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Reformatting micro SD card inside phone settings [released]

asked 2013-12-29 22:35:52 +0300

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updated 2016-10-26 15:55:27 +0300

jiit gravatar image

Add option to reformat/clean micro SD card inside phone settings. Various formatting types could be featured while also taking notice that some formatting types may require licences.

(This answer is transferred to wiki post in order to prevent getting karma from it. However if you like the idea, please give your vote.)

EDIT (26/8/15) - This has entered the SailfishOS Roadmap as part of the Jolla Tablet Project, and will of course come to the phone as well.

EDIT: SD cards can be formatted inside Settings since Aurajoki

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The question has been closed for the following reason "released in a software update" by nthn
close date 2016-09-08 17:32:59.294197

Comments

4

for now, nothing available for the existing card already formated is readable ! shame !

redge73 ( 2013-12-29 22:41:57 +0300 )edit
10

that would be useful, I remember old symbian devices had that option, was very useful

Mariusmssj ( 2013-12-29 23:16:00 +0300 )edit

feature missing from UI

ortylp ( 2013-12-30 20:43:37 +0300 )edit

What filesystem would it format the card to? And if you answer VFAT, isn't that patented so that Jolla might need to license more stuff?

Pirkka ( 2014-01-01 11:02:29 +0300 )edit
3

Definitely. Then when connecting phone to computer via usb, we need to have access to the card. I just bought 64gb card for my Jolla to put my music on it and now I can't use it/dont' have time to figure out all the details how to.

t0mps0 ( 2014-01-10 22:50:54 +0300 )edit

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answered 2014-01-13 10:02:58 +0300

rainisto gravatar image

updated 2016-09-08 17:25:59 +0300

Thanks for the feature request, we will see if we can improve the situation...

For guru linux hacker geeks: Currently formatting 64GB SD card is only available in developer mode, as root you can do "mkfs.ext4 /dev/mmcblk1p1". Exfat is not included in firmware because of licensing issues, but if you compile fuse exfat yourself on developer mode, then you can use mount.exfat-fuse and mkfs.exfat for 64GB cards too (http://code.google.com/p/exfat/downloads/list).

For normal users: Formatting the SD card is possible under Settings since Sailfish OS 2.0.2 Aurajoki.

(*EDIT: edited answer for geeks and normal users)

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Comments

2

Oh man, I'm only "half geek", know just basics of linux etc....so it seems a bit complicated w/ this 64gb...please make "Jolla: formatting 64gb micro sd card + adding files to it" for dummies instructions? thanks.

t0mps0 ( 2014-01-13 11:01:11 +0300 )edit

Great, waiting to see what we get in upcoming updates, or is there already some info regarding what the next SW update might include?

TimTTK ( 2014-01-13 16:57:00 +0300 )edit

Sorry we are not releasing update features beforehand, and features might get added or postponed to next release in daily phases and people would get upset if given info would not be accurate.

rainisto ( 2014-01-13 17:26:08 +0300 )edit

Ok, thanks for the info. Keep up the good work.

TimTTK ( 2014-01-13 17:32:04 +0300 )edit
1

@TimTTK to see what's in planning you can search this forum with tag 'roadmap'..

foss4ever ( 2014-01-19 00:34:04 +0300 )edit
14

answered 2014-01-01 13:31:24 +0300

this post is marked as community wiki

This post is a wiki. Anyone with karma >75 is welcome to improve it.

updated 2014-01-18 18:06:22 +0300

TimTTK gravatar image

Formatting support could begin with a few "basic" formatting types and later additional formatting types could be added whether they gain popularity.

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Comments

1

IMHO we should ask to File Browser dev to implement the FORMAT function

debexpert ( 2014-01-09 19:54:38 +0300 )edit
1

I'm not a dev myself and don't even work for Jolla, but I'm sure there is someone who knows more about this and is willing to add this. Formatting feature would be surely much appreciated by many users. Could this feature possibly be even carried out by Jolla devs at least at some point?

TimTTK ( 2014-01-09 20:36:51 +0300 )edit
0

answered 2014-02-05 10:50:19 +0300

t0mps0 gravatar image

updated 2014-02-05 10:54:41 +0300

Ok Windows users, found this from maemo.org:

A quick trick to fool Windows XP into enabling FAT32 in the GUI is to enable caching on the USB-memory:

Right-click the USB-drive and select "Properties"
Select the "Hardware"-tab
Find and select your USB-memory in the list
Click the "Properties"-button below
Select the "Policies"-tab on the new requester
Choose "Optimize for performance"
Click "OK" on the requesters

This should allow you to use FAT32-formatting on your USB-drive, but don't forget to repeat the process and set it back to "Optimize for quick removal" once you are done formatting! But remember, FAT32 only allows files up to 4GB in size and can't handle soft-links or permissions. Trasferring files over network and formatting as ext3/4 makes the microSD much more useful.

I HAVEN'T TESTED THIS YET (WILL TRY WHEN I GET HOME). But according to other comments, this wont work on Windows 7.

Here's the thread: http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=92490&page=2

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Asked: 2013-12-29 22:35:52 +0300

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Last updated: Sep 08 '16