MicroSD card randomly unmounts itself

Anonymous
2015-05-29T17:26:43+00:00

I inserted a Samsung EVo 128GB micros-SD card into my new Surface 3, intending to use it as photo storage for my photography workflow.

However, after a fee minutes - even without using it - the drive appears to unmounts itself. It's still visible in Explorer, but clicking it results in Explorer hanging and eventually giving the error "please insert a disk" after several minutes. In Disk Manager, the drive sometimes appears, with the correct amount of space, but indicates it's all unallocated.

This issue is fixed temporarily by removing and reinserting the disk, but a short time later it unmounts itself again. I tried the disk in my older Dell Venue 8 Pro, but the issue didn't occur there.

I've looked at previous threads about similar issues on older and Pro models, and tried setting the policy for the microSD drive to 'better performance' and even tried setting up a VHD, but none of these provided a solution.

Does anyone know what I can do?

Surface | Other

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  1. Barb Bowman 80,815 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2015-12-14T10:57:33+00:00

    On Sun, 13 Dec 2015 20:39:46 +0000, jcgc50 wrote:

    >>I do see that the driver loaded by Windows for each of these devices is different. Not sure if that is the issue or not. I am including a screen shot. In the list of drivers Generic 00000 SD Card is the one that Windows installed for the Samsung Evo+ 128GB. The driver Generic SL128 SD Card is what was installed for the SanDisk Ultra 128gb.

    those aren't "drivers" - those are the identifiers for the device. you have to

    right click the device, properties, driver to see a driver version. And they

    will show the Microsoft generic 2006 driver. That date doesn't mean anything.

    What do you have connected to your tablet? It would be good to see how things work with just the tablet and no other peripherals.

    __________________________________________________________________________________________________

    Barb

    Windows Experience MVP

    My Blog - http://digitalmediaphile.com/

    Please mark as answered if this answers your question

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-12-13T20:39:46+00:00

    I wanted to update this issue.

    I had SanDisk Ultra 128gb card in use on an android phone. It is formatted in exFat. Anyone swapped the cards and have now gone through a few hibernation cycles, restarts and one forced restart and in each instance the card still shows in explorer.

    I do see that the driver loaded by Windows for each of these devices is different. Not sure if that is the issue or not. I am including a screen shot. In the list of drivers Generic 00000 SD Card is the one that Windows installed for the Samsung Evo+ 128GB. The driver Generic SL128 SD Card is what was installed for the SanDisk Ultra 128gb.

    Not sure what that tells you. If the driver is the issue it would be nice to be able to select the driver that works for all 128gb cards.

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-12-10T19:17:06+00:00

    I was using the Sandisk 128gb card (2 of them) and had the same problem. The 64gb Sandisk works fine. I eventually got a PNY 128gb card and have used it for several months now with no problem.

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-12-10T18:58:18+00:00

    Interesting well I might take the plunge and get a 128 GB version of the Silicon Power microSD cards I've been using that have had no issues although I've been using 64 GB. I'm hopeful because all the other brands I've used kept unmounting, but the Silicon Power ones were just fine.

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  5. Barb Bowman 80,815 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2015-12-10T18:04:01+00:00

    I've now borrowed two other Surface 3's. They also have the same issue with the same cards. I have no issues with 64GB cards, but have issues with 128GB cards on all of them.

    There are NO drivers for cards. The host controller has a driver and it is from the manufacturer of the controller.

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