What to do if your Sony Xperia XZ Premium does not detect your SD card (easy steps)

Way back last year in June, Sony has released an octa-core Xperia device powered by Adreno 540 chip and it’s labeled the Sony Xperia XZ Premium smartphone. This smartphone comes with a 64GB internal memory capacity. Such built-in storage capacity may not be enough especially for those who are fond of adding new apps and complex files. This is where external storage media are needed. Good thing the Xperia XZ Premium has SD card support, which means you can expand the memory with the use of external storage media like SD cards. But just like any other Android devices, the Xperia XZ Premium can also experience troubles when using SD card. Prior reports have it that the phone would just shut down or reboot by itself when an SD card is inserted or the SD card is not detected. Many factors can trigger such problems to occur though. It could be a software glitch on the phone system like errant apps or invalid settings. Or it could be due to a problem with the SD card itself. Highlighted in this post are a few suggested workarounds and potential solutions to a similar issue in which the Sony Xperia XZ Premium smartphone does not detect or read the SD card. Read on to find out what to do whenever you’ll get to encounter the same issue on the same device.

Before we proceed, if you’re looking for a solution to a problem with your phone, try to browse through our troubleshooting pages to see if we support your device. If your phone is in the list of our supported devices, then go to the troubleshooting page and look for similar problems. Feel free to use our solutions and workarounds. Don’t worry it’s free. But if you still need our help, then fill up our Android issues questionnaire and hit submit to contact us.

How to troubleshoot your Xperia XZ Premium that can’t detect your SD card

Before you start troubleshooting your SD card, verify and ensure that what you have is a microSD card type. Your Sony Xperia XZ Premium smartphone supports microSD card up to 400 GB. If your SD card met the requirement specification, then it should be good for as long as it’s not physically damaged or fried. Otherwise, continue to troubleshoot software issues on your device and SD card itself that might have caused such trouble.

Reboot your phone (soft reset).

A soft reset or device restart is the first recommended solution to various types of device issues caused by software glitches and minor bugs that randomly occur. If this is the first time for your device to encounter problem detecting the SD card, then it’s likely just a random glitch that can be remedied by a soft reset. Here’s what you should do then:

Press and hold down the Power key for a few seconds until the menu options appear.
Tap Restart from the menu options. Doing so will trigger the device to restart automatically.

Alternatively, you can do a simulated battery removal procedure (force restart) with these steps:

While the device is turned on, press and hold the Volume Up button and Power button simultaneously.
Wait for the phone screen to shut down and for your device to vibrate three times. Release both buttons when the phone vibrates.
After about 30 seconds, press the Power button again to reboot your phone.

Both these procedures won’t affect any data saved on your internal memory, so you don’t need to create backups.

Unmount and mount SD card.

Most SD card errors including failure to read SD card in mobile devices are usually fixed by unmounting and mounting the SD card again. It’s like giving your SD card a restart. Here’s how it’s done:

Drag down the Notifications menu from the top of your screen.
Tap the Settings icon.
Then go to Device Management.
Tap Storage.
Tap SD card.
Select the option to Unmount SD card.

After unmounting, you can remove and reseat the SD card with these steps:

Turn off your phone.
With your phone turned off, take the microSD card holder out of your phone.
Remove the microSD card from the slot.
Check the card and the slot for any visible signs of damage. If there’s none, then you can place the microSD card back into the slot (slot 2). Make sure it’s placed in the same orientation as it was before you removed it.
Gently push to insert the microSD card holder into the microSD card slot.
When the SIM card is inserted and secured, turn your phone on.
If necessary, mount the SD card again by going to Settings-> Device Management-> Storage-> SD card, then select the option to Mount SD card.

Try and see if that fixed the problem. If not, then you may need to format your SD card.

Format SD card on your Sony Xperia XZ Premium smartphone.

There might be some data from the SD card or the SD card itself has been corrupted and therefore not working as intended. In that case, erasing the card would be necessary. Formatting the SD card will delete all data stored in it including any errant files or data segments that might have triggered the SD card to get corrupted. Here’s how to format SD card on your Sony Xperia XZ Premium smartphone:

Open the Apps screen.
Select Settings.
Tap Storage.
Scroll down and tap Format SD Card.
Follow the onscreen instructions to continue.
If prompted, read the warning message and tap Format SD card again to confirm. If this option is disabled, you need to tap Unmount SD card first.
Tap Delete All to complete the SD card formatting process.

Reboot your phone when the SD card formatting is complete then mount the microSD card again.

Other options

If none of the above workarounds is able to help and that your Sony Xperia XZ Premium smartphone still failed to detect the SD card, try to insert the SD card in your other compatible devices or a computer. If your other devices read the SD card, then the problem is with your phone. It’s possible that your SD card is not compatible with your Xperia XZ Premium or something in your phone system is preventing it from reading the card. Should you think it’s the latter, then you may consider opting for a full system reset or factory data reset.

A factory reset will wipe everything from your phone’s internal memory including critical data and any bugs and malware that might have caused troubles and conflicts. Should you wish to proceed with this reset, don’t forget to back up all your important data and personal information beforehand.

To factory reset your Xperia XZ Premium, go to Settings-> System-> Reset-> Factory data reset menu. Then select Reset phone option. Enter your screen unlock password, PIN or pattern, if prompted. Then tap Erase everything to confirm reset.

If you’d prefer, you can keep your SD card inserted in your phone during the reset and then wipe the SD card as well by selecting the option to erase SD card when prompted.

Allow your device to complete the reset process and then restarts automatically. You can proceed with the initial setup by then. If necessary, update your device software to the latest Android version. The Android 8.0 (Oreo) version is now available for Sony Xperia XZ Premium devices, so you should consider updating your phone system too.

If none of that works, then you may contact Sony Help Center to verify SD card compatibility requirements for your Sony Xperia XZ Premium handset, and find out if your SD card is actually supported by your phone. Or you can visit an authorized Sony service center nearby and have your device examined by Sony technician. This would be necessary if your phone failed to detect any SD card you’ve got.

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