Hardware PSA: Switch may kill your SD card!

[sarkwalvein]

Don't put them in your pockets at all. That sounds like a great way to lose them when they fall out.

Well, those things happens... It was just a microSD within an SD adapter that I was using like a pendrive to move data between computers, and I like to have it very accessible to make my work easier...
I think the real lesson here is "double check your pockets before throwing your clothes inside the wash machine", but meh...

 

[Axido]

But.... but it died when Windows used it.

We should copy this thread to the PC section and just name it "PSA: Windows may kill your SD card!"

Just to be sure that as long as the cause is unknown.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Well, those things happens... It was just a microSD within an SD adapter that I was using like a pendrive to move data between computers, and I like to have it very accessible to make my work easier...
I think the real lesson here is "double check your pockets before throwing your clothes inside the wash machine", but meh...

That's a good idea as well. I'm paranoid about leaving anything in the pockets when I do the laundry so I always double and triple check. Never made that mistake myself, but mom did a couple of times when I lived with her. Best to be on the safe side.

 

[The Catboy]

It sounds more like you got a either a defective SD card or a fake one because this doesn't sound like a Switch issue.

 

[Chelsea_Fantasy]

I bought a 128gb microSD for my Switch on launch day. I realized the other day that it's hardly being used and I could just use internal storage for now so I took it out and put it in my PC. This is the only time Ive taken it out of the Switch since I bought the card. I start transferring some files and its impossibly slow. It took 15 minutes to transfer an MP3 and when it was done it was corrupted on the other end. So I think "Ok maybe the Switch did something weird for its format or something, I'll just reformat it." Try to format it through windows. "Windows cannot complete the format". I try several times with different formatting options, no dice. I try several formatting programs, errors all day. I try diskpart through a command line, failed. After all of this formatting nonsense I just say "I guess its stuck being only good for my Switch so I guess I'll just put it back in." Now the Switch wont read it correctly and says it's been damaged. There goes a 128gb microSD, completely rendered useless from I'm assuming the Switch.

Maybe it wasn't the Switch, maybe it was some weird freak accident, who knows really Ive never had something like this happen before and Im used to dealing with some formatting bullshit from my Homebrew and modding days.

Just figured I'd share this with you guys, if you put your Switch SD card into your PC and it's acting strange, just put it back into your system because its probably been wrecked.

Let me know if you guys have experienced anything like this before.

"Rufus" should fix that issue.
download the program and use it to format your card

 

[DKB]

-snip-

The SD thing: It was fake news. Haha.

 

[Tigran]

Well.. Not quiet fake news.. Guy's SD card did melt in his Switch.. But it's because it was from a defective batch of SD cards that melted in a lot of stuff.

 

[Deleted User]

The SD card wasn't defective, it worked perfectly fine in the Switch until I put it into my PC.

Also yes I definitely used the cheapest noname brand SD card around, thanks for assuming.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DYN4VPE/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_hq6mzbGNBX9Z6 I have this one here. As you can clearly see, a very high quality card.

Yes, I tried different formatting programs I said so in the OP, yes Ive tried different adapters and the other PC in my house. Im not going to install Linux to use a very specific formatting program that's retarded.

Jesus what a shitstorm of unhelpful, snarky, assumptious replies. Just wanted to let people know about an issue I had. Didn't talk about it like its breaking news, a problem plaguing all switch owners did I?

 

[Futurdreamz]

We already have had a member of two that somehow happens to have every single rumored Switch issue happen to his console (I half expect him to pop up with a me too post). You accused the console of being at fault without providing any explanation or methodology to prove it wasn't a fluke or an error on your part, and weren't around to back up your claims Your title is written as though this is an inevitability that all Switch owner need to be aware of, and many people may just be annoyed by the clickbaity of it. Also there seems to be nearly a hundred very negative reviews of the card, some that sound suspiciously like the person got a counterfeit or defective card.

Shit happens.

 

[NightsEkim]

The SD card wasn't defective, it worked perfectly fine in the Switch until I put it into my PC.

Also yes I definitely used the cheapest noname brand SD card around, thanks for assuming.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DYN4VPE/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_hq6mzbGNBX9Z6 I have this one here. As you can clearly see, a very high quality card.

Yes, I tried different formatting programs I said so in the OP, yes Ive tried different adapters and the other PC in my house. Im not going to install Linux to use a very specific formatting program that's retarded.

Jesus what a shitstorm of unhelpful, snarky, assumptious replies. Just wanted to let people know about an issue I had. Didn't talk about it like its breaking news, a problem plaguing all switch owners did I?

http://gparted.org/livecd.php

Also:
it worked perfectly fine in the Switch until I put it into my PC

This sounds like something happened when you tried to format/partition it.

 

[linuxares]

The SD card wasn't defective, it worked perfectly fine in the Switch until I put it into my PC.

Also yes I definitely used the cheapest noname brand SD card around, thanks for assuming.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DYN4VPE/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_hq6mzbGNBX9Z6 I have this one here. As you can clearly see, a very high quality card.

Yes, I tried different formatting programs I said so in the OP, yes Ive tried different adapters and the other PC in my house. Im not going to install Linux to use a very specific formatting program that's retarded.

Jesus what a shitstorm of unhelpful, snarky, assumptious replies. Just wanted to let people know about an issue I had. Didn't talk about it like its breaking news, a problem plaguing all switch owners did I?

