Quite often, owners of Android devices encounter an unpleasant problem when the phone does not see the microSD flash drive . What to do in this case, what methods of troubleshooting to apply? First you need to determine the root cause and analyze possible situations.
Why doesn't my phone see a microSD flash drive?
It goes without saying that there can be as many reasons for such failures. Here, there are software failures of the system itself, and the banal lack of contact between the memory card and the card reader, and violations in the file system of the USB drive, and even physical damage.
However, the situation may look twofold. On the one hand, this may concern the newly purchased new card, and on the other, the problem may be that over time the phone has ceased to see the MicroSD flash drive. What to do in this case, now it will be considered.
By the way, the issue of compatibility of the card and the phone itself will not be discussed here. This is worth paying attention to separately, as obsolete gadgets are not able to detect the latest generation SD cards. Moreover, it may be that the memory of the card is larger than the one declared in the device support. So in this case, the card will not be determined.
The phone does not see the microSD flash drive: what to do first?
If there are problems with an already installed memory card, no matter how corny it sounds, the cause may be the usual pollution of the device, say, dust. Agree, not every user is constantly cleaning his phone.
Here the solution is the simplest: remove the card from the phone, wipe the contacts on the flash drive itself and on the card reader, and then reinsert it. By the way, this option is also suitable for new cards. Well, you never know, the contacts just didn’t work. Therefore, do not rush to run to the service center or throw away the card you just bought.
Using Recovery Mode
If the simplest contact manipulations do not help, you can use the special Recovery mode provided in any Android device, although for a start you can perform a normal reboot.
To access the mode we need, we simultaneously hold down the power buttons and decrease the volume. This is the most common option. But, in principle, each manufacturer can prescribe a different combination. This is not the point. After the device starts, a special service menu appears, where you need to select the Wipe cache partition item, after which you just need to reboot the device. If, after this, the phone does not see MicroSD, we proceed to more effective measures. They will be radically different from the previous steps.
Problems with the microSD card on the computer: what can I do?
Well, firstly, it is worth noting a generally exceptional situation when both the computer and the phone do not see the MicroSD flash drive. This is worse. On the phone, this problem is almost never fixed.
First, insert the card into another device or computer and make sure that it works. If it is detected, the problem is only with the phone or the names of the disks on the computer. If the card is not detected, the problem is already either with the file system or with the memory card itself.
So, for starters, you should use disk management, which is called quickly enough on Windows. You can use a combination of Win + X followed by a choice of disk management or enter the diskmgmt.msc command in the Run menu bar field.
This method is good because in the main window absolutely all connected disk devices, even unformatted ones, will be displayed. It is very possible that the letter of a removable card, such as “F”, matches the designation of the optical drive. We right-click on the map and select the letter change command.
However, after such an operation, a situation may also occur when the phone does not see the MicroSD flash drive. What to do, because it is already recognized on the computer? The easiest way to remedy the situation will be partial or full formatting of the media. However, full formatting with deleting all the data and re-creating the file system still looks preferable.
It can be produced either here, or from the standard "Explorer". In both cases, the right-click opens the context menu, where the format string is selected. In the new window you need to uncheck the quick format, and then specify the creation of the FAT32 file system. But, in principle, FAT32 is installed by default by the system. Now it remains to confirm the start of the process and wait for its end. After that, you can safely insert the card into the phone.
MicroSD Card Recovery
Now a few words about another situation when the phone does not see the microSD flash drive. What should I do if it is detected on a computer, but not on a mobile gadget?
First, you should again connect the card to the computer and laptop and conduct a standard check of the device for errors. We use the same "Explorer" with the subsequent transition to the properties menu. There we select the service and disk check section with the obligatory indication of automatic error correction. Also, although this is not necessary, you can use a surface test to automatically repair damaged sectors.
Another option involves correcting access to the memory card on computer terminals, as well as normalizing the parameters and keys of the registry in the HKLM branch. You should find the SYSTEM folder in the directory tree in which the StorageDevicePolicies directory is located. On the right side, the defining parameter must be assigned a zero value (as a rule, this is 0x00000000 (0)). After that, the problem should disappear.
Finally, if the card has minor physical damage, which is usually associated with malfunctions of the microcontroller, you will have to look for special formatting utilities, having previously learned the VID and PID parameters. The same can be done using special programs, such as USBIDCheck, or by disassembling the card (where the data is indicated on the internal microcircuit).
Then, for each card of a certain manufacturer, from the Internet, in accordance with the known parameters, the program is downloaded, after which formatting is performed.
Conclusion
If for some reason the removable device is not detected, do not panic. First you need to determine the root cause of the failures. As practice shows, any of the proposed methods helps to solve the problem. If we talk specifically about phones, here, rather, cleaning the device from pollution, formatting the card or restoring functionality, as described in the last version, is more suitable.
By the way, the issue of compatibility of the card and the phone itself was not considered here. This is worth paying attention to separately, as obsolete gadgets are not able to detect the latest generation SD cards.