now mounted in /sdcard.
Haven't found a way of distinguishing which files are actually on the ext_sd and which are on the internal sd but they are all there.

cyanogen 7.1?
lowdmt said:
Just flashed to cyanogenmod7.1 found the same problem on my sgs2. ESFileExplorer shows the directory /sdcard/external_sd but it's empty (when I know it isn't).
If you go to settings > cyanogenmod settings > application the is a tick box "use internal storage"
Reboot, all files that were on the ext_sd are now mounted in /sdcard.
Haven't found a way of distinguishing which files are actually on the ext_sd and which are on the internal sd but they are all there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got a sgs2 and tried everything described above but still no sd card, its just not mounted according to astro file explorer.
I think this sux, cyanogen claims to be the best bla bla bla, but it cant even find/mount a simple sd card........whatever, im going back to my lightning rom. it atleast sees everything i got on my phone
Peace

[Q] So, where is my external sd card in folders?

So, where is my external sd card in folder structure? I have these folders, in the list showing when connected by USB and looking at the root level (shows as E:\ on my computer):
external_sd
sd (shows as a 'hidden' file/folder)
Is one of these actually the external sd card mount point (4GB)? And how do you see what is the remaining space on the card while in this view--not looking at it on the phone?

external_sd is the external card.

Which rom are you running?

My external card shows up as another drive when I connect via USB and click on Mass Storage on the phone and mount it. It is not a folder, but a physical drive with its own drive letter.

sd was used in 2.1
external_sd was used from 2.2 up
they are linked shortcuts that work within the android system, but dont work when unmounted to windows as the external sd will show up as another drive.

TRusselo said:
sd was used in 2.1
external_sd was used from 2.2 up
they are linked shortcuts that work within the android system, but dont work when unmounted to windows as the external sd will show up as another drive.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very informative. Thanks.

Finaly a solution for people with dead internal sdcard in galaxy s

My internal SD in Samsung galaxy s (Bell Model) died 6 months back and I have been using it since then just for making calls. Internal or external sdcard wont mount. After months of trial and error I was finally able to mount the partition created in the external sdcard.
Things I did are.
1. Flashed with JVT firmware
2. Flashed with Semaphore_kernel_JVT_1.8.0 kernal
3. I guess the phone will work only if you have a external sdcard of more than 2 GB
4. If you have 2 GB external sdcard two partition will be created sdcard partition with the size of 18 MB and data partition for the phone with the size of 1.87 GB. The sdcard partition that is created does not mount by itself. To mount the sdcard I made changes to vold.fstab which is in /etc folder.
Procedure
install script manager and mount r/w from market. mount the system partition in r/w mode. browse with script manager as root(change setting in config). go to /system/etc folder. change file permission for vold.fstab to rwxrwxrwx then edit the file as text. change
dev_mount sdcard /mnt/sdcard auto /devices/platform/s3c-sdhci.0/mmc_host/mmc0
to
dev_mount sdcard /mnt/sdcard auto /devices/platform/s3c-sdhci.2/mmc_host/mmc2
Change s3c-sdhci.0 to s3c-sdhci.2 and
change mmc0 to mmc2
Save the file and reboot. Thats it your sdcard partition will be mounted. you have to do this each time you flash a rom.

Very nice guide man, this will surely help a lot of people, including my friend who's got the same problem as you did.
Cheers man!

Thanks Magnumutz

Hi, nice guide, i have few phones with broken sdcard, i check this solution. I want ask you, if i need change in original rom vold.fstab, how i can open and archive files for odin?

mavr15, install su file manager, mount system into RW mode, go to /etc folder, CHMOD permission for vold.fstab to 777, open vold.fstab file and edit it as given.

I have i9000, my phone can't start. I boot in to recovery, manual root wit rageagainstthecage, remount sysytem to rw. change /system/etc/vold.fstab. Repartitione sdcard with 2 partition, first fat32 for user sdcard, and second ext3 for /data. my phone sdcard corrupted. But i need change something, my phone boot and i have few error messages.

how can i install file manager where as my storage is zero
can i mount manually and how?

install script manager and mount r/w from market. mount the system partition in r/w mode. browse with script manager as root(change setting in config). go to /system/etc folder. change file permission for vold.fstab to rwxrwxrwx then edit the file as text. change
dev_mount sdcard /mnt/sdcard auto /devices/platform/s3c-sdhci.0/mmc_host/mmc0
to
dev_mount sdcard /mnt/sdcard auto /devices/platform/s3c-sdhci.2/mmc_host/mmc2
save to file and reboot. you are done you can view the sdcard partition.

