Why can't my droid see my files?
February 28, 2012 11:33 AM Subscribe
I've got an Android-powered Samsung Galaxy Player 5.0 and a 32GB microSD card. The contents of the card don't appear to be accessible to the device, though it's a bit more complicated than that...
To start with, I plugged the microSD card into the droid, then hooked up via USB to my Windows PC and mounted the storage. I then copied some files from the droid's internal storage to the microSD card. That done, I disconnected, only to discover that while the droid could see the card, and mount/unmount it, it couldn't actually see the files- just a couple of default directories.
So I pulled the microSD card, plugged it into the SD adaptor, and plugged it into my computer's built-in cardreader, and... no files at all. Just the same default directories as the droid thought were there.
Confused, I pulled that out, plugged it back into the droid, and remounted the droid's storage in Windows, only to discover that I can view the files in Windows Explorer while the SD card is plugged into the droid and mounted that way. I figured maybe I needed to format the SD card, so I try to copy the files back to the droid's internal storage, only to discover that the droid thinks that the space being taken up by those files originally is still occupied.
So now I've copied those files off to a folder on my Windows desktop, and I'm completely baffled. Here's my questions:
1) Why can I only see those files when I've got the SD card in the droid with the storage mounted?
2) Why can't my droid see the files?
3) Why does the droid think that that space is still taken up when the files aren't there anymore?
4) What's the proper way to use a microSD card with an Android, since the obvious "treat it like every other device that takes flash storage" is apparently wrong?
To start with, I plugged the microSD card into the droid, then hooked up via USB to my Windows PC and mounted the storage. I then copied some files from the droid's internal storage to the microSD card. That done, I disconnected, only to discover that while the droid could see the card, and mount/unmount it, it couldn't actually see the files- just a couple of default directories.
So I pulled the microSD card, plugged it into the SD adaptor, and plugged it into my computer's built-in cardreader, and... no files at all. Just the same default directories as the droid thought were there.
Confused, I pulled that out, plugged it back into the droid, and remounted the droid's storage in Windows, only to discover that I can view the files in Windows Explorer while the SD card is plugged into the droid and mounted that way. I figured maybe I needed to format the SD card, so I try to copy the files back to the droid's internal storage, only to discover that the droid thinks that the space being taken up by those files originally is still occupied.
So now I've copied those files off to a folder on my Windows desktop, and I'm completely baffled. Here's my questions:
1) Why can I only see those files when I've got the SD card in the droid with the storage mounted?
2) Why can't my droid see the files?
3) Why does the droid think that that space is still taken up when the files aren't there anymore?
4) What's the proper way to use a microSD card with an Android, since the obvious "treat it like every other device that takes flash storage" is apparently wrong?
(I don't know if the internal one is actually an sd-card or not, but it appears that way to the OS.)
posted by blue_wardrobe at 12:25 PM on February 28, 2012
posted by blue_wardrobe at 12:25 PM on February 28, 2012
Response by poster: Update: I reformatted the SD card and this time moved files from my computer to the separate mount point Windows created for the microSD card (which is, recall, plugged into the droid). Now the droid appears to be able to see the files just fine. So basically instead of using the external-sd directory in the internal sd directory, I need to copy straight to the separate mount point. A bit awkward, and I'm still unclear on where the hell those files actually were, but I think I see what I need to do.
I still don't understand why the droid thought that that space is still taken up.
posted by Pope Guilty at 12:35 PM on February 28, 2012
I still don't understand why the droid thought that that space is still taken up.
posted by Pope Guilty at 12:35 PM on February 28, 2012
Response by poster: blue_wardrobe, they're not. Thanks though!
posted by Pope Guilty at 12:42 PM on February 28, 2012
posted by Pope Guilty at 12:42 PM on February 28, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
When you plug a second SD card into the slot, that becomes a *second* storage area, not necessarily known as "sd-card".
posted by blue_wardrobe at 12:25 PM on February 28, 2012 [1 favorite]