Accessories
How to format a 32GB microSD card for Nexus One and Android
April 20, 2010 | by Andrew Kameka
Accessories, Android Tutorials
Google has acknowledged that there is an issue with Android that can create problems when people attempt to format a 32GB card on their phone. Sure, the Nexus One and many Android phones say they support up to 32GB cards, but the catch is that you have to first format the card on your computer; Android can’t do it directly from the phone. A fix for this issue will come with the next OTA update.
I’ve always formatted my SD cards on my computer first and never really thought it was that big of a deal to not be able to do it on the phone. To be fair, I always have a microSD reader handy, so maybe other folks aren’t as lucky. If you’re able to load a microSD card on a Windows PC, here’s how to format the SD card.
- Place the microSD card into your adapter or USB reader. Then put the adapter/reader into your computer’s SDcard/USB slot
- Wait until the AutoPlay notification pops up. Make note of the drive letter, which looks like this (the part that says “Sony Ericsson PC Software (D:)” :
- Close the AutoPlay window and then go to My Computer (or Computer in Windows 7)
- From the left panel, right-click on the drive letter assigned to your SD card
- Select “Format” and let Windows do the rest.
- Problem solved.
Wow, I can only find these in one or two places on line. The only online store I see is a pre-order for $200, and some guy on ebay for $239. These are just waaaay too expensive right now. 16gb will do me fine until prices come way down.
Anyone know anything about _when_ this update is coming?
I bought a 32gb microSD card, installed it in my Nexus One, and it showed up at an 8gb card. I thought maybe formatting it with my 2.2 froyo Nexus would help(had not read this article yet) but instead, the card was formatted to 8gb. Here is the KICKER: the 32gb card is now "stuck" at 8gb. I've tried windows 7, windows vista, and XP, and they all just say "this is an 8gb card" when I try to format. I can't find a way to get it back to 32gb. Even programs from Panasonic and HP and SDFormatter V2.0 can't change it back to 32gb. Anyone now what I can do?
Maybe you will find the rest 24 gb by W7 -> Start right klick to Computer manage -> Storage Manager. There you can see your sd Card and maybe th not formattet Part as undefined. Extend the 8 gb with rigth klick extend.
JMD, you were a victim of a fraud. You bought an 8GB card that had been fraudulently configured to look as if it had 32GB free. Genuine 32GB microSD cards are very expensive.
I think you might have an 8GB SD card. There are lots of counterfeit cards being sold as high GB, but then are actually much smaller. This is a very common problem on eBay. Where did you buy the card? Reputable store, reputable brand SD?
lol, maybe you got cheated and they just stuck an 32gb sticker onto an 8gb disc, where did you buy it?
JMD, I've seen the problem you're describing before. If you google around, you'll find that there are a tools out there to fix the clobbered sectors. you might try SD Formatter 3.0 (beta) at www dot sdcard dot org. But there are a lot of other tools around, too.
Hi everyone – Got solved of this formatting problem in Android phone. Always it takes more time in phone. Hence choose for a Laptop or a computer to format SD card which will happen in seconds.____Took a USB Internet device (Wireless USB Broadband) which has Micro SD card slot in it. (it can be used even as a data traveller).__Plugged in my Laptop and formatted it. Simple.__You may try when u dont have any SD card reader.__
Thank you!!
I have the droid pro and my problem is i already have pictures that were on a 16g card & i bought a 32g & trnsf them over now all i get when i pull the pictures up to use them for wallpaper etc is “file cannot be displayed or played”.. can i still format the card and then reload the pictures? will this solve this error msg and let me use my pictures? it even does it on pictures i took yesterday.
Kim, I also had this problem with a ‘branded’ Sandisk 32Gb MicroSD card bought from Amazon. It turned out to be fake!! Unfortunately this happens far too often and again unfortunately there is no foolproof way to check if buying over the Internet. I suspect you have a faulty/fake card and from your comment, I wouldn’t trust it with valuable data (ie new snaps). Today, Sandisk seems to be the most commonly couterfeited card and though they have served me well for many years now (I even have a Sandisk Mp3 player
, I bought a 32Gb Lexar Class 10 from Amazon which is fine. See if you can return the 32Gb card you have and try again with a different make. Don’t trust valuable data to a card unless you’re (reasonably….) sure you can rely on it.
Thank-You so much for you comment.. that makes more sense than everything that I have been going thru trying to use this crazy thing.. Thanks again! =)
Andrew, Is this why Honkong sent me 2 cards. The small card is the 32 GB SD card and there is a larger one to work with your computer? Would this be correct? The large one has contacts also? Thanks, I hope this works. I have been going crazy trying to figure out how to format the card. Joe