Memory Card Issue - Cannot Save to memory card (tried various cards)

[rachelisadog]

Hi all,

Looking for a little bit of help please.

Had my tablet since mid December 11 and all has been fine, even got ICS just last week; updated without issue.
Today, for some reason and I have no idea why, I am unable to move, copy or save to my memory card in the card slot.
By default this was a 8Gb Micro SD in an adaptor.
When i tried to copy a file, using Astro File Manager, it gave me an error (see screen shot at end of post)
I tried 2 different file management apps, a different Micro SD card, combined with alternate cards in a different adaptor, and finally, a full size SD card none of which worked, always the same error.
Finally, did a factory reset, installed astro once more and same issue, no matter which card i use.
I know all three cards work. I swapped and changed with my mobile phone, and the full SD card was borrowed from my Wii
I haven't installed any apps, haven't updated any that i can remember.
Oh, and I checked to make sure none of the cards or adaptors are set to "lock"
I should also add, the tablet can read the card, just not write to it
Is it just my S isn't working anymore?

Any help or advice would be gratefully received.
Thanks

 

[Animguy]

This, unfortunately, is an ICS issue and not a Sony Tablet issue. It has something to do with having a built-in memory card and then an external card. From what I have read, it's been fixed in ICS 4.06 but since we have 4.03 and no way of knowing when Sony may update to 4.06 we're kind of stuck.

You will probably see that any of the preloaded apps can write to it. In particular, File Transfer does work and allows you to save initially to internal memory and then move it to the external card. I know it's not the best but it's something until Sony releases the next update.


I highly recommend writing Sony. The more complaints they receive about it the faster they may fix it.

 

[rachelisadog]

Animguy,

Thanks for the reply much appreciated.
I did contact Sony about this when it first occurred and the initial reply was a restore to factory settings which didn't resolve it.
When I informed Sony it was passed onto second line support and, yesterday I received a reply saying it is a google/android issues that has affected several other platforms.
Simply put, exactly as you have said
However, my reply to you is the same to Sony; my Galaxy SII also runs 4.03 and this issue does not occur so maybe akin to different hardware, implementations of 4.03
BUT may i say thank you for confirming the issue, i do not feel quite so alone and frustrated.

I can confirm the inbuilt file transfer app does work which is a relief.

As a slight aside. How do you save pictures taken from the camera(s) by default to the memory card and not internal memory?
I did have this set previously, before the factory restore and after ICS but cannot find how to change it now.
Thanks

 

[leeshor]

Allow me to start by saying that you can't compare what ICS does on a phone with the way it works on a tablet. Many phones have internal storage and what appears to be external storage that really is only supplemental storage, not necessarily intended to be removed. Many tablets start out with more internal storage than many phones. A good example is an app called app2sd. It will work on a phone but I know of no tablets with anything close to ICS that it will work with and you wouldn't want to do that anyway. If you did, then removed the sd card, you would have nothing but trouble on your hands.

I suggest that there may be an issue with the SD card. First, it should be formatted FAT32 or NTFS. Secondly there may be a problem with the card itself. Here is a program you can use on your PC to test the card. Download H2testw - Test hacked flash memory - MyMPx

 

[rachelisadog]

Allow me to start by saying that you can't compare what ICS does on a phone with the way it works on a tablet. Many phones have internal storage and what appears to be external storage that really is only supplemental storage, not necessarily intended to be removed. Many tablets start out with more internal storage than many phones. A good example is an app called app2sd. It will work on a phone but I know of no tablets with anything close to ICS that it will work with and you wouldn't want to do that anyway. If you did, then removed the sd card, you would have nothing but trouble on your hands.

I suggest that there may be an issue with the SD card. First, it should be formatted FAT32 or NTFS. Secondly there may be a problem with the card itself. Here is a program you can use on your PC to test the card. Download H2testw - Test hacked flash memory - MyMPx

Thanks for the reply - but it's a tad condescending if i may be so bold
I did suggest that whilst both run 4.03 it was akin to running on different hardware, and, i realise that each manufacturer runs their own flavour of an OS.

Secondly. I did say i had tried different cards, and, the inference was there that it had worked before; it still works now. I can copy to/from the card when used in different hardware, and, as Animguy has pointed out, and, i can confirm, the Sony file transfer app does work, reading and writing to the card. In summary, the card is fine but thank you for the link to the software to test the card.

