Hacking My MicroSD Dead?

[Domo]

I was switching out a few new games I was interested in while removing some old ones as per my usual routine. When I booted up my M3 everything seemed normal, however it froze soon after for some reason. I proceeded to restart my M3 but only come to find when I got back to my gaming menu 90% of my games had vanished. Apparently they were corrupted somehow and even with everything deleted off my MicroSD card I had a gig of used space.

I reformatted via the windows built in format feature in FAT32, fresh install of my firmware and backup games, and this is where it all went to hell. Now my computer won't even read my SD card. I put my adapter in my flash slot on my pc and it wont even read the drive so im unable to format again. Is my card too corrupted to salvage?

 

[shadow999]

There have been reports that the original T-Flash card reader that comes with the M3 Real is pretty dodgy. Heaps of people had their T-Flash reader die on them and there have been cases where it totally killed the microSD card as well.

If you are using the original T-Flash card reader that came with the M3 Real, the microSD card could be trashed beyond repair.

You can always try another card reader to eliminate the possibility that it is the card reader.

 

[Domo]

I've attempted to access the microsd card from two computers now to end only with the same results. I'm not sure what the T-Flash card reader is personally. All I ever got when I ordered my M3 was the flash cart itself. Went out and bought a ativa 2gig and it came with its own adapter. Been using the card for a year now without any troubles until now. I've attempted to run various freeware microsd format applications to no avail. My computers won't read the card, therefore I cannot format it.

Guess it's done for, eh? If this is the case, might someone recommend a good 8gig microsd card? Again it'd be much appreciated.

 

[Domo]

I'm still searching for a 4gig to 8gig microsd card if anyone knows of any locations.

Edit: Would this be a suitable card? It's 8gig, class 6 for 17.99 +s&h
http://www.amazon.com/Transcend-Class-micr...9WJTDTTR0D23FHW

 

[shadow999]

Thats the best I have seen around where I live.

If you end up getting it can you post your experiences with it.
My Class 4 card seems to lag on some games a bit.
Oh and the Carmen Santiago game is not even playable on it. :S

 

[Domo]

Looking over the 8gig I selected, it's a microSDHC. What's the difference compared to a microSD?

 

[FlatFrogger]

If the card won't read at all in any device (PC/phone/m3/etc) and the devices say "Please insert a card into slot [whatever]" or "no card inserted" then I think its fair to say its dead.

I stick to kingston cards for my M3/other cards, especially japanese ones. They seem to have far less issues compared to others plus they have lifetime warranty, just fire a quick email off on kingstons website and send it off and bam they mail you a new card ASAP.

 

[shadow999]

Looking over the 8gig I selected, it's a microSDHC. What's the difference compared to a microSD?

MicroSD cards officially came at a maximum capacity of 2gig (I have heard that there are some 4gig versions, but these don't fully conform to the MicroSD standard).
MicroSDHC standard was created for being able to have more than 2gig on a card.

Therefore a card up to 2gig will be MicroSD. A card greater than 2gig will be a MicroSDHC.

By the way, if you are paranoid about lag on the M3. A standard MicroSD card that's 2gig may be a good choice. My 2gig card from my phone is roughly 5x faster at reading and writing than my Class 4 Kingston MicroSDHC card.