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In 2015, a faulty adapter lead to the loss of an entire file system header (index), thus all file names, folder paths and fragmentation (logical block addresses) information.

That 64 GB Samsung EVO MicroSD-XC card, with an ExFAT file system (pre-formatted), was in a mobile phone that ran out of storage.

I took thr card out to evade MTP and enjoy mass storage.

Problems with MTP in a nutshell:

  • Occasionally, random new files do not appear until rebooting the phone.
  • Sometimes hangs up indefinitely for no god-damn reason.
    • Or when renaming a folder
    • Or when creating a folder
    • Or when accidentally browsing while files are being moved in background, because:
  • MTP supports no parallelism.
  • Loading file listings (after opening a directory) is awfully slow.
  • """""Preparing""""" to copy files sometines takes longer than the copying itself.

To evade all of these headaches, I just took the SD card out and started moving some files from it.

I put that MicroSD card inside a MicroSD-to-SD adapter. For some reason, the computer did not recognise it, even if the same computer reads other MicroSD-XC cards seamlessly.

So I put the adapter inside a SD-to-USB adapter, which initially worked.

Then I opened the folder and started moving files.

The disaster

Hours later, I came back to see the progress of the file moving halted at 27 GB with an error message that showed some hexadecimal (0x########) code.

I clicked retry, and it came again immediately afterwards.

I removed and re-inserted that adapter with the SD card in it, just to be greeted by a message offering me to format the SD card. This was the moment I realized that something went terribly wrong.

The adapter used had loose contacts (USB could be disconnect with light touch), which could have contributed to the problem. Also, file moving involves copying and then deleting each file, thus an errornous write access could have damaged the file system index.

I launched a scan with data recovery software.

The remains were nameless files that data recovery software could discover from the file headers. Some fragmented files could only be partially recovered.

Several apps were on that SD card. Gone.

Maybe I should have used SMB or USB-OTG, or just patiently MTP. I was not aware that that could happen.

In 2015, a faulty adapter lead to the loss of an entire file system header (index), thus all file names, folder paths and fragmentation (logical block addresses) information. That 64 GB Samsung EVO MicroSD-XC card, with an ExFAT file system (pre-formatted), was in a mobile phone that ran out of storage. I took thr card out to evade MTP and enjoy mass storage. ## Problems with MTP in a nutshell: * Occasionally, random new files do not appear until rebooting the phone. * Sometimes hangs up indefinitely for no god-damn reason. * Or when renaming a folder * Or when creating a folder * Or when accidentally browsing while files are being moved in background, because: * **MTP supports no parallelism.** * Loading file listings (after opening a directory) is **awfully slow.** * """""***Preparing***""""" to copy files sometines takes longer than the copying **itself.** To evade all of these headaches, I just took the SD card out and started moving some files from it. I put that MicroSD card inside a MicroSD-to-SD adapter. For some reason, the computer did not recognise it, even if the same computer reads other MicroSD-XC cards seamlessly. So I put the adapter inside a SD-to-USB adapter, which initially worked. Then I opened the folder and started moving files. ## The disaster Hours later, I came back to see the progress of the file moving halted at 27 GB with an error message that showed some hexadecimal (`0x########`) code. I clicked *retry*, and it came again immediately afterwards. I removed and re-inserted that adapter with the SD card in it, just to be greeted by a message offering me to format the SD card. This was the moment I realized that something went **terribly wrong.** The adapter used had loose contacts (USB could be disconnect with light touch), which could have contributed to the problem. Also, file moving involves copying and then deleting each file, thus an errornous write access could have damaged the file system index. I launched a scan with data recovery software. The remains were nameless files that data recovery software could discover from the file headers. Some fragmented files could only be partially recovered. Several apps were on that SD card. Gone. Maybe I should have used SMB or USB-OTG, or just patiently MTP. I was not aware that that could happen.

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[–] • 1 pt

That doesn't sound like an established manufacturer. I have tried cheaper, even non-branded adapters and it pays to get something from a quality manufacturer.

[–] • 1 pt

It absolutely does, but back then, I did not expect that to happen because it happened for the first time.

To me, SanDisk has proven to be reliable.