Phone storage at times is never enough especially in this era of vast improvement in multimedia. Audio, graphics, images, animation and videos which now demands more due to the way Android phones are built.
The period of blurry images and videos are almost behind us, which in turn ask for great memory capacity to house the multimedia. Then the need for external SD Cards, SD cards for over the years have been a lifeline to our ever growing internal storage.
Yet, we still need to know how to detect and test memory cards to confirm if they are original. No one loves getting a bad deal.
Choosing the right memory card for our smartphones can be hard especially when we are living in a world where the substandard products are being sold as original.
Identifying and testing a memory card can be hard when you have not been well informed about various ways they used to scam you out of your hard earned cash.
In view of that, I will be bringing it to your knowledge on how you can test SD Card in order to avoid buying the fake ones.
What is SD Card?
Some know it as memory card, device storage, memory stick and micro sd card. Whichever one you call it, it only serves one function which is to extend memory capacity of your device.
Memory cards are one of the best things that happen in the world. It gives your devices more power to retain more.
Imagine buying a phone of 8gb rom with no slot for external card. Most of the internal space would be filled up by junks and files required for your phones to be working well. You are now left with almost nothing.
The frustration when you want to have movies, music or large files sent to you from friends and families or when you want to capture that great moment that you may never come across again but you could not.
Sd card I put to you again is one of the coolest things that happen in the evolving world. Don’t you ever wonder how much things you can save on this small piece of card. Some memory cards are even up to 512gb the last time I checked.
Now what is SD card?
Sd card is a memory device that is capable of storing digital information such as videos, audios, documents and other files.
It is mostly known as memory card by most users and becoming more indispensable, thanks to breakthrough in innovation.
Fake Memory Cards being sold as Original
As cool as it is, we all have one time bought a fake memory card. It can be frustrating when you discover you have been sold a sub-standard device storage.
Some may not even discover it until later. Most fake memory cards work well at the beginning and later start misbehaving. Some do not have the actual memory capacity as contained in the label or on the card.
I was a victim too, not once but many times. I bought a 16gb memory card. It was all good until I exceed about 7gb then I realized I have just been scammed by whoever produced it.
A friend once got a memory card from a local shop. He stored some files on it which really were successful.
Few days, he wanted to transfer same files from his PC to the card using adapter only to be overwriting. Behold, he lost every file in the card. Formatting did not work as it was unsuccessful.
Buying a fake memory card could cause a migraine. Data could get damaged with no way to get it back especially if you don’t have any back up elsewhere.
That is why it is important to always buy an original memory card to guard against data loss or unnecessarily complicity.
What to do if your Android phone is not detecting memory card
This has happened to me several times. The first time it happened, I almost panicked because of things I could lose if it’s what I suspected.
It is important you realize that if a phone fails to detect the card, you should not be too quick to jump into conclusion. Sometimes, it is just a minor issue and not that a memory card is fake or has stopped working.
To get this right, follow below methods.
Method 1
This might not be the coolest thing to do but this has worked for me many times. All you need to is to remove the card from your Android phone and gently rub the panel on your hair.
Benefits of using the hair to remove dirts is to ensure you do not damage the card while cleaning it. Trying to scrap it out using a metal or hard surface could damage it.
This will help to remove any particles or dirts that may prevent the memory card slot from reading the sd card.
Method 2
Another way is by trying to bypass it using the conventional method. To get started, you will need a adapter and a PC.
Some laptops do come with SD card slot, you can also make use of this or use the adapter. Fix the memory card into the adapter, then connect to your PC using the usb slot.
After you have had your card connected to the PC, go to “My Computer” and right click on the removable disk or any letter representing your memory card.
Select any of fat32, exfat and fat. I always choose either fat32 or exfat and it has pretty worked for me so far depending on the storage size of the card.
For 2gb card or below, you can choose fat16 as system file type. 64gb and above can make use of exfat. 4gb to 32gb can take on fat32.
Enable the “quick format” so as to avoid the long wait. Quick format ensures that formatting is done as quick as possible.
Click start button to start the process.
Any of the above methods should work if your phone fails to detect memory card.
How To Test Memory Card In Android Phones
Method 1
If you are yet to upgrade your phone operating system (OS) to 7.0 or above or still in Android 6.0 and older version, then SD Insight is the app to help you check whether your sd card is fake or original.
Sd Insight is an app that allows you to check the authenticity of a card as well as the company that produces the card. The app is so simple to use that with just few clicka, you will be able to determine whether it is fake or not.
All you need to do is download the app from play store if your smartphone os is 6.0 or older version. You can as well download from third party
Launch the app to get the full details of your card. The app will show you some information such as bus location, manufacturer name, product name, serial no and much more.
If It’s able to show you manufacturer’s name, then the chance of your sd card being original is about 95%. If it shows, “invalid”, it is fake.
Another thing that you might come across is status shown as unknown, this is a rare case and does not mean the card is fake or original. This shows that sd insight does not have enough information about the manufacturer or product name
In view of that, I will introduce you to another app to help you confirm the authenticity of the memory card.
Check method 2 for the full details.
Method 2
Fake SDcard check is an app for everyone on any version of the os. Older and newer version of operating system on smartphones can download the app and use it to test sd card on android phone.
How this app works is different from sd insight. What it does is to write on the sd card until space is fully occupied.
This way, you will be able to check whether the space used reflect the actual storage on its label. There are some sd cards that have 16gb written on its label whereas they are not even up to 4gb in size.
Let meput you through. Download the official app by searching for “Fake Sdcard checker” on play store. Another alternative is to click here
After installation, open the app. You will see about 4 verification modes.
The speed which it writes depends on the modes you chose. The idea behind the app is to fill up the card to confirm how much data it can collect.
Click start after you have made decisions on any of the verification mode you chose. The higher the percentage, the more time it will take for the verification to be completed.
Method 3
You can avoid these by buying from reputable stores. Stores like slot and oraimo in Nigeria and online merchants such as amazon in the USA, aliexpress in China, ebay, jumia, Konga and many more always put the satisfaction of the customers upfront.
They have zero tolerance for merchants who sell counterfeit products. Their return policy is also effective.
As regards my experience with Jumia, I once bought a power bank from jumia only to discover that it was selecting devices to charge. I returned it within 7 as per the policy and a new power bank was sent to me.
Other times, they may refund your money if they are unable to fulfill your demands. Local shops may never do that as they don’t like to be on the other side of losing.
