# Reformatting Old Micro Sd card



## Ja.KooLit (Mar 26, 2019)

Hello guys. been long time didnt post. Well just been busy and dont have time much on techs nor computer anymore since my daughter born.

Anyway, I was checking my USB's storage bag (yeah ive got like 20 pcs 4 to 16gb each) lol and I saw small micro sd card. And I remember this was from my old car dashcam. I sold like 3 years ago. Anyway I can access the recorded video since it was recorded in AVI format.

I have tried reformatting but it seems its not reformatting. I have used diskpart and clean disk and still seems not reformatting nor erasing the files. I have deleted files all and it shows it is deleted. And I safely ejected and plug in back and to my surprise, files still there.

I have plug in to my note 9 but it doesnt recognize the card.

I may try later on using live linux. 

For informartion, card is Samsung Evo 16gb.

Any other ideas?

Thanks in advance


----------



## kastriot (Mar 26, 2019)

This?:

https://www.disk-partition.com/articles/the-storage-is-write-protected-samsung-3889.html


----------



## Ja.KooLit (Mar 26, 2019)

kastriot said:


> This?:
> 
> https://www.disk-partition.com/articles/the-storage-is-write-protected-samsung-3889.html



Thanks. Tried that and all fails.

Now Tried the software AOMEI, have tried formatting. It shoes it is formatted but once I refresh, it is back again.

Now I am trying  the wipe partition and see if it helps. Will get back if any is successful


edit. Nope nothing works. This hard-headed sd card bugger. lol


----------



## Laurijan (Mar 26, 2019)

Hi!

I had a couple of micro sd cards that would not format in windows 10 with an usb to micro sd adapter. Turned out that they were broken...


----------



## TheLostSwede (Mar 26, 2019)

It might be write protected? Or as mentioned above, faulty.
Some tools to try here https://howtorecover.me/remove-write-protection-microsd-memory-card
If the SDFormatter doesn't work, the card is most likely borked.


----------



## silentbogo (Mar 26, 2019)

a) Check Write Protect slider
b) Try formatting to FAT32. Some low-capacity cards and USB flash drives don't support NTFS.
c) You can also try SD Card Formatter. This is a low-level formatting tool which helps even in some cases of dead/unformattable cards.


----------



## Ja.KooLit (Mar 26, 2019)

Thanks for all the help guys. I still dont think card is broke since I can still access the card.

Now installed SD Card formatter and running "overwrite format" since the quick format didnt work.

Will get back once finish formatting. Currently in 24% now


edit: Got this message:





But guess. Still not formatted. lol


----------



## Ahhzz (Mar 26, 2019)

What happens when you try to copy files to the SD card? Do they show up? Also, after you coopy files to it, and then format, do they _all_ return, or just the originals?


----------



## kastriot (Mar 26, 2019)

Can you put  card in mobile phone and try to format it   there?


----------



## jsfitz54 (Mar 26, 2019)

@night.fox :  Please try a "low level format tool":  This one has worked for me, the free version is slow.

http://hddguru.com/software/HDD-LLF-Low-Level-Format-Tool/


----------



## theFOoL (Mar 26, 2019)

From my recent experience my PNY 32GB SD CARD had Windows 7 GO but after a few uses of it the memory storage went bad so I tried formatting with all types of software but after a restart or refresh of the software windows 7 was still there. It would boot like half way through the logo then BSOD


----------



## Gasaraki (Mar 26, 2019)

If you can't format in the tablet and Windows then it's dead or locked.


----------



## SoNic67 (Mar 26, 2019)

It's not locked, since that will generate a message that the card is "write protected".
It is broken, the "erase" part is not happening.


----------



## Ja.KooLit (Mar 26, 2019)

Ahhzz said:


> What happens when you try to copy files to the SD card? Do they show up? Also, after you coopy files to it, and then format, do they _all_ return, or just the originals?



will try this once i arrive home.



kastriot said:


> Can you put  card in mobile phone and try to format it   there?



Have tried on my note 9. I think I posted it above. Initially it shows error. Then it ask me to format and I did. It was stucked at 20% for like 30 mins. then I cancelled. Next time I inserted. It didnt even detect.



jsfitz54 said:


> @night.fox :  Please try a "low level format tool":  This one has worked for me, the free version is slow.
> 
> http://hddguru.com/software/HDD-LLF-Low-Level-Format-Tool/



Will try this. I will post back result.



Gasaraki said:


> If you can't format in the tablet and Windows then it's dead or locked.


But atleast it would show locked or cant reformat right? But no message. Even pop up reformat completed. Diskpart even shows it successfully clean. If it is dead, then it would not show up in list disk isnt it? 



SoNic67 said:


> It's not locked, since that will generate a message that the card is "write protected".
> It is broken, the "erase" part is not happening.



This is also whats on my mind.


----------



## Ahhzz (Mar 26, 2019)

night.fox said:


> will try this once i arrive home.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I'm afraid that it is dead, but I'd like to see what happens when you add additional files.


----------



## INSTG8R (Mar 26, 2019)

Ahhzz said:


> I'm afraid that it is dead, but I'd like to see what happens when you add additional files.


