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SD Card not being recognized-Roku 3

Hello, need some help. I have a sd card that is 16gb. I am putting it in my Roku 3 and it is not being recognized by it in order to format. Not sure what to do next. I have restarted the roku several times, also. If you can help that would be great! Thanks in advance. 

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2 REPLIES 2
DBDukes
Community Streaming Expert

Re: SD Card not being recognized-Roku 3

@Littlet1983 

Roku devices are designed to work with 2 GB cards. Depending on the particular card reader in the device -- Roku buys parts and they must meet minimum requirements; larger capacity readers are above the minimum of course -- it may or may not read the card. And, even if it reads the card, it will only use 2 GB of the capacity, with the remainder (14 GB in your instance) being wasted.

It could also be that the card reader has gone bad, since the Roku 3 is a really old device (2013, if it's model 4200), so a smaller card may not make a difference.

DBDukes
Roku Community Streaming Expert
Note: I am not a Roku employee.

If this post solves your problem please help others find this answer and click "Accept as Solution."

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makaiguy
Community Streaming Expert

Re: SD Card not being recognized-Roku 3

In addition to @DBDukes' reply ...

It may also be a formatting issue with the SD card itself such that the Roku does not recognize a card is in place.

You may be able to salvage this. Try formatting the card in your computer, if it has a card reader that can handle SD cards. After formatting, see if the Roku will detect and reformat the card successfully.

Windows instructions (don't know what would differ on other systems):
Do a slow (i.e. don't use the "fast format" option) format of the card via your computer. Select FAT32 and select it to use the default allocation size.

Back when I was using a Roku 3, I had to do this several times as the card would get corrupted and not let the startup process proceed beyond the "Bouncing letters" stage.  Eventually I decided the small benefit provided by the card was not worth the trouble of maintaining it.

Roku Community Streaming Expert
I am not a Roku employee, only a user like you.  Please, no support questions via private message -- post them publicly to the Community where others may benefit as well.
If this post solves your problem please help others find this answer by clicking "Accept as Solution.".

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