Kingston SD card headaches

[youbuyshirt]

I bought a 16 GB Kingston micro SD card from a well known retailer in Pantip a few months ago for my new cheap tablet. Android sees it as a 14.5 GB drive--okay. I transferred about 10 GB of files to it and they seemed to transfer okay, but a day or two later many of the file and folder names changed to indecipherable gibberish with huge file sizes, over 1 GB each. I never made files of that size. And I could no longer copy files to the card. When I tried copying files they would appear with a file size of zero bytes and then disappear upon refresh.

I took it back to the retailer and they said I could not get a refund because I had bought it more than 7 days ago. But when I made a fuss, they replaced the card with a new one of same type.

Same thing happened with the new card. I went back again and they replaced it with a third card, same type. Same behavior again. I went back to the shop's service center and they reformatted the card and I tried it again. This time I loaded only about 5 GB of files on the 16 GB card, and that was enough to trigger the same behavior of corrupted files and inability to add more files.

The only person in the shop who could speak some English insisted that he had never received such a complaint before and I was the only one complaining. He also said that his company was an authorized Kingston dealer and the cards are not fake. He said that the problem must be with my tablet, not the card.

Is this possible? I did buy the new tablet with no warranty, but it has behaved well with no problems except this. I find it extremely unlikely that it's the tablet's fault, but 3 bad cards in a row makes me wonder.

I also had bought some Kingston USB sticks from the same retailer and they seem to be functioning okay.

I just can't psychologically accept getting scammed, that's why I keep going back to the shop and demanding satisfaction. Since these cards are for sale everywhere in Thailand, I will totally avoid any SD card named "Kingston." Unless I'm wrong and it really is the tablet's fault.

[Riggi]

Which model micro SD and which model tablet?

May be that your tablet isn't compatible with that format Micro SD (but with 16GB probably wouldn't be a high spec card)

Did you try formatting the SD card with tablet?

That will make sure that the file system is the one that your tablet wants/needs and if there is a problem with the card, it might have a problem formatting it.

[Crossy]

Does the card pass these checks http://www.kingston.com/en/support/product_verification ?

[Pib]

Have you tried formatting the SD card "in the tablet" instead of just using the card as it comes pre-formatted. Maybe you have, I don't know.

To me it sounds like your tablet has a problem. You got a smartphone maybe you can test the SD card in?

I had problem similar to you one time when I bought a no-name microSD card off Ebay. In my no-name tablet I had problems with it; but stick it in one of my Samsung smartphones and it worked fine for the week or so I tested it. But I didn't trust it for saving data and ended up applying for and getting a PayPal refund on the item. I then bought a brand name microSD card, Sandisk, and that SD card worked fine (and is still working fine after 18 months) in my no-name Chinese made tablet.

Edited August 14, 2014 by Pib

[lostinisaan]

I bought a 16 GB Kingston micro SD card from a well known retailer in Pantip a few months ago for my new cheap tablet

You get what you pay for. The problem seems to be your cheap crap. Why don't you try the same thing with a proper one?

[ravip]

Why not try using it on a PC?

[aarn]

There are a lot of retailers on Amazon and ebay selling attractively-priced usb and SD cards which are <deleted>.

As the man says, "You get what you pay for". Obviously I have been stung over the years, too.

See if you can format it as msdos on a pc. If can not do, then your storage media is certified <deleted>. Sad but true, AA

[kkerry]

Before doing anything else check out the link from Crossy. Kingston has for years been the brand most faked in Thailand. Most of the time it is the largest sized capacity cards and 16GB is no longer large but run the check just in case.

[Tywais]

I had a friend at the office tell me just today he had a Kingston Class 10 in his phone and it has now failed after only a short period of use.

[KittenKong]

Some classes of some brands of card just wont work properly in some tablets, even when both are genuine. For brand name tablets it's usually possible to find a list of known (in)compatible classes of card.

[rhythmworx]

Kingston are not some cheap ass company if your having problems like that your card is fake or your tablet is faulty.

[DogNo1]

Have you gotten ANY micro SD cards to work in your tablet? If not, I suspect the tablet. Stick the micro SD into a full-size SD adapter in check it in a computer. If it works, reformat the card with the FAT 32 file system. Write and read some files that you copy to it with the computer. If the card fails, then it's the card. If it doesn't it's the tablet. I have bought many SD cards from Phantip and never had one fail. I had one 128 GB flash drive fail but it was replaced without question. If you don't have a computer, ask one of the repair shops at Phantip to check the card for you. I know many shops there that would do it for free. Good luck!