HELP
can someone make a video tutorial please, if they can get it working
seems very confusing from basic uses of odin :S

that's easy just following step by step:
first ,you need make 2 partition on sd with MPT(MiniPartitionTools) 1-EXT4 2-FAT32
flash phone with JVT,also flash Semaphore_kernel_JVT_1.9.1
install any custom rom like CM7 or GalaxyRom_V12_GINGERBREAD_JVT_I9000
put SD into phone and power on,,,,,,
enable usb debug and install rootexplorer.apk
open it and find vold.fstab and follow first post for edite vold.fstab

will the phone work without a memory card if i fix it using this method?

kachmul2004 said:
will the phone work without a memory card if i fix it using this method?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, you need Ext SD card, when trying to do a switch, But easier method is to use a speedmod kernel, which does not need scripts or editing just a two partition SD card and other methods to recover your Internal SD card
check out My Android Solutions , link below for guides

xsenman said:
Nope, you need Ext SD card, when trying to do a switch, But easier method is to use a speedmod kernel, which does not need scripts or editing just a two partition SD card and other methods to recover your Internal SD card
check out My Android Solutions , link below for guides
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
am trying to flash the kernel but i keep getting a write-fail error.. How do i flash it via odin? i had put it in the pda part

kachmul2004 said:
am trying to flash the kernel but i keep getting a write-fail error.. How do i flash it via odin? i had put it in the pda part
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you make two primary partitions on your SD card in vfat format?

really simple fix for me ..
instlled android 2.2.1 + speedmod kernel .. (which as a fix for internal sd card error)
created a sd card with 2 parttions ext4 2gb and fat32 the rest ..
i9000 ready to work ...

can't understand
and mount r/w from market. mount the system partition in r/w mode

sneeker5580 said:
can someone make a video tutorial please, if they can get it working
seems very confusing from basic uses of odin :S
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mavr15 said:
I have i9000, my phone can't start.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, i'm in the exact same situation, can't get past boot. I can use CWM, and flash with Odin if needed. An 8GB class 6 microSD is on hand.
What do i need to download? Noobie step by step would be welcome =)

Hello,
in cm10.1, how is this process?
The lines changes:
internal sdcard
# dev_mount emmc /storage/sdcard1 auto /devices/platform/s3c-sdhci.2/mmc_host/mmc2
# external sdcard
dev_mount sdcard /storage/sdcard0 1 /devices/platform/s3c-sdhci.0/mmc_host/mmc0
And change sdhci.0 and mmc0 to sdhci.2 and mmc2 doesn't work for the recognition
Thank you

[Q] mnt/sdcard versus /sdcard

Is there a difference between the /mnt/sdcard and /sdcard locations on my Nook Color? I am thinking the mnt refers to the internal card, and the sdcard refers to the "external" card that we can easily insert. Any comments are welcomed to help me understand the difference, as I am prompted to save downloads to "/mnt/sdcard/". Thank you in advance.

gsutton said:
Is there a difference between the /mnt/sdcard and /sdcard locations on my Nook Color? I am thinking the mnt refers to the internal card, and the sdcard refers to the "external" card that we can easily insert. Any comments are welcomed to help me understand the difference, as I am prompted to save downloads to "/mnt/sdcard/". Thank you in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No difference. For reasons unknown to me, your sd card is mounted in two different places ("/sdcard" and "/mnt/sdcard"). Also, your internal memory is mounted in two different places ("/emmc" and "/mnt/emmc"). If you use a file manager app (I recommend File Explorer) and look at the contents of either of the duplicated mounts, you will find exactly the same content. Ditto for the usb storage (one under root, and one under /mnt).
Someone better-versed in the guts of Android will need to explain why there are two mount points for every storage location.
edit: i am also assuming you're on CM7. If you're on stock B&N software or rooted, the duplicate mounting points may be handled differently...

Thank you for the rapid reply. I am running rooted stock 1.2, but your comments extend to my device as well. Thank you again.