Chromebook apps reading SD card issue
Discussion
After a few years of pretty much faultless usage, my kids' Chromebooks are being a pita with their SD cards.
I load the SD cards with media (movies and music) and they access it via Kodi or VLC.
All good previously. No issue. Worked like a charm.
Not now though.
Chromebook's file manager can see the SD card fine and I can play media through that. But Kodi and VLC are now being very hit and miss about what they see, if anything, on the SD card.
After a bit of faffing I just managed to get one to see all media again. Exited Kodi, shut the lid, reopened and now it's not seeing the media again.
Have ensured apps from the Play store can access the SD card. Have checked app permissions and they are set to access the SD card. Have tried newly formatting the SD card and tried alternative cards that work on other OSes. All to no avail.
It feels like a ChromeOS thing as I have two Chromebook's exhibiting the same behaviour...
Do any of the Chromebook gurus have any ideas?
Thanks.
I load the SD cards with media (movies and music) and they access it via Kodi or VLC.
All good previously. No issue. Worked like a charm.
Not now though.
Chromebook's file manager can see the SD card fine and I can play media through that. But Kodi and VLC are now being very hit and miss about what they see, if anything, on the SD card.
After a bit of faffing I just managed to get one to see all media again. Exited Kodi, shut the lid, reopened and now it's not seeing the media again.
Have ensured apps from the Play store can access the SD card. Have checked app permissions and they are set to access the SD card. Have tried newly formatting the SD card and tried alternative cards that work on other OSes. All to no avail.
It feels like a ChromeOS thing as I have two Chromebook's exhibiting the same behaviour...
Do any of the Chromebook gurus have any ideas?
Thanks.
Open the regular Chrome OS File Manager.
Click the 3-dot menu button in the top right of the app.
See what internal storage is listed, and how much is shown as remaining free.
If there's less than a couple of Gb free then clear as much as you can from the internal storage. Then do a full shutdown, leave it a few minutes, boot up and try again. If the internal storage was running low it might be necessary to deactivate the Play Store, do a cold boot, and then reactivate the Play Store again. (Play Store on a Chromebook= the full android environment).
If you've to go that far ensure you do a backup of the android environment beforehand. Backup option is in the android settings menus.
Of course if there's still loads of free space on the internal storage then disregard the above.
Unless you want to try a backup, wipe, and reactivation of the Play Store/Android systém on one machine as a test. It'll take 5-10 minutes on most machines I'd imagine.
Click the 3-dot menu button in the top right of the app.
See what internal storage is listed, and how much is shown as remaining free.
If there's less than a couple of Gb free then clear as much as you can from the internal storage. Then do a full shutdown, leave it a few minutes, boot up and try again. If the internal storage was running low it might be necessary to deactivate the Play Store, do a cold boot, and then reactivate the Play Store again. (Play Store on a Chromebook= the full android environment).
If you've to go that far ensure you do a backup of the android environment beforehand. Backup option is in the android settings menus.
Of course if there's still loads of free space on the internal storage then disregard the above.
Unless you want to try a backup, wipe, and reactivation of the Play Store/Android systém on one machine as a test. It'll take 5-10 minutes on most machines I'd imagine.
Thanks guys.
Both machines had >5Gb of internal space.
I tried formatting the SD cards again and things seem to be working now (which is odd). Though one of the machines seems more "stable" than the other (it instantly saw the newly loaded card and worked with Kodi...the other machine needed a restart).
Will see how long that situation lasts for, and may try brand new cards if it doesn't last long..
May also try a Powerwash over the summer holidays if the situation doesn't improve (checked the AUE date for the machines and it's mid-2026 so plenty of life left in them).
Both machines had >5Gb of internal space.
I tried formatting the SD cards again and things seem to be working now (which is odd). Though one of the machines seems more "stable" than the other (it instantly saw the newly loaded card and worked with Kodi...the other machine needed a restart).
Will see how long that situation lasts for, and may try brand new cards if it doesn't last long..
May also try a Powerwash over the summer holidays if the situation doesn't improve (checked the AUE date for the machines and it's mid-2026 so plenty of life left in them).
The thing with Chrome OS is that if it was a software bug introduced by updates there should be more incidents of it.
I have come across Chromebooks from one manufacturer who regularly exhibit issues with the SD card reader (still have one of them remaining here at home, but never use SD cards with it as a result).
But that's slightly different to your situation where the issue seemed to develop on both machines in around the same time.
I have come across Chromebooks from one manufacturer who regularly exhibit issues with the SD card reader (still have one of them remaining here at home, but never use SD cards with it as a result).
But that's slightly different to your situation where the issue seemed to develop on both machines in around the same time.
Corso Marche said:
The thing with Chrome OS is that if it was a software bug introduced by updates there should be more incidents of it.
I have come across Chromebooks from one manufacturer who regularly exhibit issues with the SD card reader (still have one of them remaining here at home, but never use SD cards with it as a result).
But that's slightly different to your situation where the issue seemed to develop on both machines in around the same time.
They're both Lenovo 300e (2nd gen) machines.I have come across Chromebooks from one manufacturer who regularly exhibit issues with the SD card reader (still have one of them remaining here at home, but never use SD cards with it as a result).
But that's slightly different to your situation where the issue seemed to develop on both machines in around the same time.
Both exactly the same age and the SD cards went in at the same time...so am wondering if maybe the SD cards are getting flaky. Just seemed a bit odd.
Will have another look at them both tomorrow after the kids have used them for a bit to see if they're still reading the SD cards properly.
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