I may appear ungrateful but i feel you have skimmed this thread, not read and have come back with a "user-error" style reply, when, i have a documented email from Sony suggesting it is a more general, known issue.

But like i said, thanks for your input.......

Dear ******

Thank you for your time and patience. With relation to the issue you reported with saving data to SD card from your Tablet, we had found that to be due to a limitation with Android ICS 4 edition. We started an investigation with Google so they can develop a solution to fix this issue as it is affecting all kind of devices that runs on this operating system edition.


We will inform you as soon as the solution becomes available. Should you have any further questions, please feel free to reply to this email or contact us via the number below.


Yours sincerely
***** *****
Sony support

 

[leeshor]

I had no intention to offend you in any way. I read and re-read the post before my original post.

I also must say that I do what you are trying to do, with ICS, frequently, with no problems at all.

Sorry if I sounded not as helpful as I thought I was trying to be.

 

[J515OP]

Part of the problem here is the response from Sony. Like most OEMs they are quick to blame Google/Android rather than take accountability. This has become one of the biggest weaknesses of ICS in my opinion. The OEMs have had it too easy passing the buck and saying "it's an ICS problem, not us" when in fact it is the OEM's implementation of ICS that is the issue.

Bottom line is this, Google made some changes to how storage works in ICS (and HC) which now basically means there are three partitions that are used for storage 1) internal 2) SD (which is still really internal and why people get confused) and 3) external SD. In previous versions of Android you just had internal and SD and could move apps between them. You can still do that in ICS but SD is still internal memory and you can't actually move apps to external SD (the removable SD).

Hopefully you follow all that because it is confusing and why most people can't figure out what is going on. Now if you are still with me there is one more thing that further complicates it. The OEMs actually have the ability to modify how the SD and the external SD work for apps. Most either don't bother and leave it to the default of SD (which is still internal) or make a mess of the implementation and then blame it on an ICS issue. It is an OEM issue and can be fixed by the OEM.

Now you may have a unique issue where something is wrong with your particular device. In that case you will have to work through your issues as you are trying to do. If that is not the case and Sony users across the board are experiencing the issue as Sony has implied (across all ICS is what they are actually saying) then you and the other Sony users need to lean on Sony to provide a solution to the issue. This is entirely in their control, has nothing to do with Google and is something they should fix. If they don't you and the other users should have justifiable outrage over the situation.

I know this doesn't help you directly but if it is an implementation issue there is nothing you can do to fix it other than pressure Sony.

JP

 

[rachelisadog]

I had no intention to offend you in any way. I read and re-read the post before my original post.

I also must say that I do what you are trying to do, with ICS, frequently, with no problems at all.

Sorry if I sounded not as helpful as I thought I was trying to be.

Thanks for taking the time to reply, and, clearly wires crossed - no harm done

Part of the problem here is the response from Sony. Like most OEMs they are quick to blame Google/Android rather than take accountability. This has become one of the biggest weaknesses of ICS in my opinion. The OEMs have had it too easy passing the buck and saying "it's an ICS problem, not us" when in fact it is the OEM's implementation of ICS that is the issue.

Bottom line is this, Google made some changes to how storage works in ICS (and HC) which now basically means there are three partitions that are used for storage 1) internal 2) SD (which is still really internal and why people get confused) and 3) external SD. In previous versions of Android you just had internal and SD and could move apps between them. You can still do that in ICS but SD is still internal memory and you can't actually move apps to external SD (the removable SD).

Hopefully you follow all that because it is confusing and why most people can't figure out what is going on. Now if you are still with me there is one more thing that further complicates it. The OEMs actually have the ability to modify how the SD and the external SD work for apps. Most either don't bother and leave it to the default of SD (which is still internal) or make a mess of the implementation and then blame it on an ICS issue. It is an OEM issue and can be fixed by the OEM.

Now you may have a unique issue where something is wrong with your particular device. In that case you will have to work through your issues as you are trying to do. If that is not the case and Sony users across the board are experiencing the issue as Sony has implied (across all ICS is what they are actually saying) then you and the other Sony users need to lean on Sony to provide a solution to the issue. This is entirely in their control, has nothing to do with Google and is something they should fix. If they don't you and the other users should have justifiable outrage over the situation.

