How is it possible that In a 4GB memory card a folder of 24.5GB is created?

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I had some problem in my memory card. I don't know how, but sometimes the data in my memory card exceeds the limits of its storage capacity.

This is the screenshot of the properties of my memory card and the folder inside it.

Screenshot
(Click image to enlarge)

Now see that in the properties of removal disk i.e. my memory card, the size showing is 3.67GB and the folder inside this i.e. is Music, the properties is showing 24.5GB size.

I am just wondering how is it possible that this folder exceeds the limits of storage capacity.

However in this condition my memory card is not operable. I have to format the card to use it again. But still how this happens.

This is not the first time it exceeds the limits. I have found it many times, but the previous limits were 8GB, 10GB, etc., etc. and every time I had to format the memory card to use it again.

Waseem

Posted 2015-09-30T06:49:48.837

Reputation: 223

it's probably a hardware problem. I think it's time you buy a new card. – David Dai – 2015-09-30T06:52:04.157

I dont think so, because after formatting my card works fine. this problems occusr only when i download something like whatsapp images and vedios. – Waseem – 2015-09-30T06:54:11.600

2Are you somehow using sparse files on that card? – Hennes – 2015-09-30T06:54:52.327

dont know. this is the first time the other folder exceeds the size. previously only the images and the video clips folder exceeds the size because all the downloads are store in these folders only – Waseem – 2015-09-30T06:58:26.247

Never seen this. Spooky – Insane – 2015-09-30T06:58:46.077

Well I also never seen this kind of issue, in any other devices but this happens only with my memory card, However my Music folder is just 400 MB of size – Waseem – 2015-09-30T07:01:45.257

Never seen that. I doubt that the files have physically been copied. Copy the same files on the PC and look how much space they use. Copy them to another 4GB card and see if the same error appears on the new card. If yes, your files are probably corrupt. If no, the first SD card's controller is busted. Either way I would check for the file's integrity! – KarmaEDV – 2015-09-30T07:06:15.180

Or, just maybe: Maybe the chips on SD cards from this manufacturer are all this big and they only limit the size via controller chip/firmware. Maybe you have a specimen where the controller tells what it's told to tell, but somehow allows the whole space to be used. In this case we would be uncovering the next VW scandal right here... putting my tinfoil hat on – KarmaEDV – 2015-09-30T07:10:04.750

Yes the files are corrupted in that folder, I cant copy the data from this device to another. But still how this happens. I think may be some temporary files were created in it. – Waseem – 2015-09-30T07:11:02.363

Or may be this is the compatibility problem. The card is the latest Kingston model and the phone is Nokia C3-00 in which i am using this card. but still this happens only when I download data from internet, otherwise card works fine never cause any problem – Waseem – 2015-09-30T07:14:04.850

2@Waseem This is just a guess: If the Card is FAT32 formatted, probably the corrupted files have no proper end-of file signature which forces the system's allocation table to assume the biggest possible file size, which is 4GB. 5 or 6 such files and there you have your 24GB of "allocated" space. To confirm this theory search for these big files in the folders and delete them. See if you are able to copy the remaining files after that. – KarmaEDV – 2015-09-30T07:46:31.480

thats the problem I event cant delete these file. the files shows error the you cannot delete the files. – Waseem – 2015-09-30T08:11:22.677

1"Yes the files are corrupted in that folder," - Which means your hardware is broken, it is not actually storing 24GB, my guess its only storing 4GB. If you didn't purchase this hardware from a reputable store, there is a huge problem with "fake" hardware on websites like ebay, they will report one thing and in actually the hardware is something else entirely. I highly suspect you have fake hardware based on everything you describe about current and past experiences. – Ramhound – 2015-09-30T11:12:40.980

@Ramhound, the only trouble with that notion is that such cards typically are 4 GB capacity, but via hacked firmware they advertise a much larger capacity, and the larger cap shows up in Explorer, Disk Administrator, etc. – Jamie Hanrahan – 2015-10-01T07:36:49.390

I suggest that the OP use the freeware H2testw utility ( http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Miscellaneous/H2testw.shtml ). It is designed to spot the fake memory cards but it does so by doing a quick test that reaches every "sector" on the card, so it will also check for other kinds of failures. Another useful, more versatile, but still freeware tester is HDDScan (http://hddscan.com/). Both of these run under Windows.

– Jamie Hanrahan – 2015-10-01T07:42:23.253

@JamieHanrahan - All I know is what is described, sounds like the behavior of a fake product, to me. – Ramhound – 2015-10-01T10:46:57.823

@KarmaEDV In FAT32 and most modern file systems there is no such thing as an "end of file signature". The number of blocks allocated to a file, and the offset to the last byte of valid data, etc., are indicated by entries in the file header, which is stored separately from the file data. It is not like a C string where the string is terminated by a null byte. – Jamie Hanrahan – 2015-10-02T21:48:52.447

May be it is a fake memory card or partially corrupted card but I will check it again with different device. – Waseem – 2015-10-06T09:18:54.873

Answers

1

It is also possible that that card is counterfeit. There is an identifier on the card which indicates its size. If you are a counterfeiter, you modify the bit and then sell the card as a larger size. When you query the card, it states that the card is X in size when it actually isn't. When you start storing files, what can happen is that it starts storing like normal, hits the card actual physical size limit and due to the doctored size, wraps around and starts overwriting on the already written data. The result is corrupted files. There's lots of news articles about this recently.

Blackbeagle

Posted 2015-09-30T06:49:48.837

Reputation: 6 424

0

Bad drives sometimes report enormous sizes. I've seen half-terabyte drives report PETABYTES of remaining data to transfer. If any of the data on that drive is important to you, back it up immediately.

You could perhaps still get some use out of that drive (maybe it's just one bad block in the partition table), but you'll want to reformat and chkdsk it; still, never trust it with the only copy of something again.

Tim G

Posted 2015-09-30T06:49:48.837

Reputation: 411

0

It makes sense that your card can't be read in this state. It's not possible, of course, for your card to hold that much. It's a case of filesystem corruption, although I'm not sure what's causing it. I've seen this on floppy disks in which GB's of data are supposedly stored when I tampered with sectors.

H. C. Barton

Posted 2015-09-30T06:49:48.837

Reputation: 98

I had an error like that back in the Win95 days. Folder had about 15 PB. Yes, Petabyte! Thinking back, I am more surprised that they thought about implementing this notation when drives just jumped the 1-GB mark. – TJJ – 2016-02-18T00:03:26.053

Do you have any recommended way to check for corruption or anything like that which could be testable to verify that's the cause? I assume you're right but it feels like just taking the 'best guess' answer to the problem and not an answer that can be tested? – Abraxas – 2016-02-18T02:01:29.450

Yes, if you want to scan a thumbdrive there is a program called CheckFlash. It is very similar to the excellent tool HDTune, except CheckFlash supports flash drives while HDTune does not. – H. C. Barton – 2016-03-08T17:50:41.703

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You don't actually have that many files it is a simple error writing to the media. A long time ago it was great fun to prank people, by using a sector editor to alter the file size. It was even more fun to create a cyclic loop in the FAT table so the file system would actually copy the same 1-4 sectors hundred of thousands of times so when they copied it to the hard drive it was actually 4+GB.

cybernard

Posted 2015-09-30T06:49:48.837

Reputation: 11 200

Asked: 2015-09-30T06:49:48.837

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Active: 2016-02-18T00:06:12.697