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cshen

Member

Registered: 2011-10-10

Posts: 2

[SOLVED] Did I kill my SD card?

I am afraid I might have done it again...

Setup:

+ a micro SD card
+ a USB micro SD adapter

Symptom:

The device is recognized at /dev/sdc. However, fdisk has no corresponding entry for the device, nor does gparted.

# fdisk /dev/sdc
fdisk: unable to open /dev/sdc: No medium found

I have another working SD card. Using the same adapter, the followings are the dmesg output when the devices are plugged in:

+ the broken one:

[14162.511108] usb 1-1.2: new full speed USB device number 15 using ehci_hcd
[14162.524747] hub 1-1:1.0: unable to enumerate USB device on port 2
[14162.767679] usb 1-1.2: new high speed USB device number 16 using ehci_hcd
[14162.852507] scsi14 : usb-storage 1-1.2:1.0
[14163.850890] scsi 14:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Mass     Storage Device        PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
[14163.851073] sd 14:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 0
[14163.852756] sd 14:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI removable disk

+ the working one:

[14234.454637] usb 1-1.2: new full speed USB device number 17 using ehci_hcd
[14234.468102] hub 1-1:1.0: unable to enumerate USB device on port 2
[14234.807622] usb 1-1.2: new high speed USB device number 18 using ehci_hcd
[14234.892619] scsi15 : usb-storage 1-1.2:1.0
[14235.890824] scsi 15:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Mass     Storage Device        PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
[14235.890993] sd 15:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 0
[14235.892141] sd 15:0:0:0: [sdc] 7744512 512-byte logical blocks: (3.96 GB/3.69 GiB)
[14235.892634] sd 15:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off
[14235.892638] sd 15:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 03 00 00 00
[14235.893144] sd 15:0:0:0: [sdc] No Caching mode page present
[14235.893149] sd 15:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
[14235.895506] sd 15:0:0:0: [sdc] No Caching mode page present
[14235.895509] sd 15:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
[14235.896763]  sdc: sdc1
[14235.899002] sd 15:0:0:0: [sdc] No Caching mode page present
[14235.899004] sd 15:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
[14235.899005] sd 15:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI removable disk

Finally, what I did to the USB drive:

I was trying to load a live-cd image onto the card. To prepare it, I umounted the drive and used fdisk "o" command and "n" command to rewrite the partition table and create a new partition that uses all the available space.

After that the image was still downloading and I needed the usb adapter for something else. So without creating a file system I ejected the device, thinking it would be ok. Later when the download is finished, I plugged the device back and the problem occurred.

I have been googling for hours last night with no result. Did I just killed the card somehow? Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[SOLUTION]
I figured out how to fix this myself:

I found a microSD to SD adapter. Plug it into my netbooks card reader. The fdisk recognized the device this time. Use fdisk to delete the partition and gparted to create file system then it's all good.

I guess the sd card is not really configured  to be used with the usb adapter and reported wrong end sector to fdisk.

Last edited by cshen (2011-10-10 22:13:22)

lagagnon

Member

From: an Island in the Pacific...

Registered: 2009-12-10

Posts: 1,087

Website

Re: [SOLVED] Did I kill my SD card?

I would just try reformatting that SD card, https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Format_a_device

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Philosophy is looking for a black cat in a dark room. Metaphysics is looking for a black cat in a dark room that isn't there. Religion is looking for a black cat in a dark room that isn't there and shouting "I found it!". Science is looking for a black cat in a dark room with a flashlight.

cshen

Member

Registered: 2011-10-10

Posts: 2

Re: [SOLVED] Did I kill my SD card?

I would just try reformatting that SD card, https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Format_a_device

but I can't fdisk to it.