ICS required hard reset, now can't access 32GB SD card
wailuku
Newbie

Saw message this morning that update 6.16.211.XT912 had been downloaded and was ready to install...said it would take 15 minutes...

45 minutes later, the only thing I could get was emergency dialer.  Powered down, powered up same thing.

Called tech support, tried powering on/off again and then told to hard reset.

So after the hard reset, ICS is there and the phone is working....BUT I had encrypted my SD card (32GB) and now when I try to mount it get:

SD Card Password Protection

SD card has been secured by another device and cannot be accessed unless formatted.

Click "OK" and see:

SD Card Password Protection

Failed to verify SD card security settings.  Encrypted content is not accessible.

Click OK" and  back to settings screen!

Is there anyway to tell the OS what the pin was/is?  If not, how do you reformat the card to make it usable again?  Does it need to be done off the Razr?

Thanks in advance.

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Re: ICS required hard reset, now can't access 32GB SD card
poidude
Enthusiast - Level 3

On my droid (not a Razr), it's Settings -> Storage -> Delete.

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Re: ICS required hard reset, now can't access 32GB SD card
B33
Legend

Go to Settings-->Storage-->scroll up to Erase SD card and Tap on that Space--> another Box with { Erase SD Card } will pop up Proceed if you wish to Erase.. But i would NOT erase you internal storage.. i would leave it were it's at..b33

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ICS required hard reset, now can't access 32GB SD card
wailuku
Newbie

Thanks to both poidude and b33 for the replies...but not seeing these options.  OS is 4.0.4 (ICS) and the phone is a Droid Razr...System Version that crashed the phone on install is 6.16.211.XT912.Verizon.en.US.

When I Select "System Settings" from the Home screen (using the "hard button" on the lower left of the phone) I get a nice new ICS screen.  The first category is "Wireless and Networks", the second category is  "Device".  Under "Device" is "Storage".  Selecting "Storage" leads you to a screen with Major categories of  "Total Phone Storage",  "Application Storage",  "Internal Storage/MNT/SDCARD".

Under this last category, there  is (after a storage utilization bar chart)  "Erase Internal Storage" , "Manage Internal Storage";

If I select "Erase Internal Storage", I get  "This action will erase the internal storage on the phone.You will lose all the data on the internal storage";  There is a button "Format Internal Storage".  There is no option to separately format the SD card.

What may be more relevant is that when the phone boots up, it tries to read the SD card and then displays the "SD Card Password Protection"  messages in my original post.  So the OS is trying to mount the SD, but because it was encrypted (and from what I have read, the encryption key was stored in internal memory, which got wiped when the Verizon rep had me do a factory reset!  There is no way to ever recover this data.  Have looked at Motorola and Droid forums on this...it is really bad.  DO NOT USE ENCRYPTION.  If your phone dies, your data is gone forever)

The thing is, I cannot use the next major category under system settings, which is "SD CARD/ MNT/ SDCARD-EXT" which has only one option, "Mount SD Card"...if I try to mount the card, I get the same "SD Card Password Protection"  messages again!

Can anyone who has inserted an SD card into a Droid Razr running 4.0.4. tell me if a brand new SD card is auto formatted?  Do you have to "mount" it first?  The current Verzion "help" shots are not for 4.0.4....ugh

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ICS required hard reset, now can't access 32GB SD card
wailuku
Newbie

BTW...based on the forum (Motorola and Droid) discussions I have seen, the data will never be recoverable on the SD card.  Once the tech told me to do a factory reset, the encryption key, stored on internal memory, was lost.

What I would be interested in is if there is a way (without rooting the phone?) to get the encrypted SD card re-formatted by the phone.  Other wise will just buy a  card reader, hook up to my PC and try an SD Association Formatter reformat...

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Re: ICS required hard reset, now can't access 32GB SD card
poidude
Enthusiast - Level 3

I figured the data was lost, was just trying to point you to the "format" option. Looks like the menus have changed with ICS and since I'm still on GB and not using a Razr, that's about the extent of my help. Smiley Happy

If no one else knows how to format the card from your phone, looks like your only option is to try formatting it externally. Good luck.

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Re: ICS required hard reset, now can't access 32GB SD card
Bandikoto
Newbie


If you have ever encrypted your phone whether through your curiosity, your paranoia, or your employer's paranoia, your Motorola (or generically Android?) Android smart phone did encrypt not only the phone's contents, but the contents of the SD card.

After you figure out that such encryption is an immense pain in the tuchus, you disable encryption on your phone.  All is good you say, right?  Well, mostly.

In fact, you'll do well until you decide to either do a hard reset of your phone or you move that (µ)SD card to a new Android device.  Whereupon it will be telling you "SD card has been secured by another device and cannot be accessed unless formatted."  You will enter what you remember your password to be and it will reject it, saying "Failed to verify SD card security settings.  Encrypted content is not accessible." and then refuse to mount the SD for you.      

Feeling desperate, you pull the card from your phone and insert it into your computer.  Your files are there.  Their contents are there.  You ask yourself "What the fuck?!"  Put it back into the phone.  Same encryption key demand and rejection.  Scratch your head.  Google again.  Find bupkes.  Make a copy of the contents of the card.  Format card.  Restore contents of card.  "SD card has been secured by another device…"  Oho!

In fact, there is a hidden and very magic file sitting on the card named ".sds.bin" which is the flag to Android that the data on the card (may) be encrypted.  If you remove this file (easiest on Linux or OSX) and then put the card back into your phone, you will be back in business.  It seems as if someone at the Google forgot to remove this file when I told it to decrypt my phone earlier this year.

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