"No SD card found" on Cat B15Q

[anselmi]

Hi folks,

I just purchased a new Cat phone with Android KitKat.

16 GB SD card works with other applications, but Spotify doesn't seem to recognize it.

After a clean Spotify install (all caches removed etc.), the message "No SD card found" is displayed. Then the app shuts down.

However, on the second try Spotify starts and operates normally (but using the small internal memory as cache).

I have tried many of the fixes already posted on this forum, but nothing seems to solve the issue.

Any ideas?

[Joe]

If following the steps here don't work for you, al I can suggest is trying a different external SD card.

[anselmi]

Hi and thanks for the fast reply!

I have tried the steps you propose, without any success unfortunately.

I suppose Android should "mask" the card type and other details from the app itself.

Has anybody been able to solve this kind problem by using another SD card?

[rangoy]

Hello!

I seem to have solved this with Spotify by using a workaround on the Cat B15Q.  It seems to be a bug in the B15Q implementation of the storage system in KitKat. I have communicated with Spotify support, who have tried to be helpful and given some suggestions, but the workaround I had to find myself. No rooting is required.

INSTRUCTIONS:

The workaround in my case was to create the folder /storage/sdcard1/Android/data/com.spotify.music manually, clear all Spotify data and log in again. After that, Spotify started using the external SD card.

TECHNICAL (PRESUMED) EXPLANATION:

When an apps call the API for external storage devices in KitKat and later, an app-specific folder should be automatically created on the external (secondary storage) when requested. This does not work correctly on the B15Q, but if the folder is already created, the permissions seem to work. The app-specific folder (where the owning app has exclusive write-access) is <sd card mountpoint>/Android/data/<app>.

HUMBLE REQUEST:

I would be very grateful for feedback from other B15Q users who make this work (or not). The bug seems to be that  KitKat on the B15Q does not create this app-specific folder automatically, which confuses the apps into believing that SD card writing is impossible.

I would also be thankful if other B15Q owners after confirming this on their own devices, would report this bug to the device manufacturer, so that they realise the scale of the problem.

Hope this helps!

Best regards
Øyvind Rangøy

( rangoy at gmail dot com )

[Titanixer]

Hey!

I tried this today, but it still does not work. When iam downloading the music, i can see that my cellphone memory is getting smaller, so it dont store anything on the sd-card. I also deleted all data in the app, and tried again. But nothing works.

[rangoy]

Thank you!

Just to be clear: Is your phone a Cat B15Q?

And could you check the Build number (under Settings > About phone) -- is it CatB15Q_GENE_DS_1.019.000?

I assume you succeded in creating the folder /storage/sdcard1/Android/data/com.spotify.music as explained?

Can I ask you to try the following: Use a terminal emulator (if you don't have one installed, install one like https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jackpal.androidterm -- or, if you prefer, use the 'adb shell'), and enter the following command followed by <enter>:

ls -l  /storage/sdcard1/Android/data/

This should give you a listing of lines more or less like:

(...)

drwxrwx---  u0_a97  sdcard_r   2015-01-17  00:33 com.spotify.music

(...)

My main question:  where my example says u0_a97 (being the owner of the folder in the operating system) -- does it say something similar (perhaps with another number) --- or does it say root?

(And my second 'bonus' question: are there any folders at all in that listing that you have not created yourself?)

Depending on the answer, I may or may not ask you to try something more. I did make it work, without rooting. What I am trying to find out, is excactly why, so that if we are lucky, that could work for others as well.
Thank you!

Øyvind

[BartL · Accepted solution]

I had the same problem on my B15Q.

This how I solved it, after trying a lot of things:

- Stop Spotify (In Settings-Apps)

- Manually create /storage/sdcard1/Android/data.

- Now copy com.spotify.music and all subdirectories from internal storage to /storage/sdcard1/Android/data.

- In Settings->Apps->Spotify: clear cache and data.

- Restart Spotify (you will have to log in again).

This way I didn't get the No SD Card message again and Spotify stores it's cache on my SD card.

Apparently Spotify also isn't able to create subdirs of  /Android/data/com.spotify.music on the external SD card, so you have to create all of them yourself.

Cheers,

Bart

[rangoy]

Excactly! The creation of the subdirectories is apparently what I did, but did not recall doing.

For geeks, the reason for this behaviour of the B15Q seems to be as follows: in Android KitKat, apps are supposed to use private storage on the external SD card by using the API call getExternalFilesDirs(), that should return a list of private locations, the second and following item being secondary storage. On the B15Q, however, this function does not return the secondary storage (external SD card) location.

At the same time, the permissions system for apps on the SD card -- the socalled synthesised permissions -- do work: When the correctly named  app-specific folder exists, the app does have permission to write there.

The result of this bug in the B15Q is simply speaking that apps can indeed use private storage on the SD card if they simply assume its existence, but not if they are polite enough to ask for it. The problem with this is that from the user's perspective, depending on how the app is written, some apps will be able to use the SD-storage, some apps can be 'tricked' to do it, and some will simply not do it, the latter actually being the 'polite' ones.

I have informed Cat Phones about this behaviour and why I consider it a bug. There is a certain subtleness to this bug that typically will not let it pass the first line support, because they misunderstand it to be standard Android KitKat restrictions, which it is not.

I hope they will fix it, and I would encourage all B15Q with similar problems to contact support@catphones.com with an informed report until they realise the necessity of fixing it. Meanwhile, for Spotify the workararound would be the solution that did work for me and that Bart here succeeded in describing more precisely.

Best regards

Øyvind

[rangoy]

An update on the B15Q SD card problem:

I have got the following reply from Caterpillars technical support via their support:

«This is an issue our engineers have identified and are working on, there will be a solution but at present we do not have a date of remedy.»

In the meantime, the solutions above should still make Spotify storage work.

[ChrisFredriksso]

To BartL, seriously.. I love you! You have both saved a phone from being thrown in the trash, but you've also saved my life! I can't be without music and especially not on my phone, what Google has done with Kitkat is just incredibly embarrasing!

Thanks to you, I can listen to my music on my updated phone. Thank you!

Also, Thanks to Daniel here on the forum for helping me find this answer!

[Reisavering]

I keep getting the same message "No SD-card", and spotify saves to internal memory. I have done all the steps.

[rangoy]

Do you use the file manager that came with the phone? Third party apps
cannot be used for creating this folder.
Do you try to create it under SD Card > Android > data ?

Best regards
Øyvind

[Sv1J]

This solution also works with Google Play Music. Just create two folders on the sdcard as follows:  \Android\data

Now clean the cache and data. Next, open Google Play Music and select where you want the application to store your data in settings.

Maybe you will need to copy the stuff from the original folder, cant remember if I did. Just try without first. If it does not work, get the stuff there also.