[dddave]

A Fortune Tower repair technician warned me that many of the "Kingston" SD cards sold in Fortune, Pantip and Tuk-Com are phony...especially the 32 & 64 GB sizes. I had a problem with a 16GB failing last year, also a cheap Kingston.

Now I only buy SD cards at major retailers like Tesco and Big-C. I'm sure not a 100% guarantee of authenticity, but a lot more probable than a kiosk at a tech mall.

I just had a 32GB fail in my Android Phone last week, could not reformat it, the computer could never see it. This one was a higher priced Kingston I had bought at a Wallmart in the USA. Sometimes, they just fail.

Edited August 15, 2014 by dddave

[youbuyshirt]

Which model micro SD and which model tablet?

May be that your tablet isn't compatible with that format Micro SD (but with 16GB probably wouldn't be a high spec card)

Did you try formatting the SD card with tablet?

That will make sure that the file system is the one that your tablet wants/needs and if there is a problem with the card, it might have a problem formatting it.

There's no formatting function in Android Jellybean, only a delete all files function which I think is not same as Formatting.

It's a D-Tab 702 tablet from D-Tech, a cheap China tablet. The SD is the standard kingston microSD you see for sale everywhere in Pantip. Don't know model number because don't have package with me.

Edited August 15, 2014 by youbuyshirt

[youbuyshirt]

Does the card pass these checks http://www.kingston.com/en/support/product_verification ?

That link says that the microSD cards do not have their verification technology, other products do.

[AnotherOneAmerican]

You have a fake card.

The fakes have a small memory so a quick test works.

Once you transfer files that exceed the small memory, the files are corrupt.

That's how most fakes work, and yes every card they give you is also fake, so it will fail at the same memory point.

Buy a card from Tesco or BigC and it will work.

Edited August 15, 2014 by AnotherOneAmerican

[youbuyshirt]

Have you tried formatting the SD card "in the tablet" instead of just using the card as it comes pre-formatted. Maybe you have, I don't know.

To me it sounds like your tablet has a problem. You got a smartphone maybe you can test the SD card in?

I had problem similar to you one time when I bought a no-name microSD card off Ebay. In my no-name tablet I had problems with it; but stick it in one of my Samsung smartphones and it worked fine for the week or so I tested it. But I didn't trust it for saving data and ended up applying for and getting a PayPal refund on the item. I then bought a brand name microSD card, Sandisk, and that SD card worked fine (and is still working fine after 18 months) in my no-name Chinese made tablet.

there's no utility to format an SD card in Android Jellybean. Maybe there's an app I can download, I will check it out.

No, I don't have a smartphone I can check it out with. Next time I go back to the shop I will ask them to put it in a different tablet.

[youbuyshirt]

Why not try using it on a PC?

yes, that's the answer but i don't have my PC with me, I am just visiting Bkk. Will try to find a PC but unfortunately don't even have my SD full-size adaptor with me.

[youbuyshirt]

Some classes of some brands of card just wont work properly in some tablets, even when both are genuine. For brand name tablets it's usually possible to find a list of known (in)compatible classes of card.

well this is not a brand name tablet ;-)

[youbuyshirt]

Have you gotten ANY micro SD cards to work in your tablet? If not, I suspect the tablet. Stick the micro SD into a full-size SD adapter in check it in a computer. If it works, reformat the card with the FAT 32 file system. Write and read some files that you copy to it with the computer. If the card fails, then it's the card. If it doesn't it's the tablet. I have bought many SD cards from Phantip and never had one fail. I had one 128 GB flash drive fail but it was replaced without question. If you don't have a computer, ask one of the repair shops at Phantip to check the card for you. I know many shops there that would do it for free. Good luck!

Thanks. I haven't tried any other card yet because don't want to waste money on a card if the tab is at fault. Can you tell me the names of some shops you know at Pantip that would check the card for free?

The reason I suspect the card is that I saw another thread on TV that described the exact same SD card behavior that I am experiencing.

/

[phil2]

Have you gotten ANY micro SD cards to work in your tablet? If not, I suspect the tablet. Stick the micro SD into a full-size SD adapter in check it in a computer. If it works, reformat the card with the FAT 32 file system. Write and read some files that you copy to it with the computer. If the card fails, then it's the card. If it doesn't it's the tablet. I have bought many SD cards from Phantip and never had one fail. I had one 128 GB flash drive fail but it was replaced without question. If you don't have a computer, ask one of the repair shops at Phantip to check the card for you. I know many shops there that would do it for free. Good luck!

