[lug] Problems cloning SD card from Android

[Jed S. Baer]

On Thu, 3 May 2018 18:56:18 -0400
Internet Privacy Advocate wrote:

> I really don't know, but feel Google has jacked around with auxiliary
> memory cards on Android in a way that makes them useless on other
> devices.  If you are able to connect the entire phone to your computer
> and copy the data off that way, you might have more luck.

I don't know what Google does, but the card is FAT32. I've read that on
newer phones, it'd be exFAT, which is supposedly 'low overhead' and
better for SD cards. But it's propietary to Microsoft, so the phone mfrs
license it from them, and there's no Linux driver available.

One of the symptoms that had me suspecting the SD card was nearing EOL
was that when plugged into the computer, using MTP, it'd "go away",
meaning the device descriptor vanished. This

I'm mostly not concerned about user data. Other than my contacts list,
photos I've already copied off, and a couple memos, it's all stuff that
came from my computer to start with. What I am concerned about is the .apk
files, and whatever settings etc. for the apps are on there. I have every
app that can "moved to SD card" whatever that is. So, I'm trying to avoid
needing to reinstall all that stuff, if I start over with a blank card.