Or the dashcam it came from put its own write protection on it. Trying to put files I on it is actually a good idea should answer both questions.


----------



## eidairaman1 (Mar 26, 2019)

If no tools can format it, the dash cam acted like a data recorder on an aircraft for crashes.

Throw it in a fire


----------



## SoNic67 (Mar 26, 2019)

That write-protection is just marking the files "read-only". Format should ignore that, but for any chance, right click on a file and check properties.


----------



## Ja.KooLit (Mar 26, 2019)

Ok ok. So I went straight to my laptop and did all the suggestions above.....

First off: Copy / Move / from SD Card. - Done. Funny thing is when I move it did actually move the file in my desktop. So I refresh, safely removed and reinsert. Guess what! File Came back lol...

I copied one video file. And it did copy. I even played from SD card and playing really nice. So I removed and reinsert. File is GONE.

Installed the HDD Low Level format by HDDGURU.

It came back with this:





But guess what! Card still UNTOUCHED! Ha ha....

I did the properties, Read only and hidden attributes box is Unchecked!

Ooohhhh here is what I noticed when I did properties.

Date when file was created is: December 31, 2100! Ha ha. Could it be because of that? 

Ok I will boot up my live linuxmint XFCE and see if it can do some magic on it


----------



## silentbogo (Mar 26, 2019)

Forget about that one. The controller is most likely dead.
If it was a USB stick, you could re-flash it, but most SD cards are as good as dead.


----------



## R-T-B (Mar 26, 2019)

silentbogo said:


> Forget about that one. The controller is most likely dead.
> If it was a USB stick, you could re-flash it, but most SD cards are as good as dead.



This.  I ran into this myself recently.  The controller is dead and locked in "read-only" / data recovery mode.  You will never be able to do more with it, except maybe a warranty claim.


----------



## jsfitz54 (Mar 26, 2019)

night.fox said:


> Ok I will boot up my live *linuxmint* XFCE and see if it can do some magic on it



Last ditch: try formatting to EXT2 or EXT4. Then go back and try formatting FAT32.


----------



## Shambles1980 (Mar 26, 2019)

try  this but i doubt it will work given what you already tried...
https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter/


----------



## R-T-B (Mar 27, 2019)

Shambles1980 said:


> try  this but i doubt it will work given what you already tried...
> https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter/





night.fox said:


> Thanks for all the help guys. I still dont think card is broke since I can still access the card.
> 
> Now installed SD Card formatter and running "overwrite format" since the quick format didnt work.
> 
> ...


----------



## Ja.KooLit (Mar 27, 2019)

Ok I guess I am giving up on this one.

I have tried everything I can on linux and windows and seems I cannot do anything elses. I have tried formating to ext3, 4, any other file systems. It did reformat but once I reinsert, back to original state.

As I mentioned previously about the time, I cannot even set my computer past the year 2099. But funny thing is, files were created dec 2100 so I thought if I can trick this card that it really is past 2100, then somehow I can also trick in reformating it.

Like some guys mentioned, controller is probably dead. 

So my last option now is to install this card later on on my dashcam and see if it can overwrite.

I am not so desperately in need of this SD card since nowadays, these cards are very cheap compare to some 5-10 years ago. 

Anyway thank you guys for all your help.  If I will be able to overwrite the card with other dashcam, I will let you know. If not, this card will be destroyed and never to be spoken off again


----------



## INSTG8R (Mar 27, 2019)

Yeah I mean if you still have the dashcam of course put it in and see what happens. I suspect its the way it set it up that's caused the problems if in fact it isn't dead.


----------



## jsfitz54 (Mar 27, 2019)

INSTG8R said:


> Yeah I mean if you still have the dashcam of course put it in and see what happens. I suspect its the way it set it up that's caused the problems if in fact it isn't dead.



@night.fox : I thought that in the event of an accident the files lock so they can't be overwritten, (for legal evidence submission) *Like a protected partition.*
Does the card work for other things?  Could you format NTFS or FAT32 and use the remainder (unprotected) area like that?

Perhaps as INSTG8R said, another dash cam can unlock or remove that protected area???

*EDIT: https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter/*
SD/SDHC/SDXC Cards have a “Protected Area” for SD Card security purposes. The SD Memory Card Formatter does not format the protected area in the SD/SDHC/SDXC Cards. The protected area shall be formatted by an appropriate PC application or SD host devices that provide SD security function.


----------



## Ja.KooLit (Mar 28, 2019)

When I used linux, I could see some space like 300mb or even less. I have formatted that but it cant. Have tried formatting to any other file systems, ntfs and exfat. Windows shows it is formatted. But once reinserted, it came back original state. Same message for linux. But most of the time, it shows cant be fornatted.

I have the other day inserted to my dashcam and to a friends daschcam but message says cannot be formatted.

I have tried formatting (after backup) my dashcam existing memory card and it can be formatted like usual. 

So most probably, that dashcam on my old car have that security implementation which it can be only be edited by manufacturer. 

Unfortunately, I cannot remember what brand that was. But as I recall, it is a very cheap model and only recording at 480p.


----------