Thanks. I haven't tried any other card yet because don't want to waste money on a card if the tab is at fault. Can you tell me the names of some shops you know at Pantip that would check the card for free?

The reason I suspect the card is that I saw another thread on TV that described the exact same SD card behavior that I am experiencing.

/

JIB, Banana IT, or Hardware House.

I bought a 64 GB card with a very similar behavior last month. The card was to blame. It failed when I tried to transfer 40 GB onto it.

[Crossy]

Since it seems that the Kingston anti-fake tech does not apply, try H2testw http://sosfakeflash.wordpress.com/2008/09/02/h2testw-14-gold-standard-in-detecting-usb-counterfeit-drives/ to check if the capacity is real.

The behaviour observed is typical of under sized memory.

[aarn]

Hey Crossy thanks for the link to H2testw. Followed it through to http://oss.digirati.com.br/f3/, and set up test facility on my machine.

There are lots of skank e-retailers out there. AA

[KittenKong]

Some classes of some brands of card just wont work properly in some tablets, even when both are genuine. For brand name tablets it's usually possible to find a list of known (in)compatible classes of card.

well this is not a brand name tablet ;-)

No problem. If you are sure that the card isnt fake then just try a different class of card. But some cheap tablets wont see cards over a certain size either.

Personally I suspect that your card is fake. A large percentage are here.

[bendejo]

OP: are you certain that your tablet can handle the capacity of that card?

I suggest you put the card in your PC, low-level format, then try copying files to it until you get a "card full" message.

See how far that gets.

[youbuyshirt]

OP: are you certain that your tablet can handle the capacity of that card?

The specs of the tab say it accepts cards up to 32 GB.

I reformatted the microSD (using the "erase storage" command in Android settings, which may or may not be the same as reformatting) and copied 5 GB of files to it. Surprisingly they haven't become corrupted or disappeared for 5 days now. But I feel certain they will, as they always have done so before.

But there's the problem. I can't demo the problem to the store where I bought the card because the problem takes time to develop. All I can do is bring it to them after the files become corrupt. Then they either reformat or give me another bad card.

Also, apps that verify whether a card has the advertised memory don't help in this case. I downloaded an android app called SD card tester (h2testw is Windows-only) and it seemed to verify over 10 GB before the program hanged (i think because buggy). But that is meaningless if the files don't go bad right away but only after days have passed.

Anyway, I think the fact that the files remain okay after 5 days suggests the problem is not with my tablet.

[Satcommlee]

I'm always buying these Micro SD cards and never had a problem with any of them... and at 300 baht a pop what's the point in counterfeiting them..

I think your Tablet is to blame, why not try a factory reset or something.

Or why not splash out on a new SD card from some other reputable retailer if you think the cards are to blame, just as a Sanity check.

There are varying classes of MicroSD, class 4, class 10 etc.. Try a class 10 card..

[lostinisaan]

Have you gotten ANY micro SD cards to work in your tablet? If not, I suspect the tablet. Stick the micro SD into a full-size SD adapter in check it in a computer. If it works, reformat the card with the FAT 32 file system. Write and read some files that you copy to it with the computer. If the card fails, then it's the card. If it doesn't it's the tablet. I have bought many SD cards from Phantip and never had one fail. I had one 128 GB flash drive fail but it was replaced without question. If you don't have a computer, ask one of the repair shops at Phantip to check the card for you. I know many shops there that would do it for free. Good luck!

Thanks. I haven't tried any other card yet because don't want to waste money on a card if the tab is at fault. Can you tell me the names of some shops you know at Pantip that would check the card for free?

The reason I suspect the card is that I saw another thread on TV that described the exact same SD card behavior that I am experiencing.

/

Do it for free. Your headache seems to create other people a headache now.

[somchaismith]

Some people shouldn't be let near computers.

Also, I find this whole thread very strange as any shop assistant worth a grain of salt would check a returned SD card in their own computer before replacing it.

Edited August 24, 2014 by somchaismith

[BKKdreaming]

I just figure most in BKK are fake

first the ones sold on the street are too cheap,

and when you walk the street markets around Chinatown etc the sellers have piles of them , and these are guys selling 20-50-100 baht stuff who could never afford to have piles of "real" kingston drives ,

I think if I wanted a real one I would hope Tesco, Big C etc would have real ones , but its iffy in MBK, Pantip, fortune town