Since you announced it as a PSA, and there is just ONE reported incident. You should therefore be prepared to accept people not being to friendly. If it was happening all the time, that would be a whole different story and then be a valid PSA.

There still can be a ton of reasons why just your card died. Is the card completely dead or just your partition?
Got a spare USB? If so use Rufus to run a LiveCD and use Gparted in those distros, I would recommend Linux Mint for it.

 

[DJ-Yoshiman]

Didn't talk about it like its breaking news, a problem plaguing all switch owners did I?

Dude, you announced it as a PSA. Usually people/groups/government only do that when there's a fact that needs to be broadcast immediately to every one.

I think if you didn't have that in your topic title, and just worded it in asking if the Switch caused issues with your SD card, you wouldn't have had all the snarky responses.


Actually there might have still been one or two.

 

[Xabring]

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Micr...=1496763129&sr=8-2&keywords=128+micro+sd+card

here's one even CHEAPER...but that it has a WAY higher chance to not fail, according to comments.
do your research. Expensive does not always equates better.

There goes a 128gb microSD, completely rendered useless from I'm assuming the Switch.

Jesus what a shitstorm of unhelpful, snarky, assumptious replies.

really bro?

Let me know if you guys have experienced anything like this before.

I did get a no name one, that's why I told you to Not buy'em so you didn't make my same mistake. So I shared my experience. And you DID get a branded one; but Did you read'em comments?

It happened to me when I bought a cheap SD card of 128GB....NEVER buy em' cheap. They often fail.

see? I just shared what I know. Compared to the one I showed you, before anyone asks, I bought one that roughly equates to 12 Dlls...and compare that to the 44 Dll tag price.

 

[NekoMichi]

It's likely caused by a fault with the micro SD card itself. Earlier there was another report of a damaged micro SD card in a Switch, which was later confirmed to have been caused by the card coming from a faulty batch. The micro SD card in that post is the same brand and model as OP's. Similar issues have been reported with the exact identical micro SD brand but in other devices such as PCs.

Personally I own three of the UHS-1 version of this card and haven't had any issues. Two of them are used in N3DS consoles and one in a Switch. They were all purchased in-store as opposed to online, though. Not sure if there's a discrepancy in product reliability between online and retail purchases.

 

[pcm720]

Yeah i know, $100 for 64GB Vita card, but least it works as expected. Sd card is %75 less and for the same 64GB and probably won't even last 4 years. But Most of the lesson is don't buy cheap cards, they probably only as good for like you said, screenshots or small audio files not like downloading game or updates.

Yeah... no.
My 64 GB Vita memory card has corrupted twice, I had to redownload everything and on the second time it corrupted I also had to update to the latest firmware, thus losing any hope of running Henkaku again.

Say whatever you want, but Vita cards are complete rip-off.

The SD card wasn't defective, it worked perfectly fine in the Switch until I put it into my PC.

Also yes I definitely used the cheapest noname brand SD card around, thanks for assuming.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DYN4VPE/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_hq6mzbGNBX9Z6 I have this one here. As you can clearly see, a very high quality card.

Yes, I tried different formatting programs I said so in the OP, yes Ive tried different adapters and the other PC in my house. Im not going to install Linux to use a very specific formatting program that's retarded.

Jesus what a shitstorm of unhelpful, snarky, assumptious replies. Just wanted to let people know about an issue I had. Didn't talk about it like its breaking news, a problem plaguing all switch owners did I?

I don't know what you used to format this SD card on your PC, but next time make sure that you cardreader is SDXC-capable.
You should not format SDXC card with SD or SDHC cardreader, it can lead to memory card corruption and can even kill it.

 

[stomp_442]

It's likely caused by a fault with the micro SD card itself. Earlier there was another report of a damaged micro SD card in a Switch, which was later confirmed to have been caused by the card coming from a faulty batch. The micro SD card in that post is the same brand and model as OP's. Similar issues have been reported with the exact identical micro SD brand but in other devices such as PCs.

Personally I own three of the UHS-1 version of this card and haven't had any issues. Two of them are used in N3DS consoles and one in a Switch. They were all purchased in-store as opposed to online, though. Not sure if there's a discrepancy in product reliability between online and retail purchases.

I also buy my SD cards and usb sticks from retail stores, never from the internet. Only SanDisk and never got a bad item. My thinking is that it's highly unlikely to get a fake item from a big box retailer.

 

[SarCATstic]

I'm pretty sure you were just using a incredibly cheap SD card, that's what it looks like to me.

 

[gamesquest1]

See it's very common for people to buy fake as cards and not realise, then when people say "it was probably a cheap fake" they reply with noway it was sandisk and sandisk are good and expensive....to which you then have to explain that while yeah sandisk are expensive and legit, if you buy one for cheap it's probably cheap and fake even though it looks identical to a random image pulled from the sandisk site

And even if someone pays the official rrp unless they verified it's legitimacy while it's still usable or get it from a 100% reputable official stockists then it's still possible that someone is trying to shift fakes at full rep, but it's less common

That said iirc sandisk offer a 5 year guarantee if it's a legit card get in touch with them and see about getting a replacement

But that's not to say the op definitely did buy a fake as it's wrong to draw conclusions on what you believe might have happened

 

[QCLasky]

probably you bought a low quality / fake memory card and you're blaming the poor switch.