HDD GURU FORUMS

Hi

Another problem with a SD card.

This one has no brand. It's a micro SD card 8GB.
The story:
The client said that she changed the card from a Nokia phone (old one with Nokia OS system) and inserted it into a smartphone with Android. Nothing else.

Problem: the card is only recognized with just 30MB. Can't get it to get the other space.
Can only a swap of phones create this kind of problem? Or could there be still something that she didn't told??

Any hints to access the full size of the card?
Thanks

pclab wrote:Hi

Another problem with a SD card.

This one has no brand. It's a micro SD card 8GB.
The story:
The client said that she changed the card from a Nokia phone (old one with Nokia OS system) and inserted it into a smartphone with Android. Nothing else.

Problem: the card is only recognized with just 30MB. Can't get it to get the other space.
Can only a swap of phones create this kind of problem? Or could there be still something that she didn't told??

Any hints to access the full size of the card?
Thanks

PClab ,
I have PC 3000 flash with me .In this case i think see has bent the card .Try checking for a bend dent under microscope please

Hi Amarbir

Here's a picture of it.
It has a very small dent on the side, but could this be the reason?

Thanks

Probably flash memory failure.

I have seen this a lot with Kingston MicroSD's.

You will have to wire it to an adapter to read as with any other Monolith, and hope that it isn't what Sean says! I would say it is 50/50 chance to recover because it could be controller failure or NAND failure.

If you remove the little black sticker you will see the pads to solder. you will need the pinout of it. Which Flash DR equipment do you have?

BTW, you are allowed to crop pictures!

By flash memory failure, I meant degradation to a level where the controller cannot perform ECC correction, so the device "shuts down".

If this is the case, then you'll have to do as Brian says. Wire into the memory direct, read the raw data (with the SA data containg ECC data and so on) and then re-assemble the data with software ECC. Easier said than done!!!

Hi guys

I still don't own any Flash tool. Maybe I get a SD flash tool (NOT )

So, the only way is to read with a flash tool after wiring it up, right?

@HaQue: the photo was out of my phone in a hurry ehehehheh. Next time....

Thank you all

Captain Obvious says Don't get the SD tool!

pcimage wrote:By flash memory failure, I meant degradation to a level where the controller cannot perform ECC correction, so the device "shuts down".

If this is the case, then you'll have to do as Brian says. Wire into the memory direct, read the raw data (with the SA data containg ECC data and so on) and then re-assemble the data with software ECC. Easier said than done!!!

pcimage,

If the device (controller) shuts down, should not the whole memory be unavailable ? Remember 30 MByte is still available. The controller is working fine, but it can only see a portion of the memory space. Does not this point to two possible faults, physical problem on the NAND, or firmware problem ?

There is a lot of speculation around this type of failure. To be honest, if you have the tools to recover, we would just go to the reading part. Knowing the root cause is not a priority because it doesn't add to any of the recovery info, it actually just wastes time. You hear stories about people going to .ru flash tool sites and "fixing" the UFD's.. many times the sites that detail this are a mask to submit advertising or malware.

when you are configuring the Flash device, you setup partitioning and other parameters then flash this data to the device.. I would loosely call this the firmware. It holds the type of memory chip, the timing of it, partition info (not to be confused with a real HDD partition though) and some other parameters.

I believe some of this gets corrupted. Other possibilities could be some component failing or going out of spec...

A lot of the time, this small "partition" that is left "working" wont actually work properly.. or it will be read only or other such behaviour.

I don't know how you would go about testing for the exact cause without some really dedicated work.. on the surface it seems a simple matter of a fairly simple electronic circuit, but due to the lack of real specs for an exact device (not just a controller reference circuit) and the time .. it would be quite a task

better to recover and move on..

my 2c

Matiw wrote:

pcimage wrote:By flash memory failure, I meant degradation to a level where the controller cannot perform ECC correction, so the device "shuts down".

If this is the case, then you'll have to do as Brian says. Wire into the memory direct, read the raw data (with the SA data containg ECC data and so on) and then re-assemble the data with software ECC. Easier said than done!!!

pcimage,

If the device (controller) shuts down, should not the whole memory be unavailable ? Remember 30 MByte is still available. The controller is working fine, but it can only see a portion of the memory space. Does not this point to two possible faults, physical problem on the NAND, or firmware problem ?

All I can say is that with virtually every failed monolithic Sandisk flash I have come across that is "seen" by the system, they all have this 30mb of viewable area, nothing much in it though.

I'm guessing it maybe a small amount of memory within the controller chip itself, which becomes viewable in th event of the main flash memory failing.

Could be wrong and if so no doubt I'll be pounced on for my error in logic by certain members of this community.