I know this doesn't help you directly but if it is an implementation issue there is nothing you can do to fix it other than pressure Sony.

JP

Thanks for the informed reply. Won't lie, the 3 lots of memory explanation did confuse me a little; to me, it has 1) internal memory that i can access, 2) internal memory that i can't (hence the reason the space used and space available never adds up to near 16Gb) and 3) my own inserted SD card.

I did kinda understand the OEM implementation example you gave. I had an HTC Hero which has Sense running on top of Android, now the Samsung which has it's own TouchWiz running. Is it only a Nexus which has pure Android, or, as close as can be?

In some ways, i have no problem with Sony's reply, particularly when coupled with Amniguy and your own helpful replies. If that is their stance, i guess that is not going to change quickly. The item has been bought. Not like they'll get anymore money from me for my purchase but it's perhaps how other OEM's behave to. I get that impression in how you have worded your reply.

As you suggest, perhaps my unit is faulty but i am reluctant to send it off to Sony only for it to come back with the reply of, not our fault.
I will be in touch with them again soon. When i factory restored, i lost content that i got as part of the registration so we'll see how they react to that

Thanks once again for the replies, very much appreciated

 

[J515OP]

rachelisadog, other OEMs have used the excuse that Android is to blame for all sorts of various issues not just storage. Android is open source and the OEMs actually make it to fit their devices, Google isn't making and installing it for them. So it is very unfair to say it is Google's fault when something doesn't work, whether storage, wifi, screen rotation etc. Obviously Google is responsible for core issues with Android (HC had plenty of issues) and handles and improves those on a timely basis which is why it seems a new version of Android is always coming out.

Unfortunately, there are very few devices that run pure Android. The Nexus line is primarily it for pure Android from major OEMs and that is only phones for now. We should see some Nexus tablets this second half of the year though. Some of the small OEMs (Chinese makers) make pure Android tablets now. The trend has been for the OEMs to make their skins less and less obtrusive giving a more pure Android experience while making changes that might actually be considered improvements. Regardless of skinning or pure Android, it is still up to the OEM to make Android work on their particular hardware and issues generally aren't with Android itself but with that implementation.

Thinking about your specific issue it sounds like a file was corrupted in your download. Specifically the java.io file mentioned in the error. Since others aren't reporting this issue it sounds device specific. The obvious solution is a factory reset but since that didn't work we have to assume that your issue wasn't a bad install of the update but a corrupted download of the update itself.

The only way I can think to clear this would be to download the update again so that you can get a clean install from an uncorrupted source. Unfortunately the OEMs are not big on letting you roll back to previous versions so that you can start the update from scratch or providing the source file for the update. Unless you can get Sony to help you here or accept an exchange you are probably going to be stuck until they push the next update. Hopefully that will download correctly and fix your issue.

JP

 

[leeshor]

J515OP hot the nail on the head, twice. Because so many OEMs want to differentiate their tablets from the others they tweak the OS or add additional features. ASUS, for instance, added a great app and associated data backup app to their OS that didn't require rooting as is necessary on most other tablets. (Note that there is at least one app on the Store that doesn't but it costs money.

I support so many Android tablets at the moment I'm about to lose count but I can tell you that 90% of the issues people have had with their instability or crashing or other issues where app related. The offending app may not cause the same problem on a different manufacturer's tablet, which would indicate a problem with each manufacturer's implementation of Android.

This, to some extent, is what we have to deal with to be able to enjoy the benefits of an open OS.

 

[vin8tablets]

sony sales told me that i can use external SD card like expanded memory , eg install apps there. seems that they are also confused by their own sales pitch 'Access files directly from SD card' in their post
Android 4.0 now available for Sony Tablet S « SONY make.believe
i bought the tablet S and inserted SD card there. Astro file manager complain the directory cannot be created whenever i access the /mnt/sdcard2.
So i raised a sony support call. no response yet.
it seems that the 'access' does not include writing to , deleting from or install apps to. A point to note is that the built-in file transfer apps can copy files into the /mnt/sdcard2 external sd card. it is inconvenient though. havent try the OTG usb connection, will try it when i got the micro usb to usb adaptor.
Thanks those who wrote to this blog. i am new to tablet world and learnt a lot from you. this is the most informative post i have read when i research into this problem. Hopefully sony can fix the 'problem'